The Deep

Church of the Collective (formerly)
Liquid Death (formerly)

*For the Dynamite version of the character, see The Deep/Comics.*

―The Deep to Starlight[src]

**Kevin Moskowitz,** better known as **The Deep**, is a member of the Seven and a major antagonist in the Amazon series *The Boys*, serving as a major antagonist in Season 1, and a supporting antagonist in both Season 2 and Season 3.

He is an aquatic superhero with the ability to breath underwater and communicate with sea animals, but powers (when not near any kind of body of water) are actually comically useless.

After defecting from the Church of the Collective, The Deep has become a favorite on the national talk show circuit with the success of his (ghost-written) memoir, *Deeper*, about his escape from the cult and with his brilliant wife, Cassandra, coaching him along, he’s finally getting the recognition he thinks he deserves. But none of that compares to being a hero in The Seven and he wants back in; really bad.

## *The Boys* Series

### Background

#### Early Life

Kevin Moskowitz was born in the mid 80s and, like all superheroes, was experimented on at birth by Vought International with Compound V. Kevin first became aware of his aquatic telepathy at nine years of age, as he began hearing the thoughts of every aquatic animal he encountered, whether at a pet store, aquarium, beach, or Red Lobster. At first, he believed was going insane; however, his mother deceived him, calling it a gift and that he was just born that way. Over time his body would continue to mutate, sprouting aquatic gills on his torso, a trait that Kevin was highly insecure about as he believed himself to be ugly and afraid that people would reject him. At some point, Kevin attended and graduated from Godolkin University and was ranked number six.

#### Career in the Seven

Kevin eventually became a superhero known as The Deep, rising through fame and stardom as one of America’s greatest superheroes and a founding member to the world famous superhero team The Seven. However, despite (or perhaps, due to) his rising fame, his insecurities and shame would only escalate. Over the years, The Deep would sexually harass, humiliate, or assault most of the women he encountered as a way to feel less worthless, thinking they would do the same to him if they knew about his gills, a unique physical feature of his which gave him tremendous body dysmorphic disorder. One year at a VH1 Educator Award Ceremony, The Deep had an encounter with a kindergarten teacher named Melissa Dabrowski, who The Deep was suppose to award teacher of the year. While backstage, he “fingerbanged” Melissa and abandoned her right after while she was dressing herself, humiliating her.

Over the years, The Deep became good friends with fellow heroes such as Lamplighter, another member of The Seven, but received habitually verbal abuse and hazing from other heroes such as Homelander and A-Train, due to their sense of superiority to both him and his powers. Following Lamplighters retirement from hero work, The Deep was chosen to host the debut of The Seven’s newest member and Lamplighter’s replacement, Starlight.

### Season One

#### Assault on Starlight

―The Deep to Starlight[src]

Taking Starlight on a tour of Vought Tower, the two eventually arrive in the conference room of The Seven. As The Deep initially appears charming and supportive of the newest team member, he begins to masturbate in front of her when Starlight reveals she had a "crush" on him as a child. Starlight, appalled, begins to leave, but is told by The Deep tells Starlight that he is The Seven's #2, second only to Homelander in importance to the group. He then threatens Starlight with expulsion from The Seven if she does not perform oral sex on him. Buying into The Deep's ruse, Starlight submits to this blackmail.

The Deep uses this to mock her the day afterward. However, on advice from Queen Maeve, Starlight is able to move past it and ignore him. When they are on a mission, The Deep mocks Starlight repeatedly, still maintaining the charade of being regarded as second only to Homelander in importance to the team.

Starlight then informs him that she has since learned that the Deep has lied about his importance to the group, and he is, in fact, regarded as "a joke." She further threatens to burn his eyes out if he so much as touches her again. The Deep is visibly shaken by her threats, but tries to maintain a calm facade.

#### Sabbatical from The Seven

After Starlight reveals at the Believe Expo that she was sexually assaulted, withholding the name of the man who did it, Madelyn Stillwell confronts The Deep, correctly deducing he was Starlight's assailant based on his prior history of sexually assaulting women. Vought becomes worried that their stock will dive and they will gain negative publicity for promoting a sex offender, leading to them force The Deep to publicly apologize to Starlight and all his previous victims.

As punishment, Vought sends The Deep to Sandusky, Ohio, on sabbatical from The Seven. The Deep finds this difficult initially, believing himself to be so much more than a small-town hero. While in Sandusky, The Deep himself is sexually assaulted by a woman who forces her fingers into his gills (a process that is excruciating for him) and fails in trying to save a live lobster from a supermarket fish section. The Deep questions when he will return to the public spotlight, and is shocked to find out that Vought does not intend on him regaining his former position as part of The Seven.

### Season Two

#### Quest for Redemption

Continuing where the show left off, The Deep continues to struggle with coping with his sabbatical. The Deep is brought to an all-time low when, while viewing Translucent's funeral on TV at a bar, he notices that he has been edited out of the group photos shown during a montage. After The Deep gets arrested for creating an alcohol-driven public disturbance at a water park, he's bailed out of jail by Eagle the Archer who offers to help him build his reputation back. With the assistance of Carol, a member of the Church of the Collective, The Deep is given medication that allows him to communicate with his body. At first he rejects his body until his gills tell The Deep that he deserves to be happy and to be loved, but must learn to love himself. Furthermore, Carol promises Deep if he continues to follow the process, he'll be worthy of rejoining The Seven. Eventually the Deep participates in a planned marriage by Carol in order to help him gain the right kind of public attention. At the end of We Gotta Go Now, Queen Maeve approaches The Deep and makes him an offer: He helps her with a favor, and she'll help earn the Deep more positive publicity. The Maeve's conditions in the deal are revealed in The Bloody Doors Off, she wants The Deep to search the wreckage of Flight 37 for footage of her and Homelander leaving the passengers to die. He returns and hands her a damaged GoPro camera with footage of a man recording Maeve and Homelander debating with each other on whether or not to let all of the passengers die. While at the movie set, he attempts to recruit A-Train and offers him lunch with him and the chairman, Alastair Adana. There, the two attempt to recruit A-Train as a member. Eventually A-Train joins because Adana has information on his abuse of Compound V. At birthday party in Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker Deep and A-Train bond, with A-Train giving Deep a pet fish and apologizing for harassing him in the past. Alistair arrives and says he arranged a meeting with Stan Edgar promises them both they will get back into The Seven. Alistair then questions them on their opinion on Eagle the Archer. Deep first calls Eagle his friend, however he changes his mind quickly and berates Eagle the moment Alistair calls Eagle a toxic personality. A-Train and Deep are seen in a bar at the end of the episode. There, they watch a news article with Eagle admitting that he was kicked out the church because he refused to the follow the program which would've "required" him to cut all ties with his mother. To the shock of A-Train, Deep still chastises Eagle. A-Train asks Deep why he is so quick to turn on the man he once called a friend. Deep ignores A-Train and asks the bartender to change the channel to the Congressional Hearings. Deep and A-Train can only watch as the courtroom is massacred. Deep grasps his head to check if it's going to explode too, to his relief it doesn't.

#### All for Nothing

―The Deep Leaving The Church of the Collective[src]

Deep and A-Train do meet with Alistair in What I Know, from there, Alistair reveals he knows A-Train broke into the archives room and stole information on Stormfront. Deep chastises A-Train in an attempt to win positivity with Alistair, however. Alistair reveals it was a positive thing and thanks to A-Train's efforts in removing Stormfront, A-Train is allowed back into The Seven. The Deep once again changes his attitude and congratulates A-Train. Deep asks if he's also back in, but Alistair says Vought refused him because "One hero is a redemption, two is weakness." Deep is furious with the church because of this and begins criticizing The Church. Alistair then calls him toxic so Deep insults him one last time before storming off.

#### Against the Church

The Deep is later on referenced by Vought News Network anchor Cameron Coleman, who says that after abandoning the Church, the Deep started openly criticizing and making allegations against it, accusing it of psychological manipulation, corporate corruption and "an unholy obsession with Fresca", especially Adana, who once again was "unaccounted for" (due to being murdered by Victoria Neuman for blackmail shortly after Deep's departure from the Church).

### Seven on 7 with Cameron Coleman

The Deep was featured across various segments on the VNN show hosted by Cameron Coleman. He was prominently the leading face of a drink advertisement titled *The Deep x Liquid Death* to promote saving the environment and reduce plastics which could kill ocean/marine life. However, after burning plastic trash and releasing toxic fumes near children, Liquid Death parted ways with The Deep as their Chief Sustainability Associate.

### Season Three

#### Comeback to Seven

The Deep is still trying to make a comeback, with the help and support of his wife, Cassandra. He releases a new book and even goes on the Cameron Colemon show to talk about it. Homelander supports getting Deep back into The Seven, at the protest of Starlight, but Homelander succeeds and The Deep is back. To celebrate, Homelander invites The Deep to a seafood feast, where he forces him to eat his friend, Timothy, alive. The Deep is horrified at the thought of having to eat his seafood friends but he does it at the insistence of Homelander and Cassandra.

Cassandra continues to urge Deep to side with Homelander. He shuts down A-Train's idea to crack down on Supes like Blue Hawk, to impress Homelander. A-Train is upset with Deep and they get in a fight.

A new Head of Crime Analytics is named - The Deep. The Deep addresses the Crime team and Cassandra brings cupcakes for the team. They fire most of the staff because of past tweets that were critical of Homelander.

#### Enjoying Herogasm

―The Deep[src]

By order of Homelander, The Deep had to look for the TNT Twins to get information about the unexpected return of Soldier Boy. However, he realized that they were celebrating Herogasm, a legendary event started by Soldier Boy in 1952 for supers to have orgiastic sex. The Deep wound up staying for a while, and eventually began to have consensual oral sex with an octopus owned by the Twins. Upon being discovered by Starlight, who took a compromising photo of him and the octopus, The Deep confessed to her about Homelander's plans to keep her from posting it. After the explosion of the place, Deep took the octopus with him in a plastic bag full of water.

#### Relationship with Cassandra

The Deep tells Cassandra he wants to open their relationship and start having sex with others - sea creatures in particular. She agrees to have a 3-way but is quickly repulsed and leaves, telling The Deep to see how he fares without her since she has orchestrated his entire comeback.

#### Support for Homelander

The Deep remained faithful to Homelander, out of fear. Homelander tells him to kill Lamar Bishop, the VP nominee, and he regretfully does it.

### Gen V

#### #ThinkBrink

―The Deep

After the death of Richard Brinkerhoff, The Deep paid his respects to the professor with a message that was displayed at his memorial.

## Personality

―The Deep to Starlight[src]

In his first appearance, The Deep was presented as unethical and manipulative. Aware of Starlight's youthful infatuation with him, he falsely claimed that he was second only to Homelander in importance to The Seven, and threatened her with expulsion from the team unless she performed oral sex on him.

During his tenure with The Seven, The Deep seemed mindful of the fact that he was regarded as the least valuable member. He complained to Starlight that Vought only wants him to make "pretty dives" and show off his biceps. He also became belligerent when Starlight, having learned that The Deep lied to her about his importance to the group to coerce her into sexual acts, angrily told him "everyone thinks you're a joke."

The Deep also felt no remorse over having manipulated Starlight in this way, even mocking Starlight and openly contemptuous of her indignation. He eventually apologized, but only when forced to.

When he was involuntarily placed on sabbatical (after Starlight exposed his predatory nature at the Believe Expo) and became involved with Church of the Collective, his desperation to be accepted back into The Seven caused him to adopt an obsequious, almost servile attitude toward the Church's Chairman Alastair Adana. More than once, Deep has been known to instantly flip his perspective on a person when he realizes Alastair takes a differing view. For instance, when Alistair reveals that A-Train had stolen the Church's PDR (Private Data Reserve) file on Stormfront, Deep responds in outrage over the theft. But when Alastair commends A-Train's "initiative" and that he is now back in The Seven, Deep at once becomes congratulatory towards A-Train, despite having disavowed him only seconds earlier. Furthermore, when Alistair asks him about his opinion on Eagle the Archer, Deep first calls Eagle a friend and the man who saved him. However, the moment Alistair interrupts calling Eagle toxic, Deep sides with Alistair and denounces Eagle.

His devotion to the Church is such that he even signed over his bank account to Alastair. He married his current wife against his own preference at Carol's insistence.

But Deep's sycophantic nature has its limits. When he learned that A-Train, whom Deep recruited to join the Church, has been re-accepted into The Seven while he was not, he storms out of Alastair's office in a rage, apparently quitting the Church. However, after returning to The Seven, Deep again displays his sycophantic attitude, this time to Homelander and always following his wife's instructions doing exactly what she tells him to do to gain Homelander's respect. For instance, Deep fired almost the entire Crime Analytics Department right after being named the new Head of that subdivision, because all of them had tweets criticizing Homelander and blaming others, such as Ashley Barrett, for his mistakes.

The Deep is also self-conscious about the presence of gills on his torso. While this adaptation allows him to breathe underwater, he is acutely aware that most find them repulsive and is extremely reluctant to bare his torso because of this. Deep is made to confront his revulsion during his time with the Church with a drug-induced hallucination where his gills seemingly have developed autonomy and are capable of speaking to Deep. In his hallucinations, Deep's gills suggested that his shame over his own body prompts him to violate women's bodies.

The Deep is very fond of receiving unreciprocated oral sex, even preferring it to coitus. Perhaps his self-consciousness regarding his gills has guided this preference. He blackmails Starlight into performing oral sex on him, and his complaint about his wife is that she "gives terrible blow jobs."

Because of his capacity of communicating with sea creatures, The Deep has at least a friendship with almost every sea creature he knows. He often tries to help them by rescuing them with the intent to return them to the ocean. He also suffers and mourns whenever one his aquatic friends are killed in front of him. In Season 2, when Deep attempted to stop The Boys by interposing a sperm whale, Butcher killed the whale by ramming his boat right into it. Instead of pursing The Boys, The Deep remained on the beach, mourning the death of Lucy, the name he had given to the sperm whale.

The Deep's rapport with marine animals even extends to sexual intimacy. For instance, bottlenose dolphin that Deep was attempting to return to the ocean was apparently requesting sexual favors. And while he was engaged in coitus with his wife, he was clearly focused on his pet octopus Timothy, suggesting that Timothy would perform masturbation on him with all his arms. This is further proven when he went to the Herogasm and is seen having coitus with an octopus, even though he was supposed to get information about Soldier Boy and again when he asked his wife to have a 3-way with an octopus.

Despite his initial reluctance about marrying Cassandra, Deep was determined to form a happy life with her. However, this was motivated by his desire to return to The Seven and because of her support. This proves that beyond his insecurities and his ambition to be more recognized by Vought, The Deep is self-centered to the point of narcissism.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

―The Deep[src]

* **Amphibious Physiology and Anatomy**: The Deep possesses a hybrid set of human lungs and aquatic gills enabling him to not only breathe on land but also underwater for as long as he likes. He can also endure cold temperatures and see in the dark depths of the ocean.
	+ **Aquatic Telepathy**: The Deep is able to psychically communicate with all forms of sea creatures, even having full conversations with them. His telepathy also enables him to compel their obedience to his commands. He uses this ability to rally a group of sharks and a whale against The Boys in an unsuccessful attempt to stop them. He has better success using this ability to locate Translucent's body and a Go-Pro camera from the Flight 37 wreckage with the assistance of sea creatures.
	+ **Marine Life Enhancement**: The Deep has the ability to enhance the natural abilities of marine life that he controls. A sperm whale under his control was easily able to overtake and pass a speedboat, ordinarily highly unlikely as sperm whales have a top speed of 45 km/h (28 miles/h).
	+ **Superhuman Swimming Speed**: In the water, the Deep has shown to be quite fast. His swimming speed is quick enough to reach the back of a dock before Starlight reached the entrance while traveling on foot. He managed to swim in the harbor where Translucent's body was in and swim to the ocean where the Flight 37 wreckage was to scour for blackmail.
* **Superhuman Strength**: There is some circumstantial evidence that Deep possesses strength greater than that of normal human beings. He managed to knock out two thugs with minimal effort, being able to make one do a back flip in the air with a single uppercut. Perhaps a greater testament to his strength is that he managed to steal a bottlenose dolphin (average weight: 660 pounds) from an aquarium, intending to return it to the ocean. It is not revealed how he managed to load it into the truck he used to carry it, but it would suggest at least above-average strength if he managed to carry the dolphin himself. In his brief scuffle with A-Train, he was able to cause the speedster physical pain with his blows and they seemed evenly matched, although it should be noted that A-Train was unable to utilize his powers at the time due to a heart condition. Another demonstration of his strength is The Deep being able to swim against the strong rapids of the ocean current without any struggle.
* **Superhuman Durability**: The Deep has shown the ability to withstand greater force against his body than that of normal human beings without experiencing physical harm. He was able leap off a giant boat into the water and survive unscathed. He has also claimed to have swam in the Mariana Trench, which has a water pressure in excess of 8 tons per square inch, or 1,000 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level, on the ocean floor.
* **Superhuman Hearing**: The Deep, being a supe, has better hearing beyond that of ordinary humans, capable of hearing certain frequencies.

### Abilities

* **Swimming Skills:** As the Seven's aquatic superhero, The Deep is a very skilled swimmer. With the help of his superhuman physical abilities and his aquatic respiration, Kevin can swim better than any human and even most supes.
* **Bilinguism:** The Deep is shown to have decent speaking skills in Spanish. In the Kirei Shoyu ad, Kevin is seen speaking Japanese, however he is not very good at it.
* **Acting**: The Deep has participated in the production of multiple films, such as Not Without My Dolphin and Rising Tide. Both films are available at Vought+. However from what it can be seen from trailers, his performance does not appear to be very good.

## Weaknesses

### Psychological

―Starlight[src]

* **Insecurities**: The Deep is self-conscious about the presence of gills on his torso. While this adaptation allows him to breathe underwater, he is keenly aware that most find them repulsive and is extremely reluctant to bare his torso because of this. It is possible that his self-consciousness is the reason why he violates women's bodies. While he was able to convince Starlight that he is considered second only to Homelander, Kevin knows very well that he is regarded as the least valuable member of The Seven. His insecurities and low self-esteem make him quite easy to manipulate.
* **Aquatic Empathy**: Due to his ability to communicate with all forms of aquatic creatures, The Deep can very easily form emotional bonds with aquatic lifeforms. He appears to care more about marine life than actual people, likely due to the fact that he has been betrayed and abused multiple times by regular humans and his fellow Supes. His rapport with marine life has been exploited by multiple people, such as Homelander, to torment him by harming sea creatures.

### Biological

* **Blunt Force/Limited Durability:** The Deep has claimed to be able to withstand the immense pressure of even the deepest parts of the ocean (in excess of 16,000 pounds per square inch). However, if this is his upper limit, it is significantly less than other supes, such as Stormfront, Queen Maeve and Homelander, who can easily resist high-caliber bullets (>50,000 psi). The Deep's durability has been overtaxed multiple times. For instance, he was knocked unconscious when falling off a beached sperm whale onto the sand. Supes of extreme levels of strength can harm and kill him. Deep has always been afraid of Homelander, knowing that he is fully capable of killing him.
* **Gills:** It has been shown that human hands, even fingers, inserted in his gills cause him extreme pain, which allowed a woman to sexually assault him when she stuck her fingers inside. He was also visibly pained when struck by A-Train in the gill area, showing that this area is especially vulnerable.

## Relationships

* Unnamed Mother
* Loretta † - Aunt

Allies* Vought International
	+ The Seven - Colleagues
		- Homelander - Leader
		- A-Train
		- Black Noir †
		- Translucent †
		- Lamplighter †
	+ Ashley Barrett
* Church of the Collective
	+ Carol
* TNT Twins †

All Aquatic Lifeforms* Sperm whale named Lucy †
* Sharks (probably shortfin mako sharks) he employed to attack a boat used by The Boys.
* Unnamed dolphin he stole from an aquarium and attempted to return to the ocean †
* Unnamed lobster he purchased from a grocery store intending to return it to the ocean †
* Unnamed porpoise he used to locate the remains of Translucent
* School of halibut used to recover a damaged Go-Pro from Flight 37
* Goldfish (apology gift from A-Train)
* Octopus named Timothy † (pet, victim)
* Octopus named Ambrosius (female) - Hook-Up

	+ Billy Butcher
	+ Mother's Milk
	+ Frenchie
	+ Hughie Campbell
	+ The Female
	+ Annie January/Starlight - Former Colleague, sexual assault victim
* Margaret Shaw/Queen Maeve - Former Colleague
* Church of the Collective
	+ Alastair Adana † - Former Ally
	+ Eagle the Archer - Former Friend
* Lamar Bishop † - Victim

Victims* Timothy † - (Unwilling; eaten alive, eaten on the orders of Homelander and Cassandra)
* Lamar Bishop † - (Intentional; killed by drowning, killed on the orders of Homelander)

## Trivia

* In the original Dynamite comic, The Deep (despite being a member of the Seven) is a background character with no meaningful significance to the story. The Deep’s sexual assault on Starlight was originally performed by Homelander, Black Noir, and A-Train, the latter of whom was also Starlight’s main tormentor.
* The Deep is mostly a parody of DC's Aquaman but his personality is similar to Marvel's Namor the Sub-Mariner.
* The last name "Moskowitz" indicates possible Eastern Ashkenazic Jewish descent. This is further established in the fact that the Deep starred in a Hanukkah film titled *Light the Menorah*.
* The aesthetic and character aspect has also changed from the paper counterpart to the television one. The Deep in the comics was a dark-skinned man; however, in the television one he has pale, white skin. The Deep in the comics despite being less innocent than the TV counterpart, is much more mature and self-confident. While his television version is much more immature and insecure. In the comics it doesn't appear that The Deep has amorous or arousing zoophilic feelings towards marine animals.
* The Deep's sexual fetish towards marine animals is likely based on Troy McClure, a character from *The Simpsons*. In the episode, "A Fish Called Selma", It's revealed that McClure's film career was killed after rumors spread about his "bizarre fish fetish", including an indecent act he did at the local aquarium. Like McClure, the Deep also has a fish aquarium in his bedroom.

## Gallery

### Videos

The Boys Season 2 - Exclusive Clip - Amazon Prime VideoThe Boys Chace Crawford Kirei Shoyu Ad - Prime Video
## References

1. ↑ https://ew.com/tv/the-boys-season-2-finale-digital-cover/
2. ↑ Season 2 Episode 1 *The Big Ride*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3  The Boys: Deeper and Deeper
4. ↑ *Cherry*
5. ↑ *The Female*
6. ↑ *The Big Ride*
7. ↑ Bob in *First Day*: *"Did you know Supes have a wider range of hearing than us? Like dogs."*