Recently, I wrote about the teaser for the final season of Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys. Specifically how crazy it is for them to work with Butcher again after everything he did in the season 4 finale.
To understand why associating with Butcher is a no-no, you need to understand what happened in Season Four Finale (yes that’s the name of the episode).
The Breaking Point
Season Four Finale is when everything goes to hell. Victoria Neuman fails to assassinate President-elect Robert Singer. Then she’s outed as a Supe by Homelander.
Grace Mallory brings Ryan to a CIA safehouse to see Butcher, who is dying from cancer. Desperate to have some kind of weapon against Homelander, Grace Mallory tells Ryan the truth about his father. She reveals his involvement in the crash of Flight 37 and that he was the one to order the hit on Singer. Mallory even reveals that Homelander raped his mother Becca, leading to Ryan’s conception.
Horrified by these revelations, an overwhelmed Ryan tries to leave the safehouse, but Mallory keeps insisting he stay. Ryan pushes her out of the way but accidentally uses too much force. She’s slammed into a concrete wall, killing her instantly. A stunned Ryan leaves, his whereabouts unknown.
Unfortunately this proves to be too much for Butcher. He lost his wife Becca. Mallory, a longtime ally of his, is dead. Now his step-son is gone and a murderer too. This is the moment where the Kessler persona takes over and Butcher abandons any restraint he had left.
The Betrayal That Changes Everything
The Boys spend the episode protecting President-elect Robert Singer from Victoria Neuman’s assassination attempt. After Neuman fails, Homelander threatens her and her daughter Zoe. She reaches out to Hughie, offering to help them take down Homelander and Vought in exchange for protection.
Unfortunately, Butcher ambushes the boys right as they make their deal with Victoria.
Now empowered by the Compound V-infused tumor, Butcher uses his tumor-like tentacles to wrap around Victoria’s eyes. This is a key detail people miss because she needs to see her targets in order to make their heads explode. Butcher suspends Victoria in mid-air and literally rips her in half.
Then he takes the supe-killing virus from Frenchie and walks out.
Why This Destroys Their Plan
Neuman was the Boys’ only realistic path to defeating Homelander. While she wasn’t as strong as Homelander, she could take him down through politics or the legal system instead of a physical fight they could never win. Even after being outed as a Supe, she was still Vice President with a lethal power and deep ties to Vought.
If she’d lived long enough to side with the Boys, she could’ve helped contain Homelander. Or she could have helped foster an anti-Homelander administration instead of one that’s controlled by him. She was the intersection of politics and Vought, which would have been very useful for the Boys.
Butcher killing her destroys that strategy. Instead of having a compromised but valuable asset in the White House, they’re left with two options. Siding with Butcher’s scorched-earth virus agenda or open conflict with a regime led by an overpowered sociopath they can’t match.
Homelander’s Fascist Takeover
With Neuman dead and Bob Singer blamed for her murder, Homelander and Sister Sage move their backup plan into place. Vice President-elect Steven Calhoun becomes President once Singer is arrested. Calhoun pledges his loyalty to Homelander, then declares martial law on television. He also gives Homelander control over his own personal army of Supes.
With Homelander promising that “official” supes will punish America’s enemies, The United States becomes a Supe-led police state. And it happens because Butcher removed the only remaining obstacle in Homelander’s path.
We later see the army of Supes hunt down The Boys. MM is attacked by Love Sausage. Frenchie and Kimiko are ambushed by Cate and Sam. Hughie is apprehended by Cindy. Only Annie manages to escape.
How This Sets Up Season 5
Season 5 is built on the consequences of Butcher’s choices.
There’s the fascist America technically run by Homelander and Sister Sage. The core team is imprisoned in detention camps or scattered. Annie and A-Train are forced to build a resistance.
Then there’s Butcher himself, who’s now an unstable wild card. A dying man with a virus that could kill all supes, friend and foe alike.
Butcher has turned himself into a rogue weapon of mass destruction. The sad part is that Butcher doesn’t seem to realize how he made everything worse. To him, he’s doing what should have been done a long time. He sees himself as the only one willing to do what’s necessary.Season 5 isn’t just about stopping Homelander anymore. It’s about stopping Butcher too. And that’s entirely his fault.
