The Boys Presents: Diabolical Review: A Glorious & Vulgar Animated Appetizer - Collider

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In a world where we see an ever-increasing number of spinoff shows that only feel like derivative retreads of what came before, there is an untapped potential for something that is willing to push the envelope and become something different. While it can still draw from its narrative roots, there is much to be praised when a show is willing to go in its own creative and imaginative direction. Enter The Boys Presents: Diabolical, the perfect type of antidote to both superhero and spinoff fatigue that hits just the right spot to become something beautiful, if brutal, all its own. While Diabolical doesn’t reach the same heights as the main course of a regular season of The Boys, the unhinged and varied use of animation still more than carves out its place as being a bloody good holdover until the third season of the main show returns.

Told over eight episodes that all hover around 12 minutes apiece, the first thing you should know about these bite-sized shorts is that they are most certainly not made with children in mind. I cannot stress this enough: these shorts are violent, gory, explicit, and generally vulgar. Okay, are all the kids gone? Good, because these shorts also are glorious in how over-the-top, anarchic, and dark they become. Described as being “set in the world of The Boys,” each distinct story takes us into the lives of characters old and new as they try to survive in the nightmare of a world where Vought superheroes roam freely. It both fits right in with what the original series achieved in showing what it would actually be like for an average person to deal with the terror of “heroes” being able to kill you at any moment while also going in other gripping and engrossing directions.

Some resemble more emotional parables in tone and style. In particular, the vibrant yet devastating "John and Sun-Hee" marks a high point. It is a short that begins as being about an older man trying to save his wife from terminal cancer and quickly becomes something far more horrifying. Directed by Steve Ahn and written by Andy Samberg, who also briefly provides his voice talents, the short covers a surprising amount of emotional ground in such a short period of time. It is able to uncover something more profound about how desperate people left with limited options will do desperate things for those they love, no matter the consequences. Oh, and it also features some gorgeous and terrifying animation at the same time. The awe is found in the scope of the scenes where all seems lost, only to discover a sense of heart is right there as well. In the final moments, as the sun rises on the characters realizing there is no turning back, these seemingly disparate parts all come together to create a compelling and cohesive whole.

the-boys-diabolical-laser-baby-still-2 — Image via Prime Video

There is something jarring about how this short is also juxtaposed with a much less subtle short that is literally called "An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents." It is the bluntest and most on-the-nose of all the shorts where the title literally tells you all that you need to know. It is written and frequently voiced by Justin Roiland in the animation style of many of his other shows that you’ve seen before. That isn’t to say it is bad, just that it is not quite as stunning and inventive as many of the other shorts. A bonus is that it features a wonderful Christian Slater as a narrator of sorts whose dry delivery makes everything better. It also has some of the best jokes that range from being darkly clever to grandly juvenile.

Speaking of juvenile, there is also the short "BFFs" that is written by and starring Awkwafina as a young girl who befriends her excrement that comes to life after she drinks compound V. A similarly silly experience, it looks like it is ripped straight from a Saturday morning cartoon with all the quirks and expressions you’d find there. It resolves itself a little too cleanly for all the shit, pun intended, that was being thrown out there. Despite this, it still is, without a doubt, exactly what it set out to be: an oddly affectionate story about a girl and the deeply loving bond she forms with her own poop. The juvenile nature of these shorts is not a detriment by any means, though it is something to be aware of as their sick sense of humor is a major shift from many of the other stories that take a more weighty approach to their subject matter.

The-Boys-Diabolical-Trailer — Image via Prime Video

Though this isn’t to be unexpected coming from a show like The Boys that continually comes at you and upends the rules of what superhero stories could be. From the very beginning, the series doesn’t hold back, submerging you all the way in with the Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen-written "Laser Baby’s Day Out." Most closely resembling an old Looney Tunes classic cartoon, it is without dialogue and focuses on a baby with laser eyes that escapes from a lab to wreak havoc while a panicked lab worker follows in tow. Combining slapstick with buckets of gore and viscera, it shows that the series is all about finding humor in the darkest of places.

That extends to "I’m Your Pusher," the short that packs the most explosive gore and is most closely drawing from the original style of Garth Ennis’ The Boys comics. It is felt in "Boyd in 3D," a humorous look at relationships from Eliot & Ilana Glazer that is so razor-sharp it leaves blood everywhere. Similarly about relationships, "Nubian vs Nubian" takes an anime approach to look at one superhero couple’s deteriorating relationship. Rounding all this out is "One Plus One Equals Two" which shows part of how the sociopath that is Homelander came to be so monstrous. Each entry packs a unique vision and approach, ensuring that if you don’t quite connect with one of them it will quickly be followed up with one that might just resonate.

the-boys-diabolical-trailer-still-1 — Image via Prime Video

The most significant takeaway from all of Diabolical’s disparate episodes is that they feel like pure, unrestrained visions of their creators. That is not only refreshing but worth praising in its own right. Even in the moments where certain elements don’t quite work, the bold nature of it all is something superhero stories need. As a genre, it can risk becoming too safe and repetitive in an assembly-line nature. The main series of The Boys provided a necessary shock to the system, skewering and challenging many of these derivative aspects. While its animated spinoff does not quite reach the same level of insight, it still once again proves that the most important thing to a story is creativity and a willingness to color outside the lines.

It is in the varying experiences where each short draws its own art outside any guidelines set out for them where it all connects. As you go from being horrified and moved in one moment to disgusted yet chuckling in the next, you can’t help but shake your head at just what it managed to pull off. It is a show that revels in the squeamish yet hilarious, disemboweling the darker aspects of the superhero genre to reveal its blood and guts that it subsequently throws everywhere. You may be tempted to watch this ambitious package of shorts in a single sitting, though these animated appetizers are worth savoring for how rich with creativity they are.

Rating: A

All episodes of The Boys Presents: Diabolical are available starting Friday, March 4 on Amazon Prime.

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About The Author

Chase Hutchinson (109 Articles Published)

Chase Hutchinson is a Feature/Review Writer for Collider. His work has also appeared in a variety of publications including The Stranger, The Portland Mercury, The Inlander, and The Sunbreak. He lives in Tacoma, WA (it is near Seattle, though still very much its own thing) where he works as a writer and journalist.