The action star’s appearance reminds us a lot of her other recent cameo.
In the first post credits vista forDoctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness , Marvel did that thing Marvel tends to do : Unveil a unexampled character played by a very notable person . This meter it ’s Clea , a sorceress embodied with someEuphoriaeye makeup by Charlize Theron . So you ’d be forgiven for doing a double take when Theron bear witness up again in this season ’s premier ofThe Boys , doing a similar type of cameo .
In Amazon ’s uproariously brutal superhero satire , Theron appears as Charlize Theron asterisk in a movie calledDawn of the Sevenas Stormfront , the not - so - confidential Nazi supe , portrayed to terrorize effect in time of year 2 ofThe Boysby Aya Cash . Theron — tegument flawless , hair light-haired — tries to convert the on screenHomelander(Antony Starr ) to unite forces with her so they can have beautiful Aryan child . Whereas the off - screen Homelander was definitely on board with all of Stormfront ’s plan , the motion picture version call her a " Nazi bitch " and join with his squad to defeat her .
esthetically , Dawn of the Sevenlooks like a direct riff on the Zack Snyder DC flick . Even just the name evokesBatman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice . But Charlize ’s inclusion , so soon after her Marvel cameo , feel like an unintentional and somehow perfect archeological site at the rife provider of superhero fare in this ethnic ecosystem .
Amazon Studios
Theron , as we cognize , is a thrilling activity star thanks to her work in the likes ofAtomic BlondeandMad Max : Fury Road , but her performances both as Clea and as Stormfront have a kind of ice tabby sheen to them , that say very similarly . To be fair , it ’s not like she has much to do as Clea , a role that will belike get spread out whenever the nextDoctor Strangemovie comes along . And Clea , as far as we know , is not trying to create the " Fourth Reich " the path Stormfront is . But Theron approach both of the second with a vague " ring it in " character that makes them parallel .
The Boysis as much about the concept of superheroes as it is about the business of superheroes . The supes like Homelander are essentially movie stars under contract bridge with Vought , a company with tentacle all throughout American liveliness . InThe Boys , Vought has made superheroism the monoculture so as to get the world on board with the militarization of supes . That means supes are marketed like celebrities , give blockbuster movie that will rewrite their misstep — in Homelander ’s case go down in love with a true Nazi — as gang - pleasing entertainment .
Marvel , of course , is no Vought , even when you consider the fact that it ’s have by Disney , whichdoes have a reach beyond the macrocosm of cartoons and caped reformist . But the wayThe Boysportrays superhero entertainment as an unavoidable and wearying force single-valued function onto the way Marvel has come to dominate filmgoing . entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now halt four of the top ten slots on the listing of the highest grossing movie of all clip . It feels rare when a non - Marvel enterprise breaks through at the box bureau , especially after the pandemic theater shut out down . It ’s not quite as insidious as anything go on inThe Boys , but it is frustrating — and exactly the kind of thingThe Boysis mocking . And Charlize is not helping matter for Marvel .
Whereas Theron ’s appearance as Clea is rote in a predictable way , her bit as Stormfront is vapid in an advisedly comical whirl on the tough kind of superhero performance . It ’s all a small on the nose . The Boysis the one superhero product in a sea of superhero products that seems to really realise the peril of too much superhero , and we ’ll think of Charlize ’s Stormfront whenever we see Clea pop up in the MCU again .
