Prime Video’s The Boys is quickly coming to an end. It seems like just yesterday that Hughie Campbell got his first blood facial after killing Translucent. Now, he’s older, wiser, and a heck of a lot braver. As we come to the end of the show, many viewers are starting to wonder who will survive the final couple of episodes.
Bam Smack Pow writer Colin McCormick wrote an article on the characters that will most likely die. All of them are smart choices since each of them has a reason to expire before the show concludes. With that being said, I have a different theory going into the penultimate episode of The Boys, and it connects to the comic book.
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR THE BOYS COMIC BOOK SERIES!
The comic book ending
During volume 11 of The Boys (“Over the Hill With the Swords of a Thousand Men”), Billy Butcher got revenge for Becky. It’s also where readers learn that Homelander wasn’t the one who assaulted Butcher’s wife or was the one in the photos doing horrific things. It was Black Noir, who was a clone of Homelander. It was a brutal storyline that showrunner Eric Kripke said he wouldn’t use. Considering everything that’s happened to both Black Noirs, we can assume he’s telling the truth.
After finishing off Black Noir, Butcher looks to the sky and says that Becky won't approve of what he is going to do next. By that, he means killing anyone with Compound V in their system. Because, to Butcher, the only good supe is a dead one. Then, in the final volume of the main series (“The Bloody Doors Off”), readers find out he’s had a solution to his supe problem since the end of The Boys: Glorious Five Year Plan.
Butcher didn’t care. They were just collateral damage. The only compassionate thing about his plan was that he hoped they’d all die without knowing who killed them. But Hughie and M.M. kept looking into what Butcher was doing. This leads to Butcher killing M.M. with a grenade (then suffocating him) and Frenchie and the Female with a bomb. Hughie was the only one alive, and, luckily, he prevented the deaths of millions of people.
The problem with his plan is that Hughie, Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and The Female (Kimiko in the show) all have Compound V in their system. Butcher hoped his friends would all die without knowing he killed them. But Hughie and M.M. kept looking into what Butcher was doing. This leads to Butcher murdering M.M. with a grenade (then suffocating him) and Frenchie and the Female with a bomb. Luckily, Hughie survives and prevents the deaths of millions of people worldwide.
Now that we have the backstory out of the way, I can give you my theory. It all has to do with the title of the penultimate episode of the season, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother's Milk."
To some, it may have seemed like just a way to highlight the characters of the show now that it’s ending. However, it would make more sense to add Hughie and Butcher’s names to this as well. And since Butcher’s plan to use the virus seems to be something The Boys are against it, which leads me to believe that Billy Butcher will attempt to use it anyway to rid the world of every supe, hoping to take Homelander out, too.
Plus, there’s one more addition to that. On the last page of The Boys: The Bloody Doors Off, Hughie and Annie kiss. The text below says, “You Found Me,” which is the title of the series finale. This is why I conclude that while Eric Kripke has said one ending won’t happen, the catastrophic and then heartwarming one will.
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