Sharing his original pitch for the series, The Boys creator reveals that Tek Knight originally had an R-rated codename that ultimately went too far.
Whether in the comics or its TV adaptation, The Boys is known for its raunchy, irreverent, often gory take on the superhero genre. However, even this extremely R-rated series held back in some cases – none more shocking than the original codename of the hero later known as Tek Knight.
Created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys‘ Robert Vernon is a parody of DC’s Batman and Marvel’s Iron Man – a millionaire vigilante who uses his advanced armor to keep up with his super-powered colleagues. Despite being one of the rare actual heroes in the series, Tek Knight is primarily known for his habit of committing sexual acts with random objects – a compulsion that’s eventually revealed to be caused by a brain tumor. Indeed, this compulsion was the first concrete decision Ennis made about the character, leading to the writer calling him “the F****er” in his original series pitch to DC Comics. Annotating his own pitch for fans, Ennis comments, “Oh, charming. More tea, Vicar?”
In The Boys Omnibus Volume 6, Ennis includes his original outline for the series. While the main cast are already clear in his head, the villains of the franchise are less fleshed out, with the Seven not existing at this early stage. However, Ennis does have plans for “the F****er” in the comic’s second volume, noting, “Obviously, this would become Get Some, featuring Tek-Knight and his little problem.” Played in the Amazon adaptation by Derek Wilson, Tek Knight is turned into a far more menacing figure on TV, though with his core attributes relatively similar.
The Boys’ Tek Knight Was Conceived as “The F***er”
Ennis’ Plans for the Character Began with His Compulsion
Tek Knight is one of the first superheroes the Boys take on in the comics, and he appears before the series has fully found its voice. Because of this, Tek Knight is the only truly altruistic mainstream superhero in the series. His medical problem not withstanding, Tek Knight strives to help others, and even dies while pushing a woman and child to safety from some falling masonry (albeit while hallucinating a world-saving fantasy in which his compulsion makes him uniquely capable of destroying a meteor heading for Earth.) In the original pitch, Ennis writes:
“A superhero confides in his psychiatrist that he can’t stop having sex, generally with whatever comes to hand. His cyborg teammate, the shrink’s cat, a melon – nothing is safe. This is all grist for the mill of the Boys’ blackmail machine, of course, and it isn’t long before Butcher and co. take an interest.”
At this point in the series, there were some major differences – Butcher was still coming together as a character and Mother’s Milk was planned to secretly be several centuries old – however the outline for Tek Knight stayed almost exactly the same from conception to publication – right down to the detail of Tek Knight being kicked off Payback after assaulting his robotic teammate Mind-Droid (a parody of Marvel’s Vision.)
The original The Boys comics are a genuinely disrespectful takedown of superhero stories, and many of the characters’ codenames are veiled insults or innuendo, however calling a hero “the F***er” would have broken suspension of disbelief, especially in a world where superheroes are hiding their true hedonistic nature from the public. To be fair to Ennis, he does note the name is a “working title,” though considering the franchise also includes Supes like Discharge, Reacher Dick and Snaffletwat, “the F***er” becoming “Tek Knight” still feels like a lucky escape. The Boys is not known for its restraint, but thankfully it had the subtlety to give Tek Knight a more G-rated codename, even if his actual behavior stayed the same.
