We are about to witness the end of a TV era. The Boys has been a fixture of our TV screens for the past seven years, delivering genuinely stunning moments that are too wild, crazy, and even gruesome to put into words. But the Prime Video superhero series is set to come to a close with its impending series finale.
Of course, longtime fans will know that the show is based on Garth Ennis' addictive adult comic book series, which was every bit as cutting edge as - if not more than - the TV series. And that presents us with a semblance of an idea as to how the show might end. So, if you have been eager to know how the story concludes for Homelander, Billy Butcher, Hughie, Annie, and the rest of the Boys and the Seven, let's look to the source material.
Be warned, this article will not contain SPOILERS for The Boys comic book series (which means potential spoilers for the season 5 finale of the show "Blood and Bone" - we won't know until it airs).
The Boys comic books' crazy ending explained
The Boys is and always will be about Billy Butcher's journey to enacting revenge on all Supes. It doesn't matter if you're reading it in the pages of the graphic novel or watching Karl Urban's version on the Prime Video series, that's always going to be at the center of the story. So, with that in mind, it should come as no surprise to find out that the comic book places the focus on that in its conclusion.
Homelander, having killed the president of The Boys' fictional universe, makes himself at home in White House. However, it turns out that Vought had created a Homelander clone (a.k.a. Black Noir), who ultimately kills Homelander by disembowelling him. In order to stop the chaos, Billy Butcher kills Black Noir, capitalizing on his weakened state to bludgeon him to death with a crowbar. With the end nigh, Butcher doesn't stop there, he decides that every single person who has ever been exposed to Compound V must die - including the other members of The Boys.
With that, he kills Mother's Milk, Frenchie, and the Female (a.k.a. Kimiko) - the latter two of whom are killed by a bomb in The Boys' own HQ. After that, he is confronted by Hughie on the Empire State Building. As vicious as his words are, Butcher knows that it's time to end the destruction and goads Hughie into killing him - which he does, bringing the violent rampage to an end for good.
Months later, Vought International has fallen - well, at least its superhero division - and Hughie and Annie (a.k.a. Starlight), the last two surviving members of the story, return to the former's home in Scotland to start a new life together, hoping to live happily ever after away from the death, destruction, and desolation that the events of The Boys brought their way.
The series will likely make some major adjustments
While Prime Video's The Boys has been a faithful adaptation of the source material in terms of loyalty and respect, it has taken some creative liberties. The death of Frenchie in the penultimate episode of the show is the perfect example of that, as it did kill the character off in major fashion but changed the circumstances. In the comics, Frenchie and Kimiko died together when Butcher set off the explosive device in the Boys' HQ, but in the show, her perished from radiation posioning in Kimiko's arms - allowing them to share the same "Je t’aime" moment that the do in the comics.
With all of that in mind, it's not too outlandish to assume that the series finale of the show will also take some creative liberties. There is an element of the fanbase who are convinced that it will attempt to have more of a happy ending that its comic book counterpart, with Butcher potentially even surviving. Although there is no evidence to suggest this as of yet, TV as a medium does often gravitate towards trying to at least find a happier conclusion - even if it isn't an inherently happy one.
One element that fans are convinced will match up, however, is the ending for Hughie and Starlight. These two have been through it throughout the show and they are, quite frankly, owed a happy ending. So if there are two characters who must survive the fallout of the season 5 finale, it needs to be them. So, don't be surprised if they are allowed to ride off into the sunset like their comic book counterparts. They deserve it.
It goes without saying that The Boys season 5 finale is going to be one for the ages. Now that brushed up on your comic book knowledge, prepare yourself for the craziness that awaits in the upcoming episode. We don't have long to wait!
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