The Worst Thing Queen Maeve Ever Did On The Boys

For fans of Amazon's brutal anti-superhero streamer The Boys, watching the series' first two seasons has been a bit of an endurance test thanks to a relentless, boundary-pushing parade of shocking violence and gore, as well as a heavy dose of nihilistic ideology. It's also been a ton of fun, as the brilliantly satirical series continues using cheeky wit and razor-sharp intellect to dissect what superheroes might be like in the modern world. And if The Boys is to be believed, real-world supers may have less than heroic intentions toward humanity.

In fact, The Boys (based on comic book icon Garth Ennis' caustic deconstruction of superhero mythos) presents a world where supes are often downright villainous. And while the nefarious Vought Industries has fully indulged the murderous, self-serving antics of the series' biggest, baddest supe Homelander (Anthony Starr), the rest of The Seven have just as often participated in devious acts more befitting of villains than heroes. 

And then there's Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott). She's undoubtedly done some questionable things in her time with The Seven (i.e. watching more or less idly as that hijacked plane Homelander doomed to a fiery destruction falls from the sky), but she's hardly the worst of the bunch. Mostly she's just severely jaded after being front and center for much of The Seven's appalling shenanigans over the years. And while Queen Maeve spent most of season 2 trying to make amends for past wrongs, her actions after Homelander outed her on national television were pretty questionable. And even in spite of some of her prior transgressions, they easily rank among the worst things Queen Maeve has done on The Boys.

As for Maeve's outing, it comes after she inadvertently allows a vengeful Homelander to discover she's rekindled her relationship with her old partner Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude). Once that fact is out there, Vought's marketing team quickly scrambles to spin the news that the publicly conservative-leaning Maeve is leading another life behind the scenes. They do so by leaning fully into Maeve's sexuality to the point of parody, rebranding her as "Brave Maeve," crafting a new identity built around the hero's sexuality, and thus using it to attract support from the LGBTQ+ community.

Jaded as she is at the time, the mighty Queen Maeve unfortunately just goes along with whatever her Vought bosses want, even ignoring her own bisexuality (a significant distinction in the LGBTQ+ community) because her being a lesbian is "a bit of an easier sell." And fans of The Boys can no doubt attest that the initial pitch scene with Elena, Maeve, and the Vought marketing crew is one of the series' most genuinely cringe-worthy non-violent moments.

Of course, Maeve's intentions in going with the flow are actually quite noble in that she really believes the strategy might help protect Elena from harm (via Homelander and/or the world at large). Sadly, Elena is never fully on board with the outrageous marketing scheme. And in the end, Elena watching the woman she loves fall in line with such a shamelessly manipulative ordeal forges an irreparable rift between the loving couple that ultimately dooms the relationship.

While that loss initially sends Maeve further into despair, it eventually helps reignite the fire within that leads to her facing off against Homelander in The Boys' bracing season 2 finale — though that act may well lead to even more trouble in the show's upcoming third season.