Behind-The-Scenes Stories About The Grossest Moments In 'The Boys'

During Season 2, tensions continue to escalate, and things seem to reach a climax when Dr. Vogelbaum, who is one of those most responsible for the creation of The Supes, agrees to testify to Congress. Unfortunately, as he prepares to do so, his head spontaneously explodes, as do those of several of those gathered for the hearing. Chaos ensues, and the hearing is derailed indefinitely. 

Unsurprisingly, a lot of work went into making sure the scene appeared as realistic as possible. While many of the shattered heads were rendered with CGI, the two most important - Vogelbaum and the chairman - were rendered using dummies, which were then covered with fake blood and fake blood mixed with bananas. The sequence was filmed in a before-and-after fashion, VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet said, then the effects team put the two together.

The “Herogasm” episode of The Boys takes things to a whole new level, with all sorts of outlandish debauchery on display. Even though much of this is drawn from the comics, it’s still a shock to see these sexual activities portrayed so explicitly in a television series. 

It would have made sense if the studio heads had requested some changes, but according to the series’ showrunner, Eric Kripke, Amazon offered only one piece of commentary:

The one note we got from Amazon, which was a good note, was, “In every moment, we have to understand that this is a superhero orgy, and not just an orgy.” We actually added afterwards, a lot of new gags and visual effects. Like, I love… that floating Starlight vibrator that’s just cruising around the party. That was not originally scripted or in there. We added that in VFX later.

Frenchie (played by Tomer Capone), one of the more sympathetic members of The Boys, has a dark past (in one of his first conversations, he relates how he has terminated many people.) But he slowly softens as the series progresses, particularly once he comes into contact and falls in love with Kimiko. He also has a friendly rivalry with fellow Boys member Mother’s Milk, and the two are constantly both saving one another and giving each other a hard time as they encounter the malevolent Supes and their powers. 

In one notable scene, Mother’s Milk is being strangled by the “Love Sausage,” one of The Supes who has the ability to grow his penis out and use it as a tentacle. Actor Capone actually filmed a scene in which Frenchie attacks the appendage with his teeth. He ended up tearing it apart, however, so the footage couldn’t be used.

The third season of The Boys begins with a Supe known as The Termite shrinking down to a smaller version of himself to enter his lover’s penis. Unfortunately, given his penchant for taking coke, he sneezes and immediately returns to normal size, killing the unfortunate other man in the process. It’s a shocking and gruesome moment, for both the characters and the viewer.

A great deal of work went into crafting this particular sequence. An actual large private part was built - the series often uses practical effects - and the crew had to take special care to make sure it was clearly flaccid (it is still taboo to show erect penises in mainstream television). When it was finished, it was 11 feet high and 30 feet long.

From the beginning of the series, Hughie’s life is blighted by tragedy. It starts very soon after the first episode begins, when his girlfriend Robin is slain after the very speedy character A-Train runs through her, and she perishes in Hughie's arms. It’s arguably the most important death in the entire series, as it sets Hughie down his path of vengeance. 

Given how important the scene is to both Hughie and the series as a whole, it took the effects team eight months to visualize it. They focused on shooting it so the audience wouldn’t fully realize what had happened until the camera moves to show Hughie holding only Robin’s arms. The team gave a great deal of thought to just how much blood to show, and the final scene required filming at 500 frames per second (far faster than the standard speed). VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet recalled:

At one point, we were even experimenting with seeing Robin’s face in it and having her face crumble to bits. But it can become borderline comical in the wrong kind of way and it would also be too telling, and at some point it dawned on us that really the startling part of the scene is the tilt-down to the hand.

When Billy Butcher, confronted with The Deep and a whale, decides to drive his boat right through the latter, a lot of whale viscera goes everywhere, with poor Hughie ending up in the belly of the beast. As with so many other moments on The Boys, the scene is remarkably realistic, which is likely because filmmakers built an animatronic whale complete with accurate organs. 

VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet told Entertainment Weekly:

We had a whole show-and-tell on whale guts 'cause they made all these guts, too, for the inside. They did all their research. They had them on a table and they'd walk us down. It's like we're sampling food for a restaurant. 'This is a whale spleen!'"

While the scene is, in part, played for laughs, it is a remarkably bleak one, especially as the whale in question seems to be still alive while all this is taking place. The scene was apparently miserable for actor Jack Quaid who, as Hughie, had to spend a significant amount of time inside the creature, all while slathered in fake blood.