Analyzing The Abilities Of Characters From The Boys Pt. XII

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XII

🚹Jordan🚺

Jordan is, by nature, dichotomous. Their ability is a unique form of gendered shapeshifting which is implied to be a byproduct of their bigender identity. When we first meet Jordan, they’re snippy and selfish, focused solely on getting ahead and being applauded for their good work and impeccable scores. As the story goes on, you begin to reveal layers of insecurity and frustration that the world will only ever see them for their superficial identities.

When first introduced to Jordan, they were relaxed in their female form. Interestingly enough, this was most likely due to the fact that Brink knew Jordan was assigned male at birth, and accepted them regardless as both identities they present as. This, as I mentioned earlier with Dean Shetty’s master manipulation of Cate, was most likely the byproduct of a drawn out control tactic to keep Jordan’s success tethered to GodU, and to give Brink a guard dog in the event of…well, exactly what transpired in the first episode.

As we see while Jordan fights, their female form, the result of their own vulnerability typically used when comfortable or in moments of leisure, has the ability to propel people away with some form of telekinetic blast. This may be due to their own insecurities plaguing them with feelings of inadequacy. That initial desire to push people away manifests itself as the ability to do exactly that.

In their male form, they’re seemingly indestructible and super strong, being capable of being shot at point blank and trading blows with Luke and Sam, affirming that Jordan is both strong and versatile in combat.

When the V most likely kicked in, Jordan was probably going through puberty, as many other supes were when their powers manifested. Imagine recognizing that you were bigender and feeling the need to endure the bigotry of your surroundings in hopes of a better future while simultaneously wishing to shove people away. This dual nature manifested in their ability to visibly shapeshift, and yet their parents treat this as a burden, confused as to why Jordan doesn’t just stay a boy indefinitely.

Jordan’s gendered division is most likely rooted in their feelings of men being tough while women are guarded, but I believe that as Marie shows them that it’s possible to love both sides at once, we might see them use their powers interchangeably or even simultaneously.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XI

🦗Emma🦗

Little Cricket, more regularly known as Emma, is a child star turned influencer who’s actress impressed me purely by taking a character I otherwise would roll my eyes at and making me adore and root for her.

Emma’s ability is size manipulation. Much like Alice in Wonderland, when she eats she grows, and when she makes herself vomit she shrinks. This is tethered to an eating disorder that’s been perfectly tailored by her mother’s obsessive hand. Her mother carries a tape measure around to make sure her daughter isn’t too small or too big, which makes for an obvious metaphor for the unloading of generational body image issues.

The most important aspect of Emma’s character is that in the Gen V S1 finale, it’s revealed that she can shrink by simply feeling small after Sam yelled at her. This proves that her ability isn’t truly dependent on food, but rather on the feeling of being too big or too small whenever she binges and purges.

-Psychology Major Moment-

“Killing Us Softly” is a series of documentaries put out by Jean Killbourne about the unsettling and frankly murderous nature of the beauty industry towards young women. Jean said in one of the documentaries something that stuck with me to this day, and reminds me deeply of Emma’s situation. She had said that while men are encouraged to be the largest of them all, the biggest man in every room they walk into, women are taught to be a perfect size 0, or in other words, “to not even exist”. Emma is repulsed by how huge she becomes after saving her friends, and ignores how in her giant form she’s stronger than Sam, capable of pressing him to the ground and holding him there with no obvious effort. She’s been indoctrinated and manipulated into truly believing that being petite is being valuable, and I’m praying that come the end of the show we get to see her become a giant woman yet again.

This whole ordeal reminded me so much of “I Like Giants” by Kimya Dawson, purely because when all is said and done, she’s a kickass hero and devoted best friend to Marie, but even then “all girls feel too big sometimes, regardless of their size”.

'H2O: JUST ADD WATER'

Aphrodite energy ✨️

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. VII (Blood Sisters Edition)

*mention of Marie’s self harm, she’s the second section*

🤯Victoria Neuman🤯

“Diva Down” was the cry I bellowed at the S4 finale. One of my favorite characters gone by the hands of a pesky man. Please pause for a moment of silence.

Victoria’s ability to manipulate blood was tethered to her vision, which is the main part I’ll be focusing on. While she can make people’s heads explode, she must see her targets clearly in order to be able to do so. This ironically stems from her general “blindness” in terms of the consequences of her actions. As I previously berated her for, her careless injection of Compound V into her daughter came at a price she could have avoided had she not been so proud.

Additionally, her murdering congressmen and ultimately threatening and killing anyone and everyone who stood in her way made her a true loose cannon, especially since The Boys now have nothing on her. With her secret out, it was only a matter of time before she popped someone’s head in that room, and Butcher still defended his team, regardless of the symbiote situation he has going on.

Vicky’s bloodlust and situational blindness prove to be the main reason why her abilities manifested the way they did.

🩸Marie Moreau🩸

Another one of my favorites who possesses a similar ability to Vicky, Marie proved that with the right cultivation, she can be far more powerful than people give her credit for.

Marie’s abilities seem to be the result of her resentment of and mourning of her own familial structure. She feels like she “lost her blood” in losing her family, so she’s now able to manipulate the blood of others, along with blood letting/self harming in order to create tendrils of blood. While she reasons that this practice is “just her power”, it’s evident she uses this as an outlet to express her perceived powerlessness in the world. Despite a kickass power, she’s been at the mercy of Red River, GodU, Vought, and every government system her whole life. Marie’s a girl who needs release, and she turns to a literal shedding of her familial tethers by releasing her blood.

Both Marie and Vicky have great durability and a wide range of abilities, but while Victoria settled on her explosive, immediate power to put an end to her opponents, Marie opts to perform more invasive and creative maneuvers, insinuating that while they could have done the same things, Vicky was “blinded” by the immediate gratification of success, while Marie willfully seeks out solutions to a wider range of issues, this cementing her as the hero in the end.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XVI

🎙️Supersonic🎙️

Alex/Supersonic was a painfully irrelevant character who was introduced and briefly killed off all in S3. While his time on the show was short, his had his license to drive his way into all of our hearts…

Alex’s abilities are actually never shown in the show whatsoever. It is mentioned that he has the ability to generate a sonic boom by clapping his hands, but we unfortunately never get to see this before his life is cut short by Homelander.

I find Alex’s role significant, not because of his weird faux love triangle with Annie, but because of the nature of “sound” throughout the series. Alex proves himself to be an ally, and to align himself with Annie on her journey to take down Vought. He gives us valuable insight into how not every supe is brainwashed and radicalized, and yet, we watch as his advocacy goes unnoticed and still punished.

He was a child star, a musician, and a true hero, but his power wasn’t in the limelight like Annie’s. Despite the obvious fame he had, he was supposed to be an encouraging voice in Annie’s head telling her that she’s not alone, and he served that purpose exactly.

Like literally every character we see get killed in this show, I just pretend they’re not actually dead and we’re going to get a Dawn of The Seven style “Avengers Assemble” moment for the finale, but yeah no, this flop’s dead.