Steve Rogers was right about the The Boys. Superhero stories are traditionally viewed as light-hearted adventures where the good guy beats the villain, saves the day, and earns the adulation of the public, but upon closer examination, there's a wider debate to be had. Superheroes are almost exclusively vigilantes, working outside of the law to bring justice where the police and government cannot. By their very nature, costumed crime-fighters are at odds with the world around them, despite having the best of intentions, and this philosophical clash has been depicted extensively in comic books.

Peter Parker must endure J. Jonah Jameson constantly framing him as an unfriendly neighborhood menace, the heroes of Marvel's Civil War. Beginning in 2006, Civil War cleaved the Marvel world in half - one side fighting for regulation of masked vigilantes, and the other championing independence and anonymity. The messy debate was adapted for the big screen a decade later with Captain America: Civil War, in which Tony Stark ed legal oversight of the Avengers via the Sokovia Accords, and Steve Rogers vehemently did not.

Related: The Boys Season 3 Theory: Soldier Boy s Butcher's Team (Not The Seven)

The MCU never settles on which viewpoint was right. Instead, Thanos turns up, decimates the universe, and the Sokovia Accords are promptly thrown out of the window. Phase 4 will eventually reveal whether the Accords have been forgotten, or whether the governments of the world are still pushing for tighter regulations. But while Marvel never truly picked a side between Stark and Rogers, a quick glance at Amazon's adaptation of Garth Ennis' The Boys proves Cap was right all along.

Steve Rogers' Position On The Sokovia Accords

Captain America Civil War Steve Rogers

The MCU's Civil War began with Tony Stark creates an AI program that goes rogue and threatens to destroy the world. Definitely something to leave out of his posthumous highlight reel. The ensuing battle between the Avengers and Ultron all-but destroys the made-up European nation of Sokovia, and since this isn't exactly the first incident of collateral damage in the Avengers' history, the United Nations decide to take action. As per the Sokovia Accords, the Avengers would be deployed by a UN , their actions would be answerable to their superiors, and heroes no longer have free reign to act in foreign countries. Super-powered individuals, or those using advanced technology like Stark, would need to their identity, be placed on a list, and are assigned a threat level.

For Tony Stark might've had the best of intentions, his patriotic, shield-flinging brother saw the Sokovia Accords as a slippery slope.

The Boys Reflects A World With Controlled Superheroes

Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell, Chase Crawford as The Deep And Erin Moriarty as Starlight in The Boys

One of the most striking depictions of a world where superheroes are controlled and regulated can be found in Amazon's The Boys. As an important distinction, the heroes of The Boys are owned by Vought, a private company, rather than the United Nations in the MCU, but both are forms of ownership that intersect in many areas. Additionally, Vought are operating in partnership with the U.S. military by the end of The Boys season 1, sending the likes of Homelander to the Middle East, having already held significant political clout through blackmail and bribery. If the Sokovia Accords sought to create a world of controlled superheroes, The Boys comes scarily close to revealing what the aftermath would look like if Tony Stark had his way.

Related: The Boys Season 3 Theory: Homelander Dies A Hero - Killed By Butcher

Firstly, Steve Rogers' concern that superheroes would no longer be able to effectively help people is proven right by The Boys. Erin Moriarty's Starlight is a hero in the Captain America mold - wholesome, honest, and virtuous. When she first s The Seven, she's shocked to learn that saving people is no longer her decision. Starlight is chastised for stopping an attempted rape without permission, forced to carry out straightforward, sanctioned missions, and restricted in her day-to-day movements. The Boys also features several occasions where the Seven's missions are subjected to discussion, risk assessment and delay, which is exactly what Captain America was afraid of. The Boys might be full of despicable vigilantes with no intention of doing the right thing, but even honest supes like Starlight have their hands tied by rules and regulations Vought might be a private corporation with its own agenda, but the UN's decision-making process in the MCU wouldn't be drastically different.

Superheroes Are More Fallible In The Boys

A.Train with his arms crossed

The Boys also proves another concern of Steve Rogers was entirely justified - the opportunity for corruption. One of the driving motivations behind the Sokovia Accords was preventing more collateral damage after Avengers: Age of Ultron, but what exactly do the UN hope to achieve? Even on a sanctioned mission, some small village is liable to get crushed during battle, and the government is hardly going to lock away their best heroes every time an office block gets hit by an errant laser blast. Vought's solution in The Boys is to cover everything up. In the very first episode, A-Train runs straight through an innocent bystander, leaving only her forearms intact. Vought plays the incident off as an unfortunate tragedy and buys the silence of the victim's family and friends. How long before governments started doing the same in the MCU? The UN can't afford to punish Tony Stark every time he gets thrown into a building, but nor could they ignore such incidents after kicking up such a fuss. It would only take one dishonest politician (not exactly a rare commodity) to suggest covering up these indiscretions, and the MCU corruption would begin.

Steve Rogers stood firmly against the registration of superheroes and their civilian identities, believing those who put their lives on the line deserved the right to anonymity. Once again, The Boys demonstrates why he was correct. Superhero loved ones are targeted with alarming regularity in The Boys, including Starlight's mother and Queen Maeve's former girlfriend. Even the Boys themselves get in on the act by manipulating Mesmer through his young daughter. While the Sokovia Accords don't require a superhero to declare their identity publicly, the record of their identity would be highly sought-after information, and any slight lapse in data security could result in Ant-Man's aunt or Sam Wilson's best friend's dog being taken hostage.

In The Boys, money and politics are intrinsically linked, and when Vought strikes a deal with the U.S. government, their negotiations make for uneasy listening. Discussing with a White House representative, Vought's CEO demands exclusivity of control, a huge bottom line, and an "unofficial" acceptable collateral death toll. In an MCU where the Sokovia Accords take hold, it would only be a matter of time before similar conversations begin taking place. Like sports agents selling players to a team, a private company could start g MCU heroes and leasing them to governments. At this point, financial interests begin compromising superhero integrity, which is precisely what Steve Rogers knew would happen when the Sokovia Accords were first tabled.

Related: Captain America: How Much Back Pay The Army Owes Steve Rogers

Would The Boys' World Be Better Without Vought?

The Boys Homelander Season 2 Finale

If The Boys proves the MCU world is better off not regulating their superheroes, then would the world of The Boys be better off leaving superheroes to their own devices? Imagine if Vought carried out its Compound-V experiments, but was then disbanded before becoming a global conglomerate, leaving no one to control the company's super-powered test subjects. The likes of Homelander and Stormfront would undoubtedly still be dangerous, but arguably less so without Vought or the U.S. government to back them. If Vought doesn't try to manufacture Homelander into the perfect superhero, he wouldn't necessarily become the heartless villain introduced in The Boys season 1. And even if evil is his nature, Homelander in a Vought-less world wouldn't have a platform to spread propaganda, a marketing team behind him, or a group of employees dedicated to cleaning up his mess.

Vought's lesser heroes would also be far less problematic. A-Train couldn't get away with killing random people on the street, The Deep couldn't routinely sexually abuse women, and Liberty wouldn't be able to constantly change her identity to escape punishment for racist murders. These characters are far more dangerous to the public with a company or government behind them, suggesting Steve Rogers was right to be cautious about g the Sokovia Accords.

Just like in the MCU, The Boys without Vought wouldn't be perfect - Homelander could still have a genocidal tantrum, Stormfront would still be a Nazi, and heroes might still overindulge in the perks of the job. But leaving supes as vigilantes would actually result in more ability than Vought is interested in providing. Even if the Sokovia Accords began as a bright idea in Captain America: Civil War, it wouldn't take long before the MCU's heroes were more interested in making money and raising their profile than doing the right thing.

More: Why Endgame's Captain America Lost To 2012's Steve Rogers

Key Release Dates