The finale of The Boys season 2 included the show's shocking Becca Butcher death — but how Becca Butcher dies was predetermined by one of her earlier decisions. Now that The Boys season 3 has come and gone, there's no better time to look back at one of the show's most pivotal moments. Played by Shantel VanSanten, Becca was revealed to be alive in The Boys season 1 finale. Having successfully given birth to Homelander's son, she had agreed to raise him in secretive seclusion and allow Butcher to think she was dead. Homelander tried to mold Ryan, and frequently pushed Becca's son to tap into his latent superpowers, but only when she was in danger did Ryan's powers manifest. When Becca was attacked by Stormfront, his laser vision severed Stormfront's limbs and burned her alive. Sadly, Becca was also caught in the crossfire, resulting in the death of Butcher's wife mere months after he found her again.
On the surface, it's clear that Ryan, incited by Homelander and Stormfront, was accidentally responsible for Becca Butcher's death. However, looking deeper, Butcher's wife herself was equally an architect in her own demise. Knowing all too well the upbringing Homelander experienced (and the man he became as a result), Becca resolved to raise Ryan in completely the opposite way. Where Homelander was raised in a lab to become a weapon, Becca hid Ryan's powers from him to create a loving environment. Even after Ryan learned he might potentially have abilities, Becca was deeply averse to him learning to engage them. Unfortunately, that decision would go on to be the difference between life and death. Had Ryan been taught to hone his powers during the stable, caring childhood his mom provided, he would've had the self-control to kill the Nazi hero Stormfront without causing Becca Butcher's death.
Becca Butcher's Season 2 Death Did Her Justice
It's understandable that Becca might have had some fear of the potential consequences. As implied by the overall plan for Ryan, though, there was always going to be a time he learned the full truth and had to embrace his heritage. Becca could've taken that inevitable eventuality into her own hands and helped Ryan both master his abilities and retain his good heart. That would've made even more sense after Homelander started showing up, forming something of a defensive strategy. By that point in Ryan's life, Becca was absolutely sure that he would grow up to be good. She proved that with her last words to Billy Butcher in the finale. If Becca's faith had been able to override those fears, she might have survived to guide Ryan through the next chapters of his life. Sadly, as proven by the Becca Butcher death scene, it wasn't meant to be.
Rather than a complaint, however, it actually served as a testament to the top-notch plotting in The Boys season 2 — and served to make the moment Butcher's wife died more poignant. Showrunner Eric Kripke previously stated that the show would go deeper rather than bigger. That proved just as true for characters like Becca as it did the members of the titular group and the superheroes of Vought International. Rather than making Becca a bystander or ineffectual victim of the story, Becca was granted more agency and had a hand in how Becca Butcher dies. Unfortunately, it was tragically realized. Becca was doomed as much by her own (understandable) emotions and decisions as she was by the external forces that plagued her and created the situation. As such, the Butcher's wife death scene on The Boys was granted additional nuance and an element of tragically dramatic irony.
How Becca Butcher Died In The Comics
How Becca Butcher dies in The Boys may have been partially her fault, but at least she had some type of agency on the show. Her demise in the comics, however, is much more gruesome and borders on offensive. Becca was given hardly any autonomy throughout the comics, and her character was greatly improved in this respect for The Boys show. Becca Butcher's comic book counterpart's demise was violently gratuitous and would be considered an insult to Shantel VanSanten's version of the character.
In Garth Ennis' graphic novel, Becca doesn't carry Homelander's baby to full-term, nor does she disappear after she is raped. Instead, she attempts to move on and live a normal life with Billy after the fact. In a Twilight-type twist, the fetus grows at a rapid rate, being nearly full-term at 3 months. The fetus then claws its way out of Becca while she and Billy are in bed. Billy learns of the rape, though he has no clue which of the Seven did it. The fetus commits matricide by literally tearing its way through Becca's stomach before turning on Billy.
The fetus-Supe tries to use its laser eyes to put Billy down once and for all, until Butcher puts it out of its misery with the wrong end of a lampshade. The description of these events is horrifying enough, but The Boys comic shows every moment in graphic detail, including when the lampshade busts open the fetus' skull. Ennis doesn't shy away from the gore factor with Becca's gruesome death, and while it's supposed to show how horrific the world of Supes is, the scene ultimately comes across as a cruel and meaningless plot point. Ennis' portrayal of how Becca Butcher dies is shocking, even for The Boys. Thankfully, her death was handled much better on the show.