Every Superhero's Power From The Boys Ranked

Amazon Prime's "The Boys" exists in a superhero universe where the world's population is made up of average human beings just trying to make it through the day and super-powered beings who make surviving to the end of the day really difficult. This is a reality where the closest thing to a Justice League is actually a PR front for a mega-corporation, Vought, that uses the superhero team the Seven as a distraction from their actual business — manufacturing the drug Compound V which gives people their powers.

Like other superhero universes, each hero has a unique power that differentiates them from the others. Unlike Marvel or DC, however, the only official superheroes are the ones sanctioned by Vought. Anyone else is just a "supe." There are plenty of other non-heroes walking around as well, but since they're not considered superheroes within the show, we won't be talking about them here. Instead, we're going to go through and rank the powers of named characters we actually see onscreen based on how they're used in the series and how practical they might be in real life.

There's nothing wrong with being able to communicate with aquatic life. If anything, it would be super convenient if you don't like being alone. Just buy some fish from the pet store, and you've always got someone around to talk to. Another good use for such a power might be an aquatic therapist. You'd think that animal rights activists might want someone capable of communicating with whales, dolphins, and sharks to get the real scoop on what life at a waterpark is like and help them process their trauma.

However, this is "The Boys," and most superpowered individuals have little concern for helping anyone. So instead, we get jokes about inappropriate behavior with whales and one scene where the Deep uses his power in full force, but it backfires horrendously. As far as "The Boys" goes, the Deep's aquatic telepathy is borderline useless. In terms of real-world application, though, it could be used effectively but only in highly specific situations. That's why it comes in at the bottom of the list.

We see even less use of super vision than we do of aquatic telepathy. In Season 2, a hero named Eagle the Archer bails the Deep out of jail and gets him involved with a cultish religion with ties to Vought. He seems to be a nice guy who is really good with a bow and arrow, but we never witness him demonstrate this. Without an actual example of how he uses the ability, it's hard to rank.

However, it isn't very hard to imagine how useful such a power would be in your day-to-day life. As a driver, you'd be able to see and plan for dangers before anyone else. You would probably never need glasses. As a wildlife photographer, you'd always know where the best shots to point your camera would be. If you like watching birds, there's no need for binoculars. We could go through and list every time super vision might come in handy, but the fact of the matter is we had to rank it low because the show doesn't give us enough information on how Eagle uses his power.

When the character of Popclaw is first introduced in the series, it's made clear that her ability to pop claws out of her forearm makes her one of the least popular supes in the game. It sounds very silly, but once you see it, it makes sense. She's like an odd version of Wolverine from the "X-Men" except without the healing factor, rich backstory, or fun characterization. She's a sad woman running on the fumes of her failed career who has claws in her arms.

This power ranks higher than super vision because we actually see her deploy her claws in self-defense. Immediately it's clear how they would work in a fight and that she could really do some damage in a fight. In terms of real-world application, they would likely be more of a nuisance than anything else. Maybe you could use them to open things and hang laundry before putting it in the closet, but not much else.

Fire is always a great visual. It's bright, dangerous, and makes a cool sound when someone with pyrokinesis starts whirling it around in the air. As impressive as it is, fire can be tragically destructive, as the character of Lamplighter proves. While mastering fire means you can wield both life and death with your hands, it also means collateral damage is pretty much a given, and that can result in a terrible loss of life.

We're shown that Lamplighter is extremely proud of his ability and how it makes him look, but one gigantic mistake makes him lose his status completely. After living a life as an orderly in a secret facility for Compound V experiments, Lamplighter escapes and eventually uses his power to snuff out his own life. Living with that kind of guilt has got to be brutal and he couldn't take it anymore.

If you're careful, you might be able to use pyrokinesis for some good. When you're around, no one will have to go without a cooked meal, no one would have to freeze, and darkness would never be a problem again — not that Lamplighter seems to care about any of those things. Still, it could be immensely helpful if you're willing to take the risk. Therefore, it ranks slightly higher than some of the other powers.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

This power gets so underplayed that you might find yourself wondering what Black Noir's power is during the entire run of the series. It doesn't get spoken about much, but it is the only explanation for how Noir can be so efficient in his hunting skills. Like Marvel's Daredevil, both Black Noir and Blindspot (who only appears in one scene) are efficient and sense the position and movements of their enemies thanks to this heightened ability to hear details mere mortals cannot.

It would be an excellent ability for a spy listening to a conversation from across a room, someone who is worried that their neighbors are talking about them, or someone who wants to watch a movie at the drive-in without paying for it. Beyond that, doctors could use it to listen for irregularities, and someone could use it to find someone who has gone missing.

However, it seems like you would be spending most of your time filtering out a bunch of distractions to focus on the thing that actually matters. So it could be higher, but the annoyance that comes with it keeps superhuman hearing in the bottom half.

Of all the powers seen in "The Boys," Starlight's is easily the most visually stunning. She uses it quite a bit, and each time is a showstopper. By tapping into the electricity around her, Starlight can harness it through her body and use it for her own purposes. Sometimes this means blinding people, other times she's throwing it at someone to send them flying, and she even uses it to save someone's life — because she is an actual superhero.

If this ability existed in the real world, it could be used to restart transportation, boost the power of appliances, or possibly get someone's heart beating again. The problem is it wouldn't come in very handy if you were in the middle of the desert or some other remote location in the world. We find out in Season 2 that when all of the electricity in the area gets fried, Starlight can't use her power. As long as you stay in an urban setting and no EMPs are set off, though, you should be fine with controlled electric conversion.

Homelander is the leader of the Seven and he basically has Superman's powers. He can fly, has super strength, and his skin is invulnerable. Beyond that, he has both heat vision and x-ray vision. They're linked together in this ranking because they relate to each other and are used by the same superhero. Heat vision is primarily used in the show to destroy anything Homelander doesn't like, while his x-ray vision he reserves for breaches of privacy. Did we mention that he's not a nice person?

The default use for x-ray vision is, obviously, seeing things folks don't want you to see. However, it could also be engaged when investigating someone's injuries. It might even be a cheaper and safer alternative to medical devices that do the same thing. Heat vision could also be used to cook things, weld things, cauterize wounds, or maybe just clear the driveway in winter. Both powers could make your life much easier, but they come with a ton of responsibility.

If the Flash has taught us anything, it's that super speed is far more multifaceted than just getting somewhere quickly. Run fast enough and you can break all barriers of space and time. That's not to say that getting somewhere really fast isn't important too. If a hero has the chance to help someone get away from a threat before they even know they're in danger, they have a responsibility to do so. However, as A-Train made quite clear in the very first episode of "The Boys," that kind of speed can also lead to messy mistakes.

Obviously, super speed would be incredibly convenient in the real world. No more leaving an hour early to get to work on time. You'd never have to worry about finding transportation. Nor would you need to concern yourself with exercise. However, when a speedster isn't careful, they can destroy property — or an entire human being. Going that fast means that anything in your way might get obliterated if your reaction time isn't spot on. Also, Shockwave's death proved that he wasn't fast enough to stop a villain from blowing up his head, so maybe super speed isn't all it's cracked up to be.

It's a real shame that one of the best powers in the show is controlled by a literal Nazi posing as a superhero. In Season 2, the Seven needs a new permanent member, and Stormfront is brought in to fill the bill. At first, she seems like the embodiment of the kind of character Starfire wants to be (and truly is at heart). However, as Stormfront's storyline continues, we see that she's actually a horrifically evil person who just so happens to be able to manifest bursts of purple lightning that allow her to travel through the air and mess up anyone or anything she fires at.

This power ranks higher than Starfire's because it doesn't appear that Stormfront needs to be near electricity. Therefore, she can do all the cool stuff Starfire can, but it doesn't matter where in the world she is. Not only would this be an excellent power to have at your beck and call when fighting someone stronger than you, but the real-world applications are also numerous — perhaps it could even be used to generate renewable energy. It's an all-around great power, even if a human monster controls it.

Invisibility itself isn't all that practical. Perhaps if you suffer from social anxiety (like Violet in "The Incredibles), the ability to disappear might help you go out in public, but most of its uses would likely be nefarious. Sure, you could use it to infiltrate a dangerous location or spy on potential evil-doers, but in "The Boys," Translucent uses his ability to watch people in the bathroom. 

He claims that invisibility isn't his superpower. Instead, he believes that living among people unnoticed and listening is his power. He can hear and see the things people would rather keep private. However, gathering dirt on someone or spying on them might be easier with invisibility, but it can still be accomplished through other means. His real power is the invulnerable skin that can bend light to make him invisible. That stuff makes him as strong and fearless as Luke Cage and is far more useful in a practical sense than invisibility. 

Think of all the risks you would take in life if you knew you couldn't be hurt, the places you'd go, the experiences you would have. Not only could you save anyone who needed it, but you could live your own life to the fullest because you'd know that no one can hurt you — unless the Boys manage to smuggle an explosive inside your body, as they do with Translucent. 

From what we can tell, pretty much every superhero in "The Boys" has some degree of super strength. It makes sense when you think about it. What good is running fast if your body is just going to fall apart under the pressure of that kind of speed? Why have electricity coursing through your body if it's just going to incinerate you? However, of all the powerful supes on the show, only one is defined by their strength — Queen Maeve.

Maeve is broken. She has a brief relationship with Homelander, but his jealousy following the breakup keeps her from getting too close with anyone. She wanders around the halls of the tower in a daze of misery. When the time comes, though, she can smash anything put in front of her, proving that if she could just draw on her physical strength, maybe she'd build up the emotional power to stand on her own.

Super strength might be an underrated power. In comic books and the movies and TV shows they inspire, it's mostly used to show people smacking each other across the world, carrying a person to safety, or picking up something really heavy to throw at someone. Rarely do they present instances when that kind of strength can be directed at fixing broken machinery, planting trees, or carrying massive amounts of food to the needy.

Being able to fly has got to be the number one superpower out there. Even though in "The Boys," the corrupt superheroes pretty much only use it for transportation. True, Homelander flies through the air to destroy an airplane, but he's not dropping people from extreme heights or creating a sonic boom that can decimate a city block or anything.

Flight allows you to forget about traffic. If more of us could fly, there would be far fewer carbon emissions. Mental health might improve greatly as well. Whenever the world gets to be too much for you, just fly off to a new location, soar above the clouds and get a little perspective. There's also the opportunity to transport goods to distant locations in dire need and ensure no flight ever crashes again. Although we didn't see a lot of variety in how flight is executed in "The Boys," what we see is impressive enough, and the real-world implications are numerous enough to rank it at the top of the list.