WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season 3, episode 4
Butcher may be leaving Russia empty-handed, but The Boys season 3 proves Homelander CAN now be killed. Homelander doesn't have friends in The Boys - just people who hate him, people who fear him, and people who don't know him. At the end of The Boys season 2, those in the first camp (Butcher, Maeve, Starlight, Hughie, etc.) successfully blackmailed their nemesis into being less... Homelander-y. A year of peace ensued, but now Homelander is worse than ever. A very public outburst in the aftermath of Stormfront's death has restored the fallen hero's popularity, and now he's rolling around Seven tower like he owns the place - which, effectively, he does.
Billy Butcher and Queen Maeve quickly surmise that killing Homelander is their only option, but bumping off the world's most powerful supe is considerably easier plotted than done. Fortuitously, Queen Maeve presents a promising lead - a secret Russian weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy in Nicaragua. Whatever "BCL RED" might be, it took down a superhero almost as tough as Homelander, and if the Boys can find it, everyone will finally be free (in theory).
Russia doesn't exactly go to plan. Butcher probably expected to scoop a massive gun or a Kryptonite spear; instead, he finds Soldier Boy himself, an angry hamster, and a heap of trouble. The Boys depart Russia feeling their mission failed spectacularly, but their shocking discovery might just answer Butcher and Maeve's prayers. The Boys season 3's "Glorious Five Year Plan" demonstrates precisely how Homelander can be killed.
Why Soldier Boy Has Radioactive Powers In The Boys Season 3's Present
Accidentally released by the Boys, the liberated, bearded Soldier Boy begins his free existence by firing a radioactive blast toward Frenchie and Kimiko. This is not one of Soldier Boy's original superpowers. Mirroring Marvel's Captain America, Soldier Boy boasts super-strength, endurance, stamina, and near-invulnerability that defies age. These wild energy attacks, however, are something entirely new. The Boys season 3 hasn't yet revealed where this nuclear new power came from, but Russian's Soldier Boy experiments are almost certainly to blame. For the better part of 40 years, government scientists have been prodding, poking, injecting and drugging America's first supe-star, and Jensen Ackles' character will return to his homeland brimming with just about every known chemical on god's green earth, not to mention a few experimental blends concocted by the Russians in secret.
Examining the final moments of The Boys season 3, episode 4 alongside trailer footage, Soldier Boy appears unable to control his new ability particularly well. Maybe the power isn't stable, or Soldier Boy simply hasn't had opportunity to practice due to years sleeping in a metal casket. Either way, it's a powerful enough blow to knock clean through the laboratory's (probably reinforced) wall. The red explosion from Jensen's patriotic chest still doesn't pack enough punch to damage Homelander, of course... but that's not the part Butcher and his pals should be excited about.
Why Kimiko Doesn't Heal In The Boys Season 3, Episode 4
The Boys season 3's "Glorious Five Year Plan" features a scene where Kimiko takes down an oligarch on behalf of Little Nina, but the mission goes awry when the target's female companion (one of them, at least) fearfully shoots the supe through her skull. In a scary demonstration of her regenerative gift, Kimiko heals almost instantly, the bullet pushing itself right out her forehead. The Boys deliberately makes a point of spotlighting this scene so that when Kimiko fails to regenerate after getting hit by Soldier Boy's radioactive blast later in the episode, the reveal of her vulnerability lands even more shockingly.
Protecting Frenchie from Soldier Boy, Kimiko gets blasted through a wall and impaled on various chunks of debris. Her awesome powers would usually eat these injuries for breakfast - all in a day's work for Billy Butcher's favorite "gun." For reasons yet to be revealed, Kimiko's healing factor fails to kick in here, and she starts bleeding out like a regular, boring human. Kimiko's sudden mortality is most likely a side effect of Soldier Boy's blast. Whatever energy he unleashed seems to have sapped Kimiko's powers away. As soon as that crimson glow hit her, Kimiko's Compound-V gifts were negated totally. The biggest question now is whether those effects are temporary - like the Compound-V in her body suddenly froze - or whether the effect is permanent, and Kimiko will be just as ordinary as her four friends for the remainder of The Boys.
Though stripping Kimiko of her powers can only be considered a shocking direction for The Boys season 3, there's no denying her abilities have become overly convenient. Remember how Avengers: Endgame wrote Captain Marvel out until the final 10 minutes due to her awesome power? The Boys can't afford to reach a point where it's finding ways to shackle Kimiko because she's too damn useful for her own good. Watching Karen Fukuhara destroy one criminal after another with consummate ease has been fun, no question there, but bringing her in line with Butcher, Hughie, MM and Frenchie makes a suspicious amount of storytelling sense.
Soldier Boy's New Power Can Kill Homelander
Billy Butcher flew to Russia dreaming about the weapon that killed Soldier Boy, only to find the charmless chauvinist himself alive and well. In fact, Butcher uncovered something far better than a gun, bomb or blade inside the Kremlin's box of secrets. Kimiko's injuries prove Soldier Boy can rob someone of their powers with a single, split-second blast of energy from his chest. All Billy Butcher need do now is point Soldier Boy in Homelander's direction, hit the "on" switch (wherever that might be), and stand well back. After a few brief seconds, Homelander will cease to be the all-powerful supe who can fly, shoot lasers and lift tanks, and will instead become... a regular man. Butcher, Queen Maeve, Starlight, Hughie, and even little Terror can then take their sweet time destroying the man who routinely made their lives hell. Killing Homelander without his powers will be easier than getting drunk taking shots every time Billy Butcher swears.
Two problems arise for The Boys' protagonist bunch. For starters, Soldier Boy needs to wield some degree of control over his energy attack. It'd be embarrassing for everyone if Butcher dragged Soldier Boy into battle, proudly proclaimed Homelander's a dead man, and then his human weapon crumbled under pressure. Homelander would either fly away or heat-vision everyone in the room to death, so if Soldier Boy can't fire on command, he's almost useless.
Second, can Billy Butcher convince Soldier Boy to help? The Boys did free him from a Russian lab, so Soldier Boy owes Butcher's crew a favor. Vought's biggest hero between the 1940s and 1980s probably isn't too delighted about being replaced either. On the other hand, Soldier Boy doesn't seem a morally wholesome sort himself, and probably won't offer his aid lightly. Then there's the aftermath to consider. Most The Boys characters would breathe a sigh of relief if Homelander finally perished, but Soldier Boy isn't a whole lot better. Butcher can use Soldier Boy to kill Homelander, but how does he then kill Soldier Boy?
Nevertheless, The Boys season 3's radioactive Soldier Boy represents a landmark moment in the show's history. For the very first time since The Boys began, Homelander can be killed. The secret weapon might be an angry idiot with wild facial hair, but it's a weapon that can finally bring peace to Homelander's many enemies.
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The Boys continues Friday on Prime Video.