Posted in: Amazon Studios, Preview, streaming, Trailer, TV | Tagged: amazon, Amazon Prime, Antony Starr, bleeding cool, butcher, cable, christmas, comic books, Comics, darick robertson, eric kripke, garth ennis, Homelander, Karl Urban, prime video, season 2, streaming, television, the boys, The Seven, tv, Vought

"The Boys": Butcher's Twisted "Twas the Night Before Christmas" Take Leaves The Seven's Stockings Filled with Coal [IMAGES]

Amazon Prime Video's adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic book series The Boys has been sticking some righteously sweet superhero three-point landings since it premiered on Friday, July 26 – and spoiler? Check out Bleeding Cool's two-scoops-of-spoilers-filled review here to find out why we (like a whole lot of you) are big fans of the series – and see for yourselves why it was picked up for a second season.

With production on the second season having officially wrapped and the series set to return "mid 2020" (thanks, Karl Urban), the streaming service offered fans a teaser (that was damn near a trailer in its own right) of what they can expect – and sent us a very cool and unexpected holiday surprise.

As you can see in the image above (and more below), the streamer was kind enough to send out presents for the holidays (serious thanks, Amazon Prime Video) – which included a "Happy F**kin' Holidays" ornament and a small bag of actual coal, with a reminder that Butcher's crew always keeps their "naughty" and "nice" lists updated.

But our favorite part? The following bloody take on "Twas the Night Before Christmas", told from "Uncle Butcher's" perspective. Except Butcher's got no time for "visions of sugar plums" dancing through anyone's heads – he's leaning toward "feelings of crowbars" bashing through supes' heads:

Speaking of the second-season teaser…. picking up where things left off with a bloody Homelander (Antony Starr) meeting his son (???), what follows is a bloody mess that finds A Train (Jessie T. Usher) not doing so well; Homelander taking on Starlight (Erin Moriarty); Mr. Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) stepping up his presence; The Deep (Chace Crawford) still trying to not be so shallow; a quick look at Butcher's good boy Terror, and more.

So it looks like viewers will be getting at least a little "Payback" when the series returns, with the poster above dropping a ten-ton hint that Soldier Boy will definitely be a factor. Of course, there's the matter of which Soldier Boy – or all of them?

Modern version? He really wants to be part of The Seven – and Homelander knows it. But after Payback has a little run-in with The Boys, this Soldier Boy ends up "nasally deficient" and left in some very unfriendly hands.

Then there's WWII Soldier Boy of The Avenging Squad… and that went even worse…

In October, Kripke took to Twitter to tease the second-season appearance of The Crimson Countess – another piece in the Payback puzzle:

From her name alone, it should come as no surprise that the red-haired "hero" sports a red costume and cape and has heat-based powers. In the comics, the Payback member is involved with Mind Droid but was rumored to be having an affair with fellow team member Stormfront (which could make for an interesting dynamic considering the change in Stormfront's character for the series, but more on that below).

Unfortunately, Crimson makes the mistake of going after Butcher's dog and… well… it doesn't go well.

In fact, let's just say that if the series goes the way of the comics? Things don't go very well for Payback, either…

Kripke also teased the second-season appearance of Patton Oswalt – one of our favorites from Happy! and the thankfully-saved A.P. Bio. Of course, there's no way we were going to find out what his role is yet (#SecretRole):

Though it seemed pretty inevitable when news leaked that Aya Cash (You're The Worst) was in negotiations for the role of Stormfront if a second season was ordered, Amazon Prime made the second-season renewal official at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) – one week before the highly-anticipated series premiered.

Joining Cash for the sophomore season are Goran Visnjic, Claudia Doumit, and a returning Malcolm Barrett – setting the stage for an unofficial Timeless reunion.

In the comic books series, Cash's Stormfront is a male character, a member of super team Payback – and representative of every nightmarish aspect of the Neo-Nazi agenda. Even scarier, his power levels put him on par with Homelander and Black Noir. Visnjic's Alistair Adana is the charismatic and shadowy leader of a mysterious church, while Doumit's Victoria Neuman is a young wunderkind congresswoman. Barrett returns as Seth Reed, a Vought Marketing executive who had a very "personal" run in with a supe.

Meanwhile, series co-creator Seth Rogen revealed that he's seen the first episode – and it's more than any of them could've imagined:

"They already have more resources for the second season. They're adding more characters, the scope of the show organically grows as the show continues. We just watched, actually, the first episode of the second season this week. It was a wonderful thing as producers. This is way better than I ever could've hoped it would be."

With the series released and work on the second season underway, Rogen believes having the first season out there as a resource for the returning actors helps ease the process of getting back into "character mode":

"With a show like The Boys, especially, where the tone is so unique, for the actors to be able to watch the show and to see like, 'Oh, that's what it is.' It allows them to come back completely locked into it."

A Look at Amazon Prime's "The Boys"…

Here's a look at the previous trailers and teasers for The Boys, with some serious eye-opening NSFW stuff:

(Check out Bleeding Cool's two-scoops-of-spoilers-filled review of the series premiere here.)

In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, THE BOYS centers on a group of vigilantes known informally as "The Boys," who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than their blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

THE BOYS is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes – who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as Gods – abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. It's the powerless against the super powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about "The Seven," and Vought – the multi-billion dollar conglomerate that manages these superheroes.

On the side of The Boys, Karl Urban's Billy Butcher is mysterious and brutal, hiding a personal agenda as he approaches potential new recruit Hughie (Jack Quaid), claiming to be a shadowy government operative. Butcher capitalizes on Hughie's rage over his girlfriend Robin's accidental death at the hands of Superhero A-Train and enlists Hughie as part of his plan to bring down the super-hero franchise.

Rounding out Butcher's team are Laz Alonso (The Mysteries of Laura) as second-in-command Mother's Milk; Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad) as The Female, a young Asian assassin with blistering fighting skills who happens to have superpowers; and Tomer Capon as unpredictable wild card Frenchie, a brutal warrior when who lives a life of no attachments or responsibilities.

On the flip side, The Seven are Antony Starr (American Gothic) as The Homelander, leader of the main superhero team, The Seven; Dominique McElligott (The Last Tycoon) as Queen Maeve, a member of The Seven; Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl) as The Seven member The Deep, an aquatic hero; Jesse T. Usher (Survivor's Remorse) as speedster with a major PR problem, A-Train; Nathan Mitchell (iZombie) as Black Noir, a masked superhero with fighting and Set martial arts skills; Alex Hassell as perverted invisible hero Translucent (who's not really…you know… "translucent"); and Erin Moriarty (Jessica Jones) is Starlight/Annie, a young woman who can make lightning bolts flash from her eyes and dreams of being a "real superhero" like the famous Seven;

Elisabeth Shue's (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Karate Kid) super-hero handler Madelyn Stillwell was the Vice President of Hero Management for Vought and the person responsible for cleaning up after the "heroes." Jennifer Esposito (NCIS, Blindspot) has also been cast in the recurring role of CIA Agent Susan Raynor, with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) set as Hughie's father and Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul) as the mysterious Mr. Edgar

Based on The New York Times best-selling comic by Ennis and Robertson, The Boys was developed by showrunner Kripke (Supernatural), who also serves as writer, executive producer and directed the season finale. Joining Kripke as executive producers are Point Grey Pictures' Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver (Preacher), Original Film's Neal H. Moritz (Prison Break), Pavun Shetty (New Girl), and Ori Marmur (Preacher), as well as Ken Levin and Jason Netter. Ennis and Robertson also co-executive produce, with the pilot episode directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane).

Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television Studios co-produce the Amazon Prime Video with Point Grey Pictures, Kripke Enterprises and Original Film

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