Legendary game director Hideo Kojima was once working on a game concept in the same vein as the satirical superhero TV series known as The Boys. He originally began watching the show when it first began airing, but ended up quitting it after the first 3 episodes.
At the time, the Metal Gear director was in the preliminary process of starting a project that he had been warming up to for a long time, and it was similar in concept to The Boys. Therefore, he decided to put the TV series on hold.
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and put it on hold because the concept was similar (different settings and tricks). A buddy (male/female) thing with a special detective squad facing off against legendary heroes behind the scenes. I was thinking of Mads as the lead.— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 26, 2022
The concept Kojima was working on had a setting and focal themes that were different from that of The Boys. It involved a male/female duo working alongside a special detective squad that faced off against legendary superheroes behind the scenes. Kojima had Mads Mikkelsen in mind for the game’s main character.
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Well, what I had planned stayed in my mind only, so I didn't incur any cost for labor, material, research, or anything like that.— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 26, 2022
Kojima acknowledged that media based on superheroes continues to be mass-produced in the entertainment industry in the current landscape. However, he said that his concept was more akin to a radical hard-boiled action film, with neither hero nor villain and an astonishingly black joke setup. According to Kojima, his concept entailed a worldview that is the opposite of what audiences are used to today.
However, much to the disappointment of his fans, Hideo Kojima’s concept remained in his thoughts and didn’t materialized into a working prototype. As a result, Kojima Productions didn’t incur any cost due to labor, material, research etc.
It certainly would have been fascinating to get a Metal Gear-esque take on The Boys, with a unique worldview and blurred lines between good and evil. Hideo Kojima’s games tend to come with an underlying message, and it would’ve been interesting to see how the story and narrative themes for this project would’ve turned out in the end. Additionally, the detectives vs superheroes concept gels well with the game director’s legacy of epic boss fights.
