With each new season, Amazon’s super-dark superhero adaptation The Boys keeps blowing minds. Literally.
There’s been an innocent citizen or not-so-innocent Supe turned into a patch of chunky red mist in basically every episode, and the carnage will have its ultimate climax in this Friday’s season three finale.
The Boys: Season 3
After seeing Homelander, Soldier Boy, and temporarily V-powered Boys Billy Butcher and Hughie battle it out in episode six, who’ll win the obligatory rematch?
Here’s our best guesses for what might happen in the big eighth episode. Definitely don’t read this if you’re not caught up yet: dealing out spoilers is our superpower.
Homelander and Soldier Boy will team up as father and son
This was the biggest shock of episode seven: the genes from which Homelander (Anthony Starr) was grown in a lab came from his recent adversary Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), explaining why both dominant Supes share that sociopathic, patriotic streak. The heap of daddy and mommy issues brewing inside Homelander are about to come to some violent climax…especially considering Soldier Boy mentioned knocking boots with Stormfront…meaning Homelander’s Nazi GF could also be his mum…
But we reckon their values are just too similar, and Homelander will offer the throne of Vought to his dear old, Soviet-programmed dad. That’s bad news…
…but Soldier Boy will take away his son’s powers
We know that snippets of Russian music over a radio is enough to turn Soldier Boy berserk, and Hughie (Jack Quaid) might use that brain hack to unleash father on son at the right moment. Just like with Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), a well-timed blast from Soldier Boy could strip Homelander of his powers, putting him in a fascinating spot for next season.
One big character has to die
Speaking of Kimiko, the team behind The Boys has been teasing us with killing off either her or Frenchie (Tomer Capone) all season. Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) too has gotten a nice but ominous amount of character development in the last episodes. Could we be gearing up for the first big loss to the main squad?
Maybe, but we’re thinking an obvious death would be the secretly superpowered, corrupt AOC-analogue Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit). It’d be a good way to bring Giancarlo Esposito’s ousted Vought CEO back into the action, after the somewhat pointless reveal that he’s Neuman’s dad had him sidelined for most of season three.
Butcher could go full villain leading into the next season
Even a heartbreaking flashback to Butcher’s youth in episode seven wasn’t enough for him to stop risking his team’s lives in pursuit of Homelander’s destruction. And we haven’t seen his Supe son Ryan since Butcher tragically abandoned him in an early episode of the season.
Our prediction? Homelander and Soldier Boy will be able to present an empowering new family to Ryan, and it’ll send Butcher off the deep end. Karl Urban’s cockney accent might be a tad dodgy, but seeing him go from anti-hero to full-on ruthless baddie will be delicious to watch anyways.
Hughie will take permanent V
This season has shown Hughie taking on more power and control in the mission to stop Vought, at great personal cost. His relationship with Starlight is basically non-existent now, and Butcher is the only family he’s got. We can see him choosing to take a permanent dose of the temporary compound V he’s become addicted to, with some disastrous side effects sure to crop up in season four.
Starlight will end up in the same prison as Maeve
Queen Maeve is down to ditch Vought in a heartbeat, already helping out Butcher with vials of V. Homelander might make a huge mistake by chucking his new fake-GF Starlight into the same white padded cell where he’s keeping her predecessor Maeve, and if they escape together they’d be an unstoppable force for the good guys side. A-Train could be another convert to the real heroes’ team, but it’s hard to say: any of the show’s brief flirtations with his redemption keep ending in disaster.
Black Noir could kill Soldier Boy
Silent creep Noir got fleshed out in the last couple of episodes, revealing the Batman-esque Supe to be a shell-shocked man whose only mates are talking cartoon woodland critters. He’s always been an enigma to viewers. So if Soldier Boy is actually going to get killed off this season (like last season’s great villain Stormfront, only around for one batch of episodes), it’d be hilarious if Noir were the one to do it.
The final end-credits song will be ‘Crank That (Soulja Boy)’ by Soulja Boy
Frankly we’re surprised producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have been able to restrain themselves from whipping out this viral 00s-era hip-hop track so far. It’s all that goes through our heads when the name “Soldier Boy” is mentioned. Please, team: watch The Boys “Superman that hoe” before blasting the song over the final credits of season three.
