The Boys Season 3 Trailer Secretly Reveals How Powerful Soldier Boy Will Be

One of the most anticipated aspects of The Boys season 3 trailer is the appearance of Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy. The social media marketing of the show heavily emphasizes the importance of Soldier Boy within the world of The Boys, and he finally makes an appearance in the trailer for the new season. Upon careful inspection, the trailer reveals several important hints as to Soldier Boy’s powers, implying that he may be the most difficult antagonist that Billy Butcher and company come up against in season 3.

In the original comics by Garth Ennis, Soldier Boy parodies Captain America. He is an incompetent American World War II soldier imbued with super strength and speed courtesy of Vought’s Compound V superhero formula. The television adaptation of The Boys by Eric Kripke changes many characters’ plotlines and, in all likelihood, he’s changing Soldier Boy’s backstory as well. The Boys season 3 trailer implies this iteration of Soldier Boy, like MCU’s Captain America, is as a man out of time. Stan Edgar, the head of Vought, explains in The Boys season 2, episode 1, “The Big Ride” that Soldier Boy is one of Vought’s earliest and greatest superheroes, foreshadowing his importance within the show itself. This signifies he is graduating from a minor comic book character to a central character in the show.

The season 3 trailer of The Boys reveals Soldier Boy will be the most powerful enemy the series has seen thus far by deliberately contrasting the music and images of Soldier Boy with the music and images of the other characters. The Boys is one of the biggest returning shows of 2022 because the show’s creative team is very deliberate in its filmmaking choices as well as its marketing choices. Every decision made by the showrunners both within the story itself and within its promotional material points towards Soldier Boy being the most powerful new character of the show and the central lynchpin of season 3.

The trailer’s editing syncs the lyrics of the song “Bones” by Imagine Dragons to visuals that foreshadow Soldier Boy’s immense powers. Within the world of The Boys silence speaks louder than words. In the trailer, there is a dramatic pause in the music before Soldier Boy makes his first appearance as audiences glimpse the origins of Soldier Boy.  Then at the very end of the trailer, all the music stops as the sound of a Geiger counter grows in volume while long deliberate shots show Soldier Boy freeing himself from his restraints. This changes the tone of the trailer from loud and bombastic to still and threatening. While every other character is seen screaming and brooding while the Imagine Dragon lyrics “There goes my mind” underscores their journeys into turmoil, Soldier Boy is stoic and controlled amidst all this chaos. He smirks at his enemies and barely flinches at direct hits. Even when he wakes from stasis he is in control and ready to act. Such a stable presence creates a dangerous enemy for an unstable cast of characters.

Soldier Boy is not the only hero introduced in the season 3 trailer for The Boys, however. The Crimson Countess, played by former Walking Dead star Laurie Holden, was also present in the trailer demonstrating the show has more stirring in the pot in season 3. There are also many plotlines from the previous seasons that have yet to be resolved. So while Soldier Boy may not take up every moment of screentime in season 3 of The Boys, the trailer proves he will definitely be a defining presence.

Next: Why The Boys’ New Soldier Boy Backstory Fixes A Comic Problem

The Boys season 3 premieres on June 3