The show's first season stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, and Elisabeth Shue.

The story takes place in a universe where most of the superpowered individuals are recognized as superheroes, but in reality abuse their powers for personal gain, information the public is kept unaware of.

The series follows the eponymous Boys, led by Billy Butcher (Urban), a group of vigilantes looking to bring down Vought International and expose its corrupt superheroes.

The season received largely positive reviews from critics and audiences, with high praise towards its social commentary, story, black humor, faithfulness to the source material, visual style, screenplay, and performances (particularly Urban, Quaid, and Starr).

[28] Kripke, Goldberg, Rogen, Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty, Ori Marmur, James Weaver, Ken Levin, and Jason Netter were confirmed as executive producers.

[29] As a long time fan of Garth Ennis, Kripke began to read and follow the artist's work during his college years including the comic book series The Boys.

In order to balance the show's satire and superhero tropes, Kripke explained: "We let any comedy or absurdity emerge out of the natural contradictions of putting a fantasy element in the real world.

"[30] As the comic-book series portrays many of the key events from the storyline in a very graphic way, Kripke realized that many of them would be hard to adapt due to the MeToo movement.

[33] The season does not fully follow the storyline from the comic book series despite its faithfulness to the source material, as Kripke maintained the writers disciplined with the intention of retaining the show with a sense of reality by saying: "Anything that comes out of this drug is viable, and anything that doesn't we're not allowed to do".

[6] By January 2018, Antony Starr, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Jessie Usher, and Nathan Mitchell joined the main cast as Homelander, Queen Maeve, The Deep, A-Train, and Black Noir respectively,[5] while Laz Alonso, Jack Quaid, and Karen Fukuhara were cast the following month as Mother's Milk, Hughie Campbell, and Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female respectively.

[26][28][43][44] While the prIncipal photography for the series took place in Toronto, it was also confirmed that the show would be partially filmed at the cities of Mississauga and Hamilton in a few locations which include the Central Parkway Mall, the Streetsville Gas Station, Tim Hortons Field stadium, and the Fallsview Residence.

[45] The crew filmed at several touristic locations from the city of Toronto such as Roy Thomson Hall, Yonge–Dundas Square, Lower Bay Station, and the Sherbourne Common.

The big challenge in this sequence was adding CG elements to live action footage shot at a high frame rate because you don't have anywhere to hide; our work needed to be flawless.

The composer read all the comics before shooting started in order to have a better idea of how to appreach the score, which led him to "develop a different that would make it disturbing, nasty, violent, garagey, sloppy, dirty and gritty."

The second method was the music aimed to the Seven, where Lennertz combined traditional orchestra and electronic sounds that would shatter the perfect stereotypes of comic book heroes.

[65] Nick Romano from the Entertainment Weekly commented that the trailer flashes the seedy underbelly of the superhero world and the group of berserkers who are trying to keep them in check.

"[67] Steve Seigh from JoBlo.com have noted that the trailer offers a look into a "sick, sad world of a superpowered CIA squad whose job it is to closely monitor a superhero community who've let their stature and powers go to their heads over time," and considered the Seven to be a group of super-powered individuals who devolved into "villains who lie, drink, and rape their way through the day.

[69] James White of Empire considered that the teaser was filled with bloody, witty, and ruthless esscence from the comics and does not believe that the series will hold back in the terms of violence and language.

[72] A panel for the series was held at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival presented by AT&T, where the pilot episode was previewed and Kripke alongside the cast members answered the questions of multiple fans about the show.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Though viewers' mileage may vary, The Boys' violent delights and willingness to engage in heavy, relevant themes are sure to please those looking for a new group of antiheroes to root for.

"[89] Mel Campbell of Screen Hub deemed the show as "shockingly violent and pointedly political, this Amazon series is an ironic but refreshing antidote to supe franchising.

"[90] Daniel Fienberg from Hollywood Reporter in a positive response praised it and stated, "I'll have to check in again on The Boys after a few more episodes to get a sense of whether or not the encroaching cynicism topples what I find initially promising here.

"[91] While writing his review at /Film, Chris Evangelista considered Antony Starr's performance as Homelander as one of the highlight of the series as he called it to be the "perfect bleached-blonde grinning psycho".

"[93] Matthew Dessem from Slate called The Boys "an expert deconstruction of superhero stories, with an appropriately wintery view of institutional power, be it corporate, governmental, religious, or caped.

"[94] Andrew Wyatt from Cinema St. Louis praised the series for its humor considering that "it's cynical and ultra-violent, but what distinguishes The Boys is its sincere fascination with its characters' anxieties, compulsions, and human failings.

"[95] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting praised the series for its entertaining story, scoring 4.5 of a 5 and wrote, "not a frame is spared in crafting this nuanced and darkly humorous universe drenched in blood and violence.

"[96] Matthew Gilbert from The Boston Globe considered that "the premise of the Amazon black comedy is never not fun, and the more we learn about this bizarro world, as the supes go on the late-night talk shows and stage team-up photo ops on various crimes, the better.

"[97] Ben Travers from IndieWire gave the show a "B" and said that "given the top-notch special effects and sharp writing at the core of 'The Boys,' there are still loads of potential within this well-realized universe.

"[100] Vinnie Mancuso from Collider appreciated the show social commentary themes and scoring the entire season 5 out of 5 stars and said, "Like Alan Moore's Watchmen in the late-80s, The Boys TV series has the chance to be the superhero deconstruction of our time.

Less a peek behind the curtain, and more a seedy glimpse behind the social media likes and box office numbers, a story that manages to be heartbreakingly relevant while still finding time to have Urban kill a room full of goons with a super-powered baby.