WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season 3, episode 5
Amazon's Garth Ennis' original comic books will happen. Whether it be the Dynamite comics or Eric Kripke's live-action TV series, The Boys rests upon the relatively straightforward premise of one man seeking revenge against the world's greatest superhero. The source material's final volumes see Billy Butcher finally achieve this aim, but he refuses to stop at avenging Becca. In a dark twist, The Boys' final issues follow Butcher as he embarks on a crusade to indiscriminately wipe out all supes - friend or foe; evil or not.
Karl Urban's live-action Butcher has shown just as much disdain for supes as his comic counterpart since The Boys began in 2019, but Amazon's adaptation looking to be veering away from outright genocide. First, Butcher came around to Kimiko, before he and Starlight bonded over a shared love of Hughie in The Boys season 2, bringing the unlikely pair much closer than the comics ever did. Most significantly, The Boys' TV show introduced Ryan Butcher - Becca's supe son. From Connect 4 to LEGO videos, Billy Butcher has become a definite father figure in The Boys season 3. Despite his inner rage towards supes, therefore, these moments surely prove Butcher's Compound-V kill-switch comic finale moment can't happen... right?
The Boys season 3, episode 5 ("The Last Time To Look On This World Of Lies") sees Billy Butcher rendezvous with Queen Maeve -yet another supe he's come to trust - to debrief after the Moscow mission. They get drunk, and the alcoholic brain haze momentarily lowers Butcher's guard. With complete and utter sincerity, he tells Maeve, "And it's not just Homelander, you've f**king all gotta go." The Boys season 3 is effectively giving away Butcher's endgame here. Despite making supe friends, realizing not all Vought heroes are bad, and buying gifts for his supe son, Butcher has absolutely no intention of stopping at Homelander. The Boys' final season will now almost certainly echo the final comic book volume, with Butcher launching a one-man crusade to kill everything and anything that so much as sniffed a vial of Compound-V.
In one sense, Butcher's plan makes him a walking contradiction. He'll happily accept Kimiko's help, he knows the likes of Starlight are morally sound, he'll act like Ryan's parent, and he'll even bump uglies with Queen Maeve on the nearest desk. When all is said and done, however, Butcher still plans to kill every last one of them, firmly believing every Compound-V subject poses a risk to society sooner or later. On the other hand, Butcher is simply continuing down the very same road he started walking when Becca disappeared. The other Boys probably assume their leader has mellowed over time, and will be satisfied once he finally spanks Homelander. The Boys season 3 proves they're mistaken. Having closer relationships with supes isn't wavering Billy Butcher's original goal whatsoever.
Amazon's The Boys has already prepared its landscape for an authentic comic book ending. Hughie loves Starlight, Frenchie loves Kimiko, and MM serves as the group's moral com. If Butcher made a weapon to target anyone exposed to Compound-V, they all have good reason to oppose him - just like Garth Ennis' ending.
Alas, a possible stumbling block arises in Jonah Vogelbaum. Comic Butcher forces Compound-V's inventor to fashion a chemical weapon against supes, but The Boys season 2 killed Vogelbaum in the most conclusive fashion possible (onscreen head explosion). Fortunately, a workaround has already been provided. Whereas Vogelbaum invented Compound-V and lived until the modern day thanks to his own creation in comic lore, the live-action character is merely a top Vought scientist. Maybe live-action Butcher discovers Frederick Vought secretly alive, and the former Nazi adopts Vogelbaum's original role. However Butcher goes about it, no supe will be safe when The Boys eventually ends.
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The Boys continues Friday on Prime Video.