A member of Comic Con royalty joined Amazon’s The Boys today onstage in New York as Simon Pegg made a surprise visit to announce he is joining the Amazon series.

Walking out with a “hello everybody,” the Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible alum said he will play the father of Hughie, the character he inspired in the very dark and grit-filled Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comics on which the TV series is based. In the show executive produced by Eric Kripke and Evan Goldberg, Jack Quaid portrays Hughie.

As Brett Kavanaugh and Marvel mockery flew fast and footage was shown to laughs and applause, Pegg joined Quaid, Timeless co-creator Kripke and Robertson onstage at the Hammerstein Ballroom for the New York Comic Con panel. Another Comic Con vet, Karl Urban, was also in attendance along with Laz Alonso, Karen Fukuhara, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty and Chace Crawford.

“We have a competition to see who can be in the most franchises,” Pegg’s Star Trek co-star and now Boys cast mate Urban joked after the announcement was made. “We are a couple of franchise whores,” Pegg responded to big cheers from the crowd, who had been treated to a rather intentionally stilted family photo.

Set to debut in 2019, The Boys takes place in an America where morally corrupt and degenerate superheroes called the “Seven” take advantage of their powers as well as the celebrity and fame they enjoy. Urban’s Billy Butcher leads a group of vigilantes known informally as “the Boys” who take on the seemingly unbeatable so-called supes. Those not-so-heroic superheroes are managed by Vought, a giant conglomerate that was the basis of those Marvel jokes today — check out the Elizabeth Shue as VP of Hero Management Madelyn Stillwell in the Vought corporate video that was played in the room Friday:

“The world now reflects the world of The Boys way more than when Garth wrote it,” Kripke noted, calling the series the “most topical show on television.” Noting what happens to her Starlight character in the comics and the series, Moriarty also connected The Boys to “America today” and the success of those failing upwards. “It’s good to be human and kind,” Kripke added to applause from the ballroom.

Amazon

The eight-episode Prime Original drama is co-produced with Sony Pictures Television Studios, with Kripke, Point Grey Pictures’ Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and James Weaver serving as EPs. Original Film’s Neal H. Moritz,, Ori Marmur, Pavun Shetty, Jason Netter and Ken Levin also EP. Ennis, who also wrote the Preacher comics Goldberg and Rogen produce for AMC, and Robertson will serves co-executive producers.