The Supernatural star takes a turn as original Supe Soldier Boy in the first official photo of his superhero debut in season 3 of the Amazon Prime Video series. Designed by Laura Jean Shannon and concept artist Greg Hopwood, Ackles strikes a powerful pose in his forest green super suit.
In The Boys, Ackles portrays the very first superhero who came into notoriety after fighting in World War II and became a celebrity mainstay for decades.
“When I cast Jensen as Soldier Boy, the first thing I said was, ‘I’m most excited for you, because of the amazing process you’ll go through with LJ, our Super Suit designer.’ It took six months but the experience surpassed Jensen’s expectations,” said The Boys creator Eric Kripke, who reunites with Ackles years after working together on Supernatural. “LJ has made a work of art that tips its hat to the WWII Soldier Boy from the comics, while taking it in a sleek new direction. And if you think the photos are cool, just wait till you see Jensen in action. It’s one of my very favorite suits. Also, now you can quit clogging my Twitter notifications with demands to see it.”
“Soldier Boy is the original badass. Our goal was to highlight a bygone era of overt masculinity and grit,” Shannon said. “With that pedigree we dove headfirst into baking in an all-American quality grounded in a military soldier’s practicality with a heavy dose of old school cowboy swagger. We knew that the actor had to have Steve McQueen looks and chops with a John Wayne attitude. Luckily Jensen Ackles embodies all of that.”
The Supernatural alum joined The Boys in August 2020, breaking the news in a cheeky Instagram video where he contemplates his post-Supernatural life before being given a copy of The Boys graphic novel.
“I keep wondering what I’ll do….when @cw_supernatural finally ends this year. Then it hit me,” Ackles captioned the tease.
“When I was a child, I had a crazy, impossible dream — to provide Jensen Ackles with gainful employment. I’m happy to say that dream has come true,” Kripke said at the time of the announcement. “Jensen is an amazing actor, an even better person, smells like warm chocolate chip cookies and I consider him a brother. As Soldier Boy, the very first Superhero, he’ll bring so much humor, pathos and danger to the role. I can’t wait to be on set with him again and bring a bit of Supernatural to The Boys.”
