The highly anticipated fourth season of The Boys debuts on Amazon Prime Video on June 13, 2024. The critically acclaimed satirical superhero show released its last episode nearly two years ago, so fans are understandably getting impatient for more ultraviolent superhero action.
Excitingly, the brilliant Jeffrey Dean Morgan — The Walking Dead’s Negan himself — will appear in the new season. The recent teaser for it showed his character warmly greeting Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher, suggesting the pair are past acquaintances.
Morgan is as excited as the show’s fans. He recently edited himself into some promo art for The Boys and posted the results on X with the humorous accompanying text: “Art is done for season 4. Good work, folks. I saved @TheBoysTV some dough.”
But who is Morgan playing in the show?
Who is ‘Monkey’?
The answer is Joe “Monkey” Kessler. In the comic books, Monkey is the name of Howard “Monkey” Kessler, so there’s been a bit of name modification for Morgan’s character, Joe.
The comic book version of the character is a CIA analyst whom Butcher turns to for information in his crusade against Supes. He’s a sexual deviant, a nervous wreck, and a coward who’s scared of everything, and Butcher gave him the nickname “Monkey” after accompanying him to the eccentric Doc Peculiar’s brothel, where green AIDS-infected monkeys molested his ears (isn’t The Boys so wholesome?).
The Boys series regularly deviates from its source material and, in addition to having a different first name to his comic book counterpart, Morgan’s version of Monkey looks like he’ll be a different animal. He looks very corporate and probably serves the same purpose, but his personality is worlds apart. He seems far more confident and has an air of badassery about him that’s typical of Dean Morgan’s performances.
This take on the character appears to be a man Butcher genuinely respects rather than someone he looks down on and takes advantage of. They seem to be on the same level, with Morgan’s Monkey jokingly mocking Butcher for calling his team “The Boys.”