The Boys' comic universe is absolutely teeming with superheroes, but despite the sheer number of Supes in the setting, they rarely make the world a better place. This was best shown in one of the most shocking scenes in the comic that depicts the events of 9/11. While this scene is certainly shocking, it is also a perfect encapsulation of the story's main themes.

Readers first learn about this world's different history of 9/11 in The Boys #36 by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson. In this issue, Hughie and Mother's Milk meet up and look over the ruins of the Brooklyn Bridge, which has been completely destroyed in this universe's version of 9/11. But it isn't just a terrorist attack that destroys the bridge. Instead, it's the utter incompetence of the Seven.

During a planned terrorist attack on New York City, cause a plane to go down and destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, killing hundreds of innocent people. While this is a shocking moment in the comic, it also demonstrates just how truly awful superheroes in this world are.

The Seven Completely Fail To Save Anyone

The Boys #36 by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, and Tony Avina.

When the terrorist attack on the plane is discovered, the Seven are sent in to handle the situation, but just as in the TV show, the comic book versions fail to accomplish anything of worth. Instead, their actions doom everyone on board the plane to death. While the TV show has moments where superheroes try to do heroics, or at least have the illusion of heroics, the same can't be said in the comic. After this plane incident, readers seldom see any Supes trying to save people, at all. They're mostly relegated to being entertainment figures and celebrities.

With all of Homelander's power, he isn't able to save anyone, and he doesn't even care to try either.

Despite the Seven being viewed as the saviors of the Earth who can deal with small threats, they're actually never shown doing such in the comics. If anything, the superheroes are the ones more likely to commit crimes than anyone else. The rare times they do try to get involved, they just ruin everything out of sheer incompetence and make matters much worse. It ties into one of the core themes of The Boys, that someone doesn't need power to do something good. With all of Homelander's power, he isn't able to save anyone, and he doesn't even care to try either.

People With Power Rarely Make The World A Better Place

Homelander is one of the most powerful beings in The Boys' universe, and is capable of doing pretty much whatever he wants. With that kind of power, he could make the world a better place a thousand times over. But Homelander never even attempts it after 9/11. While there may be some goodness in Homelander, it is immediately lost when he realizes just how out of his depth he is dealing with life-or-death situations. Homelander never has any interest in making the world better, just like most superheroes in The Boys.

The true heroes of The Boys comic have consistently been the characters without powers.

While Homelander and the Seven have no interest in saving human lives during 9/11, other characters do. Readers are shown that after the plane destroys the Brooklyn Bridge, Mother's Milk is there. He does everything he can to save a random woman, someone he's never met before, simply because it is the right thing to do. Mother's Milk doesn't have the fraction of power that Homelander does, and yet he still makes a genuine attempt to save someone's life. He's not the only character to prove this point, either.

Mother's Milk's father, Pop, is also a character without powers that the comic shows major respect for. When Pops realizes his wife and kids have been poisoned due to Vought breaking the law, he spends years learning the law and going after them.

He fails dozens of times and has his case thrown out, but eventually, he is able to score a win against Vought, being one of the first characters in the series to do so. Another character who consistently proves the idea that being a good person is more than just having power is Hughie.

Hughie Consistently Proves Someone Doesn't Need Power To Be Good

Hughie starts the series entirely powerless. He loses everything when his girlfriend is killed by A-Train. Instead of accepting Voughts' hush money, Hughie is able to discover a way to fight back by ing the Boys group. The entire point of Hughie's character arc is him proving that being good is more important than having power. This is how he ultimately manages to defeat Butcher, by not letting Butcher mold him into a cynical monster. It also perfectly ties into how Homelander handles the 9/11 attack. Despite having the power to save everyone, his cynicism and incompetence prevent him from even trying.

With Homelander's speed and strength, he would be invaluable in helping rebuild the Brooklyn Bridge.

Even after Homelander fails to prevent the terrorist attack, he doesn't even stick around after to help clean it up. With Homelander's speed and strength, he would be invaluable in helping rebuild the Brooklyn Bridge. This is especially true considering it's his fault that it gets destroyed in the first place. Instead, the amazing heroes who are supposed to use their powers to save the world, simply leave after their horrific failure. What follows is regular human beings spending years repairing and rebuilding the bridge, all on their own.

Hughie Immortalizes The Boys' True Heroes On The Brooklyn Bridge

Consistently, The Boys comic shows that the characters who create the most change in the world are the ones with the least power. While the 9/11 event in the comic is infamous and definitely has elements of shock value, it's deeper than that. It perfectly shows just how incompetent and awful superheroes are in this world, and that no matter how terrible or seemingly insurmountable a situation is, it can be conquered with teamwork and the help of good people. This is seen when the Brooklyn Bridge is repaired without superheroes, it is seen when Pop beat Vought, and it is seen when The Boys finally took down the Seven.

The Boys #36 is on sale now from Dynamite Comics!