Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s widely popular series The Boys is famous for its criticism of the entire superhero genre, including and especially DC Comics’ Justice League. Though what many fans may not know is that The Boys was actually originally published by DC, and Ennis himself later revealed that there were even plans for an official Justice League crossover.
Before moving to Dynamite Entertainment for the remainder of the series, The Boys was published by DC Comics under the WildStorm imprint for the first six issues. DC canceled The Boys reportedly due to its hyper violence and general anti-superhero message, at which point the title was released from any contracts, allowing Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson the freedom to go with a new publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.
However, for one shining moment, The Boys existed on the same plane as the majority of the superheroes it mocks: DC Comics. Even though The Boys was under the WildStorm imprint, and not DC Comics proper, that wouldn’t make much of a difference if it was decided that The Boys was going to include flagship DC characters like Batman, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League. In fact, that wasn’t just an ambiguous possibility, but was – according to Garth Ennis – the original plan.
The Boys’ Subtlest Comic Reference Exposes Compound V’s Surprising Inspiration
With 1 subtle reference buried within the origin story of the Boys’ most brutal member, the true inspiration behind Compound V is seemingly revealed.
Garth Ennis Confirms Planned The Boys/Justice League Crossover (& Is Thankful It Didn’t Happen)
In the back matter to The Boys Omnibus
The Boys Omnibus editions include a plethora of bonus content, including Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s original pitch for The Boys. It’s in this section that Garth Ennis revealed that DC Comics originally wanted Butcher and other main characters in The Boys to make in-world references to established DC characters for potential crossovers – something Ennis noted he thought was a “very bad idea”.
Garth Ennis: I’ve also removed one or two references to existing characters, a legacy of an initial editorial request that the series should be able to cross over with that company’s own superhero universe: a very bad idea that soon fell by the wayside.
This means that Garth Ennis’ pre-pitch version of The Boys had Butcher and the gang make loose references to the likes of Superman, Batman, and the rest of the Justice League for the sole purpose of setting up future crossovers. It’s interesting – and quite comical – that this was done at the request of DC editors upon The Boys’ conception, only for DC to let go of the series just six issues in.
The Boys’ Garth Ennis Is No Stranger To Justice League ‘Crossovers’
Hitman (1997) by Garth Ennis & John McCrea
Garth Ennis has an established rapport with DC Comics, with the highlight of their collaboration arguably being the 1997 Hitman series. That series was a spin-off from The Demon, in which Hitman’s main character, Tommy Monaghan, was introduced. As the series suggests, Tommy is a hitman who has superhuman abilities: x-ray vision and telepathy. Because he’s superhuman, he primarily takes superhuman hit-jobs, meaning Tommy had crossovers with members of the Justice League all the time. However, Hitman is decidedly not The Boys, something DC learned after only six issues, and something Garth Ennis knew from the beginning.
The Boys simply proved too dark and anti-superhero for DC Comics to continue to publish (even under the WildStorm imprint), let alone approve an official Justice League crossover. However, that was after the series established itself as a hyper-violent, hero-hating book, as before the first issue was published, DC editors were reportedly excited about crossover potential. In other words, fans don’t know how close they came to seeing a canonical Justice League/The Boys crossover, as the two series were originally both in the shared DC Universe.
