While an official crossover to bring together the holy trinity of superhero fiction is still a far-fetched dream, with the sixth episode of the ongoing season, Amazon Studio’s The Boys has let their own versions of Superman, Batman, and Spidey share the screen together in the worst way imaginable. Among them, the Batman pastiche, Tek Knight, aka Robert Vernon, an infamous detective-superhero with heightened senses, stole the scene with his ridiculous perversion and contributed to a major reveal regarding Homelander’s scheme. However, by the end of the episode, it seems the chances of the character’s return are relatively low, as Tek Knight gets unceremoniously killed off by his own butler, Elijah.
Spoilers Ahead
Is Tek Knight Really Dead ?
Introduced in the spin-off series Gen V, Tek Knight seemed like such a potentially interesting character with his superpower of heightened senses and could have made an interesting adversary against the Boys if his perverted passions hadn’t gained the prime focus. During Tek Knight’s first appearance in Gen V, he nearly discovered the killer of Golden Boy using his superior skills, but his perversions came in the way of his success. However, the character gets drawn into a heinous conspiracy concocted by Homelander and Sister Sage, which makes him appear more important than a B-list superhero like him actually is. In his most recent appearance in the sixth episode of the ongoing season, we learn more about the Tek Knight’s background, which lets viewers draw the connection between his role and Homelander’s plan and also the events which lead him to his demise as well.
With the help of Laddio, the Boys members Annie and Kimiko force Tek Knight into revealing that Homelander plans to use his private prisons as internment camps, which is why he was approached by the head honchos of the Seven in the first place. Robert Vernon’s ancestors were slavers who had established a chain of private prisons across the nation, and at present, Robert profiteers off of them as well by exploiting the prisoners to create a cycle of rehabilitation and reincarceration. Like the majority of the hotshot superheroes in The Boys universe, Robert too is a deeply bigoted, racist fool who had no qualms about letting his prisons be used as basically a form of gulag by Homelander and his lackeys, where political adversaries, anti-Supe advocators, and so-called ‘woke’ mobs or Starlight supporters were to be put according to the plan. However, this does not sit well with Robert’s trusted butler, Elijah, who has been a loyal accomplice in the majority of his crimes and perversions, but internment camps take the depravity of these power-hungry supes to another level. He decides to strangle an already restrained Robert to death and orchestrate the killing with the help of Laddio in such a way that it looks like suicide. Later, Homelander learns about Tek Knight’s death, which confirms that the super-perv-detective won’t be returning for another rodeo.
Tek Knight’s character satirizes the Caped Crusader’s legacy in the worst way possible
The Boys comic series creator Garth Ennis and series showrunner Eric Kripke found commonality in their superhero-hating fervor, which is also highlighted with Tek Knight in the latest episode. While the comics version aimed to amalgamate traits of both Iron Man and Batman in the creation of the character, the series veers more towards Bruce Wayne’s territory and targets each of the important aspects of the character to turn on its head. Bruce Wayne’s tactical and deductive abilities, along with his intellectual prowess, get reduced to Robert Vernon’s supersenses, as MM aptly regards him as “Sherlock Holmes on meth.” Funnily enough, Tek Knight proposes a team-up with Homelander, which could have formed The Boys version of “World’s Finest,” but Homelander spits on that idea right off.
The ancestral legacy, which allows Bruce to fight crime for the betterment of the society allows Vernon to perpetuate crime by fueling the cycle of inequality. In this version, the Batcave gets turned into a degraded sex dungeon built by Robert to fulfill his most lecherous fantasies: ‘Tek Cave,’ where gadgets are replaced by BDSM gear and entrapments. Batman’s paternal relationship with the boy wonder, Robin, gets riddled with filth as Tek Knight forces his sidekick Laddio to engage in vilest sexual acts. It seems like Garth Ennis was inspired by Fredric Wertham’s infamous, misguided hit piece “Seduction of the Innocent” to portray the most disgusting relationship between his version of Batman and Robin. Lastly, Bruce’s relationship with his guardian figure Alfred is also maligned, as Elijah becomes the person responsible for Vernon’s death at the end. At least there was mutual acknowledgment from both sides about each other’s presence in their respective lives. In the comics version of these characters, their interactions were much, much worse, which involved something regarding the detective’s hole fetish as well. At the moment, it doesn’t seem that Homelander’s plan has suffered a drawback after Tek Knight’s death.
