Here are the biggest points The Boys season 2 needs to answer when the subversive superhero series returns on Amazon Prime Video. The long-awaited live-action adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's The Boys caused a stir on Amazon in 2019, serving up a hilariously inappropriate and unflinchingly brutal rendition of its comic book source material. The Boys' debut season focused largely on establishing the core group of anti-supe vigilantes and their new additions, Hughie and The Female, but the follow-up promises to be more focused, with formal introductions now complete.
The Boys season 2 looks set to pit a fully united, five-piece Spice Girls against the full might of the Seven and Vought, whose sinister influence is continuing to spread. Mystery isn't necessarily The Boys' modus operandi, but plenty of stories from season 1 are yet to be solved, from shady characters and up-in-the-air relationships to shocking reveals and international conspiracies. Adding to the intrigue, The Boys has already deviated significantly from the original comics, meaning season 2 will be a surprise even to those familiar with Garth Ennis' work.
With filming on The Boys season 2 wrapping in back late 2019, the continued adventures of Billy Butcher and his band of merry men are (hopefully) not too far away. Here are the biggest storylines in need of resolution when The Boys returns.
What Happened To Becca?
The biggest question heading into The Boys season 2 predictably comes from the main cliffhanger of season 1. Motivating Butcher's crusade against the super-powered is his belief that Homelander raped his wife, Becca, and caused her to commit suicide. This represents a fairly significant departure from the comic books, where Becca was raped by Homelander and conceived a super-child that killed her during pregnancy in front of Butcher's eyes. In another TV-only twist, the final scene of The Boys season 1 reveals that Becca is actually alive and well, and has been in hiding with Homelander's child.
This revelation means everything we know about Becca's story is now under question. Homelander claims that their encounter was consensual, but is he just trying to wind Butcher up? Why did Becca run from Butcher after the incident? And what has she been doing for all of these years? Just like Butcher, viewers will no doubt have many more questions for Becca to answer when The Boys returns, and when she's finished explaining her mysterious past, there remains the huge issue of where Becca and Butcher go from here. Can they rekindle their romance? Or will Homelander want revenge against the woman who took away his son?
Will The Seven Turn On Starlight?
The Seven were left in disarray upon the completion of The Boys' first season. Homelander had gone rogue, The Deep had been sidelined after enduring bad PR, Queen Maeve was questioning her position, A-Train was barely clinging to life and the less said about Translucent the better. At least Vought can rely on Black Noir. By far the most uncertain member of the Seven, however, is Starlight. Annie January's virtuous innocence and earnest intentions were already at odds with the rest of the Seven as soon as the newbie entered Vought's employ, but the company's trust in her is further eroded after she outs The Deep as a sexual predator and starts spending time with Hughie, one of Vought's newest enemies.
The Boys' season 1 finale sees Starlight take Hughie's side over A-Train, and she uses her formidable superpowers against her fellow colleagues. Does this mean that Starlight will be shown the door? Or can she cover-up her actions? The answer likely depends on the fate of A-Train, last seen receiving CPR. If Vought learn that their newest addition took Hughie's side in a fight, Starlight will find herself in dangerous waters, but if A-Train can't remember the incident or has a drastic change of heart, Annie might be able to remain as one of the world's leading superheroes, fighting Vought's evil from the inside.
Are Starlight And Hughie On Or Off?
Amazon's version of The Boys accelerated the Starlight and Hughie romance from the comic books. The pair started out as budding lovers, finding solace in each other's existential crises, but the relationship was thrown into turmoil after Hughie's association with Butcher was uncovered. Unsure if Hughie's feelings were genuine or whether he just wanted information on Vought, Annie broke things off, and the split was given a bitter taste when Butcher shot his pal's girlfriend with a high-powered rifle. In The Boys' season 1 finale, however, Annie discovers that Hughie's accusations were all true, and she helps rescue him and the other Boys from Vought's capture.
Helping Hughie in his hour of need suggests that whatever problem Starlight had is now resolved, and Hughie proved his feelings were real by standing up to A-Train despite his distinct lack of superpowers. While the rift between Annie and Hughie seems to have healed, there was no time to make their reunion official in the middle of a dramatic escape, leaving their status as a couple unknown. So is Starlight and Hughie's 'Romeo and Juliet' romance back on? And if so, how can their relationship work, given their opposing positions on the superhero divide? Perhaps Butcher will take a kinder view of Annie after she rescued his friends, but Vought will no doubt be gunning for Hughie in The Boys season 2.
Can Vought Defeat The Super-Terrorists?
The Boys revealed in its season 1 finale that the man responsible for trafficking Compound V across the globe and putting the stuff in terrorist hands was none other than Homelander, with the help of A-Train. Seeking to make Vought invaluable to the U.S. government, Homelander allowed the creation of super-powered terrorists that only the Seven would be able to fight against. Obviously, this notion was only made possible by Homelader's sociopathic tendencies and even the morally-bankrupt Madelyn Stillwell found the idea horrific, although she might not have said so out loud.
Homelander might've dealt with the first super-terrorist, but he confirms that these souped-up villains are dotted across the globe, setting up a major potential threat for The Boys season 2. The existence of The Female proves how widely Homelander's scheme spread, and her connection to the experiments gives the Boys another personal reason to take down the Seven's leader. However, it remains to be seen how many super-terrorists Homelander has created, and whether Vought can even handle all of them. The company might've succeeded in getting a military contract, but they'll need to fulfill their end of the bargain in season 2. Perhaps this is what leads to the arrival of Stormfront, a brand new super-powered character played by Aya Cash.
How Can The Boys Take Down The Seven?
Compared to the original comic books, the first season of The Boys didn't feature many scenes where the quintet fight as a team, and there were even fewer battles between the Boys are other superhero groups. This is a major feature of the comics, and something that fans might expect more of in season 2, now that the group has come together properly. In another change from the comic books, the Seven had no idea who Billy and his team were when Amazon's The Boys began, but that's no longer the case after the events of season 1 - the Boys and the Seven will be at war when the story resumes.
This is where the TV adaptation's comic changes might begin to cause problems. In Ennis' original story, Butcher and his friends use a diluted form of Compound V in order to physically compete with their super-powered enemies. Showing protagonists essentially taking steroids might prove a tricky aspect to translate into live-action, especially given A-Train's addiction side-story. The Boys of the comics can also rely on the backing of the U.S. government, but that too appears to be off the table in the TV show. Consequently, the question of how Butcher will fight back against the likes of Homelander and Black Noir in season 2 remains to seen, and it's possible that such scenes won't be as common on TV as in the comic books.
Is Mr. Edgar The Big New Villain?
In terms of characters, the biggest unknown heading into The Boys' second season is Giancarlo Esposito's Mr. Edgar. Alluded to on several occasions in season 1, Mr. Edgar appears to be the top dog at Vought, and made his on-screen debut in the finale episode, offering Stillwell a promotion. Obviously, Stillwell is no longer in a position to accept a new role at Vought, meaning Mr. Edgar himself might take on a more prominent role in The Boys season 2. This would mean Esposito will be playing 3 major TV villains in 2020, alongside his roles as Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian and Gus Fring in Better Call Saul.
Due to his limited screen time thus far, Mr. Edgar is one of The Boys' biggest mysteries. How much does the Vought chief know about Homelander's schemes and the Compound V conspiracy? Is he a harmless figurehead, or even more dastardly than Stillwell? Given Giancarlo Esposito's casting, the latter seems far more likely.
The Boys season 2 will release in 2020 on Amazon Prime Video.