Karl Urban has been tapped to star in Amazon’s straight-to-series superhero drama The Boys.

Written by Eric Kripke based on the comic book by Garth Ennis (Preacher) and Darick Robertson, The Boys is set in a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame. It revolves around a group of vigilantes known informally as “the Boys,” who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

Urban will play the Boys’ leader Billy Butcher. Mysterious, brutal and with a personal but secret agenda, Billy Butcher approaches Hughie (co-lead Jack Quaid), claiming to be a shadowy government operative. Butcher capitalizes on Hughie’s rage over his girlfriend Robin’s accidental death at the hands of superhero A-Train (Jesse T. Usher) and enlists Hughie as part of his plan to bring down the Superhero franchise.

Preacher‘s Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen will direct the pilot, from Sony Pictures TV, which will co-produce with Amazon and Neal H. Moritz’s studio-based Original Films.

In addition to Quaid and Usher, Urban joins previously cast Erin Moriarty, Antony Starr, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Nathan Mitchell and Karen Fukuhara.

The Boys is executive produced by Kripke (who also will serve as showrunner), Goldberg, Rogen, Original Film’s Moritz, Ori Marmur and Pavun Shetty, as well as Jason Netter, Ken Levin and Point Grey Pictures’ James Weaver. Ennis and Robertson will co-executive produce.

New Zealand-born Urban was recently seen as Skurge in Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok alongside Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett and Mark Ruffalo. He is also known for his roles as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the Star Trek movie franchise and as Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Urban is repped by UTA.