In recent years, superheroes have become a staple of popular culture, dominating both big and small screens with caped crusaders and masked vigilantes. While these stories have become commonplace, new subgenres have emerged to keep things interesting. One such response is to present a more realistic interpretation, where a world of people with special abilities is not a fantasy, but an everyday occurrence. Two shows that do this well are Prime Video’s The Boys and Hulu’s Extraordinary.
The Boys, now in its fourth season, offers a gritty and subversive take on superheroes, focusing on a group of underdogs and mostly “normal” people living in an unromantic universe where heroes are as fallible as your average Joe. On the other hand, Extraordinary, a British sitcom, provides its own fresh take on the concept of superheroes in our everyday lives. This comedic alternative to The Boys keeps the satirical lens, dark humor, and down-to-earth approach to superheroes, but with its own jovial spin.
Extraordinary’s 16 episodes are the perfect quick binge to satisfy your hunger between episodes of The Boys. The show pitches itself on a very simple and relatable premise: “What if you were the only person in the world who wasn’t special?” Protagonist Jen, a painfully average 25-year-old, works a meaningless job, puts her foot in her mouth nearly every time she speaks, and struggles with relationships across the board. The twist is that in this universe, everyone develops a power around their 18th birthday – or at least, everyone except Jen.
The show’s cast of characters, including Jen’s flatmates Carrie, Kash, and their adopted stray cat Jizzlord, is full of endearing and flawed individuals, all struggling to navigate their mundane lives in a world where superpowers are the norm. Norm sitcom plots are given a superhuman twist to spice them up. Dating is already tough, competing with people who are cooler, funnier, or more attractive than you. As a misfit without an ability, Jen isn’t viewed as an intriguing rarity but looked down on as a pitiful underachiever.
Both shows experiment with a variety of powers beyond the most common ones, like super strength and flight. Gen V, a spin-off of The Boys, has a protagonist that controls blood and a bigender hero who can swap between male and female versions of themselves. Extraordinary has people with the power of censorship, permanent helium breath, and the ability to convert anything into a PDF. Even Jen’s mom’s power of technopathy is a play on how parents don’t understand technology, even if they have the ability to literally control it with their mind.
The shows also share raunchy humor, poking fun at the absurdities of superhero culture. The Boys featured a character named Love Sausage who was a hit at the Herogasm orgy with his prehensile penis. Extraordinary has a character who can make people orgasm just by touching them, only to wear gloves with her, wanting to take things slowly. Both shows crack wise about the commercialization of people with powers, with the TV-MA rating indicating that the content is suitable for mature audiences only.
However, Extraordinary is not a carbon copy of The Boys. It is first and foremost a comedy with a much less intense demeanor. While not completely devoid of drama, it works more like Scrubs in that it keeps its lightheartedness while peppering in some tear-jerker moments along the way. In comparison, The Boys can be a laugh riot with its dark humor and political satire, but it is predominantly serious with comedic undertones.
Extraordinary is available to watch on Hulu in the U.S. While it may not satisfy every aspect admired of The Boys, it presents a similar yet distinct take on superheroes, doing its own thing and doing it well enough that it deserves some attention.
