The Boys: Diabolical: Every Episode’s Animation Style & Inspiration Explained

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The Boys Presents: Diabolical's animation influences are as varied as its wild selection of superpowers — here are the inspirations behind each episode. So successful has Amazon's The Boys proved over the past two seasons of live-action insanity, the franchise is now heading back into the drawn realm — albeit this time animation, rather than comics. The Boys: Diabolical contains 8 episodes — 7 set within TV continuity, 1 within comic book canon — and all tell standalone stories themed around Compound-V, from cosmetic experiments to Homelander's very first mission.

And it isn't just the subject matter that changes. Each The Boys: Diabolical installment is penned by a different writer, and boasts its own unique animation style. The spinoff's broad visual palette spans time and culture to deliver a varied menu of artistic imagery, encompassing old-school classics, traditional anime, and much more. Of course, every influence is given an obligatory "The Boys" twist. That means blood, guts, poop, and other bodily fluids best not mentioned.

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With The Boys: Diabolical giving a whistle-stop tour of art styles, which altar does each story worship at? Which shows and influences were tossed into the mix to give Amazon's very first The Boys spinoff its animation inspiration?

One of the easier animation styles to decipher, The Boys: Diabolical's «Laser Baby's Day Out» comes from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and honors the famed Looney Tunes animation of yore — helpfully indicated by the mock «Voughtoons» logo, and the "That's all, Boys!" ending card, parodying Porky Pig's iconic, "That's all, folks!" Like the Merrie Melodies capers featuring Tweetie