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Love it or hate it, we can all agree on something: the season 4 finale of The Boys was one of the best and most surprising episodes we’ve seen. While many complained about the slow pacing of the season and a few plot holes here and there, Kripke and his team did the show justice. We finally saw the ending to the election debacle, Butcher’s mysterious powers, and the fate of The Boys, which is taking a turn for the worse in season 5.
***This article contains heavy spoilers for The Boys Season 4, especially its finale.***
The Beatles, The Boys, All Great Bands Must Part Ways
Let’s start with the fate of everyone’s favorite supe-hunters: The Boys. Throughout the season, there was one clear topic our protagonists carried on their shoulders: coming to terms with who they are. Hughie stopped hating A-Train, made up with his mom, and said goodbye to his dad. MM became the team’s new leader while juggling his family relationship. Frenchie and Kimiko faced some creepy ghosts from their past and overcame them. Starlight slowly realized she wasn’t the ideal superhero everyone thought she was and recovered her powers. And Butcher seemed like he would finally throw in the towel, accept his fate brought by consuming so much Compound V, and just let Ryan be who he wanted to be. But things took a terrible turn.
After Hughie delivered a fantastic speech about bravery and accepting each other, The Boys were ready to help Victoria Neuman escape Homelander’s schemes. Well, Butcher didn’t think the same way. After watching Ryan kill Grace Mallory, which, in all fairness, she messed up and found out, Butcher embraced his Kessler hallucination and manifested his darker side. In the last moment leading to Neuman’s escape, Butcher arrived and pulled off some Venom-like powers, ripping Victoria in half in front of her now orphaned kid. He stole the virus from Frenchie and disappeared, leaving The Boys behind until he eventually returns in season 5.
The shock didn’t end there. Soon after that, we learned that Sister Sage had planned all of this… well, kind of. Her endgame was killing Victoria. How? It didn’t matter. Somehow, she recorded Robert Singer speaking with The Boys in the season 4 finale about how everything would’ve been avoided if they killed Victoria. Sage used this to arrest Singer, place Steven Calhoun as president, and have Homelander declare martial law. The Boys proceeded to do the smartest thing: split up and escape. Well, the respite was extremely brief as supes arrived to detain every member of the group. So yes, we’re looking at an Infinity War situation where the bad guys won. At least for now.
Thankfully, there’s hope for The Boys in season 5. For one, Starlight recovered her powers and escaped after Hughie asked her to leave him behind. Butcher is on the run. However, if he goes down the comic book route, he might not be as helpful. In the comic, Butcher kills everyone from The Boys except for Hughie. So, who knows what the last season awaits us? Ryan is in a gray area. On the one hand, he seems to prefer helping people. But on the other hand, he felt no remorse after killing Grace, or that’s what we think. Who will rescue the gang? It’s uncertain, but we hope any of these help Frenchie, Hughie, Kimiko, and MM.
Ryan’s Downfall
Another interesting character who was in a constant struggle was Ryan. Throughout season 4, we saw him jumping from one father figure to another, and it seemed he’d listen to the former leader of The Boys in the finale. In a way, we all thought he’d escape with Mallory or even fight Homelander. But Grace made the worst mistake ever: trying to reason with a teenager. Instead of letting Butcher and Ryan finish their Connect 4 match, she had to reveal what Homelander did to Ryan’s mom and emphasize how they’d forcefully take Ryan if he didn’t agree to come. Lo and behold, Ryan pushed Grace away, killing her.
The reason why I feel this might have an impact in The Boys season 5 is because Ryan doesn’t seem to have an issue with killing anymore. We all remember how his first “rescue” went. He got stressed, pushed the stuntman to a building, and killed him. At that time, Ryan had difficulty coming to terms with Homelander’s point of view of using humans as toys. During the Christmas special, we even thought Ryan could be the good version of Homelander. But no. That last killing shows that Homelander’s genes run deeper in Ryan than we thought.
Still, it is uncertain if Ryan will return to Homelander. During The Boys‘ season 4 finale, we see Homelander delivering a speech on martial law, but Ryan isn’t anywhere near. This can only mean that he took off somewhere else after murdering Grace. Sadly, he doesn’t have anywhere to go now. Since Butcher saw Ryan kill Grace, it doesn’t seem like Butcher has the kid in good graces (no pun intended). On the contrary, with the virus in hand, Butcher could finally commit that supe genocide, regardless of Ryan.
Where Will Season 5 Take Us?
This last part is complete speculation after watching the season 4 finale and reading The Boys comics, so don’t take this as something definite for season 5. So, right now, it’s a grim landscape for our heroes (The Boys, not the supes). Since everyone got arrested, the most likely scenario is that everyone is going inside Tek Knight’s prisons. Hopefully, Frenchie, Hughie, and MM will end up together, but that’s highly unlikely. On the other hand, Vought might experiment with Kimiko as her powers have helped her elude death more than once.
In the comic books, Butcher tries releasing the virus to kill everyone who has Compound V in their blood. In the process, he murders his previous team members and meets his end at the hands of Hughie. This is likely to happen, albeit a bit differently. In the comics, Hughie kills Butcher after the latter taunts him by saying he murdered Hughie’s parents. In the show, his father is already gone, so the only reason why Hughie would eventually stop Butcher is to prevent him from releasing the virus. On the other hand, we could also see the members of The Boys escaping, or so we hope. With how beloved everyone is, they all deserve a happy ending.
On the other hand, Homelander is now at the White House. In the comics, he stages a coup, and Black Noir — Homelander’s clone, kills the original. In the show, the new Black Noir has a few tricks up his sleeve, like flying and super strength. Plus, after enjoying the Vought Tower massacre, we might see the former supe actor become a bit like Homelander, yet that feels like a stretch and a bit predictable. Beyond this, there are other important details that will play a huge role in season 5.
Many Loose Ends
First, we have Sister Sage’s plan. It seems she didn’t care about Homelander treating her poorly and removing her from The Seven. All she wanted was to see how far she could take her plans. Since she was able to get rid of Neuman and Singer, she wants to see what else she can do. As the show’s smartest character, this is extremely scary. Ultimately, she might be using Homelander to do her experiments, but we don’t know how long she’ll be able to do this.
Secondly, Soldier Boy. Yes, Jensen Ackles got one shot inside a Snow White-like crystal bed as Homelander finally found him. In the comics, Soldier Boy dies early, but it seems he’ll play a big part in season 5. However, we have to remember Soldier Boy isn’t happy with Homelander or Butcher. The latter betrayed him to save Ryan. So, my theory is that Vought will find a way to control his mind, probably with the Gen V girl, and make him an ally of Homelander.
Lastly, Ashley. And we mean the main Ashley, not one of the dozens of Ashleys who lost their lives in the season 4 finale of The Boys. In a desperate attempt to protect herself, she took Compound V. We didn’t see the full effects, but after her wig dropped, it seems Ashley might become The Boys‘ version of The Leader, a character from Marvel. If that happens, it’d be nice to see a battle of the minds between Ashley and Sister Sage.
Ultimately, we can only play the waiting game now. While season 5 was announced way before the season 4 finale of The Boys, we don’t have a release date for the new episodes. Yet, the early announcement gives us hope that it might arrive sooner than expected. Also, with it being the show’s last season, it’s only expected that it’ll go out with a bang. As long as we get an epic conclusion, I don’t mind waiting a couple of months.
