The Boys helped create the evil Superman boom of the past few years. Like its stablemate, Invincible, the central evil Superman has a selection of Justice League parodies as supporting characters. Invincible is a bit more subtle with its adaptations, introducing a slew of heroes that don’t feel directly borrowed from existing material. The Boys uses Marvel and DC characters, but their answer to the Justice League is the most prominent example. Webweaver is a far less important character based on a massively popular superhero.
The popularity of a character doesn’t necessarily impact their position in The Boys. If it did, Black Noir would probably be as notable as Homelander. Tek Knight, an extremely minor figure, is the show’s answer to Iron Man, and he never even puts on his armor. Homelander is unquestionably the main supe, and Superman isn’t exactly obscure, but it’s surprising to see a Spider-Man equivalent appear with such little fanfare.
Who is Webweaver in The Boys comics?
Webweaver is genuinely not a character in The Boys. He doesn’t affect the plot or even appear in the original run. He’s a name only mentioned in retrospect. Webweaver is, as expected, a direct parody of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. Very little is known about the character. His costume, revealed in a variant cover for the comics’ final volume, is a riff on Spider-Man’s traditional color scheme with some additional spider-like elements. His additional eyes and fang decals make him look like one of the designs Tobey Maguire threw away during the montage of rejected costume ideas in the first Sam Raimi movie. Comic book salesman and superhero encyclopedia The Legend referred to Webweaver as the “thwipster,” as a reference to the onomatopoetic noise that Spidey’s web shooters typically make. Webweaver also has an uncle, but since it’s The Boys comic, the only thing fans know about him is that he’s an openly gay man.
Like Peter Parker, Webweaver’s identity is a carefully maintained secret from the public. This extends to the audience, because he has no known name in the comic. Webweaver never worked directly with any superhero team. He evidently operated sometime in the 80s or 90s. His only known operation as a supe came when Vought-American sent him to the Soviet Union to attempt to build a connection between the company’s Payback team and the USSR’s Glorious Five Year Plan. Webweaver befriended Love Saugsage, the only member of the Soviet group to appear in The Boys comic. Webweaver is important as a stepping stone. Billy Butcher and Greg Mallory sought him out after meeting with The Legend to identify an easy target. The operation is unspoken, but their first attempt to hunt down and eliminate a supe went perfectly. Webweaver’s death drew the attention of the CIA, providing funding for the black-ops group that would become The Boys. Webweaver was essentially a loss-leader who had to die to prove that supes could be killed.
Who is Webweaver in The Boys series?
|
Name |
Patrick Whitehall |
|---|---|
|
First Appearance |
“We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here” |
|
First Appearance Date |
June 13, 2024 |
|
Portrayed By |
Dan Mosseau |
Webweaver is a Supe who helps The Boys as a confidential informant. He’s addicted to heroin, which he takes rectally. He appears to spend most of his time in a drug-addled stupor. His organic webbing comes from a small spinneret in his lower back. He’s first mentioned in a news report that celebrates his exit from a rehab facility. Butcher requests $50,000 from the CIA to dig up dirt on Firecracker. When Marvin “Mother’s” Milk asks Butcher where the cash went, he explains that he used it to purchase a heroin suppository for Webweaver. That investment buys him the ultimately useless information that Firecracker had relations with an underage boy, which Firecracker immediately admits to her adoring crowd. Webweaver accepts another bribe from Marvin, who doses his drugs to knock him out. Marvin steals Webweaver’s suit, a black and green number that bears little resemblance to his comic book outfit. Hughie uses the Webweaver outfit to infiltrate Tek Knight’s party, where he discovers that the supe is involved in a complicated sexual relationship with Tek Knight and former Vought CEO Ashley Barrett. This leads to a prolonged sexual assault, which the show plays for laughs in an unpleasant retreat to the comics’ usual awful tone. Webweaver sleeps through the event, but Tek Knight discovers that Hughie isn’t the suit’s usual occupant.
Could Webweaver become more important?
It’s unlikely, but technically possible, for Webweaver to become a more notable character in the remainder of The Boys season four or the upcoming final season. To briefly spoil the most recent episode at the time of writing, Tek Knight dies as a result of The Boys’ semi-successful infiltration of his sex party. The event also reveals Tek’s intention to lend his private prisons to Homelander and Victoria Neuman so that they can intern their political enemies. Webweaver really isn’t a part of Homelander’s new plan to take over the world, but he’s also probably outlived his usefulness as an informant. Butcher is currently debating the moral acceptability of chemical warfare and genocide, potentially putting him in massive danger. Webweaver is still set to appear in the penultimate episode of season four, so fans will have to wait and see whether he makes it out.
Webweaver couldn’t be a more minor character. He was initially a bargaining chip that The Boys used to attain government funding. Killing him proved a point without necessarily accomplishing much else. The Boys series turned him into a notable figure who provides some assistance to the titular team, even though most of his aid has turned out to be useless. The Boys attempting to use clever strategies that immediately fail only to eventually fall back on physical violence has been a consistent theme in the series. Maybe Webweaver’s next drug-addled tip will lead to something.
Leave a Reply