The Deep

Lore & Background

In the television adaptation, the Deep is a white man with gills (which he is insecure about) and the ability to hear the suffering of all sentient aquatic life as they are eaten by humans, which he has had since childhood. When Starlight joins the Seven, the Deep pressures her to perform oral sex on him (an act committed by Black Noir, A-Train, and Homelander in the source material). On the decision to adapt the Deep as the assaulter of Starlight, show runner Eric Kripke said that he had found the plot line difficult to adapt responsibly, having engaged in multiple discussions of how to do so. When Starlight discloses the sexual assault on live television, Vought forces the Deep to publicly apologize for the sexual misconduct they covered up for him over the years and reassigns him to Sandusky, Ohio, where he is raped by a fangirl via his gills. The following year, Church of the Collective members Eagle the Archer and Carol manipulate him into taking a hallucinogenic substance which causes him to believe that his gills (voiced by Patton Oswalt) are confronting him about the root of his sexual malfeasance: his abilities and the death of a dolphin he had been romantically involved with. Following this incident and his arranged marriage to Cassandra Schwartz, the Deep joins the Church, also convincing A-Train to do so, and assists Queen Maeve in securing blackmail material to use against Homelander in return for her vouching for his return to the Seven. However, he is denied, and the Deep leaves the Church.

In Their Own Story

A further year later, after he rebuilds his reputation by writing an exposé about the Church, Homelander personally has him rejoin the Seven to spite Starlight after she is made co-captain of the Seven. Additionally, the Deep becomes the new head of Vought's Crime Analytics division and fires all but Anika for posting negative comments about Vought on social media. After engaging in a sexual relationship with Ambrosius, an octopus he encountered at Herogasm, Cassandra leaves him when he attempts to make her join them. Homelander later sends the Deep to kill Lamar Bishop so Victoria Neuman can become Robert Singer's presidential campaign running mate. In season four, the Deep is taught how to stand up to Ashley by Sister Sage, Homelander's new de facto deputy on the Seven, who also fires him as the head of Crime Analytics but manipulates him into a sexual relationship. This strains Deep's relationship with Ambrosius, whom he continues to secretly keep as a pet, to the point that he accidentally shatters Ambrosius' tank and regretfully lets her suffocate. After Homelander kicks Sister Sage out of the Seven, the Deep and Black Noir II, who develop a "bromance", learn that Sister Sage has been sleeping with both of them. In season five, the Deep assists in locating A-Train's hideout. He later leads a mission to bring Stan Edgar to Homelander, knocking out Black Noir II and taking the credit for the mission's success; this leads to a falling out between the Deep and Noir. While the latter is working on writer Adam Bourke's stage play, the Deep dispatches an eel to attack and kill Adam via a toilet. Later, he records a promotion for Vought's new oil platform in Alaska, but Noir sabotages it, causing an ecological disaster. The Deep then murders Noir upon learning of his actions, although the fish population believe that the Deep was responsible. After Homelander dissolves the Seven, the Deep is approached by a great hammerhead named Xander, who voices his knowledge of what happened at the oil platform but is unaware that Noir was in fact the culprit. Xander states to the Deep that he is dead to all marine life and swims away, stating that if he comes in contact with any body of water, he will be killed. The Deep calls his manager to relocate him to a landlocked location, to no avail, and runs off when Xander's threat makes him unable to save a drowning man. When Homelander finally admits to the Deep that he has always hated him, he becomes forlorn and blames his mistakes on Annie, claiming that "all of it started" when she joined the Seven. During their confrontation, Annie uses her powers to launch him into the ocean; as various fish surround him shouting "Justice for Ambrosius" and demanding that he says Ambrosius' name, the Deep swims away apologizing. He is then grabbed by a Giant Pacific octopus's tentacle and impaled with the other tentacle before being dragged below the surface as Annie witnesses this.

Reader's Guide

The Deep has also appeared in the promotional web series The Boys Presents: Diabolical and Death Battle!, and the podcast series The Boys: Deeper and Deeper. In The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022) episode "BFFs", Crawford returns as The Deep. In the episode, the Deep is tasked with taking down a low-level pot dealer who has been selling Compound V, setting a shark upon him. After the Deep comes across a young Supe named Sky with the ability to control and give sentience to excrement, and being showered in it by her, he decides to leave her be. Crawford returns as The Deep in the second season of Gen V (2025), in which his character is revealed as an alumnus of the superhero university Godolkin University. It is also revealed that his full name is "Kevin Kohler", retconning the "Kevin Moskowitz" name he was using in second season of The Boys (while relocated to Sandusky, Ohio) as having been an alias. In the series, The Deep visits his alma mater as Sam Riordan asks if they have found the ones who attacked Cate Dunlap.

Did You Know?

• The Deep's gills are voiced by Patton Oswalt in a hallucinogenic sequence in the television series.
• In the television adaptation, the Deep pressures Starlight into a sex act, whereas in the comic book series that act is committed by A-Train, Black Noir, and Homelander.
• The Deep is raped by a fangirl via his gills after being reassigned to Sandusky, Ohio.
• The Deep's full name is given as Kevin Moskowitz in the third season of The Boys.
• In season five, the Deep dispatches an eel to attack and kill writer Adam Bourke via a toilet.