The Boys Season 3 literally started with a bang. Within the first three episodes alone, the satirical superhero show managed to poke fun at everything that happened in the last year of pop culture. There are gags about streaming dominance, police brutality, the Snyder Cut, curated marketing campaigns, and more. The third season finds Vought Enterprises in full-on crisis management mode. After the revelation about Stormfront’s (Aya Cash) fascist origins, the public has turned on the Seven. Homelander’s (Antony Starr) approval rating has plummeted in the wake of the scandal, but Starlight (Erin Moriarty) has emerged relatively unscathed, so Homelander is desperate to redeem himself in the eyes of Vought’s viewership.
In one of the third season's most surprising jokes, Charlize Theron appears in a cameo role in the premiere as the actress playing Stormfront in the latest Vought production, Dawn of the Seven. Getting an A-lister like Theron is a major accomplishment in its own right, but it’s not the first time in the last month that Theron has popped up in a comic book property. She also appeared in the post-credit scene of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as Clea, teasing a major role in the future of the MCU.
Although The Boys has never shied away from lampooning Marvel films, showrunner Eric Kripke told Collider that Theron’s cameo was a pure coincidence, adding that her appearance in the Doctor Strange sequel came as a complete surprise to him: “I was watching [it] with my kids and when that came up, I was like, 'Yes! Yes!' So that was amazing.”
According to Kripke, Theron had returned a call from her Long Shot co-star Seth Rogen, who serves as an executive producer on The Boys, and agreed to put in a day’s work. Kripke also said that Theron’s enthusiasm helped to start the new season off on a high note:
“I was there working with her that day and obviously, she's an unbelievably great actress, but I was reminded of how funny she is. She's deeply funny and has amazing comic timing and the earnestness with which she said the most ridiculous shit we could possibly put in her mouth was chef's kiss. I'm just really, really grateful because it really kicks off the season.”
The first three installments of The Boys Season 3 have no shortage of graphic moments, but nothing has been quite as disturbing as the film’s eerie parallels to recent events. It will be interesting to see how the Stormfront scandal is handled throughout the rest of the season. Season 3 premiered with its first three episodes on June 3, with subsequent episodes released weekly every Friday until the finale on July 8.