Prime Video’s The Boys recently finished its fourth season, offering a deeper, irreverent look at what a world full of superheroes might be like. The show uses the idea of superpowered individuals to mock the worst parts of nerd culture and corporate media.
The fifth and final season will likely not air until 2026. According to Variety, creator Eric Kripke mentioned that the final season is being written now and will start filming in November 2024. Until then, viewers will have to wait for more of its signature satire, wild comedy, and unique characters.
Fans can check out Future Man while waiting for The Boys Season 5. Future Man is created by Howard Overman, Kyle Hunter, and Ariel Shaffir, and it’s produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Several actors from Future Man also have small roles in The Boys. Derek Wilson, who played the Batman parody Tek Knight, gives an incredible performance in Future Man as Wolf, a hilariously gross and brutish man sent back in time to save the world.
Haley Joel Osment, who played child star Mesmer in Season 1, has a great storyline as a scientist who becomes a world leader in a dystopian future. Even Rogen, who appears as himself on The Boys, has an arc as a future game show host.
What Is ‘Future Man’ About?
Just as The Boys parodies superhero media and takes it to a gross, violent extreme, Future Man puts a repulsive twist on ’80s sci-fi movies like The Last Starfighter, The Terminator, and Back to the Future.
Josh Hutcherson stars as Josh Futturman, an ordinary slacker who’s pulled into a wild time travel adventure after finishing a video game known for being impossible.
The tone of Future Man is set early on when Wolf and his partner Tiger (Eliza Coupe) come from the future to recruit Josh. He’s in the middle of masturbating and climaxes on them just as they appear to tell him he’s the only hope for saving the future.
While The Boys features a large ensemble, Future Man mainly focuses on Josh, Wolf, and Tiger. This allows the series to deeply show these three unique characters. As the protagonist, Josh is the strongest character and most representative of showing these three unique characters.
As the protagonist, Josh is the strongest character and most of these three unique characters. As the protagonFuture Man’s themes. Like Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) on The Boys, Josh is an ordinary young man who gets involved in something bigger than himself.
Future Man is essentially a parody of nerd wish-fulfillment fantasies. As a result, Josh faces endless torture and humiliation—arguably even more than Hughie. He has moments of heroism but is often brought low. After his first world-saving act, Josh ends up living as Wolf’s pet.
The show highlights how much he sacrifices with no glory. The pilot sets up Josh still living with his parents (played by Ed Begley Jr. and Glenne Headly) as something he’s embarrassed about. By the end of Future Man, there’s a real sense of Josh regretting giving up just being a guy who lives with his parents.
The character of Wolf also parodies ’80s heroes, embodying the pure ego and excess of that era. To put it simply, Wolf is like a Top Gun character raised in a sewer eating rats. Meanwhile, Tiger, played by Coupe, represents the effects of constantly being in survival mode.
Whether she’s trying to murder a baby or almost marrying the dictator of a virtual world, her storylines are always interesting. It’s surprising and refreshing to see her as a three-dimensional character, especially since she was introduced as someone Josh just finds attractive. The show’s move away from Tiger being merely a love interest is one way Future Man stays surprising.
‘Future Man’ Is Even More Comedic Than ‘The Boys’
The plot of Future Man isn’t as strong as that of The Boys, especially after Season 1. It lacks a main antagonist like Homelander (Antony Starr), so the characters’ goals can sometimes seem too vague. However, its strength lies in its standalone episodes.
Season 2’s “The Last Horchata” and Season 3’s “The Land After Time” are reasons to keep watching even when the main plot is weaker. The series’ best episode is in Season 1: “Operation: Fatal Attraction,” which showcases what Future Man does so well. While trying to prevent a dystopian future, Josh gets caught in a Frasier-like farce, full of mistaken identities and relationship mix-ups.
Future Man also leans more into pure comedy than The Boys. It can be very wacky and cartoonish, prioritizing humor over plot consistency. This is often a strength, as even weaker episodes still have great laughs. One of the most memorable aspects of Future Man is its raunchy humor and inventive sex scenes, which rival even the most bizarre moments on The Boys.
Fans who enjoyed the Termite scene in The Boys Season 3 should also check out the hookup between Josh and Wolf after they’ve swapped body parts. The show includes characters having relations with robots or computers, someone sexually stimulating a brain in a jar, and a fully nude fight between two Josh Hutchersons with different-sized members.
Future Man is perfect for fans who enjoy the creative ways The Boys uses superhero tropes to push both character misery and gross-out humor to the limit. While it’s denser with jokes than The Boys and has richer characters, it’s also a complete three-season show ideal for filling the time until The Boys returns for its grand finale.
Future Man is available to watch in the U.S. by purchasing it on Prime Video.
