The Boys discussion thread

[PresentTrunks]

Can anyone please explain to me the plot in short?

Just from memory. I can't recall the exact scene order.

The Boys hold Frenchie's funeral at the safe house, where Jordan, Marie and Emma are.

Sage ragebaits Kimiko to get her to activate her Solider Boy powers, rendering Sage powerless in the process.

Homelander finds Ryan and tries to reconcile, but Ryan basically just says he's a big baby loser.

The Boys make a plan to infiltrate the White House using the plans from the end of season 4. Sage (whose intelligence seems below average now) goes off on her own to experience contentment and uninhibited joy without having to lobotomise herself.

At the White House, Homelander kills a religious billionaire, roasts The Deep into oblivion, and makes plans for an Easter speech with Oh Father. If you'll recall, his objective is to use all the telepaths to help him detect and kill everyone who doesn't love him, and the plan is to enact this so-called 'Second Coming' on/after Easter.

The Boys infiltrate the White House, but are nearly killed until Ashley saves them (Bashley likes her again because of this).

M.M and Hughie successfully kill Oh Father, and Starlight flies The Deep (who wants to get into HL's good graces by killing Starlight) to a nearby shore and accidentally gets him killed by blasting him into the ocean where he's torn apart by sea creatures.

Homelander's prepared speech is going pretty well, until he goes off the rails and threatens to kill everyone who doesn't love him. Butcher and Kimiko then fight Homelander on live TV, but it's going horribly until Ryan intervenes, which allows Kimiko to depower the three of them.

Butcher beats Homelander badly, causing him to grovel and debase himself in front of the entire world. Butcher uses a crowbar to splatter his brains.

Homelander's regime collapses, Ashley is impeached and removed (it's handled in a genuinely funny way, I thought), Robert Singer is president again, and Stan Edgar is the CEO of Vought again, promising to keep a stranglehold on the Supes.

After Terror dies from natural causes and Ryan rejects him (basically saying he's nothing more than the lesser of two evils between him and Homelander), Butcher has nothing left, so he plans to kill all Supes by infiltrating Vought and spreading the virus. Hughie follows Butcher and is forced to kill him after a fight.

Much later, Hughie turns down an offer from President to be the head of an anti-Supes task force, which is being formed to take down all the rogue Supes following Homelander's death. Starlight is pregnant with Hughie's child and has reconciled with her mother, and Hughie and Starlight are planning to get married.

 

[Employe]

Just from memory. I can't recall the exact scene order.

The Boys hold Frenchie's funeral at the safe house, where Jordan, Marie and Emma are.

Sage ragebaits Kimiko to get her to activate her Solider Boy powers, rendering Sage powerless in the process.

Homelander finds Ryan and tries to reconcile, but Ryan basically just says he's a big baby loser.

The Boys make a plan to infiltrate the White House using the plans from the end of season 4. Sage goes off on her own to experience uninhibited joy without having to lobotomise herself.

At the White House, Homelander kills a religious billionaire, roasts The Deep into oblivion, and makes plans for an Easter speech with Oh Father. If you'll recall, his objective is to use all the telepaths to detect and kill everyone who doesn't love him, and the plan is to enact this so-called 'Second Coming' on/after Easter.

The Boys infiltrate the White House, but are nearly killed until Ashley saves them (Bashley likes her again because of this).

M.M and Hughie successfully kill Oh Father, Starlight flies The Deep to a nearby shore and accidentally gets him killed by blasting him into the ocean where he's torn apart by sea creatures.

Homelander's speech is going pretty well, until he goes off the rails and threatens to kill everyone who doesn't love him. Butcher and Kimiko then fight Homelander on live TV, but it's going horribly until Ryan intervenes, which allows Kimiko to blast the three of them.

Butcher beats the depowered Homelander badly, causing him to grovel and debase himself in front of the entire world. Butcher uses a crowbar to splatter his brains.

Ashley is impeached (it's handled in a genuinely funny way, I thought), Robert Singer is president again, and Stan Edgar is the CEO of Vought again, promising to keep a stranglehold on the Supes.

After Terror dies and Ryan rejects him (basically saying he's nothing more than the lesser of two evils between him and Homelander), Butcher has nothing left, so he plans to kill all Supes by infiltrating Vought and spreading the virus. Hughie follows Butcher and is forced to kill him after a fight.

Months later, Hughie turns down an offer from President to be the head of an anti-Supes task force, which is being formed to take down all the rogue Supes following Homelander's death. Starlight is pregnant with Hughie's child and has reconciled with her mother, and Hughie and Starlight are planning to get married.

Spoiler: Story

Damn, so The Deep died, but at least the expectations about sea animals killing him ended up being true

Thank you

 

[Da3ggman]

Mach 200-500 is actually immensely consistent, Mister Marathon ran to different continents in minutes, A-Train did the same, it's an outlier from statements, but, uh, CW Flash is a thing.

Travel speed I’m honestly okay with ig, we’d have to fully examine the feats since a lot of the ones you mention contradict each other and have contradictions within the same episode, but reaction speed is the main thing here. For anyone not named A Train they can’t react to their travel speed, and - oh forget it I’ll save it for the thread.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

I would argue Mister Marathon could have easily been lying. And I don’t think we got time frames for A-Train getting the V to different continents

So could've homelander.

 

[BruhMomento0260]

Spoiler

Just wanna say that while I am very disappointed with some aspects regarding scale that was hinted at (borderline promised) for a very long time that was never delivered, I did shed a few tears regarding Butcher's death and how his guilt over failing to save Lenny many years ago was his undoing even in a final confrontation. That definitely resonated with me emotionally.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

Yeah subsonic ******* homelander is real

What aspect of the fight implied HL is subsonic? I must've missed that

 

[PresentTrunks]

Spoiler: Story

Damn, so The Deep died, but at least the expectations about sea animals killing him ended up being true

Bear in mind, even though she's still shown to be weaker than him, Starlight used her fighting skills to beat the tar out of The Deep before blasting him. I thought it was quite cathartic.

 

[Employe]

Bear in mind, even though she's still shown to be weaker than him, Starlight used her fighting skills to beat the tar out of The Deep before blasting him. I thought it was quite cathartic.

More skill feats

 

[Comiphorous]

Spoiler: Spoiler

I think the finale itself was fine. I think my only complaint was that despite the build up, Homelander never really went apeshit. I think if it just had an extra 15 minutes on the episode with him going ape shit and finally letting loose on civilians, i'd have been satisfied with that episode being the end to Homelander's story.

Also i probably would've held the "i'll eat your shit" and "i'll suck your dicK" lines. Fine ending for Homelander. Just underwhelming.

Anyways we get to have a key for Homelander where the only difference is that he has immortality type 1. Deep cinema.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

Bear in mind, even though she's still shown to be weaker than him, Starlight used her fighting skills to beat the tar out of The Deep before blasting him. I thought it was quite cathartic.

I mean, it was a pretty even fight, Deep actually put his paws on her too, so they're comparable

 

[PresentTrunks]

On second though, I think you're right. Maybe Starlight's become stronger since season 4 due to working on her powers.

 

[mgtsti]

So was Bombsight stronger than Homelander?

Bombsight ragdolled Butcher and knocked him out easily, which Homelander couldn't.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

So was Bombsight stronger than Homelander?

Bombsight ragdolled Butcher and knocked him out easily, which Homelander couldn't.

A severe case of writers are stupid-itis. Bombsight and the Vought Rising shit was definitely written after the finale was already decided.

 

[Antvasima]

Spoiler: Spoiler

I think the finale itself was fine. I think my only complaint was that despite the build up, Homelander never really went apeshit. I think if it just had an extra 15 minutes on the episode with him going ape shit and finally letting loose on civilians, i'd have been satisfied with that episode being the end to Homelander's story.

Also i probably would've held the "i'll eat your shit" and "i'll suck your dicK" lines. Fine ending for Homelander. Just underwhelming.

Anyways we get to have a key for Homelander where the only difference is that he has immortality type 1. Deep cinema.

Homelander's ending dissected that sadistic evil bullies drunk on tyranny and overwhelming physical power are almost always hollow, pathetic, and cowardly at their core, not remotely something to admire and look up to, so I thought that it was extremely fitting for him. Now let's hope that Homelander's real world mirror inspiration and all of his willing genuinely evil enablers receive a similar comeuppance someday.

I also really liked the ending song and thought that it was an extremely thematically fitting closing note. So hats off to Eric Kripke, the head showrunner for this TV series.

I wish that he would take a look at my story someday, and maybe consider how it can be adapted into something self-sufficient/standing on its own for a much wider audience, and contacts me about it, but that is obviously unrealistic. However, I think that he would be ideally suited for it.

 

[PresentTrunks]

I'd have liked to see Homelander go apeshit, but I do think it makes sense that he didn't, since (like with the comics) attacking the world would mean that he doesn't get any of the admiration he craves or the steady supply of breast milk. I just wished what that happened before his death was a bit more grandiose, since the marketing portrayed something truly apocalyptic.

 

[ShionAH]

the writers hate Homelander, his death was so underwhelming. I wanted a sad death not whatever that was. His lines were so forced and he felt way less competent compared to Herogasm. He should have killed butcher in the process of dying

at least we got another MHS feat

 

[GodlyCharmander]

at least we got another MHS feat

Streets are saying this fight makes HL Subsonic, I just want to know why

 

[LMalone22]

So V.1 didn't have more stronger than basic V 10×? i don't know why they made homlander look like can't used his fullpotential

 

[ShionAH]

Streets are saying this fight makes HL Subsonic, I just want to know why

They hating lol, he directly scales to his flight speed which now has like a dozen of MHS feats. His laser vision also has insanely high range and speed scaling. Unfortunately he didn’t get any AP stuff only speed

Charmander what did you think of HLs death? Underwhelming for me but I wanted to hear your take on it

 

[Antvasima]

Just another reminder that Homelander was never supposed to be cool and admireable, and that it is seriously messed up whenever media attempts to make satanically evil people into something to look up to.

 

[PresentTrunks]

Homelander should've pulled up to the White House with a muscular alien and the military. Nobody would've been against him at that point.

 

[ShionAH]

Did Butcher or Ryan even manage to harm Homelander? I didn’t see any nosebleed or anything

 

[Comiphorous]

Did Butcher or Ryan even manage to harm Homelander? I didn’t see any nosebleed or anything

You can see some burn marks on Homelander's chest from Ryan's heat vision. Minor harm, nothing really notable though.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

Did Butcher or Ryan even manage to harm Homelander? I didn’t see any nosebleed or anything

Blur that, also yeah

Minor scratches on his chest from Ryan's lasers.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

It wouldn't make sense because the Season didn't build up Ryan training or his strength. He got curbstomped by Homelander, it wouldn't make sense for him to beat Soldier Boy.

Maybe if Season 5 took a different approach since episode 2, it would be better.

Maybe I changed my mind, Ryan can take that bum lmaooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Katipax]

Spoiler: Finale Spoilers

From what I gathered of the simpler scaling when watching the finale, the C/R Speed of Homelander and anyone relative to him should scale to his travel speed. Homelander managed to fly from the White House to space in just a few seconds (Which I'll try calc for ***** and gigs), we can scale the C/R speed of Butcher and Homelander to Homelander's speed alone since when getting into flight, he was able to be tackled by Ryan, and Homelander proceeds to punch that same Ryan to the ground as he flies at Homelander a second time.

 

[Antvasima]

Shouldn't we focus more on the artistic accomplishment of the series ending than just attempting to powerscale from it?

Eric Kripke said that he was worried about not being able to accomplish a sufficiently good and satisfying ending, but I think that he genuinely managed to truly pull it off.

 

[PresentTrunks]

No

to be clear, i'm kidding

 

[GodlyCharmander]

Travel speed I’m honestly okay with ig

Doesn't work because his acceleration to MHS was instant, and characters can intercept his flight speed. They scale, so we need to consider the feat with that in mind.

 

[GodlyCharmander]

Shouldn't we focus more on the artistic accomplishment of the series ending than just attempting to powerscale from it?

We are definitely doing that on a personal level. But given the context of the site, it's natural to begin discussing the power scaling of it all.

 

[Comiphorous]

Shouldn't we focus more on the artistic accomplishment of the series ending than just attempting to powerscale from it?

I do think that despite my dislike for most of the episodes of Season 5, the actors make their script work as good as they can.

Homelander was a masterfully crafted narcissistic psychopath villain. I think he goes down as one of my favorite comic book villain adaptation to TV. The ending for him only solidified how much I enjoy to hate this character. (even if the season is the weakest of the 5) Anthony Starr better win awards for his work as this character.

 

[Antvasima]

We are definitely doing that on a personal level. But given the context of the site, it's natural to begin discussing the power scaling of it all.

Okay then, but this seems to be a general discussion thread, not one solely focused on powerscaling.

 

[Qawsedf234]

Shouldn't we focus more on the artistic accomplishment of the series ending than just attempting to powerscale from it?

I mean, the series went progressively downhill since Season 2, this Season spent far to much time and money on either spin off bait or useless gags, and the Homelander snapping scene promised/hinted at for nearly seven years never came to fruition. The only thing it sorts did well was Butcher and Hughie's relationship I guess, but overall the finale was a let by almost every metric in my view.

Well, at least it's what Clara would've wanted.

 

[Antvasima]

Homelander was a masterfully crafted narcissistic psychopath villain. I think he goes down as one of my favorite comic book villain adaptation to TV. The ending for him only solidified how much I enjoy to hate this character. Anthony Starr better win awards for his work as this character.

Yes. Agreed. The characterisation and acting was really excellent for him.

 

[Antvasima]

I mean, the series went progressively downhill since Season 2, this Season spent far to much time and money on either spin off bait or useless gags, and the Homelander snapping scene promised/hinted at for nearly seven years never came to fruition. The only thing it sorts did well was Butcher and Hughie's relationship I guess, but overall the finale was a let by almost every metric in my view.

Well, at least it's what Clara would've wanted.

We'll have to agree to disagree then. I really liked the finale.

 

[ShionAH]

We'll have to agree to disagree then. I really liked the finale.

How can you like Homelander losing to Butcher and Ryan when before he got V1 he was handling Soldier Boy, Hughie and Butcher at once in Herogasm? They nerfed him too much and ruined the tension.

 

[Antvasima]

He didn't lose to them. They just managed to stall him for a few minutes, likely because of Homelander's overconfidence. Also, compared to what we are used to from superhero comicbooks, the slight lack of powerscaling logic there was not remotely sufficiently extreme for me to care about it, given that it served the storytelling well. It seems too nitpicky to complain about.

 

[ShionAH]

He didn't lose to them. They just managed to stall him for a few minutes

Which doesn’t make sense either? Butcher was barely on Bombsight level and HL stomped Ryan a few episodes ago. This lineup was worse than Herogasm where they still failed to hold him before the V1

likely because of Homelander's overconfidence.

I would love this Ant, if like HL didn’t know about Kimiko’s power so he just lost because of arrogance? Perfect!! Thats how it SHOULD have been

 

[BruhMomento0260]

Spoiler

Serious question. Homelander takes the guy "to space" in 2.5 seconds but why are we being generous and assuming Homelander physically went to space in that timeframe, holding onto the guy the entire time instead of him simply THROWING the guy to space that fast after flying a certain distance like cloud level? I really think you guys should take this as a supporting "MHS" feat with a grain of salt. It happened, and it's still degree some hypersonic but the method still matters.

 

[ShionAH]

Reddit is calling the episode “Scorched Room” I am dead