Queen Meave aka Maggie Shaw is one of the most important cast members in The Boys. Played by Dominique McElligot, the character is revealed to be one of the earliest members of The Seven, who grows disillusioned with the organization and its power-hungry leader Homelander with every passing episode. Apart from her powers, her alcoholism, sexual identity, and her cinematic endeavors are also touched upon. In contrast, her comic-book counterpart is vastly different in her nature.
While her attire, powers, alliances, and enemies might be similar in the original Dynamite Comics series, the comic version of Queen Meave is slightly less-developed. At the same time, the character appears in some of the comic series' most intense moments.
10 Homelander Left Her To Die
In the Amazon Prime series' first season, a tragic moment is Homelander's disastrous handling of the hijacked Flight 37. Queen Meave is disappointed but realizes there's little she can do and escapes with Homelander as the plane crashes.
In the comics, this moment is slightly altered to add a geopolitical angle that gains relevance later. This plane is shown to be heading towards the Twin Towers on the day of 9/11. While Homelander and Queen Meave manage to kill the terrorists, Homelander leaves the civilian passengers as well as Meave on her own. In a desperate attempt to survive, Meave tears through the helpless crowd to escape the ill-fated flight.
9 The 9/11 Attacks Led To Her Alcoholism
The 9/11 disaster led to the destruction of Brooklyn Bridge and helped the American government move ahead with a secret plan with the Pakistani government, while Homelander and Vought International push forward their agenda to recruit 'Supes' in the military.
The resulting collateral damage and the loss of the passengers' lives has a profound impact on Queen Maeve's mental health. From then on, she's mostly seen engaging in alcoholism or multiple sexual relationships.
8 She Had A Brief Relationship With Stormfront
In the comics, the xenophobic supervillain Stormfront is a male character. Rather than Homelander indulging in an affair with him (as shown in the series), it's Queen Maeve who shares a brief sexual relationship with Stormfront. It's also revealed that Stormfront's DNA was partially used to create Homelander.
However, in her relationship, it's vaguely hinted that Queen Maeve is cheating on him with another man. This case of adultery isn't touched upon further in the comics. She later shares a secret relationship with the comic book editor known as The Legend.
7 Heterosexual Relationships
Queen Maeve's TV avatar is shown to be bisexual from the start, with the second season focusing on Maeve hiding her secret from Homelander lest he kills her romantic partner. Her bisexuality is never touched upon in the comics, as she's shown to be engaging in relationships with several men. Some of them include heroes like the aforementioned Stormfront, while others are random strangers like a few bodybuilders.
Maeve is often compared to Wonder Woman in terms of her appearance. If she was bisexual in the comics, she would have resembled the latter even more as Wonder Woman was revealed to be bisexual from The New 52 onwards.
6 Lesser Sympathy
Even though she feels a tremendous amount of guilt for her actions during the 9/11 attacks, Maeve is not that sympathetic or emotional of a person. It's only in her final moments towards the end of the series that she shows affection for Starlight and tries her best to protect her from the rest of the tyrants who control The Seven.
In the show, there are several scenes that show Queen Maeve as a righteous person from the start, as she mentors Starlight from her very start at the Seven, and often despises Homelander. In the comics, her disdain towards the Homelander and sympathy for Starlight comes pretty gradually.
5 Homelander Tricked Her With A Scandal
Be it any version, Homelander is always shown to be a vile, and ruthless person. In what seems like a prank to shame Queen Maeve, he tricks her into sleeping with Black Noir. Maeve can't differentiate between the two as underneath his costume, Black Noir is a clone of Homelander designed by Vought as a contingency option in case Homelander needs to be suppressed.
As Maeve engages in an intimate moment with Black Noir, Homelander photographs her in compromising positions and leaks the images to the media. The public scandal further affects her already-deteriorating mental health.
4 Planting Bugs In The Seven's Headquarters
The sex scandal proved to be the last straw for Queen Maeve as she broke up with Homelander and decided to act as an inside agent for The Boys. She meets up with Billy Butcher's team and installs bugs in The Seven's headquarters to secure information.
It's her meetings with the Boys that brings her closer with the comic-book writer and PR agent known as 'The Legend', who also grows disillusioned with the Vought superheroes and sides with the vigilantes instead.
3 Empress Of The Other World
As mentioned before, The Legend was a comic-book writer in the universe of The Boys. Serving as the chief editor for Victory Comics, he's shown to be authoring several comics and promotional material to build a mythos around each of Vought's heroes.
In the case of Queen Maeve, she's often referred to as the 'Empress of the Other World', giving her a mythical background similar to Wonder Woman's Amazonian heritage. As she's initially shown to be the second-strongest member in The Seven after Homelander, she's also seen as 'The Strongest Woman in the World'.
2 Blarney Cock Was Her Son
The Legend, the informant and unofficial member of The Boys, is shown as a very supportive friend to Queen Maeve serving as her confidant when necessary. Their bond eventually turns into a romantic relationship, and they end up having a son together.
The estranged son is later revealed to be the Teenage Kix member Blarney Cock who's later murdered accidentally and brutally by Hughie. Cock is otherwise an unruly superhero who speaks in an Irish accent and is extremely racist. In his childhood, he was shipped to Ireland by Queen Meave, and hence, he never knew his true parentage.
1 Her Sudden Death
In the final chapters of the comic book series, Homelander gets closer to the truth that Queen Maeve and Starlight both might be helping out The Boys. Filled with his typical rage, he plans to confront Starlight at The Seven's headquarters.
Intent on saving Starlight, Maeve throws her outside a window while she herself charges at Homelander with her sword. The sword turns out to be a metal prop. Within seconds, Homelander beheads her and throws away her head. As Starlight lands to safety, one can vaguely see Queen Meave's decapitated head. The moment was too intense and unexpected and drew a polarizing reception among fans. If Queen Meave dies in the show, it'll be interesting to see how the showrunners would play out her final scenes.
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January 18, 2021 at 04:30AM
