Homelander didn’t put up much of a fight, did he?
The series finale of The Boys delivers the long-awaited final brawl between Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr)—it’s clear that the V-One injection wasn’t very effective.
Still stinging after the death of Frenchie (Tomer Capone), Butcher and the others enter the White House just as Homelander addresses the nation, with the caped dictator suffering a mental breakdown halfway through.
Oddly enough, in the final hour, The Boys transformed into what it used to mock—a Marvel movie.
Warning—Spoilers Ahead
‘The Boys’ Series Finale, Explained
After seizing the White House, achieving immortality and setting up a network of supers to purge non-believers, Homelander is ready to sit on the throne and rule as a god.
The only problem is, he’s not doing a good job at playing the part.
Oh Father (Daveed Diggs) understands that the goal is to persuade the masses, but Homelander is too impatient to wait it out—he’s still reeling from his father’s rejection, stuffing Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) into a freezer to make sure his father can’t abandon him.
Seeking some kind of family bond on the eve of his takeover, Homelander pays his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) a visit and offers him a place in his heavenly kingdom.
Considering that Homelander beat him to a pulp last time they met, Ryan isn’t thrilled with the idea.
Ryan completely rejects him, making it clear that he does not respect his father and never will. This is the final straw for Homelander, who tends to have a “fight or flight” reaction to emotional wounds.
Luckily for Ryan, his father flies away, burning with rage and seeking validation.
Having suffered rejection from father and son, Homelander begins to reject the world, even rejecting the cabal of billionaires seeking an alliance in his new world order—he even rejects The Deep (Chace Crawford).
In his livestreamed speech, Homelander describes himself as both the successor and superior to Jesus Christ, describing the messiah as weak (reflecting similar sentiments from evangelical Christians).
Unable to give Jesus the credit, Homelander describes himself as the First Coming, pushing the boundary of what believers are willing to accept.
Under Homelander’s rule, spineless toadies like The Deep would be the only remaining followers.
Meanwhile, Butcher and the others enter the White House through a secret tunnel, helped by the betrayal of Ashley (Colby Minifie).
Oh Father is quickly slaughtered, and The Deep and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) face off for a final clash, with Deep eventually tossed in the ocean—he’s sleeping with the fishes now, in pieces.
Homelander’s empire is crumbling before the foundations have been laid. He’s pushed his golden luck too far, and is completely incapable of putting on an act.
When Homelander reads the word “father” in the teleprompter, something finally snaps.
Haunted by the rejection of his own father and son, Homelander’s mask drops, and he tells the truth about his plan to purge the unbelievers, that he will be left standing alone when everyone is dead—not a great pitch to legions of potential followers.
The public starts to realize just how insane the world’s most powerful superhero really is, then Butcher and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) burst in and the final fight begins.
Butcher’s tumor-tendrils and Kimiko’s powers aren’t quite enough to take down Homelander, but the two give him quite a fight—the V-One didn’t seem to empower Homelander all that much.
It’s enough to make Homelander realize that his powers are in serious danger, and he’s about to flee when Ryan enters the Oval Office, taking his father down for a final betrayal.
The two struggle to restrain Homelander while Kimiko tries to summon her newfound radiation-infused powers, given a boost by a vision of Frenchie, who essentially tells her that love triumphs over hate.
It’s kind of a funny message for such a cynical show, but it does the job for Kimiko, who blasts the room and depowers the supers.
This is the most interesting scene in the finale, the moment in which Homelander realizes that his powers have completely evaporated—he’s just a regular guy in spandex now.
Frankly, I wish the finale held on to this dynamic for longer, but sadly, Homelander doesn’t have much time to take it in.
Butcher has always been a brawler, long before he was imbued with superpowers, but Homelander never needed to put in a real effort—he’s never learned to really fight.
The fear of death overcomes Homelander, and he pleads for mercy, humiliating himself on the livestream by offering sexual favors and humiliation rituals.
Homelander points out that he spared Butcher’s life many, many times before (he’s got a point there), but Butcher punches him out, finally cracking his skull open with a crowbar and spilling his brains, revenge for Frenchie and Becca.
That’s it—that’s the end of Homelander.
Personally, I wish Butcher had spared Homelander’s life, as a regular existence would have been a fascinating prison for such a character, but sadly, we never get to see the man learn to live without powers.
Depowering Homelander’s powers was the key to victory after all, and the boys disband for a happily ever after.
At least, most of them do—Billy Butcher experiences his own rejection, with Ryan telling him that he doesn’t view him as a good role model.
The final straw for Butcher is the death of his dog.
The passing of his loyal pooch pushes Butcher into his long-awaited villain arc, and he grabs the vial of virus, ready to genocide the superhero population.
The Ending Of ‘The Boys,’ Explained
Turns out, the final fight doesn’t involve Homelander at all.
Hughie steps up to stop Butcher’s turn to villainy, unwilling to slaughter all of the superheroes just to remove the bad apples.
Butcher argues that Vought is still standing, and with their hold over the superhero population, it’s only a matter of time before a successor to Homelander steps up.
He’s right, actually, even if his solution is overkill—quite literally.
Hughie and Butcher scrap, and obviously, Butcher wipes the floor with him. Ready to push the button and release the virus, Butcher experiences an epiphany, remembering how his brother, Lenny, protected him from his father’s abuse.
Butcher absorbed some of his father’s ruthlessness, but survived, while Lenny took his own life.
Butcher softens and his finger relaxes, but it’s too late—Hughie shoots Butcher, and he bleeds out, praising Hughie for his decision, reassuring him he did the right thing.
The fight is over, but funnily enough, the Vought problem remains. Hughie didn’t have an alternative solution to Butcher’s genocidal virus—he simply moves on and lives his life.
Hughie rejects an offer from Vought to clean up the superhero population, settling down and impregnating Starlight, working in a retail job while she continues to play the hero.
It’s a surprisingly MCU-style ending for a series that started as a satirical spin on the typical superhero formula.
In the end, the subversive elements faded away, replaced by an earnest battle between good and evil, the structural issue of Vought remaining more or less unchanged.
Will the powerful corporation really change its ways, and crack down on rogue heroes? It seems unlikely!
At least Butcher died a hero, and Homelander died a loser.
The Boys lost its teeth during the final brawl—the day was saved, but there’s nothing left to say about the state of the superhero genre.
