Prime Video's 22-Episode Superhero Series Walked So The Boys Could Run

Published Jul 30, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. There's a 22-episode superhero show on Amazon Prime Video that feels like a test run at a style of storytelling that would ultimately result in The Boys. Prime Video has been around as a streaming service a bit longer than you may imagine, possibly because it's only in the last few years that it's produced original series at the same rate as other streamers. While we can now see The Boys, Invincible, Reacher, Fallout, and more as evidence of the streaming service's success in original programming, those shows are more recent series. It took a long time for Prime to make original shows that could create room for themselves in the pop culture landscape. That's not to say these series were bad, often far from it. The Tick was not only an excellent send-up of the superhero genre but was the blueprint for The Boys on Prime Video. It's not a stretch to say that without the critical acclaim for The Tick, Prime Video may have been too skeptical to adapt a show like The Boys. The Tick is a two-season 2016 superhero comedy based on the comic book character of the same name, created by Ben Edlund. Like its comic counterpart, The Tick follows the invulnerable, blue-insect-costumed, possibly insane "The Tick", a well-intentioned superhero who is prone to quipping absurd non sequiturs and making nonsensical speeches. The series has always been a parody of superheroes and comic books, with some of the villains being direct knockoffs of established supervillains. Peter Serafinowicz stars as the titular The Tick, and Griffin Newman plays his highly unprepared sidekick, Arthur Everest. The Tick may not have had as big a cultural impact as The Boys, but there would be no Antony Starr as Homelander without it. The Tick Proved A Live-Action The Boys Series Could Work The Tick proved that a live-action superhero series did not need to be a stretched-out version of an MCU film to work. Like The Boys, The Tick took a satirical look at the superhero genre, poking fun at the characters and tropes of the genre, and how they pick and choose which real-world implications they will confront. After two seasons, The Tick had earned a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics were quick to applaud the way the series picked apart the already well-worn tropes of the genre. For a satire to work, the audience needs to understand what it is a show or movie is attempting to deconstruct. In 2016, we were still in the "serious" phase of superheroes, with Doctor Strange and Captain America: Civil War coming out that year. The Tick proved that by this time, audiences were well aware of what to expect with a superhero story, and were therefore ready and willing to accept a send-up of those same tropes. The Tick Deserved More Attention At The Time (& More Seasons) The Tick only ran for two seasons with 22 episodes before it was canceled by Amazon, and Edlund's attempts to shop the series were unsuccessful (via Deadline). It's a shame, because maybe if it had come out just a few years later, Amazon would have understood what a ground-breaking, beloved series it was they had on their hands. The Tick is a show that could have kept going. As long as superhero movies and shows are being made, there's a place for superhero satire, and The Tick fits in a niche between the "canon" MCU and DC productions, and the brutal, hyper-violent parodies like Gen Z and The Boys. The Tick Ratings Season Episodes RT 1 12 90% 2 10 100% With more seasons, The Tick could have explored more dimensions of superhero stories from a place of parody that wasn't as mean-spirited as The Boys could sometimes be. The Tick was a true superhero comedy, which is a very rare thing to find. It seems like every superhero show and movie injects comedy in order to undercut their own self-seriousness, but it's only The Tick that never took itself seriously in the first place. The Tick Has Been Successfully Adapted More Than Once Amazon's The Tick isn't the first time the comic character has been adapted successfully, and it's a credit to Edlund that his story and characters are so comprehensible that multiple generations of people have appreciated them. '90s kids will remember the 1994 Fox Kids The Tick, which ran for three seasons. Townsend Coleman voiced The Tick, along with several other characters, in this Saturday morning cartoon. Though primarily aimed at kids, the series had a sharp sense of humor and a deep understanding of both superheroes and kids' cartoons. Even over 30 years later, it still holds up. Then there was the first live-action series, which premiered in 2001. This series also aired on Fox, but it only lasted for one nine-episode season. Patrick Warburton portrays this version of The Tick. This show was more focused on the character relationships than action setpieces, compared to the Prime show or the cartoon. Credit: MovieStillsDB The Tick and The Boys also have a major crossover when it comes to the cast. Valorie Curry is best known for her performance as Firecracker beginning in season 4. Curry's performance as a superhero zealot who throws away all her beliefs at the altar of Homelander is one of the standouts of later seasons of The Boys. Along with memorable roles in The Twilight Saga, Veronica Mars, and House of Lies, Curry also starred in The Tick as Dot Everest, Arthur's sister. Dot is Arthur's more mature sibling, who is constantly trying to get her wayward brother on the right path. Dot is initially skeptical of The Tick and the conspiracy that Arthur believes he has uncovered, but over the course of the series, she becomes a helpful member of the Tick team. She also develops a slow-burning relationship with Overkill (Scott Speiser), a villain turned hero. If you didn't get enough Curry in The Boys, she's a regular in The Tick, an easy and satisfying binge you can watch right now on Prime. Release Date 2016 - 2019-00-00 Network Prime Video Showrunner Ben Edlund Cast Geoffrey Cantor Agent Adams Peter Serafinowicz The Tick Directors Thor Freudenthal, Wendey Stanzler, Wally Pfister, Lev L. Spiro Writers Ben Edlund Creator(s) Ben Edlund