The Boys has rapidly escalated as it rockets towards its final season. It’s hard to look back at the relatively grounded story that filled the first ten episodes and square it with the current state of its narrative. Vought’s supes have grown from seemingly all-powerful celebrities to politicians and angry gods. The show has set up a dynamite finale, but it hasn’t been an easy road to get there. As the penultimate season ends with a bang, it’s time to examine where Butcher and his Boys can go from here.
It was hugely comforting to hear The Boys‘ showrunner Eric Kripke announce that he had a defined endpoint in mind for the series. So many shows run out of goodwill as they stretch into double-digit season counts and struggle to maintain interest in their repeated story beats. While elements of The Boys show their age in the penultimate season, it’s all worth it to see where it’s all building toward.
What happens in The Boys season four?
|
Showrunner |
Eric Kripke |
|---|---|
|
Stars |
Jack Quaid, Karl Urban, Anthony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jesse T. Usher, Laz Alonso, and many more |
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Episodes |
8 |
|
Release Date |
June 13, 2024–July 18, 2024 |
The Boys season four begins with the titular team, now under Marvin “Mother’s” Milk’s command, launching an ill-fated assassination attempt against secret supe and VP candidate Victoria Neuman. Frenchie and Kimiko discover that Neuman’s daughter, Zoe, is a supe as well. When Billy Butcher intervenes, the Boys discover that Neuman is somewhat invincible. Butcher runs into Homelander and his son, Ryan, who discovers that the threatening vigilante has only a few months to live. Cancer is eating him alive, but Butcher is determined to carry out his final promise to his late wife and keep Ryan safe. After losing his position on the Boys, Butcher encounters an old friend named Joe Kessler, who offers to help him take out supes. Meanwhile, Homelander is sick and tired of the sycophants that surround him. He seeks out Sister Sage, the world’s smartest human, and adds her to the Seven. Sage develops a plan to place Homelander atop a new world order. Homelander is about to stand trial for murdering a protestor. He’s been declared not guilty, provoking a riot among Starlight supporters. During the chaos, Sage has A-Train, Black Noir (II), and the Deep kill three Homelander devotees and drop them into the crowd. The news picks up the story, painting the anti-Homelander movement as a violent mob.
The Boys season four is under several ticking clocks. Butcher is on death’s door. Homelander is doing all he can to corrupt Ryan, forcing Butcher to push back where he can. Hughie discovers that his dad suffered a stroke, leaving him in a coma. After participating in the murder, A-Train briefly turns traitor against the Seven. M.M. sees A-Train as a potential asset, talking him into becoming a consistent leak. Sage hires Firecracker, a rising alt-right celebrity supe, to act as part of the propaganda arm. Hughie reconciles with his mother, who abandoned him years earlier. Neuman falls into Homelander’s company, working together to secure Sage’s plan. Together, they intend to get Neuman’s running mate, Robert Singer, into the White House, only to kill him and let Neuman take over. The scheme hits a hundred snags, but, in truth, Homelander is the problem. For all his cleverness and skill, Homelander is aging and losing the shreds of sanity he had to hold onto. At the season’s halfway point, Homelander attacks the lab that created and raised him. After subjecting his tormentors to brutal violence, he returns to the Seven with a new philosophy.
Perhaps the biggest ticking clock in The Boys season four involves the supe virus from Gen V. Butcher and his team investigate a remote farm, where they find several animals dosed with Compound V. They use the last sample of the virus to kill their attackers. In the chaos, everyone loses track of Sameer, the scientist who concocted the virus. Butcher reveals that he and Joe have Sameer in chains, forcing him to create a version of the pathogen that’s strong enough to kill Homelander. Sameer sadly explains that the only way to enhance the virus’s lethality to that level is to make it airborne, resulting in a worldwide genocide of anyone with V in their veins. Butcher suddenly discovers that Joe is a figment of his imagination, a voice in his head representing his undying hatred. Against Joe’s wishes, Butcher tells his allies the truth. Frenchie, freshly freed from a self-imposed stint in prison for several murders he feels very guilty about, will improve the virus. The Boys find the details of Homelander’s plot to kill Singer, involving a hidden shapeshifter. Homelander ties himself in knots, eventually firing Sister Sage as they both fail to find the leak. A-Train leaves the country with his family. Ryan stands up for himself on live TV. Butcher passes out and wakes up in a hospital room. Forces converge as the plot to kill the president heightens.
How does The Boys season four end?
Butcher says his goodbyes to Hughie, just as Grace Mallory enters with one final task. The unnamed shapeshifter takes on Annie’s form, chaining her to the floor in a hidden apartment. Fake Annie proposes to Hughie and accepts the ring he got from his mother after they reconciled. Ryan meets Butcher in his hospital room. Though he’s wary of Homelander, having just fled his father’s compound after an outburst, he can’t trust Butcher either. Butcher seems to be making progress, but Mallory abruptly explains all of Homelander’s evil deeds to Ryan. Ryan refuses to believe her, realizing that Mallory intends to use him as a weapon to kill his father. Ryan lashes out, killing Mallory and leaving Butcher alone. Broken, Butcher turns to Kessler and accepts the deal he’s consistently refused. Hughie discovers that Annie is an impostor, leading to a confrontation. Annie escapes, arrives just in time, and saves the president’s life. The Boys are desperate for a new plan.
Victoria Neuman wants out. She realizes that she can’t live with Homelander in power. She calls Hughie with an impassioned plea for forgiveness. Hughie wins over M.M., Frenchie, Annie, and Kimiko by arguing that only humanity can defeat the monsters they face. The Boys promise Victoria and Zoe a safe way out of Homelander’s sight in exchange for all the information they’d need to defeat Vought. As they prepare to shake hands and part ways, Butcher emerges. Butcher’s tumors, grown sentient and empowered by the Compound V he tried to use to save his life, extend as black tentacles from his chest. Butcher rips Victoria apart and seizes the anti-supe virus from Frenchie. Butcher is now prepared to enact the genocidal biological warfare he has resisted for so long. Butcher drives off into the night with Kessler in his rearview mirror.
Homelander feels defeated. His presidential puppet is dead, but Sage re-enters the room. Thrilled, Sage explains that Singer will take the fall for Neuman’s death, and the Speaker of the House will swear allegiance to Homelander. Everything went according to plan. The new president, Steven Calhoun, enacts martial law and deputizes every supe in the US to serve under Homelander. The Boys, save Butcher, pick up new passports, and go their separate ways. Supes and soldiers capture Hughie, M.M., Frenchie, and Kimiko. Annie escapes by reawakening her absent powers and flying into the sky. In the final scene, Homelander discovers his father, Soldier Boy, held comatose in a capsule.
Homelander is in power, supes rule the streets in his name, the Boys are in captivity, and Butcher is on his way to fixing it all by killing millions. It’s hard to imagine a worse place for this season to end. Hughie makes a great case for forgiveness as the central theme of this season, or perhaps the show in general. Unfortunately, no one is prepared to learn their lesson yet. Even this recap leaves a lot of details out. Fans will have to see how it all ends when The Boys returns for its final season.
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