‘The Boys’ Season 4 Finale Explained: 5 Burning Questions That Need Answering [CNET]

Life under King Homelander is going to be a riot. Literally.

That’s it for The Boys, for now. 

The most recent run of Prime Video’s hit series — inspired by the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and brought to the small screen by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke — came through with a bleaker-than-expected season. Season 4 of The Boys brought the shock and awe and delivered yet again on the show’s promise to push the envelope.

Civil unrest became the status quo here; The path towards societal collapse laid bare, leaving a chaotic vacuum for Homelander (Antony Starr) and his Vought Seven Supes to step into as humanity’s would-be saviors. 

The chaos culminated in a finale episode — titled Assassination Run — that answered some critical questions and left many others in limbo. Be warned: Violent scenes in this last episode prompted Prime Video to issue an on-screen disclaimer and a message posted to social media. 

After watching the finale, we’ve got the questions season 5 needs to address. Before we continue, consider this your public service announcement to turn back if you have yet to catch up on season 4 of The Boys. There are heavy spoilers below. 

Read more: Amazon’s Prime Video Review: Deep River of Content, but…

Before we get to the questions, here are the big things that went down in Assassin’s Run:

• Butcher (Karl Urban) didn’t die. Instead, his tumor revealed itself as a tentacled monster inside his body. After watching Ryan kill Grace Mallory right before his eyes, Butcher gave the entity — which presented itself as a hallucination of his old pal Joseph Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) — control. Then the monster took over.
• After VP-elect Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) struck a deal with Hughie (Jack Quaid) and The Boys for protection, Butcher made a surprise visit and tore her body in half. Now he has the Supe-killing virus and he doesn’t seem to care that its use will bring on a global pandemic.
• Instead of killing President-elect Robert Singer (Jim Beaver), the shapeshifter assassin pretending to be Annie (Erin Moriarty) was discovered by Hughie, only after they had sex and got engaged. 
• Good Annie fought bad Annie, evoking a symbolic visual of the troubled Supe facing herself in battle and winning.
• Kimiko and Frenchie kissed, finally!
• Sister Sage continued pulling strings behind Homelander’s back and revealed to him how her plan worked. Singer was implicated in Neuman’s death, clearing the way for the leader of the Vought Seven to lead the country how he sees fit.
• His first order under the martial law announced by the newly minted President Calhoun is to deputize all Supes and take out every member of The Boys, once and for all.
• Hughie, Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie and Kimiko were rounded up. Annie got her powers back and escaped capture. 

How will these game-changing events inform season 5? Let’s dig into the biggest burning questions the final season of The Boys needs to answer.

Is Butcher going to unleash a global pandemic?

The stakes are high here. There’s no question about it. Billy Butcher has been an unhinged anti-hero since the show’s onset. So yes, we believe he has it in him to bring on a pandemic apocalypse for his gains, even if he’s not at all in his right state of mind — or body. 

Will the scenario present itself for Butcher to unleash the virus only to have someone like Soldier Boy, or even Ryan, step in to save the planet? Nothing’s off the table. We’ll have to wait and see.

More importantly, is it “too soon” to introduce a pandemic into the world of The Boys? Maybe. However, it’s not the first time Eric Kripke has used an apocalyptic world-ending virus as a tool to tie up a storyline. If it worked in Supernatural’s Croatoan episode, it can work here. 

How will Homelander lead the government?

With America under martial law and Homelander at the helm, all bets are off. Sure, Senator Calhoun may have stepped into the role of president, but it feels like that’s all going to be for show. Homelander will be pulling the strings, and while it may look like he’s upholding law and order, something tells us the country is going to devolve into a police state under his watch.

Loyalty is the name of the game here. After Homelander gave the command for The Deep, Black Noir II and Firecracker to murder everyone in Vought International who had incriminating intel on them, it seems likely there will be cabinet positions at the ready for the three Supes. 

As for Sister Sage, after she revealed the takeover plan to Homelander in the season 4 finale, she mentioned phase two. Whatever she has up her sleeve, it’s clear she will hold a position as a close adviser to Homelander. 

Will Annie and A-Train team up to save the day?

Annie flew away, and A-Train ran. Of the heroes that have been captured, these are the two outliers that have fled into hiding. Needless to say, the duo had complex identity crises to work out in season 4. Annie’s name was publicly dragged through the mud, while A-Train finally broke good and strayed from Homelander’s oppressive rule. 

More than once, Annie voiced her disapproval of working with A-Train. That lack of trust is understandable. But this is a zero-sum game now, and A-Train may be the only super-powered ally she still has.

What happens if Soldier Boy wakes up?

After the destructive events of season 3, Soldier Boy was put back in stasis. Now that Homelander has infiltrated the American government, he finally gets the intel on where his dear old dad is located. In a quick post-credits scene, Calhoun revealed the first Supe’s whereabouts, prompting a tear to roll down Homelander’s face. 

Is he going to wake Soldier Boy up? Obviously, he’s going to wake Solder Boy up. 

But what happens when he does so? Homelander may be living out his dictator dreams in season 5. The inclusion of Soldier Boy into the mix can only cause friction — much like every father-son relationship that’s been explored in the series thus far. We can probably expect a power struggle between the two. Things are going to get dysfunctional and quick.

Which side will Ryan choose?

Billy Butcher drove off into the night, and Ryan ran away from the CIA’s clutches. But did he head back to his father or choose someplace else? Season 4 has pulled the boy back and forth between Homelander’s sinister influence and Butcher’s drive to regain the trust of the only living link to his late wife, Becca. 

That’s all well and good, but now that Butcher is a monster and Homelander is, in so many words, the leader of the free world, where does that leave Ryan? Will he ultimately choose the dark side and help bring in a new era of Supes? Or will the boy take the hero route and bring Butcher back from the brink of destruction — his own and the world’s?

In a show where a 13-year-old boy is forced to make such a monumental choice, The Boys again reminds us it’s anything but PG-13. Unpredictable and diabolical from the start, one thing is certain: the Prime Video series is set to conclude on its own terms, whether you’re ready for King Homelander or not. 

The Boys season 4 is now streaming on Prime Video.