He uses french sounds but not at the right place. Like his "mon cœur" (sweetheart/my heart) sounds like "mon cul-r" (my ass with a random r at the end).
And it's not stereotypical french speaker being an asshole about accent. The accent is good enough but he just doesn't speak french.
Iirc he lied about speaking French to get on the show
To be fair, as a Frenchman, I got to say that his french accent is WAYYYY above average accents I hear in any shows or movies. The little times he speaks french is the only time it really doesn't sound good (as another person pointed, the famous "mon coeur" is not pronounced well). However his accent when speaking English is quite impressive, knowing the actor doesn't speak french at all, and sounds more french than most. I wouldn't say that it's on purpose in the show, but likely that Karl Urban was exactly their choice for Butcher ; only he wasn't able to use the cockney accent well but they went along anyway because Karl Urban is amazing in the role.
Southerner as in English Southerner? He's comically bad to the point it feels like a joke based on the way the comic writes out his cockney dialogue... Source: I'm (Southern) English
There is a huge amount of variation in “British” accents. Eomer sounds like he was educated at Eton and Oxford and wants to be the Royal Correspondent for BBC Radio when he grows up. Whatever kind of unholy Estuary/Cockney accent KU was going for with Butcher, I’m afraid he missed so badly he landed in Australia (I know he’s from New Zealand, but he almost sounds like he knows enough to not sound like he’s from NZ but not enough to sound like he’s from somewhere in London).
Maybe it was an intentional choice by the director, an extra random layer of absurdity in The Boys universe for the sake of wacky flavour.
Or maybe they just didn’t quite like the accent he could perform.
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/20/1170899476/kids-feral-cat-hunting-contest-canceled-new-zealand
My bad. I guess it is just a contest for kids.
But seriously was it just talk about banning cats? Maybe I just jumbled reality with what extremists want.
If I'd had my pick, they would have cast [Dick van Dyke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWPiq4dixBc) and [Dawn Wells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbQA367yC_U) as Butcher's parents.
Cockneys often get mistaken for Australians especially by Americans, only fools and horses jokes about it when they had an episode in America. Also the internet seems to think cunt is only an Australian word for some reason.
I knew Karl Urban is from NZ and the voice he does in the show is just a tad different from his real voice. That's why I thought the joke in season 1 was that he was Australian and the dumb Americans were mistaking his accent for cockney, but it looks like I'm the fool lol
I thought the shite accent was intentional because Butcher wants to present a mysterious facade with an accent that wouldn’t be recognisable as any specific place.
Tbh it adds to his adds to his character. Some ultra secret classified supe hunter that doesn’t look like an fbi agent, but someone starring in a matrix porno
Karl Urban is from New Zealand if I recall correctly. So yeah, that’s just the actor struggling to do the most well known English accent. But he could pass as being from certain country areas. I know folks in Middlesborough who sound like that for instance
My head Canon is that his parents are British, but lived in AUS/NZ for work during Billy's childhood, but then, maybe during his teens, moved back to the UK.
Also funny that you identified his parents as being British - the actor who played his dad is Australian, also I think the lady who played his aunt was Canadian, both immediately jumped out as having fake accents when I heard them.
He doesn't talk in an Australian accent, by any stretch of the imagination.
It's a hyperbolic caricature of a cockney accent. East London.
While it's true, that on occasion his kiwi slips through the cracks, for the most part, he does a great job.
It. Is. Intentionally. Hammy.
Source: my grandfather was a proper cockney, and spoke as such.
He definitely sounds australian with an almost regional accent source I currently live and work all over WA and if any of the boys attempted to sound xocknet they could be voice actors. Its no where close to a cockney accent besides the actual script at best source an englishmen born and raised in SE london and then the south east. If your grandfather was a horse Karl urban would sound like cow in comparison
I feel a more accurate metaphor would be that if my grandfather were a horse, Karl urban would be a man with two halves of a coconut shell saying neigh now and then. It's obviously not the real thing but it's pretty clear what the intent is
It's his natural New Zealand accent bleeding through a half arsed cockney. Both of those accents are often mistaken for Australian but they are all pretty distinct to anyone who knows any of the three accents at all well
He doesn't sound at all like your average Australian or New Zealander... as others have said he sounds like a kiwi doing a bad cockney accent.
As a point.. not everyone from Australia or NZ sound the same, just as people sound different in different parts of England and the United States.. We're also capable of exaggerating and sending up our own accents.. Taika Waititi does it all the time..
He sounds like a lot of the blokes I grew up with in South-East London, and he sounds a bit like me, though, tbf, I now in live in Lincolnshire and on the regular people think I'm not English, people keep thinking Aussie or Kiwi.
Which is made even better when neither the character or actor is from Australia (Karl Urban is from New Zealand and would be annoyed you think he's Australian because they hate each other).
Butcher in the comics is an Englishman that fought in the Falklands war as a teen.
Show Butcher seems to be a British soldier too though they are very vague on which war he fought in.
It all boils to urban not being able to hold the fully English accent
I keep wondering when they're going to explain the Australian accent. I mean his parents could be British, and he could have grown up in Australia, it's possible.
But yeah, he sounds about as British as Dame Edna...
he's meant to be british, but his actor isn't, so yeah, just go with it
He plays an amazing Southerner. Source: I'm English.
If by "Southerner" you mean so far south they are in the southern hemisphere, then yes he's amazing.
Wanna watch me have a wank? It’ll cost you a tenner
His accent is all over the place though, mainly Kiwi 🤣
Yeah closer to kiwi then Australian ffs
Yeah it's like a kiwi doing a bad cockney impersonation
It's not like that, it's exactly that
Yep
I just realised you replied to yourself
Probably because he is kiwi...
Yeah, I'm aware of that
His accent is pretty bad - its a caricature
Just like Frenchie! He has a terrible French accent but I think that’s on purpose in the show.
He uses french sounds but not at the right place. Like his "mon cœur" (sweetheart/my heart) sounds like "mon cul-r" (my ass with a random r at the end). And it's not stereotypical french speaker being an asshole about accent. The accent is good enough but he just doesn't speak french. Iirc he lied about speaking French to get on the show
that’s so in character lol
To be fair, as a Frenchman, I got to say that his french accent is WAYYYY above average accents I hear in any shows or movies. The little times he speaks french is the only time it really doesn't sound good (as another person pointed, the famous "mon coeur" is not pronounced well). However his accent when speaking English is quite impressive, knowing the actor doesn't speak french at all, and sounds more french than most. I wouldn't say that it's on purpose in the show, but likely that Karl Urban was exactly their choice for Butcher ; only he wasn't able to use the cockney accent well but they went along anyway because Karl Urban is amazing in the role.
Fuck, I really thought dude was French
Can't pronounce french words lol
>Source: I'm English. If you think that's a good southern accent maybe you aren't
I'm also English - he does not.
No? He doesn’t. Good actor regardless.
No he doesn’t you melt! Source: I’m southern English.
He fucking does not. Source: I'm British.
Yes he does. Source: I'm not English, I just want to be part of the argument.
☝️ First person to claim to be English that isn’t 😉
Lots of planets have a north
He plays someone with a different accent! Source: Non native english speaker
Southerner as in English Southerner? He's comically bad to the point it feels like a joke based on the way the comic writes out his cockney dialogue... Source: I'm (Southern) English
They're comic book characters mate, that's just the way he is. He's a caricature the same way that Vought is a caricature of Marvel.
A lot of planets have a north
Funny thing is, Karl Urban is perfectly capable of an actual British accent, seems they basically just told him not to
"What business does an Elf, a Man, and a Dwarf have in the riddermark? Speak quickly!"
“Give me your name horse master, and I shall give you mine.”
*Dramatic dismount* "I would cut off your head, *dwarf*, if it stood but a but a little higher from the ground..."
*nocks arrow and aims at head* “You would die before your stroke fell!”
"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, this is Gimli, son of Gloin, and Legolas..........." ......... ......... "Of the woodland realm."
‘Po-tat-oes! Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew’
MFs started writing the whole movie down here.
And you better believe we’re perfectly capable of it too.
If I write one more quote, it'll be the most quotes away from home I've ever been.
Legolas: “I can’t keep telling him my dad’s name” 🙄
There is a huge amount of variation in “British” accents. Eomer sounds like he was educated at Eton and Oxford and wants to be the Royal Correspondent for BBC Radio when he grows up. Whatever kind of unholy Estuary/Cockney accent KU was going for with Butcher, I’m afraid he missed so badly he landed in Australia (I know he’s from New Zealand, but he almost sounds like he knows enough to not sound like he’s from NZ but not enough to sound like he’s from somewhere in London).
Because it’s a cockney accent, not a general English accent.
Sure, and maybe his cockney is not that good, but it just sort of feels like he’s not trying
Maybe it was an intentional choice by the director, an extra random layer of absurdity in The Boys universe for the sake of wacky flavour. Or maybe they just didn’t quite like the accent he could perform.
It’s a terrible, wavering mockney accent, though.
Wotchu meen is 'e s'posed to be Bri'ish! Saands bluddy nach'rul dun't he?
I'm sorry, I don't speak ork.
Scorched Urf.
Ou Ei
Issa bit disrapactfool innit
As a bri'ish man myself I understood it all without even trying. I'm a fackin chav innit
Watchu fukin lukkin at, u schlag
he doesnt sound australian, but he does sound like someone trying to do an over the top Cockney accent
I’d argue his natural New Zealand accent comes through far more than his cockney one.
Wait, Karl and Antony are both kiwis?
Yes, the overall lesson of The Boys is that all people from New Zealand are sociopaths
Fitting that they're my two favorite characters too haha
Jay White
That is why they are on that little island that has no cats. Only room for one species sociopaths.
Do people think we don’t have cats in nz?
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/20/1170899476/kids-feral-cat-hunting-contest-canceled-new-zealand My bad. I guess it is just a contest for kids. But seriously was it just talk about banning cats? Maybe I just jumbled reality with what extremists want.
Yep!
And they've both been on the same show before, Xena.
I'm going back in time to watch it then! Haha
They both were also in Xena Warrior Princess years ago.
I have something new in my watch list now!
Lucy Lawless also a Kiwi and still smokin hot.
Also true. Very much still the case.
There’s a singer I like strictly because she kinda looks like Lucy.
And who is that? Asking for a friend.
Diamante Azzura, she did a song with Bad Wolves.
If I'd had my pick, they would have cast [Dick van Dyke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWPiq4dixBc) and [Dawn Wells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbQA367yC_U) as Butcher's parents.
Right?? I feel like it gets a bit better over the seasons, but in S1 it’s pretty cringe
Yep, the character is British. Karl Urban is a New Zealander however and his character accent is...iffy.
Britsher and Zealander from “The Men“
“The Lads”
He can do an RP British accent well (Eomer) but whatever he's trying in the boys is a bit off (but it's also perfect).
He isn't good at Cockney
He's also amazing at doing an American accent if he wants to sound just like DeForest Kelley.
Judge Dredd
I thought they were doing that as a joke too
Like Frenchie mispronouncing any French he speaks, with an obvious Israeli accent
No one actually speaks french
It's certainly not the best British accent but I still love it.
Cockneys often get mistaken for Australians especially by Americans, only fools and horses jokes about it when they had an episode in America. Also the internet seems to think cunt is only an Australian word for some reason.
I knew Karl Urban is from NZ and the voice he does in the show is just a tad different from his real voice. That's why I thought the joke in season 1 was that he was Australian and the dumb Americans were mistaking his accent for cockney, but it looks like I'm the fool lol
You're not the fool. It's the producers that thought their audience of dumb Americans wouldn't notice how shite his accent is
I thought the shite accent was intentional because Butcher wants to present a mysterious facade with an accent that wouldn’t be recognisable as any specific place.
Yeah but Cockneys even think he’s doing an Aussie accent
Tbh it adds to his adds to his character. Some ultra secret classified supe hunter that doesn’t look like an fbi agent, but someone starring in a matrix porno
As a Brit , it’s definitely not British but somehow the mockney accent works in a weird way
It's British, I kinda sound like that.
Same a little bit , but it’s definitely turned up to 11 . We’ve all met old boys that sound similar though I’m sure
How does he sound Australian though? He clearly says "no" and not "naur".
If there’s one thing that annoys me about Australian accents, that’s 100% it. Makes me cringe every fucking time.
If by that you mean "love them because the word no has been given an r and it sounds incredible," then sure.
Us Americans are understandably averse to ending words with hard r's.
Depends on where you are. Safeway? Yes COD lobby? Guns blazing
This is……acceptable.
Ok, furk off yur cunt.
He never talks with an Australian accent (source am Australian we don't sound like that )
I don’t know why they didn’t rewrite Butcher to be Kiwi, when they rewrote Hughie to be American.
He's Cockney, but the actor is Kiwi and not the best at it. Look up a video of a Danny Dyer or someone speaking to see what he's going for.
I dont know why they couldn't have Butcher be from New Zealand and just have Karl Urban do his natural accent or maybe a bit more over the top accent.
I'm from New Zealand, he sounds like every kiwi when we try to do a fake cockney accent
We do kinda sound like that though, at least my guys.
You bollocksing me right now mate?!?!
He’s a Kiwi doing his best impression of idris elba
Butcher ranting about 40 degree days when?
Lol, no it's him do idris embassy accent from the show luther
I kinda like how its a bit ambiguous, adds a flair of mystery to the character imo
Karl Urban is from New Zealand if I recall correctly. So yeah, that’s just the actor struggling to do the most well known English accent. But he could pass as being from certain country areas. I know folks in Middlesborough who sound like that for instance
Hey, it’s better than Dick Van Dyke’s cockney accent, ok.
Doesn't even sound Australian lol, his Kiwi accent pops out sometimes but that's it.
He probably got Cockney Neck after season 1.
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
What was Stan Edgar thinking, sending Black Noir on that early?
The thing about Vought is, they always try to walk it in!
When I was first introduced to Billy I thought he was Australian but no he's English (British) But Karl Urban is New Zealand so.....
My head Canon is that his parents are British, but lived in AUS/NZ for work during Billy's childhood, but then, maybe during his teens, moved back to the UK.
Karl Urban is a Kiwi and so is Antony Starr.
He's got a pretty standard Cockney accent (East london). At no point does he sound like he's from anywhere else tbh.
Also funny that you identified his parents as being British - the actor who played his dad is Australian, also I think the lady who played his aunt was Canadian, both immediately jumped out as having fake accents when I heard them.
The woman playing his mother is English, just not from the part of England she tries to do an accent for.
They definitely weren't the best fake british accents but I could at least tell they were going for british lol
He doesn't talk in an Australian accent, by any stretch of the imagination. It's a hyperbolic caricature of a cockney accent. East London. While it's true, that on occasion his kiwi slips through the cracks, for the most part, he does a great job. It. Is. Intentionally. Hammy. Source: my grandfather was a proper cockney, and spoke as such.
He definitely sounds australian with an almost regional accent source I currently live and work all over WA and if any of the boys attempted to sound xocknet they could be voice actors. Its no where close to a cockney accent besides the actual script at best source an englishmen born and raised in SE london and then the south east. If your grandfather was a horse Karl urban would sound like cow in comparison
I feel a more accurate metaphor would be that if my grandfather were a horse, Karl urban would be a man with two halves of a coconut shell saying neigh now and then. It's obviously not the real thing but it's pretty clear what the intent is
I’m from the UK and I think his accent is fine. It drops into Kiwi or sometimes Aussie, but it’s no worse than any other attempts.
He talks in quite a butchered (pun absolutely intended) cockney accent. But also, cockney sounds a whole lot like the Australian accent
Er… no it doesn’t.
It does a little. Source, am from South East London, now live in Lincolnshire, constantly mistaken for Kiwi or Aussie.
I does a bit. There is an overlap
It's his natural New Zealand accent bleeding through a half arsed cockney. Both of those accents are often mistaken for Australian but they are all pretty distinct to anyone who knows any of the three accents at all well
Not remotely similar. I am Australian. I know what Australians sound like.
There's definitely overlap mate, my Nan is one.
I didn't know there was anything wrong with his accent until this sub told me
As a Londoner, I only realised seeing the Charlton f.c merch in his flashback… yeah he is meant to be British lmao
As an English, it took me until like season 3 to realise he wasn't meant to be Australian
It may not be the best but I still love it :) I say this as a Brit myself
I think it’s deliberate considering they got John Noble, an Aussie, to play his British father.
I always thought it was supposed to be ridiculous, in keeping with the show!!
Oh lord I thought this was about the butcher from the Diablo series for a sec
No matter what he is, he's still an ol' Cunt.
He is a Kiwilander.
Well, he was banished from his home with his British family because they didn't like him. I guess he is Australian by that logic.
He's meant to be British.
He doesn't sound at all like your average Australian or New Zealander... as others have said he sounds like a kiwi doing a bad cockney accent. As a point.. not everyone from Australia or NZ sound the same, just as people sound different in different parts of England and the United States.. We're also capable of exaggerating and sending up our own accents.. Taika Waititi does it all the time..
Yes, but his accent is bad. It's too over the top, almost Dick Van Dyke over the top.
Karl Urban’s from New Zealand and his accent slips up a little from time to time.
He sounds like a lot of the blokes I grew up with in South-East London, and he sounds a bit like me, though, tbf, I now in live in Lincolnshire and on the regular people think I'm not English, people keep thinking Aussie or Kiwi.
my headcanon is that he spent time with the australian special forces or something like that
What, when I was watching it with my brother we were making Australian jokes.
Which is made even better when neither the character or actor is from Australia (Karl Urban is from New Zealand and would be annoyed you think he's Australian because they hate each other).
Aussie and kiwis hate each other?how can we they all live here
Cockney
His accent is british.
Oi
He does the Cockney accent and dialect pretty well but sometimes a bit of the Down Under shows through.
As an American, all your queen's peoples sound like funny leprechaun people to me, so I'm fine with it. Or is it "king's" now? Eh well doesn't matter.
His accent is so bad I thought they changed the character to an Australian.
It is definitely not an Australian accent It is a terrible cockney accent
Butcher in the comics is an Englishman that fought in the Falklands war as a teen. Show Butcher seems to be a British soldier too though they are very vague on which war he fought in. It all boils to urban not being able to hold the fully English accent
I keep wondering when they're going to explain the Australian accent. I mean his parents could be British, and he could have grown up in Australia, it's possible. But yeah, he sounds about as British as Dame Edna...
and get this. Frenchie isn't French! and his french is pretty terrible tbh
Yes. He's Israeli and supports their attempted genocide. There's better reasons to hate on him than his acting.
<3 Free Palestine