The article contains major spoilers for The Boys series finale, “Blood and Bone.”The boys officially ended its run after five seasons, but not without some comedic changes.
The boy The series finale concluded the ongoing conflict between Homelander (Antony Starr) and key members of the titular group, particularly the vengeful Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). While relatively retaining elements from the Garth Ennis comics, there are some adjustments to the fates of Homelander and Butcher.
Although Homelander possesses V1 and attempts to become a God-like dictator, the Boys ultimately succeed in overthrowing the powerful Supe. With Kimiko suppressing his invincible powers with a newly inherited Soldier Boy-inspired explosion, the longtime antagonist was rendered powerless, and despite his plea for mercy, Butcher ultimately ended his life by bashing his head with a crowbar.
However, Homelander’s death stands in stark contrast to what happened in the original comics. Black Noir was revealed to be a clone of Homelander who committed most of the atrocities and as a result the real version starts a super rebellion against the government. Although the last fight takes place at the White House, Black Noir kills Homelander, then Butcher eliminates the antagonistic clone.
By speaking with Collidershowrunner Eric Kripke acknowledged this alteration of the battle between Homelander and Butcher. Although this was a salvageable moment for Homelander in the comics, the creator thought that “It was never satisfying for me to have followed Antony Starr for all those seasons, and then at the very end to find out that he hadn’t actually done any of the things he thought he would do; it was actually Noir, who was his clone. So, I was never going to do this version.“
There are some similarities in the Homelander-Butcher, at least as far as, we’re trying to point out, the setting in the Oval Office or the use of the crowbar as the final kill. But, and I’ve said this before in interviews, the comic ends with it turns out that Homelander isn’t the bad guy at all. He was tricked into becoming the villain. The real villain was Black Noir all along. People love it, and the mileage varies, but it’s never been satisfying for me to have followed Antony Starr for all these seasons, and then at the very end to find out that he didn’t actually do any of the things he thought he did; it was actually Noir, who was his clone. So, I was never going to do this version.
The chances of this ending were slim anyway, given the fate of Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) until season 5. Homelander killed the original version in the season 3 finale before hiring a new version, Justin, who acted in his place for the Seven. Unfortunately, even Black Noir II didn’t make it to the series finale, as The Deep (Chace Crawford) eliminated him in episode 6, following a feud.
Meanwhile, Butcher’s death closely follows the comics, but even the original ending was much darker. While the comical Butcher also aims to kill the super virus carriers, the rest of the team tries to stop him from committing such genocide. In this struggle, Butcher shockingly kills Mother’s Milk, Frenchie and Kimiko, leaving Hughie (Jack Quaid) as the sole survivor. Following a fight at the Empire State Building, Hughie ends up killing Butcher, just like in the series.
While the series finale followed a similar storyline, Kripke also clarified to LeWrap why Butcher didn’t massacre the majority of his teammates. The showrunner felt that “Hughie being the only survivor felt bad“before developing this”It just goes to show how different media they are, and when you have a television show, you make a pact with the viewers with these characters that you know you’re not just going to arbitrarily murder the people they love, so we’re never going to go there.“.
“We knew we didn’t want Butcher to murder all the boys. With Hughie being the only survivor, we felt bad. It just shows how different psychics they are, and when you have a TV show you make a pact with the viewers with these characters, you know you’re not just going to arbitrarily murder the people they love, so we were never going to go there.”
In the end, Kimiko and MM are among the the characters to survive The boys series finalewhile Hughie and Annie (Erin Moriarty) resume their relationship with a baby on the way. So, they end up with a happy ending unlike the tragedy in the comics. Although several original characters are still alive, it is unclear if anyone will return in potential spinoffs.
Meanwhile, Prime Video will continue the universe with a prequel series Vought Risingset in the 1950s. Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash reprise their roles as Soldier Boy and Stormfront (or Lady Liberty at the time). Although Kripke has already confirmed a 2027 window, an exact release date has not yet been confirmed.
The five seasons of The boys are broadcast on Prime Video.