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Contains spoilers for “The Boys” Season 5, Episode 5 — “One-Shots”
The newest episode of “The Boys” follows several different vignettes of characters adapting to the new world order. The most entertaining story involves Homelander (Antony Starr) and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) taking a trip to Los Angeles to visit the speedster supe Mister Marathon (played by Ackles’ “Supernatural” co-star Jared Padalecki), who might have some information on where to find V1, the only thing that can make Homelander immortal. He’s been enjoying the Hollywood lifestyle, and he’s invited some pretty big names over to play poker: Seth Rogen, Kumail Nanjiani, Will Forte, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse all appear as themselves. They’re some of the celebs who haven’t been sent to one of Homelander’s Freedom Camps, with Aziz Ansari, Macaulay Culkin, Joaquin Phoenix, Kiefer Sutherland, Meryl Streep, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Benedict Wong among those rounded up.
They try to plot a way to stand up to the fascist regime by posting some kind of square to their Instagram grids. It’s a funny part of the episode, and it will no doubt feel familiar to fans of Rogen’s work — it’s hard to watch these scenes and not think of the hilarious 2013 comedy “This Is the End.” That film sees a bunch of celebrities, including Rogen, playing fictionalized versions of themselves when the apocalypse breaks out. “This Is the End” has a slew of cameos, each one better than the last, and it also involves a bunch of celebrities dying in horrific ways. “The Boys” even mimics that part when Soldier Boy begins killing off A-listers (including “This Is the End” co-star Craig Robinson, who shows up late) by placing them in Mister Marathon’s super-speed running path, resulting in explosions of guts and gore.
This Is the End and The Boys Season 5, Episode 5 have even more similarities
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It’s no surprise that the meta humor in “The Boys” Season 5, Episode 5 is reminiscent of “This Is the End,” as Seth Rogen (who co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the film along with co-starring in it) is heavily involved in the show, most prominently as an executive producer. Rogen convinced Sony to adapt “The Boys” by pitching it as a story of regular people fighting superheroes, and he’s appeared on the show before in small cameos. Seeing as this is the last season, it only makes sense he’d go all in on celebrity appearances.
This scene from Episode 5 feels intentionally designed to recall “This Is the End.” When Will Forte introduces himself to Homelander and Soldier Boy, he mentions how he turned in Channing Tatum, who has an incredible cameo in “This Is the End” as Danny McBride’s cannibal pet. Also, both projects explore what an actor’s responsibilities are. In “This Is the End,” when the rapture occurs, the left-behind actors ruminate on how they should’ve been saved because they bring joy to others’ lives. On “The Boys,” Kumail Nanjiani brings up how, as actors, it’s up to them to stand up to oppression: “We’re storytellers, dude. Our superpower is we inspire hearts and minds.”
This idea invites interrogation, as actors don’t bring people joy out of charity, and their participation in politics can sometimes come across as misguided or preachy. Many creatives have their trademarks, signature motifs that pop up across their works. For Rogen, that appears to be actors playing themselves, meta commentary on the nature of celebrity, and, of course, a whole lot of visceral violence.
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