Upcoming Superhero Movie Based On A Best-Selling Saga Is Netflix's Answer To The Boys
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Published Apr 14, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT
Lewis is a Lead Writer for Screen Rant and has written for the site since 2022. This has allowed Lewis to explore a vast array of films, TV shows, books, comic books, and games from across the mainstream world of pop culture, reflecting his lifelong love of all media and typifying his experience in the world of fiction storytelling. To top this off, Lewis graduated from Northumbria University with First Class Honours in Film & TV Studies, truly exemplifying his experience in the medium.
Netflix has an upcoming superhero movie that will serve as its version of Prime Video's The Boys. The Boys season 5 is currently underway, bringing the show to a close after it started in 2019. In many ways, The Boys has become its own cultural phenomenon, chief among them being the way it differs from the typical superhero fare of Marvel and DC.
The Boys is a dark, cynical look at the world of superheroes, their powers, how they would act, and how it all ties to various socio-political aspects. Despite carving out its own niche since 2019, an upcoming Netflix live-action anime adaptation, My Hero Academia, will be the streaming service's answer to Prime Video's popular show.
Netflix's My Hero Academia Movie Will Be A Romanticized Mirror To The Boys
Custom image created by Evan D. Mullicane
At its core, stripping away exterior aspects, My Hero Academia is a story that deconstructs superhero tropes. Similar to The Boys, My Hero Academia deconstructs superheroism in a "realistic" way, featuring social aspects like ranking systems, ratings, oversaturation of heroes, and so on.
Another similar aspect between the two is how they depict "sillier" powers. The Boys does this endlessly, constantly showcasing powers that have no real use for superheroes, as does My Hero Academia. Aspects like this, as well as exploring the morally gray aspects of "heroes" and "villains," tie the two franchises together, though Netflix's My Hero Academia movie will have a key difference.
Despite the inherent similarities that come from deconstructing the superhero genre, My Hero Academia does this in a much more romanticized way. The Boys never loses its cynical, gritty edge, and never really leans into more typically exciting superhero fight scenes. My Hero Academia is different in that it often includes huge superhero fight scenes that are some of the best in the genre, be they animated or live-action.
When adding in aspects like the underdog story at its center, the way it includes superhero team-ups, the emotional impact of compelling characters, and the innate focus on having the responsibility and drive to help people when you can, My Hero Academia includes a lot of the romance and typically exciting conventions of superhero stories. The Boys has much less of this, making My Hero a much more romanticized mirror to the former.
My Hero Academia Is One Of The Best Versions Of The Superhero Deconstruction Trope
What makes Netflix's upcoming adaptation of My Hero Academia all the more exciting is how great the story is. The original manga and anime are beloved, largely being considered some of the more popular shonen stories in the entire medium. The anime, despite having a smaller Western reach than the likes of The Boys, has a 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes after eight seasons, proving just how consistent it is.
From a fan perspective, the anime boasts consistently high ratings on IMDb, again proving how it resonates with audiences who watch it. My Hero Academia is simply one of the best versions of a show that deconstructs superhero tropes while simultaneously leaning into them.
Concerning the deconstruction side, it has all the humor and satirical aspects that come with it, while still using them to craft a compelling, different kind of superhero world than the likes of Marvel or DC. The elements of the show that then lean into superhero tropes bring with them wonderful action, a big emotional heart, and excellent character development.
If Netflix can translate all this effectively with My Hero Academia, it will have everything going for it that Prime Video does with The Boys, only with an added dose of typical superhero goodness that the latter show strays away from.
Should My Hero Academia Really Become A Movie?
All that being said, the question is worth raising of whether My Hero Academia should become a movie at all. Live-action anime adaptations have tended to be overall poor in quality for a while now, especially from Netflix. This is even more true for live-action anime movies, which often struggle to condense such rich, long-running stories into typical Hollywood runtimes.
This alone is enough to question whether My Hero Academia should become a movie, but there is another option: TV. Netflix is primarily a TV streaming service and is known to have turned somewhat of a corner regarding anime adaptations recently in this medium. One Piece proved everyone wrong, becoming a beloved, faithful, and overall excellent adaptation of the anime of the same name.
The longer form storytelling of TV allows One Piece to tell the story of the anime effectively. Although aspects of the source material are left out, the live-action version is nowhere near as condensed, rushed, or ineffective as a movie would have been. Therefore, Netflix could learn from One Piece and craft a My Hero Academia show instead of a movie, going another step further to make its own mirror to The Boys.
Custom image created by Evan D. Mullicane
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