The Boys returns for its fourth season on June 13, promising a summer full of new Supes, plenty of violence, and the return of one of the most terrifying villains on TV. From a Judy Garland-inspired musical number to the infamous “Herogasm” episode, Season 3 had plenty of standout moments, but with so many moving parts, it can be difficult to remember where we left off at the end of the season. In Season 3, the Boys temporarily go their separate ways as they disagree over what course of action to take regarding Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) killing Homelander (Antony Starr), but regroup in the finale, adding a new member to the team in Starlight/Annie (Erin Moriarty). Since Season 3 dropped in 2022, a new spin-off series was released, Gen V, which will also tie into the events of the forthcoming season. Here’s what you need to remember going into what’s sure to be an explosive Season 4 of The Boys.
Homelander Is More Terrifying Than Ever
Though Homelander has always been evil, in the first two seasons he attempted to keep up a heroic facade to the general public, but Season 3 sees him go even further off the deep end. After Starlight exposes him via livestream in Episode 6 and then again in Episode 8, Homelander starts publicly pushing dangerous conspiracies about Starlight being a human trafficker. Finding out his father is Soldier Boy only adds to Homelander’s bloodlust, and by the end of Season 3, he’s even persuaded his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) to join him, hoping to have the relationship with Ryan that he never got to have with Soldier Boy.
In the final scene of The Boys Season 3, Homelander introduces Ryan to a crowd of his supporters outside Vought Tower. When a pro-Starlight protester hits Ryan with a soda can, Homelander uses his heat vision to kill him on the spot. After a lengthy silence, his supporters erupt into cheers, which Kripke later confirmed was a reference to former President Trump’s 2016 claim he could shoot someone in broad daylight and not lose any votes. Homelander’s reaction, which has become a defining moment of the series so far, shows him realizing he can drop the facade and publicly embrace his true murderous self, because his supporters will cheer him on regardless. We also see Ryan slowly break into a smile, suggesting Season 4 might see him follow in his father’s destructive footsteps.
Victoria Neuman’s Villain Arc
Season 2 introduced Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), a young, anti-Vought politician inspired by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but Season 3 saw her fully evolve into another major antagonist whose head-popping abilities pose an even greater threat as she gains more power. Season 3 provided Neuman’s backstory, including her time at the Vought-owned Red River Institute — the same orphanage where Gen V’s Marie Moreau(Jaz Sinclair) would later spend her childhood — until she was adopted by former Vought CEO Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito). Despite publicly advocating for the regulation of Supe activities with the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, Neuman is secretly a Supe herself, with the power of blood manipulation. It’s Hughie that first discovers this, when, unbeknownst to her, he witnesses Neuman explode someone’s head in an alley.
In the penultimate episode of Season 3, “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,” Neuman offers to tell Homelander where Ryan is being hidden in exchange for killing one of her political rivals. Homelander outsources Neuman’s request, instructing The Deep to kill Presidential candidate Robert Singer’s (Jim Beaver) running mate, allowing Neuman to step in. With Homelander’s endorsement, Singer/Neuman’s path to victory is clear, and the presidential race will make for an interesting backdrop to the upcoming season. If they win, Neuman would be just one exploded head away from the presidency. Another important detail to remember is that Neuman has also been injecting her daughter Zoe (Olivia Morandin) with Compound V, and it’s been confirmed that Zoe will play a greater role in the upcoming season. It’s still unclear what exactly her powers are, but she does appear briefly in the Season 4 trailer with four tentacles coming out of her mouth.
Three Major Characters Were Killed off (Sort Of)
By the end of Season 3, The Seven have completely fallen apart. Starlight renounced her spot on the team, but Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) and Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) weren’t as lucky. Black Noir, who has a long history with and deep hatred for Soldier Boy, returns to Vought Tower to join forces with Homelander and finally kill him. But Homelander has a change of heart after finding out Black Noir knew Soldier Boy was his father all along, and kills him in cold blood instead.
Though this version of Black Noir is definitely dead, his reappearance in the Season 4 teaser trailer was surprising. Luckily for Vought, a silent, faceless hero like Black Noir is easy to replace without the public knowing any different, and according to Kripke, Mitchell will return to play “a different character who wears the Black Noir suit.” Mitchell has been the man behind the inscrutable black mask for the first three seasons, but his face has never actually been shown in The Boys (Fritzy-Klevans Destine plays young Black Noir when he’s briefly unmasked in Season 3, Episode 3). So, while Mitchell will return, he will be playing a different version of Black Noir going forward.
One Supe who more than likely will not return for Season 4 is Queen Maeve, who sacrifices herself in the Season 3 finale to save New York City from Soldier Boy’s wrath. After a showdown with Homelander, Maeve tackles Soldier Boy, launching them both out of Vought Tower before he lets off a blast that would have killed everyone in the vicinity. According to Vought, Maeve’s sacrifice killed them both, but we later see security camera footage of the Boys coming to Maeve’s aid after the explosion. Though the blast didn’t kill her, Maeve does lose her powers (and one of her eyes), but still gets something of a happy ending. Ashley (Colby Minifie) deletes the security footage, and the last time we see Maeve, she has reconciled with her girlfriend Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude), and the two of them leave New York to start a new, quiet life on a farm. Maeve passes the proverbial torch to Starlight in the seemingly never-ending quest to finally kill Homelander, but her survival at the end of Season 3 still leaves the door open for a potential return in the future.
The season finale also leads us to believe that Maeve successfully took Soldier Boy down with her, but a last minute reveal shows he also survived the attack. Soldier Boy is put back into a cryogenic slumber, this time monitored by Grace Mallory (Laila Robins), and Kripke has all but confirmed he will make a return at some point in the future, telling Entertainment Weekly, “I can’t imagine the series ending without Soldier Boy making another appearance.” He’s already made a cameo in Episode 6 of Gen V as a projection in Cate’s (Maddie Phillips) mind, and time will tell when he ends up making a return down the line.
The Seven Gets New Members in Season 4 and Crosses Over With ‘Gen V’
The Season 3 finale saw The Seven reduced to just Homelander, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), and The Deep (Chace Crawford). With Queen Maeve “dead” and Starlight declared public enemy number one, Season 4 will introduce two new women to The Seven — Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) and Firecracker (Valorie Curry). Sister Sage, the first Black woman in The Seven, has superhuman intelligence, and could be a very dangerous ally for Homelander. Firecracker, according to Kripke, is essentially an alt-right Supe who, “represents both members of the conspiracy-minded movements and the super-extreme right-wing news media.”
The Season 4 trailer also offers a glimpse of two Gen V characters, Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan (Asa Germann), who, based on the Gen V season finale, will be working with Homelander going forward. Cate has the power to control others by touching them, while Sam has super strength and durability, similar to Kimiko’s (Karen Fukuhara) powers. After the attack on Godolkin University, which Vought pins on Marie and her friends, Cate and Sam are named the new “Guardians of Godolkin.” It’s unclear what roles Cate and Sam will play in Season 4, but their powers definitely pose a major threat.
Butcher Doesn’t Have Much Time Left
In the Season 3 finale, it’s revealed that Butcher’s days are numbered, not by Supes trying to murder him, but by the harmful effects of Temp V. Despite Annie’s warning that Temp V is detrimental to the human brain, Butcher continues to take it, as it’s his best bet in facing Homelander. After Soldier Boy’s attack on Vought Tower, Butcher winds up in the hospital, where a doctor informs him he has roughly 12–18 months to live thanks to the damage Temp V did to his brain, raising the stakes even higher for Butcher, who’s still dead set on killing Homelander. Never one to show weakness, Butcher doesn’t tell Hughie (Jack Quaid) or the rest of the Boys about his condition, but seems more committed than ever to taking Homelander, Vought, and now Victoria Neuman, down.
Starlight Officially Joins The Boys
Starlight, who previously tried to make positive changes from inside Vought, acted as a double agent before fully denouncing The Seven in Season 3, exposing Homelander and Vought at large. After making their relationship public at the start of Season 3, Hughie becomes insecure with Starlight, who always has to be the one coming to his rescue. Annie is also strongly against Hughie’s use of Temp V, and they break up after Herogasm but ultimately reconcile by the season finale. Despite resistance from Butcher, who is mistrustful of all Supes, Annie steadily ingratiates herself into the group, bonding with both Kimiko and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso). After she tosses her Starlight costume down the garbage chute, the Boys unanimously vote to make Annie an official member of the group.
With the fifth season already confirmed — and a second season of Gen V in production —The Boys and its extended universe aren’t going anywhere any time soon. If the past three seasons are any indication, there will be plenty of jaw-dropping moments, horrifyingly creative deaths, and references to real life issues to look forward to in the upcoming season.
The Boys is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S. with the first three episodes of Season 4 dropping on June 13.
