The Boys' Spider-Man Isn't As Gross As You'd Think - He's Much Worse

Contains spoilers for "The Boys" Season 4, Episode 6 — "Dirty Business"

"The Boys" rarely shies away from parodying superheroes with its collection of immoral expys of well-known DC and Marvel characters. Nearly every person with superpowers can be guaranteed to use them in the worst possible way, and even the most powerful Supes — here's looking at you, Homelander (Antony Starr) — have severe issues. Knowing all this, the viewer might suspect that the show's version of Spider-Man is creepy ... but even with that expectation in place, Webweaver (Dan Mousseau) manages to shock and surprise with his butt-based powers and sheer, smelly grossness.

Webweaver is a down-and-out Supe who's reasonably well-known in the superhero community, but also acts as an informant for the Boys. It's unclear whether he has all of Spider-Man's powers or just some of them, but he definitely shares the Tobey Maguire version's ability to shoot organic webbing. Unfortunately, Webweaver expels it from a nasty-looking orifice that's located near his tailbone. "The Boys" being "The Boys," this means that the Supe's web-shooter is effectively treated as an extension of his posterior, and the viewers are nigh-immediately treated to a gleefully disgusting flatulence joke when Webweaver accidentally expels a glob of webbing at Mother's Milk's (Laz Alonso) face.

If all of this wasn't enough, Webweaver also demonstrates an inherent flaw in the type of full-body suit Spider-Man wears, especially when it's combined with poor personal hygiene. When Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) wears the Supe's spider-themed costume to infiltrate Tek Knight's (Derek Wilson) party, the outfit turns out to be so pungent that Starlight (Erin Moriarty) physically recoils when she gets too close.

Webweaver's somewhat disgusting web-shooting is actually quite a bit more biologically accurate than Tobey Maguire's wrist-based web-slinging. It appears that, much like actual spiders, Webweaver has a spinneret organ that's located in the nether regions of his body. However, unlike spiders, the character expels his webbing with some noise and force instead of slowly pulling it out with special leg bristles. This is similar to the way Maguire's Spider-Man's web-shooters work and also lends itself well to low-brow comedic beats.

The show heavily implies that when Webweaver is up for it, he can use this power in ways that are far beyond the useless glob Mother's Milk catches to his misfortune. The spider-themed character's home is full of massive, elaborate webs that show what he can do when at full power. While Tek Knight wants to recruit Webweaver as a sidekick for somewhat different reasons than his crime-fighting prowess, the fact that the malicious-yet-stylish Supe is willing to publicly affiliate himself with Webweaver is a strong clue that the latter still has some credibility. Webweaver is definitely notable enough to appear alongside members of the Seven and other prominent Supes in "The Boys'" gross "Mortal Kombat" style video game, "Tournament of Heroes," which suggests that Vought has a history of pushing him as an A-lister. 

As such, time will tell whether Webweaver can sort out his act and show the viewers he's a force to be reckoned with, or if the eternally explicit "The Boys" Season 4 continues to use him as a literal butt of its jokes. Still, at least the live-action version of Webweaver actually gets some screen time. After all, the original Boys team hunts the comic book version of the character down before the story even begins.