After five seasons, Prime Video’s superhero satire The Boys finally came to a bloody and very emotional end on May 20. The season 5 finale, which is also the series finale, has been the most watched season to date, drawing over 55 million viewers according to Prime Video. Showrunner Eric Kripke told Entertainment Weekly that he hoped fans would find it “emotionally satisfying”, adding: “I think the things people have been waiting for will finally be fulfilled in some way or another. So I’m excited.”
Here’s everything that happened (spoiler ALERT!):
Homelander is dead, yes
The moment fans were waiting for has finally arrived. In the Oval Office, Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) uses a newly acquired power, the ability to strip superheroes of their abilities, to zap Homelander (Antony Starr), Butcher (Karl Urban) and Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) all at once. This power came from a plan hatched by Frenchy and Butcher, who exposed Kimiko to enough radiation to give her the same abilities as Soldier Boy.
Suddenly powerless, Homelander tries to fly and falls back to the ground. Then he begs for his life. The butcher doesn’t listen.
“This is for Frenchie,” Butcher says before beating him repeatedly. As the confrontation is broadcast live across the country, Homelander exclaims in frustration, “I am Homelander.” Butcher’s response: “No, you’re nothing. And this, this is for my Becca.”
The Butcher then takes a crowbar, drives it into Homelander’s forehead and tears off the top of his skull. Homelander died on the floor of the Oval Office.
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Hughie shoots Butcher and Butcher dies
It’s not enough for Butcher to kill Homelander. Believing that Homelander’s death alone will not stop the Vought Machine, he heads to Vought Tower with a plan to release the Godolkin virus through the sprinkler system, a virus that will wipe out all Supes.
Hughie (Jack Quaid) arrives to stop him. The two fight and it ends with Hughie shooting Butcher in the chest. Butcher collapses and dies crying with Hughie holding his hand.
In his final moments, Butcher tells Hughie: “It’s all right, Hughie. I didn’t give you a choice. I wasn’t going to stop. None of the blood and gore I inflicted on you made any difference. No matter what I did, you held on to yourself.”
The next scene shows Hughie, Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) and Kimiko at Butcher’s grave. Hughie says at the graveside, “Love him or hate him, he made the world a safer place, which makes him a hero.”
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What happens to Hughie and Starlight?
Hughie is offered the chance to run the reopened Bureau of Super Affairs by newly reinstated President Bob Singer (Jim Beaver) and turns it down. Instead, he and Annie open an audio visual store together.
Big news: Annie is pregnant. They are expecting a daughter whom they have named Robin after Hughie’s late girlfriend, who was killed by A-Train in the show’s first episode.
What will happen to the remaining boys?
Frenchy (Tomer Capone) was already heroically killed in the last episode and the finale begins with a memorial in his honor.
Kimiko moves to France to honor Frenchy and is later seen living a quiet life in a café in Marseille. Mother’s Milk also has a happy ending and is shown remarrying his ex-wife Monique.
Deep’s end comes when Starlight confronts him in a full-circle moment and throws him into the ocean, where he is killed by sea life. Sister Sage loses her abilities and her status as the smartest woman in the world when Kimiko takes away her powers at the beginning of the episode.
And yes, the butcher’s beloved dog Terror also died.