The biggest moment of The Boys Season 4 finale has to be Victoria Neuman’s (Claudia Doumit) gory death at the hands of Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) after Butcher decides it’s time to get rid of every Supe while he still can. Neuman’s death also serves as the opportunity for the show to reveal Butcher’s true Supe powers in their full glory. Just as Neuman finalizes a deal with The Boys in return for her support in bringing down Homelander (Antony Starr), Butcher makes a surprising yet threatening entry. Quickly grabbing hold of Neuman through tentacles emerging from his chest, Butcher raises Neuman in the air, and in the blink of an eye, rips her in half.

While the death of Neuman itself is surprising given how important a role that character could have played in future course of events, the nature of Neuman’s death may also raise doubts about a potential plothole considering how easily Neuman could have popped Butcher’s head upon being attacked. Much to the disappointment of the show’s critics, it’s safe to say that the show finds a foolproof way of ensuring Neuman couldn’t use her powers against the leader of The Boys, who has now gone rogue.

Victoria Neuman Has One of the Deadliest Powers in ‘The Boys’

In the final moments of The Boys Season 2 finale, Neuman is at the center of a big reveal. It’s established that Neuman was the one responsible for popping the heads of dozens of people at the press conference held for retired Vought scientist Jonah Vogalbaum (John Doman) with the expectation that he would expose Vought’s activities at the Sage Grove Center. Although Neuman sets up the entire incident to make herself look like a potential victim who managed to escape, her true identity is exposed when she kills the chairman of the Church of the Collective, Alastair Adana (Goran Visnjic), at the tail end of Season 2.

Not only do Neuman’s actions establish her as a strong antagonist initially, but the badass nature of her superpower even raises questions regarding her ability to kill Homelander, if the need arises. Recent events in The Boys have cemented the fact that Neuman does not hold any power over Homelander (who seems invincible at this point, except for the Supe-killing virus in Butcher’s possession), but it’s fair to wonder why she couldn’t kill Butcher as easily as she has killed many others before. Unfortunately for Neuman, Butcher comes prepared and delivers punishment swiftly, leaving no opportunity for a fightback.

Butcher Has a Trick Up His Sleeve in ‘The Boys’ Season 4 Finale

Unfortunately, Neuman’s otherwise-threatening Supe power is limited by her ability to see her victim. Until her death, all her victims were always directly in her sight, making it easier for her to pop the heads of her targets. Noticeably, Neuman’s eyes turn white when she uses her blood manipulation powers to pop her opponent’s head. Butcher makes good use of this limitation of Neuman’s — a reason why Neuman’s death seems quick, shocking, and rather uneventful when it happens. Butcher couldn’t have afforded to give Neuman a chance, and he makes sure that he strikes before Neuman has a chance to anticipate what’s going on.

Naturally, Butcher targets Neuman’s eyes first and wraps his tentacles around them, blocking her visibility and rendering her powers useless. Without her target visible, Neuman couldn’t have done much to save her life. Butcher also doesn’t waste time fooling around and effectively executes his mission, quickly ripping apart the next President of the United States into two pieces, with blood and guts spilling across the room. Butcher had to kill Neuman as soon as he got his hands on her because any distraction could have led to Neuman slipping out of his grasp and popping his head into a million tiny pieces. Much to Neuman’s credit, she had been known for having exceptional survival instincts up until that point.

Did Neuman Stand Any Chance Against Butcher?

It is also important to consider that Neuman may not necessarily have been able to harm Butcher, even if Butcher hadn’t blocked her vision. Neuman uses her blood manipulation powers to create pressure from inside her victim’s head, resulting in the head of her target exploding. Neuman’s head-popping powers don’t work against durable Supes, who can withstand the pressure created by Neuman. Her powers have no impact on Homelander — a specific reason why she ended up where she did in the season finale. It was Homelander’s threat that forced Neuman to seek Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) help, landing her right in the hands of Butcher. It’s even likely that Neuman may have tried her hand at killing Homelander and may have found out that the trick did not work against him. So far, the real extent of Butcher’s powers is unknown, but super durability could very easily be one of the tricks in Butcher’s arsenal. This suggests that even if Neuman could see Butcher, she may not be able to successfully kill him using her powers.

Moreover, most of Neuman’s victims so far have been humans, suggesting that Neuman’s powers against Supes haven’t been tested all that well. In Season 2, Episode 7, Shockwave (Mishka Thébaud) ends up becoming one of the rare Supe casualties of Neuman when she carries out a massacre, claiming mostly human victims. Notably, Shockwave is a speedster and is not known for his durability. However, Neuman was confident that she could kill Starlight if the need arose, and Starlight is definitely pretty durable. Also, Neuman kills a bulletproof chicken in Season 4, Episode 5 “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son,” hinting that even though Neuman cannot kill super-durable Supes such as Homelander, her powers may work against certain Supes. To Neuman’s bad luck, Butcher just didn’t wait around to see if Neuman could pop his stubborn head, gifting Neuman “a great death” in Doumit’s own words (via Variety). After all, if there’s anybody who knows best how to kill a Supe (and maybe, all Supes), it’s Butcher.

All episodes of The Boys are available to stream on Prime Video.