When superheroes are actually evil to begin with, who then are the villains, and can they also deploy the same unethical behaviour in the name of justice?
Such is the conundrum in the final season of Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys, when facing the overwhelming threat to the world, aka Homelander (Anthony Starr, Banshee), means that sometimes, lines need to be crossed, especially since the current world’s greatest ‘hero’ has teamed up with the previous generation’s greatest ‘hero’, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles, Supernatural) aka Homelander’s father.
It takes a monster to know another, which is why Butcher (Karl Urban, Dredd), the leader of the titular The Boys vigilante group that, over the course of the previous seasons, has now awakened a power within him, granting him tendril-like abilities to finally stand toe-to-toe with the very Supes (the show’s term for super-powered individuals) he despises.
With his grotesque but deadly tendril powers, Butcher can finally enact his plot of bloody violence against Supes, which he and the gang dreamt up all those years ago, and from what we’ve seen so far – him mercilessly killing Victoria Neuman just as she was about to broker an alliance with Hughie – Butcher certainly seems like he is on track to become the very thing he hates.
But according to Urban in an exclusive interview with Geek Culture, along with fellow cast members Jack Quaid (Hughie), Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk) and Erin Moriarty (Annie January), it might actually be so much worse.
“He’s actually the most dangerous version of the character, because he is actually in control,” he explains. “When he flicks the switch, and it comes out, he’s precise. He does exactly what he wants to do. He’s dangerous in that way, for sure, but his first task is really, at all costs, to get the mission done.”
The parallels between Butcher and Homelander extend to leadership, too, as both are essentially the driving force behind their respective sides. The difference, then, lies in how they lead, as while Homelander taps on his followers to further his goals alone, Butcher’s fight is for the collective survival of those opposed.
“He wants to wipe out Supes, and he needs the boys to do it,” Urban adds. “He has to corral and lead The Boys so all ships are pointing in the same direction, and it’s high stakes. It’s do or die, because if they fail, it’s game over. The world as we know it is done. Butcher realises this; they all realise this.”
We’ve already explored how some of the show’s leading heroes and villains have evolved but Butcher’s more literal evolution is set to shake things up the most as it directly affects the dynamic between him and his teammates Hugie Campbell, Mother’s Milk aka MM, Frenchie (Tomer Capone, When Heroes Fly), Kimiko Miyashiro (Karen Fukuhara, Bullet Train), and later the reformed ex-Seven member Annie January (Erin Moriarty, Blood Father), aka Starlight.
While fighting for the same goal sounds like the ideal course of action towards victory, one must not forget that Butcher, at least from what we’ve seen in past seasons, isn’t exactly the best to work with. Smug, confrontational, and now with extra superpowered violent tendencies, it’s safe to say that The Boys are in for a tough go this final season, and none have it harder than Hughie.
Starting from an unwilling “hostage” to a firm supporter of Butcher’s plans, Hughie’s loyalty and sense of justice always provided a sort of guiding light in the darkness of Butcher’s warpath, and Season Five is set to test this dynamic like never before.
“It’s definitely tough on Hughie this season when it comes to Butcher,” admits Quaid. “At the end of Season Four, Butcher had just killed his former boss and friend, Newman, in front of him. I think that was a real moment where Hughie looked at Butcher and just kind of saw the extent to which he lacked humanity, and that this thing was just taking over him.”
“But Hughie is very, very loyal, and I think that a big part of Hughie’s arc this season is trying to find the good in Butcher and trying to draw that out, never quite giving up on him, because he never does.”
And Hughie doesn’t have to do it alone, as along the same lines, MM also plays a huge part in Season Five to try and rein Butcher in. Constantly stepping up as the most level-headed of The Boys and “mediator” of the group, MM’s reliability isn’t set to falter anytime soon, and fortunately so, as now, they need it more than ever.
“[The dynamic] has always worked out the way it was supposed to. You have to have someone on the team, in our case, Butcher, who has the power to go rogue, but he’s still measured enough to think strategically,” explains Alonso. “MM was always like his first mate, trying to help navigate this whole war so that we win the war, not just the battle.”
With in-fighting being so common in the show, perhaps the one thing that everyone in The Boys Season Five can agree on is that Butcher’s newfound powers definitely throw a spanner in the works, although opinions are still divided on whether this new Butcher is a villain or simply the means to end the conflict once and for all.
For some, like Annie, the answer is pretty clear-cut. “My character looks at him as a villain,” admits Moriarty. “But it’s the devil that I know.”
For others, like Butcher himself and MM, it’s a lot more complicated, as behind the former’s now-chaotic behaviour lies a struggle to balance his need to win at all costs with what’s left of his fading humanity, something that is set to change the lives of those closest to him in the process.
“I think Butcher has, through years of frustration, ultimately turned himself into the very thing that he loathes in order to beat that thing,” explains Urban. “What’s particularly interesting about Butcher in Season Five is his split personality. There’s the cold, Terminator-like part of him that just wants to kill you, but then there’s the other side, which is him, struggling to hold on to his humanity.”
“In a lot of ways, why Butcher may have brought MM on board was to remind him of his humanity, to try to keep him from going off the ledge too soon, too early and too violently,” adds Alonso.
“In Season Five, MM finally hits his breaking point and willingly decides to go there with Butcher. There’s definitely a submission to scorched earth when there’s nothing left to fight for.”
Finally, there’s Hughie, who, amidst all the violence, carnage and infighting soon to come in Season Five, continues to be a beacon of hope for The Boys, especially with regards to Butcher.
“I think Hughie acknowledges Butcher for his faults,” Quaid explains. “I think he looks at it in a more nuanced way. It’s pretty clear that Butcher is becoming a villain, but he’s hoping against hope that maybe he can turn him back into a hero.”
And honestly, that’s so Hughie.
The Boys Season Five will premiere on Prime Video on 8 April 2026.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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