Characters in The Boys are fueled by their emotions, often rejecting common sense resolutions in favor of satisfying their need for power, revenge, or popularity. In fact, very few in-universe choices in this show can be considered purely rational.

On the other hand, most main characters are somewhat competent, so they usually know how to repair or even reverse their blunders before the situation gets out of hand. That said, the outcomes of certain egregious decisions simply cannot be undone, even if these mistakes are borne of forgivable misunderstandings or innocuous lapses of judgment

Updated on June 27, 2024, by Michael Colwander: Season 4 of The Boys is underway and already there has been no shortage of mistakes that will surely haunt Billy Butcher and the the rest of The Boys’ cast. More mistakes have been added along with updates that bring this list to current stylistic standards.

Hughie Convinces A-Train To Steal Compound-V

With Season 4 in progress, many decisions are still without true consequences. One decision by Hughie has already begun to see repercussions. With his father comatose and on his deathbed, Hughie was desperate to change that. Hughie made a deal with A-Train. In exchange for Compund-V, located in Homelander’s home, Hughie will forgive A-Train for the death of his girlfriend way back in the first episode.

When the time came to administer his father with the Compound-V, Hughie elected to let him go. It was time. However, Hughie’s mother set up I.V., anyway. Not only is Hughie’s father now awaken potentially Suped up, but a potential ally in The Seven in A-Train is at risk of being exposed since he was discovered by Ashley while taking the Compound-V.

14Frenchie Takes Too Long To Tell Colin About His Family

Frenchie has a difficult past. His work for Little Nina has traumatized him. One mission that impacted him was the killing of a family. Frenchie later met the lone surviving member, Colin Hauser, who unbeknownst to Frenchie was at the home while his family was murdered. However, Colin could only see the assassin’s burn mark on his leg.

Frenchie met Colin at a drug abuse meeting. Realizing who Colin is, Frenchie helps Colin by getting him a job with the Starlighters. The two later begin a relationship. Frenchie keeping the secret about Colin’s family from him for too long made the eventual confession hurt even more for both and could’ve ruined any chance of forgiveness.

13Starlight Loses Control On Firecracker

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“Wisdom of the Ages”

The world of Supes is all about image and public relations. With phones always locked onto Supes, one mistake can become devastating. During Firecracker’s rally across the street from the Starlighter’s headquarters, Firecracker sets out to “expose” Starlight and her secrets. Firecracker managed to reveal very real personal information about Starlight.

Angered, Starlight confronted Firecracker and assaulted her, nearly killing her in the process. All the while, live TV cameras were rolling and social media immediately going abuzz. In turn, President Singer had no choice but to distance himself from Starlight, which jeopardized Supe control legislation.

12Billy Butcher Leaves Lenny To Fend For Himself

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed”
Season 3, Episode 7
8.8

Billy Butcher’s fatalistic attitude and over-the-top quotes can be traced back to a violent childhood. Back then, he spent most of his emotional energy on his younger brother, protecting Lenny from their violent father by redirecting the latter’s attention. Billy took this abuse in his brother’s place — at least until he suddenly decided to leave home.

Lenny desperately attempted to hold onto his only ally, but his pleas didn’t get through to Billy and Lenny sadly took his own life, leaving Billy heartbroken and guilty. In a different situation, where Lenny had a friend or professional to turn to, this could have been prevented. Butcher keeps these memories locked inside his subconscious, clearly ashamed of his role in this tragedy.

11Kimiko Watches Stormfront Murder Her Brother

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men”
Season 3, Episode 3
9.0

Kimiko is delighted to rediscover her long-lost brother Kenji after several years apart. Their joyous reunion doesn’t last very long, though, as Homelander and Stormfront get involved. Kenji tries to leave his sister behind and escape, claiming that she’d be safer without him.

Unfortunately, Stormfront uses Kimiko as bait before pouncing on Kenji, forcing her to watch as her brother’s “light go[es] out.” Kimiko deals with his death in an extremely unhealthy manner, taking her rage out on random assassination targets for the Albanian mob.

10Butcher Chases Ryan Into Homelander’s Waiting Arms

In season 3, Butcher’s V24 addiction grows stronger by the day, creating a rift in his moral code. While he theoretically despises the idea of using superpowers, the advantages it gives him in his war on Supes are simply too strong to resist. In an ill-advised bid to distance himself from Ryan, Butcher flat-out abandoned the child he had sworn to safeguard.

The boy naturally resisted, so Butcher cruelly declared that he didn’t “want to look at [Ryan] after what [he did] to Becca,” knowing Ryan had accidentally killed his own mother. His plan is a little too successful, as it accidentally chases Ryan into Homelander’s waiting arms. Ryan begins to come to terms with his superhero identity, but it’s clear he’s nowhere near as cold-hearted as Homelander.

9A-Train Hurt His His Brother Too Many Times

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“The Instant White-Hot Wild”
Season 3, Episode 8
8.2

A-Train’s rebranding project goes awry after Blue Hawk, a shamelessly racist Supe, throws a malevolent temper tantrum at the local community center. Nathan Franklin is severely injured in the attack and paralyzed from the waist down, infuriating A-Train, who avenges his brother by killing Blue Hawk.

Fans may have enjoyed watching the “Supe Lives Matter” advocate get dragged to shreds on the road, but Nate is unable to make peace with A-Train’s payback policy. Nate cuts all ties with his brother and kicks him out of his life.

8Queen Maeve Sacrifices Her Powers To Save Her Friends

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“The Instant White-Hot Wild”
Season 3, Episode 8
8.2

Queen Maeve and Butcher don’t have much in common, although their all-consuming hatred for Homelander makes up the bulk of their personality. In the Season 3 finale, Maeve, Soldier Boy, and Butcher accost Homelander in Vought Tower, effectively triggering an explosive Supe melee.

In the end, Maeve saves everyone’s life by leaping from the 99th floor with a glowing Soldier Boy, taking the brunt of his power-destroying radiation attack. Her actions were undeniably heroic, but losing her powers puts her at a significant disadvantage, especially if Homelander manages to track her down.

7Frenchie Loses Sight Of The Mission, Letting Lamplighter Through To Kill Grace’s Grandkids

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“The Bloody Doors Off”
Season 2, Episode 6
8.9

2:45

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Frenchie once had only two close pals, Cherie and Jay, affectionately calling them his Blanche and Dorothy after the Golden Girls. They were eventually caught during a bank robbery, also catching Grace Mallory’s attention when she’s impressed by Frenchie’s adaptable heist strategy designed to incapacitate interfering Supes.

Grace blackmailed Frenchie into working for her, ordering him to tail Lamplighter, a member of The Seven. However, caught in two worlds, Frenchie panicked when he learned about Jay’s drug overdose and rushed to save his friend’s life. In that moment, Lamplighter broke into Grace’s residence and incinerated her sleeping grandkids. Frenchie has never recovered from this failure.

6Mother’s Milk Tolerates Todd Raising His Daughter

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies”
Season 3, Episode 5
8.3

The growth and expansion of far-right politics in the 21st century is satirized throughout The Boys Season 3, partly through Todd’s enthusiastic support for Homelander’s increasingly violent crimes. Painfully aware of the Supe threat looming over society, Mother’s Milk doesn’t want his daughter Janine exposed to Todd’s mindless hero-worship.

MM gets into a fight with his wife’s new boyfriend, humiliating the much smaller man in front of Janine. Father and daughter inevitably reconcile in “The Instant White-Hot Wild,” a heartwarming moment juxtaposed grimly with Todd’s brazen display of bloodlust when Homelander kills a protester. Todd’s worship of Homelander wound up being the death of him quickly in Season 4.

5Starlight Is Unable To Protect Supersonic From Homelander

Starlight and Supersonic rekindle their old friendship on the American Hero reality show, a purely platonic situation that still makes Hughie uncontrollably jealous and possessive. She hesitantly divulges her anti-Homelander mission to Supersonic, who gladly accepts the challenge.

Being new to the Seven, Supersonic unwittingly tries to recruit A-Train, who proceeds to betray him. Homelander murders Supersonic in retaliation, forcing Starlight to look at his brutally mangled body. Utterly devastated, Starlight has no choice but to tolerate Homelander’s increasingly volatile behavior, and she waits for a weapon to use against the indestructible Supe. She really can’t afford to lose anyone else.

4Hughie Helps Butcher & Soldier Boy On Their Quest

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“Glorious Five Year Plan”
Season 3, Episode 4
8.9

Hughie attempts to atone for his violent past by working for Congresswoman Victoria Neuman at the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. However, he instantly abandons his boss when he realizes she’s a mass-murdering Supe. Hughie returns to Butcher and promises to help him locate Soldier Boy in Russia.

Soldier Boy turns out to be just as incorrigible as Homelander, going on a revenge spree and killing his former teammates for selling him out to the Russians. Unleashing Soldier Boy on Homelander sounds like a tempting prospect, but Hughie should have foreseen the Supe’s erratic behavior.

3Butcher’s Downward Spiral Hasn’t Even Begun

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“Glorious Five Year Plan”
Season 3, Episode 4
8.9

Butcher’s rage against the Vought machine continues well into Season 3, where he resorts to doping himself with an experimental and ultimately fatal drug, V24. In the process of acquiring superpowers, Butcher becomes a part of the problem. He is simply unable or unwilling to see his transformation as the betrayal of everything he supposedly stands for.

Butcher’s passion remains as fiery as ever, even after he’s given 12–18 months to live. The Boys is unlikely to kill off such a major character, and fans can only imagine the downward spiral awaiting Butcher in the closing episodes of Season 4. That is, unless someone manages to knock some sense into him.

2Butcher Doesn’t Finish Off Homelander

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“The Instant White-Hot Wild”
Season 3, Episode 8
8.2

Homelander is the author of all of Butcher’s pain. The rape and disappearance of his wife along with her eventual death can be sourced to a single Supe. Butcher went as far as abandoning his anti-Supe code in order to bring Homelander down, whether it was enlisting the help of a Supe like Soldier Boy or becoming one himself.

But when the fateful opportunity arose for Solider Boy to finish off Homelander, Butcher stopped him as the blast of Solider Boy’s attack would’ve likely killed an injured Ryan. While Butcher saving Ryan isn’t a mistake in itself, every second Homelander lives can have drastic and deadly consequences.

1Hughie Took V24 As Well — And Almost Lost Starlight

Episode Name
Season
IMDb Rating

“Herogasm”
Season 3, Episode 6
9.6

Butcher wasn’t the only one to take V24; Hughie did as well. With V24, Hughie can teleport at the expense of his clothes. Considering the many wrongs Supes have caused him, it, too, is hypocritical for him to take V24. Hughie took V24 in part because he wanted to be able to take matters into his own hands. He wanted the power to make a difference.

While Hughie initially told Starlight it never bothered him that she was so much stronger and better than him at everything, the truth was it did. This broke Starlight’s heart, especially because taking too much V24 could’ve killed him. While Hughie did stop taking V24 and reconciled with Starlight, his V24 use will continue to lurk in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to come back to haunt him, whether for health reasons, or if he and Starlight have another bump in the road.