The Boys' Batman-Spoofing Tek Knight Episode Was All Kinds Of Disturbing, But We Also Need To Talk About That Wild Spider-Man Reference
Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched The Boys’ latest Season 4 episode "Dirty Business" with an Amazon Prime subscription, so beware!
While not every superhero character within The Boys’ powered-up ensemble is a direct parody of an already established comic book entity, there are plenty to go around, from Homelander’s Superman vibes to The Deep’s Aquaman parallels. Derek Wilson’s billionaire vigilante Tek Knight, whose cinematic legacy played into the show’s MCU Phase schedule parody, is both the source material and TV show’s hyper-perverted take on Bruce Wayne and Batman, and he certainly got his time to shine in the episode “Dirty Business,” which took viewers into his nasty-ass Tek-Cave.
But the episode didn’t just play up on Bruce Wayne’s orphanized origin story, and also featured perhaps the grossest Spider-Man pastiche possible, which somehow didn’t even occur to me until that storyline’s big “reveal.” And that’s not even talking about Butcher’s story going all mega-TV twist on everybody like if Jeffrey Dean Morgan was Fight Club’s Tyler Durden. But let’s talk about the best detail from each of the comic superhero-riffing stories for Tek Knight and the Web Weaver.
Tek Knight's Horny Bruce Wayne Meets Batman's Worst Fate
While part of me wishes The Boys' sixth Season 4 episode would have been more of a direct one-to-one spoof of a Batman story, that's just not how this show fuctions. So instead of a series of steady Naked Gun-esque type gags, the show went straight for the jugular (or whatever applicable vein) by revealing Tek Knight to be a fetish-embracing pervert on top of being a sense-enhanced Supe.
As if the character's personality weren't already a major red flag, the fact that the Tek-Cave is avaiilable to access through pulling the Marquis de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom was possibly as big a calling card as just changing his name to BDSM Man. And there wasn't anything too comforting about knowing that Tek Knight's murdered parents were cogs within a familial machine of racism, and that he was brazenly open about his bigotry in front of his Black wait staff.
In fact, that's how The Boys pulls off perhaps its most shocking Batman-twisting moment near the end of the episode: death by beloved butler. When Tek finally reveals his big part in Vought and Homelander's new plan involves using his family owned prisons as internment camps to house Supe-protesting citizens. At that point, as the protagonists were coming to terms with that monstrousness, the billionaire's Alfred-esque butler Elijah (Tyrone Benskin) popped up and vengefully murdered his employer for years and years of workplace abuse and truly sordid housecleaning duties.
Regardless of what Batman-related story one is reading, one of the least likely scenarios that could ever play out would be Alfred Pennyworth brutally taking out Bruce Wayne, a man he'd raised since the traumas of his youth. Alfred was always a parental authority figure, even when Bruce was a catty little bastard, but never wavered from his Wayne family promise. I can't imagine how things would have gone in the Batcave had Alfred ever dealth with the toxicity that Elijah did, and thankfully won't ever have to. (It is kinda fun to imagine this scene being Michael Caine's audition scene for Batman Begins.)
No R.I.P. for ol' Tek Knight here. He may rest in Ashley's pee, though.
Web Weaver Breaks The Fourth Wall With Spidey Joke
One of the more disturbingly simple superhero send-ups on The Boys, Web Weaver is introduced as a bit of a junkie who apparently shares a lot of the same sexual hang-ups as Tek Knight, Ashley and presumably others within the Vought Empire. But instead of utilizing a pair of wrist-based web shooters to make his silky creations, Dan Mousseau's character produces his from a funky looking orifice located around his tailbone.
Because the quasi-arachnid Supe was knocked out early on, with Hughie donning his stank-ass costume to infiltrate Tek Knight's party, viewers don't really get a whole lot of Web Weaver-specific lore to dig into. The exception being, of course, the elusive safe word that Hughie attempted to guess a few times in order to avoid having his feet tickled incessantly, among other things.
Weave Those Webs
The existence of the safe word is introduced rather quickly, with the only clue being that it's the thing that Web Weaver loves the most. I was ready to believe that the entire joke there was just that Hughie would frustratingly never land on the correct answer. But after Starlight and Kimiko rescue Hughie and are taking him back up the elevator, Elijah makes the big reveal: Web Weaver's safe word was "Zendaya."
Sure, having "Zendaya" as a safe word could mean that Web Weaver's Gen-Z persona was really into HBO's Euphoria, but it seems clear that she was namechecked as a direct nod to her presence as M.J. in Tom Holland's Spider-Man movies. Does that mean Spider-Man: Far From Home exists in this universe? Let's go with "yes," and leave the onus of proof on those who want to say otherwise.
Will fans see Web Weaver or his costume again in the world of The Boys? Only time will tell, so be sure to tune into the final two episodes of Season 4 when they drop on Prime Video over the next two Thursdays. And check out everything else heading to the small screen soon with our 2024 TV premiere schedule.
