It was only a bit over a month ago that Amazon announced that its hit The Boys was got to get an animated spinoff titled Diabolical, which was going to be an animated anthology of short cartoons set in the Boys-iverse. Now, Diabolical has a (very close!) release date and a first look at the series in action, and… it’s very striking, to say the least.
The look is a very brief clip from an episode that seems to be titled “Laser Baby,” which makes a certain amount of sense in that it stars the infant that shoots deadly lasers out of its eyes from season one of The Boys in one of its most infamous scenes. What’s interesting is the style Diabolical has chosen for the short:
Those are the visuals of the epitome of ‘90s kids’ cartoons, just with graphic violence, murder, and a giant pool of blood that puddles uncomfortably close to Laser Baby. The guy slipping in the aforementioned puddle of blood could have been taken from Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, and more if the colour of the liquid was changed to black oil or blue water. Honestly, it’s highly reminiscent of the 1958 Tom & Jerry cartoon “Tot Watchers,” in which the pair tried desperately to keep a baby from getting itself killed. (I think Looney Tunes did one as well, but I can’t remember and don’t want to look it up.) This time, however, it appears the baby will be doing the killing.
If you’re put off by the childish look of the short, fret not; each of Diabolical’s eight episodes will have its own unique animation style when it comes to Prime Video on March 4 — less than a month away.