Ted Cruz is running for president in The Boys season 3

Based on behind-the-scenes pics, The Boys season 3 is coming for Disney, McDonald’s, Ted Cruz and a lot more. The satire is strong with this superhero show.

Two seasons in, The Boys has managed to stand out even amongst the overpowering glut of superhero movies and TV shows currently available to fans. It’s succeeded by going where the others won’t. Shows that explore the dark underbelly of superhero-dom are nothing new, but there’s little out there that does it with as much precision as The Boys. The psychopathic Superman parody Homelander is one of the best villains to come out of TV in the past several years, and the show is more than happy to attack industry heavyweights like Marvel. The Boys is a fun splatter-fest with plenty of gore and off-color humor, yes, but it’s also got some (very cynical) things to say about consumerism, extremism and politics.

That satiric spirit is very much in evidence in new pics from behind the scenes in Toronto. Remember those digs at Marvel I mentioned? This ad for superhero team-up movie Dawn of the Seven on the side of a bus is pretty clear parody of all the MCU movies that come out like clockwork from Disney:

I swear that at one point in The Boys someone mentioned a streaming service called Vought+ or something; at the least, it sounds like something The Boys would do.

Vought, by the way, is the international corporation that employs superheroes like Homelander and his long-suffering colleagues. Like Disney, Vought wants to wring as much money as possible out of their heroes, who are often more concerned with their brand identity than making a difference in the world. Sure, sometimes they’ll stop a robbery, but more often they’re promoting their memoir or using their image to hawk shoes or burgers:

“Vought-A-Burger” is a particularly fun addition to the season, complete with the ridiculous Seven Tower sandwich:

One more interesting detail: in the bottom-right hand corner of this photo collage, you can see a campaign poster for “Ted Cruz 2024.” Apparently, The Boys season 3 will make a bit of a time jump, right into a period when the Republican senator from Texas is again running for president, although it’s unclear if he makes it past the primaries this time. I’m guessing yes.

Again, that feels like something The Boys would do. The second season featured a prominent arc for a character named Stormfront, a hero who ended up being a literal Nazi who wanted to revive the values of the Third Reich. Meanwhile, in our world, American scholars are banding together to warn that the country’s democracy is at risk in the face of a wave of Republican-backed voter suppression legislation. Putting a right-wing extremist like Cruz on the path to the presidency sounds right up this show’s alley.

Also, it probably has something to do with the Twitter feud between Cruz and The Boys producer Seth Rogen. (And yes, trading insults on Twitter with a Hollywood actor is a good use of time for a U.S. Senator, why would you think otherwise?) I wonder if we’ll see more digs once the season lands on Amazon.

There’s no word on when The Boys season 3 will air as of yet, but we can cross our fingers for a premiere later this year.

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h/t Narcity Toronto