Paul is an often-overlooked comedy from the 2010s of little note, but it was ominously prescient in predicting the success of some of Amazon’s H๏τtest superhero properties. Often considered to be the unofficial fourth entry in the Edgar Wright Cornetto Flavours trilogy, 2011’s Paul is a friendly yet foul-mouthed comedy featuring the same Cornetto comedy stylings of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The pair play a couple of science fiction geeks from Britain on a tour of the American Southwest who stumble across a chill gray alien, Seth Rogen’s тιтular Paul.
What makes rewatching Paul in the modern day so interesting are the references to two comic books that, while being relatively unknown at the time, would go on to become two of Amazon’s H๏τtest TV show properties. Of course, the two series in question are none other than Invincible and The Boys, both subversive superhero comics that flip typical genre conventions on their head with particularly bloody, R-rated twists. With both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s characters being canonical fans of nerdom and comic book creators themselves, it was a fitting opportunity for references to both books.
How Seth Rogen’s Paul Foreshadowed Invincible And The Boys Being Streaming Success Stories
Both Comics Had Small Nods In Paul
First off, The Boys has a prominent reference in the film, with an issue of the original comic run lurking in the background of a scene in a comic book shop. Funnily enough, one of the main characters of The Boys, Hughie Campbell, was actually intentionally drawn to look like Simon Pegg. While Hughie is played by Jack Quaid in the live-action show, Pegg himself actually wrote the introduction for the first major The Boys omnibus, and ended up appearing in the show as Hughie’s Dad. Not only that, but Seth Rogen had a hand in producing The Boys for Amazon in the first place.
The cast of Paul‘s interest in comics that were obscure at the time only to become hit series on Amazon didn’t stop there. At another point in the film, Pegg’s character wears a graphic T-shirt featuring the тιтular hero of Invincible, now one of Amazon’s most successful animated series. Not only does Invincible get a nod by the film, but co-creators Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker even get cameo appearances, alongside artist Ryan Ottley, as a few of the government agents who show up in the film’s climax, attempting to capture Paul before he can return to his home planet.
Paul Suggests Seth Rogen Was Thinking About Invincible For A Long Time
Ditto For Simon Pegg And The Boys
It can’t be understated just how bizarre it is to see references to both of these comics, now mᴀssive franchises in their own right, a solid 8 years before either of them would premiere on Amazon as a streaming series. Both Invincible and especially The Boys were quite obscure at the time, with only dedicated superhero comic fans willing to branch outside the typical Marvel and DC stories even aware of their existence. Paul proves that Simon Pegg and Seth Rogen had both been thinking about the possibility of large-scale success for adaptations of both series for a long time.
Simon Pegg and Seth Rogen had both been thinking about the possibility of large-scale success for adaptations of both series.
In the case of the latter, Seth Rogen would go on to voice another likable extraterrestrial in Invincible as Allen the Alien, a character that Paul himself was essentially the first draft of. Rogen has also been helping to develop a live-action Invincible film even earlier than the success of the animated series, which premiered in 2021. The beloved stoner comedy actor clearly has a soft spot for Invincible in particular, and that appreciation has even bled over into totally unrelated work.
Paul proves that both Simon Pegg and Seth Rogen had both clearly appreciated both The Boys and Invincible long before Amazon got ahold of either license. In a sense, their inclusion makes for a shockingly accurate prediction of both comics’ success as adapted series, speaking wonders for both actors’ ability to recognize great source material when they see it. It’s funny to think about how many heads their cameos likely went over when Paul first released compared to how recognizable both books are now.
