With the final season of The Boys concluding a saga seven years in the making—or two decades, if you consider the original source material—viewers are already speculating about the franchise’s future. It seems fans can’t help but look toward the horizon even as they bid farewell to the main series.
Since its 2019 debut, The Boys has been a runaway success, and its fifth season is no anomaly; as of this writing, it has reigned as the top-rated series on Prime Video for over four weeks. While showrunner Eric Kripke’s ambitious plan to build a cohesive “cinematic universe” has hit a few snags—notably, the cancellation of Gen V—the core narrative is set to continue after Homelander’s final stand on May 19. A prequel series set in the 1950s, featuring Aya Cash’s Stormfront and Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, has officially been greenlit for a future release.
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“Delving into his backstory was a fantastic experience,” Ackles remarked in a recent discussion. “The team behind The Boys built a brilliant roadmap. Our goal isn’t to reinvent the wheel, but to build upon the foundation they laid.”
For those hesitant to move on from cynical, serialized superhero storytelling, there is another contender waiting in the wings: Spider-Noir.
Spider-Noir leans into pulp, but fills the void left by The Boys
While the show isn’t a direct satire, it draws inspiration from Marvel’s noir comic line and the kinetic energy of Into the Spider-Verse to reimagine Peter Parker as a gritty, Depression-era vigilante in New York City. In this multiversal take, our hero gains his powers while hunting mobsters tied to Norman Osborn, eventually fighting for the city’s vulnerable as a masked crusader and photojournalist.
Prime Video’s iteration preserves that hard-boiled, atmospheric aesthetic but introduces key deviations. Nicolas Cage steps into the role of Ben Reilly, the mob kingpin Silvermane replaces Osborn, and Cat Hardy (Black Cat) is reimagined as a lounge singer. Showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot are clearly aiming to capture the authentic spirit of the comics without feeling chained to rigid canon—a strategy that served Kripke well.
Over the years, the deviations in The Boys have polished the narrative, even as the show leaned into a more traditional—albeit R-rated—superhero structure. It remains packed with scathing political commentary and shocking twists, designed to keep viewers hooked week after week. If Spider-Noir can match that weekly momentum, it should prove to be a worthy successor.
Navigating the complex release of Spider-Noir
The annual May television glut often threatens to bury promising shows. Spider-Noir, unfortunately, faces a particularly convoluted release schedule.
The series officially premieres globally on Prime Video on May 27. However, subscribers can access it two days early—provided they are willing to pay an additional fee. Prime Video announced that Spider-Noir will debut on MGM Plus on May 25. Viewers without a separate MGM Plus account can subscribe via the Prime Video app for $7.99 monthly. It’s a slightly fragmented strategy, effectively asking fans to pay a premium to avoid spoilers during a busy month of content. It’s a far cry from the straightforward streaming landscape of 2019, but it is the current reality of the industry.
Source: Polygon
