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Superhero shows don’t always follow the same rules, and The Umbrella Academy and The Boys prove that. One show tells the story of seven adopted siblings raised by a billionaire alien who never taught them how to be normal. The other drops you into a world where superheroes are treated like celebrities but behave like criminals. Both shows are packed with violence and chaos. Both shows question what power really looks like. But they head in very different directions.
Some people connect with The Umbrella Academy because it dives into family trauma and blends it with time travel. Others stick with The Boys because it exposes how easily power gets abused in the real world. One show focuses on emotional consequences. The other reveals what people hide behind a smile. The other aims to shock you with what people are willing to hide behind a smile.
There are moments of loyalty and betrayal, teams breaking and coming back together, people breaking down and pushing through. These two series explore similar ideas, but the way they do it could not be more different. Here are seven ways they match up and seven ways they don’t.
The Boys vs Umbrella Academy: 7 ways the shows are alike, and totally different
1. They both deconstruct superheroes — But in opposite ways
Both shows take apart the superhero image but do it from different ends. In The Boys, people with powers are made into celebrities who care more about image than helping anyone. Homelander smiles in public but kills without hesitation. Vought turns superpowers into profit.
In The Umbrella Academy, the Hargreeves siblings are powerful but broken. They were raised like science projects. They did not grow up learning how to be human. Klaus avoids pain with drugs. Luther hides behind loyalty. Vanya is ignored until she explodes.
The show makes it clear that these powers do not make them better. It shows how trauma sticks. The Boys focuses on corruption from power. The Umbrella Academy focuses on emotional fallout. That difference shapes everything. One leans into rot. The other explores wounds. Both shows say superpowers do not fix people. But they do not tell that story the same way.
2. They center around dysfunctional teams
The Hargreeves siblings were raised together but never became a real family. Reginald treated them like weapons and gave them numbers instead of names. They grew up angry and isolated. They meet again because the world might end.
Even then, they fight more than they talk. Diego blames Luther. Allison hides truths. Five keeps secrets. They only work as a team when they have no choice. But under all the damage, they still care. That is what pulls them back together.
The Boys gives us a team built on revenge. Butcher lies to them. Hughie learns too fast. Mother’s Milk wants structure. Frenchie brings chaos. They work together because they need to survive, not because they trust each other. Both teams fall apart and rebuild repeatedly. The Hargreeves seek love; The Boys seek results. This changes how their group scenes feel.
3. They play with time — But only one uses time travel
Time shapes both stories but in very different ways. The Umbrella Academy uses time travel as a major tool. Five jumps through years. The plot often moves backward and forward.
Season 2 opens with the siblings scattered across the 1960s. Five tries to prevent the JFK assassination. Each sibling lands in a different year. Time isn’t just part of the story — it drives it. Every action changes everything.
The Boys stays in the present but spends time on the past. We see flashbacks of Becca. We learn how Homelander was raised. Butcher carries grief from years ago. There are no portals or jumps. The damage is already done. The Umbrella Academy keeps trying to fix time. The Boys shows what happens when you cannot. One story moves through time. The other stays stuck in it. But both use time to push characters to their limits.
4. They feature world-altering stakes
The Umbrella Academy builds its story around the end of the world. Season 1 ends with Vanya destroying the moon. Season 2 brings nuclear disaster linked to the JFK shooting.
The apocalypse isn’t just a threat — the family keeps causing it. Every attempt to fix things breaks something else. They are not saving the world. They are trying to undo the damage they helped create.
The Boys does not talk about meteors or timelines. It shows how power breaks everything slowly. Vought wants control. Stormfront spreads hate. Homelander wants worship. The collapse comes from inside, not from space. One show deals with explosions and destruction. The other with silence and rot. The Umbrella Academy shows what happens when people break the world by accident. The Boys shows what happens when they do it on purpose. The results hit just as hard either way.
5. They use violence — But to different ends
Violence is everywhere in both shows, but it works very differently. The Boys goes straight for the gut. The first episode shows Hughie’s girlfriend explode. Limbs fly. Heads pop. No one is safe.
The violence is meant to shock. It shows the cost clearly — every kill is brutal, every injury raw. It wants you to feel how far things have fallen. That’s the point.
The Umbrella Academy uses violence as part of emotion. When Vanya lashes out, it is heartbreak, not rage. Klaus sees dead people when he is in pain. Five’s kills are fast but cold. Violence here is often mixed with music or memory. It’s just as deadly but driven by emotion. One show shouts with gore; the other cries with it. Both styles work. But they carry very different weight across each season.
6. They blend genres — But with different priorities
The Umbrella Academy mixes superhero action with family drama and science fiction. One episode might focus on Vanya’s quiet life on a farm. The next might feature a time-traveling assassin.
It switches tones but always comes back to the siblings. That emotional core keeps the story from falling apart. No matter how strange things get, it stays about this one broken family trying to stay whole.
The Boys blends superhero parody with political satire and horror. It pushes jokes until they become threats. It mocks celebrity culture while showing how dangerous it can be. It uses real-world systems as the villain. The Umbrella Academy pulls from fantasy and feeling. The Boys pulls from headlines and rage. Both mixes work but aim for different effects. One wants you to feel something real; the other wants you to recognize what’s already real.
7. They have clear antagonists — But they wear different faces
The Boys shows its villains clearly. Homelander is violent and unstable. Stormfront pretends to be charming but hides white-supremacist beliefs. Vought covers it all with money and ads.
The villains are clear from the start. The tension grows because ordinary people can’t stop them. That clear divide adds weight to every scene.
The Umbrella Academy hides its threats in layers. Sometimes it is Vanya. Sometimes it is time. Sometimes it is their own father. The villain often changes or comes from inside the group. There is no evil mastermind behind a desk. There are choices that build into disaster. This makes the show more personal. It explores damage caused without intent. The Boys gives you someone to hate. The Umbrella Academy gives you someone to understand.
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