Like The Animatrix and Star Wars: Visions before it, The Boys Presents: Diabolical proves that most franchises can benefit from giving a group of creative voices free rein to use the power of animation to tell unique stories in the same universe. Though not every episode of this animated anthology is a winner, it still stands as a hilarious, gross, sexy, hyper-violent addition to the Vought-verse. While imperfect, it’s still a must-watch both for fans of The Boys and fans of the kind of cool superhero stories we don’t get to see often on screen.The Boys Presents: Diabolical Season 1 Download
The Boys Presents: Diabolical consists of eight episodes running at around 12 minutes each. Though they all take place within the world of The Boys, they are not strictly canon, at least not in the sense that they will heavily impact the main series’ story going forward. That means that those looking for hints in what happens next in the story of Billy and Hughie may be disappointed by these episodes, but those just open to watch some fun stories with light connections to the main plot should find a lot to love in the freedom they have to tell whatever story they want. Like Star Wars: Visions, most episodes follow a similar beat in that they follow someone exposed to Compound V, the substance that gives people their powers, and things go very, very wrong.Luckily, Diabolical has a lot more variety than Visions, as the episodes take big liberties with how they approach the world of corporate-sponsored supes, most without the need to connect to the show by bringing in known characters. Instead, we get smaller stories that explore the ramifications of the existence of superheroes created by injecting babies with a powerful drug, and how easily and quickly Compound V would expand to other aspects of our lives, from beauty products to recreational drug sales. That being said, the few episodes that do connect do so very effectively, whether it’s making The Deep the butt of a joke, or showing Homelander’s story before he became everyone’s favorite psychopathic Superman.