Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Boys season 2, episode 7.
Vought International and its superheroes. After his girlfriend was killed, Hughie was recruited by Karl Urban's Butcher and offered a chance at revenge. At first, Hughie was swept up in the idea, even murdering Translucent. Ultimately, however, Hughie came to see that he was adding to a potentially neverending cycle of bloodshed.
Conversely, Butcher was very much at home in the violent spiral. Believing that Homelander had caused his wife's death, Butcher hunted "supes" with unshakeable resolve. The revelation that Becca was still alive did little to quell his rage, with Butcher unable to contain his disdain for her son. According to Becca, the hate that Butcher carries and the warpath he's on started long before her. She also stated that he is only ever one bad day away from losing control. In The Boys season 2, episode 5, "We Gotta Go Now", it's revealed that said path stretched all the way back to his childhood. As told by his Aunt Judy, Butcher had a brother named Lenny, whom he often sought violent retribution in defense of. Furthermore, Judy offered that Hughie was the spitting image of Lenny.
In The Boys season 2, episode 7, "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker", it's revealed that Lenny took his own life after years of violence at the hands of their abusive father (John Noble). Butcher always had a war raging within him as much as around him. That has often extended to Hughie, with Butcher often lashing out verbally and even physically. Armed with the new information regarding Butcher's past, those actions are given a much deeper and more nuanced explanation. After all, though Butcher disputed Judy's claim, it was abundantly clear that he'd noted the parallel. As such, it explained why Butcher has often hated Hughie. He has served as a constant reminder of somebody Butcher truly cared about and lost, as well as his greatest failure when he left him behind f0r the army. As a result, it's retroactively understandable why Butcher has both pushed Hughie away and tried to mold him in his own violent image.
The war within Butcher was never more apparent than when Hughie's own suicidal ideations emerged in Black Noir, Hughie outright expressed his still-lingering desire to just end it all. Butcher once again responded with indifference. Clearly harboring guilt and self-hatred over Lenny, Butcher tried to "uncaringly" brush the feelings off. However, Butcher ultimately stepped up to protect him in each aforementioned situation. The knowledge that Butcher's brother killed himself also retroactively informed those actions. As much as Butcher has hated Hughie, he also loves him on some level. As much as Hughie is a reminder of painful times in Butcher's life, he's also a reminder of what he can be and provides an opportunity to reckon with his demons and atone.
The concept has tied firmly into showrunner Eric Kripke's assertion that Queen Maeve stated that people are a hero's true weakness, however, through Hughie, the opposite is true, with Butcher receiving strength to fight for something other than revenge and potentially able to avoid past failures. Whether or not Butcher can overcome his demons entirely will remain to be seen. As pitch-black as the world of The Boys often is, though, there might just be glimmers of hope after all.