Subtle marine diplomacy was apparently not on the agenda.
Why is the ocean furious with The Deep?
The episode follows a chain of disasters that has left The Deep with almost nobody left to disappoint, which is quite an achievement.
First, Black Noir, played by Nathan Mitchell, caused a massive environmental catastrophe at sea by destroying a Vought oil pipeline. The damage killed more than a billion fish, turning corporate negligence and superhero violence into another grotesque punchline with a body count.
Then The Deep killed Black Noir in retaliation, despite Noir being presented as his supposed friend. It was one more ugly decision from a character who has spent years trying to be both powerful and pitied, usually without earning either status.
By the time this week’s episode catches up with him, The Deep is also losing his place in the human world. Homelander, played by Antony Starr, is disbanding The Seven and no longer needs him. That leaves The Deep stranded between two groups that want very little to do with him:
- The people around Vought, who see him as disposable
- The sea creatures, who blame him for mass death
- His former allies, who have either abandoned him or been killed by him
It is a lonely place to be, even for a man whose closest relationships have often involved questionable conversations with marine life.
How did the show get Jackson for the role?
Showrunner Eric Kripke told Polygon that the creative team wanted a voice that would be instantly identifiable for Xander. Once they landed on Jackson, they simply asked.
“We wanted a really distinct voice and who has a more distinct voice in Hollywood than Sam Jackson? So we just went to his agent,” Kripke said. “He was our first choice, and we were like, Does he want to do this? It was really just taking a flyer. But then it came back, Oh yeah, he likes the show and totally, he'll do it. Boy, that's a bucket list moment, man, of Sam Jackson reading your dialogue.”
It is the kind of cameo that works because it does not ask Jackson to vanish into the role. The joke is the voice, the timing, and the collision of superhero universes. Marvel’s Nick Fury turns up in The Boys, not as a world-saving strategist, but as an enraged shark demanding accountability for fish deaths. That is one way to use a guest star.
Is this the end for The Deep?
The bigger question now is whether Episode 7 marks the final turn in The Deep’s story before the series finale. The show has positioned him as a coward, a liability, and now a target for the very creatures he once claimed to understand.
His arc has often been built around humiliation, but this episode gives that humiliation an almost final shape. Homelander has no use for him. The Seven is being dismantled. The ocean remembers what happened on March 15. Even his ability to retreat into self-pity has been interrupted by a furious hammerhead with excellent diction.
Still, The Boys rarely lets a character exit cleanly when there is still discomfort to extract. The Deep may return in the finale, or this may be the last we see of him, cornered between human contempt and aquatic revenge.
Either way, Xander has made his feelings clear. And if the show wanted viewers to remember The Deep’s crimes before the end, having Samuel L. Jackson shout them from the water was a fairly efficient method.
