Despite all the excessive blood and gore featured on the show, it was The Deep’s bulge that caused the most behind-the-scenes trouble in The Boys season 1. Based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys is a satirical look at the superhero world, showing the corrupt, criminal, and brutal actions of the “supes” behind closed doors. One of the worst of these superpowered egomaniacs is The Deep, The Boys‘ take on Aquaman.
The Deep has been at the center of some of the most shocking and strangest moments in The Boys. He showed how truly evil he was by 𝓈ℯ𝓍ually assaulting Starlight when she joined The Seven. He was then seen embracing a cult-like religion, attempting an insincere redemption tour, and hiding his unusual 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual habits from the world, before ultimately becoming a violent disciple of Homelander. However, there is one hilarious aspect of The Deep as a character that proved to be too much for Amazon and was taken out of the show.
The Deep’s Bulge Was Digitally Removed From The Boys
A Promotional Calendar Revealed The Suggestive Costume Choice
In an interview with the Daily Mail, actor Chace Crawford discussed an official Amazon calendar released in 2019 depicting his character as well-endowed. As it turns out, in the lore of The Boys, The Deep aka Kevin Moskowitz was supposed to be comically, genetically blessed in terms of his genitals. However, the shoot led to Amazon leadership learning that Crawford had been wearing a prosthetic penis under his superhero costume. In response, they nixed the costume look and forced CGI effects to be used to edit The Deep’s bulge in scenes that had already been filmed. Crawford explained:
“[Showrunner Eric] Kripke was like, ‘We get no notes from Amazon, but the first one we got was that can’t f**king happen, we’ve got to take that out,’ he said. And we had to edit it out.”
The in-universe calendar was a promotional one sent out to the press, with each month seeing The Deep in various poses designed to appeal to adoring fans. When the images of The Deep hit the internet back in 2019, they became a viral hit, drawing more attention to the joke and serving as an early sign of The Boys‘ self-aware marketing. However, given the outrageous things depicted on the show, it is funny that this is one thing the studio had an issue with.
The Boys Using CGI For This Is Actually Perfect For The Show’s Tone
The Boys Could Use It As A Justice League Reference
While the show likely had a lot of hilarious plans for the exaggerated aspects of The Deep’s anatomy, the fact that The Boys was forced to use part of its CGI budget on this is a hilarious idea that fits nicely into the reputation the show has earned. The Boys is one of the most profane and vulgar shows on television, never shying away from moments of brutal violence, graphic 𝓈ℯ𝓍uality, and whatever strange ideas they can come up with. The fact that they would go too far with the size of a character’s penis is something fans now expect.
The CGI removal of The Deep’s bulge is also a funny bit of meta-commentary on the superhero movie world that The Boys loves to poke fun at. Henry Cavill’s mustache having to be digitally removed from Justice League due to Joss Whedon’s reshoots is a notorious aspect of that film, with the unconvincing effects adding to the strangeness of it all. The Boys has poked fun at the Justice League drama many times, including Homelander suggesting Whedon rewrote one of his Vought movies. While not planned, The Deep’s bulge makes for a funny reference to that infamous superhero movie moment.
