The Boys Fires A Huge Shot At HBO’s The Last Of Us, And It’s Hard To Disagree

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Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Boys season 5, episode 4, “King of Hell.”

Over the past decade, The Boys has become known for its intense, shocking, and often disturbing scenes. But beyond that, the show frequently satirizes other popular franchises. As a superhero parody, Marvel and DC Comics have been its main targets, though other shows haven’t escaped its playful criticism either.

Sheline and Countess Crow were obvious imitations of DC’s Catwoman and Raven. Similarly, the character Rock Hard in The Boys was a crude take on the Fantastic Four’s The Thing. While the fifth season continued to playfully mock other superhero stories, episode 4 shifted its focus, parodying the popular show The Last of Us instead of other superhero franchises.

The popular video game series premiered on HBO in 2023 and quickly became a major success. Although the second season received mixed reviews, it still drew a large audience. However, the show faced a challenge from another hit series, The Boys. During a visit to Fort Harmony, tensions within the group noticeably increased, leading to more conflict than usual.

Frenchie remained calm, suggesting the team’s erratic behavior might be caused by breathing in specific spores. Hughie jokingly compared it to the show The Last of Us, but Frenchie quickly corrected him, saying it was more like The Walking Dead, but with mushrooms instead of zombies.

What started as a playful comment during The Boys’ search for V-One actually has some validity. Although The Last of Us explores significant themes and tells a compelling story, its fundamental premise isn’t far removed from The Walking Dead.

The Boys Isn’t Completely Wrong About The Last Of Us

Everyone agrees that The Last of Us is powerfully emotional and immersive, brilliantly portraying how people cope with a world in crisis. The strong connection between Joel and Ellie is central to both the original game and the first season of the HBO series, making it a truly exceptional and highly acclaimed work that deserves all the recognition it receives.

It’s hard to miss the parallels to The Walking Dead, and it goes beyond just having zombies. Both stories are primarily focused on the people who survive the apocalypse – their relationships, the groups they form, and the challenges they face – rather than simply showing how they stay alive.

Both The Last of Us and The Walking Dead explore the complex morality of their main characters – even though they aren’t inherently ‘bad’ people, they’ve all been forced to take lives. Both shows also feature distinctive and terrifying types of zombies, which significantly raise the tension and danger within their worlds. While The Last of Us introduced this approach first, both franchises share this element.

Similar to how The Last of Us took inspiration from The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead‘s Daryl Dixon series seems to have mirrored the dynamic between Joel and Ellie in its portrayal of Daryl and Laurent’s relationship. Despite these similarities, both franchises are excellent and explore many of the same ideas.

One key difference between The Last of Us and The Walking Dead is that we know the outbreak in The Last of Us was caused by a fungus, while the origins of the outbreak in The Walking Dead remain a mystery. However, this actually supports what Frenchie said, suggesting that the humorous explanation in The Boys isn’t far off base.

The Boys Season 5, Episode 4 Also Takes On Streaming Services (Including Amazon’s)

In addition to poking fun at The Last of Us, The Boys also satirized streaming services, even Prime Video itself, in the episode “King of Hell.” A scene showed Vought executives brainstorming ways to market Homelander as a god, using data and statistics to guide their strategy.

Worm’s comment – “I’d say it’s all about numbers with you suits, but Vought+ never releases any” – is a playful dig at how streaming services operate. Even though The Boys airs on a streaming platform, this scene highlights the challenges of actually knowing how well a show is performing. It could just be a joke, but it points to the difficulty in measuring a project’s success.

It’s common for fans to be disappointed when a well-liked show is canceled, especially if it had good reviews. Knowing the show wasn’t popular with a large audience can sometimes make the decision easier to accept, but unfortunately, that information isn’t always shared.

It’s a bit surprising, but when The Boys finishes in May, it will have a lasting impact on Prime Video. As one of the platform’s most important shows, losing it will be a significant blow. Viewers will miss the show’s exciting stories and characters, but also its clever take on and spoofs of popular culture – that’s what truly made The Boys stand out.

I really appreciate that even as the show wraps up, it’s still bravely calling out the streaming platforms – even though it understands how vital they are to how we watch things now. That’s why this quick, easy-to-miss joke in The Boys season 5 landed so well with me; it felt really smart and relevant.

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2026-04-22 21:44