The Boys, the goriest superhero show on TV, is back for its long-awaited fourth season.
The first three episodes will air on Prime Video on Thursday (13 June) in a split release, while the remaining five will be released on 18 July. It marks the penultimate season of the show, after its creators confirmed it would end after season five.
Season three’s finale saw Supes disembowelled and left to bleed out, family drama, and some tragic diagnoses in a grisly finale that dramatically altered The Boys’ universe.
Homelander’s family drama
Duplicitous and ruthless, Seven gang leader Homelander has always had serious inner conflicts. From his Oedipal relationship with top-ranking Vought International official Madelyn Stillwell, to his search for an absent father figure.
In season three, Homelander finds out that veteran Supe, Soldier Boy, is actually his dad. He’s murderous when the reunion turns sour after the long-lost parent calls him a “f***ing disappointment” and tries to kill him.
Meanwhile, he abducts Ryan – the son of Becca Butcher, the woman he raped and forced into hiding. During the altercation between his father and grandfather, Ryan uses his hereditary laser eyes superpower to attack Soldier Boy and defend his dad.
The Boys’ leader Butcher abandons Soldier Boy and comes to Ryan’s defence after he promised his wife Becca, that he would look after him.
The pair seem to be bonding well as Homelander takes his son to meet and greet the public following the event. After someone throws an object at Ryan, Homelander is incensed and blows the man up with his laser eyes, turning him to a bloody mush.
He’s afraid that his secret rage, now exposed, will turn the public against him, but he finds that he is finally unstoppable as they cheer for him instead.
Butcher and Temp V
At the end of season three, Butcher finds that he has a terminal illness after finding that Temp V, a special solution that gives any mortal superhero powers for 24 hours, is deadly.
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He protects Hughie by locking him in the bathroom of a gas station to prevent him from taking any more before it kills him too. But it is too late for Butcher, as his health rapidly deteriorates, while his plot to enact revenge on the Supes gathers further urgency.
The Seven - vastly reduced in number
The Seven are reduced in number at the end of season three after Starlight officially joins The Boys in the finale.
Maeve is reported as dead after she sacrifices herself with Soldier Boy, by jumping out of Vought Tower when he detonates himself to explode – Soldier Boy is eventually put back into containment. After turning on Homelander, Maeve is stripped of her powers. However, it turns out she is alive and miraculously survived the fall.
Black Noir is killed by Homelander after the last remaining Supe loyal to him, reveals that he knew that Soldier Boy was his father all along. Homelander punches a hole through Black Noir, disembowelling him, and leaving him to bleed out as he mourns the news and feels self-pity for being kept in the dark.
The Deep is grieving over his failed marriage at the end of the show, as he watches his ex-wife Cassandra share the details of their life on a talk show promoting her new memoir about their relationship.
A-Train regains the full potency of his superpowers as he undergoes a heart transplant. But the procedure leaves him ostracised by his family.
The Boys is available on Prime Video.
