The Boys season 2 finale left many unanswered questions. The Amazon series, created by Erik Kripke and based on the comic book series of the same name, puts a subversive take on the superhero genre. For two seasons, the Boys have been trying to take down Vought and expose America's most beloved superheroes as frauds. During the season 2 finale, the ragtag group of crusaders led by Billy Butcher finally scored a few victories, but new threats have emerged, and a few old ones remain, leaving fans wondering what's next for all the key players.
Throughout season 2, the Boys found themselves trying to unravel new mysteries surrounding Vought and the newest member of The Seven, Stormfront. The Boys season 2's story arcs critiqued the current social climate, addressing the civil unrest, xenophobia, and fear-mongering making headlines every day in the real world. Vought's use of Compound V to make Supes became public knowledge, but the country's growing fear over Supe terrorists overshadowed the moral, political, and legal ramifications of Vought's business practices. The Boys discovered Sage Grove, a psychiatric facility where Vought was performing experiments on subjects in order to perfect the formula for adults. Stan Edgar used white supremacist Stormfront to capitalize on the distribution of Compound V. Just as Jonah Vogelbaum was set to testify before a judiciary committee, a mystery Supe attacked and killed dozens.
In the aftermath of the massacre on Capitol Hill, Vought stood to make millions selling Compound V to law enforcement and the military. Stormfront, with the help of Homelander, was poised to commit mass genocide. Thanks to A-Train, who used the shadowy inner workings of the Church of the Collective, Stormfront's true identity was revealed. Becca turned to Butcher and the Boys to rescue her son from Homelander, leading to a brutal showdown that ended with Becca dead and Stormfront seriously wounded. Maeve saved the day by threatening to expose Homelander's botched airline hijacking rescue, and Vought facing blowback over Stormfront's past had no choice but to shelve its plans to create an army of Supes. Most of the Boys got a long-overdue happy ending - but the finale left many unanswered questions for season 3 to resolve.
What Does The Future Hold For The Seven?
The Seven are more fractured than ever. Black Noir remains in a vegetative state, and even with A-Train, who was truly heroic during the season 2 finale, the elite team of superheroes is down three members. After losing Stormfront and Ryan, Homelander has become completely unhinged. The only thing preventing him from annihilating his enemies, along with whoever or whatever gets in his way, is the threat of losing the public adoration he craves. Homelander's public persona as a good guy remains intact, but behind the scenes things are anything but copacetic at the Tower.
Maeve came through in the clutch, but will she continue to work with Starlight to keep Homelander in check? Will Black Noir ever wake up from his Almond-Joy induced vegetative state, and where will his allegiance lie if he does? Homelander kicked A-Train out of The Seven, so bad blood lingers between Homelander and the speedster. The Deep's hopes of rejoining The Seven have been dashed, and he no longer has the support of Alastair Adana and the Church of the Collective, so his prospects are bleak.
Stormfront is alive, but her whereabouts remain unknown. Once an asset to Vought, Stormfront is now a liability, and Homelander's doomed romance has come to an end. Her injuries (she was horribly burned and lost both hands, her lower legs, and an eye) means she's no longer a physical threat to anyone unless, like Gecko, she has the power to regenerate what she's lost. Have fans seen the last of Stormfront? Does Vought have the capability or the motivation to bring her back into the fold or give her a new identity send her to a new location? If the show decides to do a deeper dive into Frederick Vought's origin story, Stormfront will return completely intact.
What's Going To Happen To Homelander's Son?
The last time fans saw Ryan, and he was being whisked away by the CIA to an undisclosed location. Butcher warned Colonel Mallory that Vought would be looking for him. Ryan is the first natural-born superhero, and apparently just as strong or stronger than his father. Vought's fondness for experimentation and replication guarantees Stan Edgar won't give up trying to get Ryan back.
Becca raised Ryan in a bubble, hoping to give him some semblance of a normal childhood, but she still denied him access to the world at large, which is very similar to what happened to Homelander. Ryan has little to no understanding of his powers, and as a result, he accidentally killed his mother while trying to save her from Stormfront. Homelander is arguably a horrible father, but he understands that Ryan needs guidance regarding his abilities. Now that Ryan has tapped into his powers, and his emotions dictate when and how he uses them, how will the government prevent him from heading down the same path as Homelander? Will Homelander continue to search for Ryan despite Maeve's threats? Will the government figure out a way to weaponize him? And what about Butcher's promise to Becca to look out for her son?
How Will Butcher Handle Becca's Death?
Butcher lost the love of his life, again. Becca understood that Butcher was constantly at risk of giving in to his darkest impulses, and now she's gone. His first impulse was to kill Ryan, but in the end he did right by Becca by doing his best to protecting her son. Butcher appeared defeated in the finale, but his hatred of Supes and Vought hasn't abated.
In an interview with TVLine, showrunner Kripke confirmed that in season 3, the Boys would be working for the CIA, and while things start on a more optimistic note than usual, Butcher is grappling with some serious issues. "Does he give in to all of his hate and rage? Or does he try to maintain some semblance of a soul? A big part of that will be what he’s really struggling with in Season 3. The spoiler is it’s not going to go very well," Kripke said. Butcher's still the guy who came very close to betraying his wife and murdering her son.
The similarities between Butcher (whose comic incarnation is less vicious) and Homelander continue to outweigh their differences. Both have lost the women they love, and both are headed down a path of self-destruction with little regard for any collateral damage. They were both raised by cold, hard, cruel men who created monsters. The people who keep them tethered to their humanity are links that are constantly severed. They are still on a collision course, and both seem to some degree irredeemable. At least Butcher has Hughie, who promises to continue to be Butcher's "canary," and Butcher's last best hope defeating his demons.
What Is Victoria Neuman's Endgame?
Victoria Neuman has publicly been trying to take down Vought, but secretly she's gone out of her way to keep the company in business. Season 3 should provide a backstory for this terrifying, head-popping Supe and what her endgame is regarding Vought. She's already used the company to further her political aspirations, and she's currently a supervillain hiding in plain sight. Her new position as the head of the Office of Supe Affairs gives her a lot of oversight over Vought.
Is she working with Edgar? Is she out for vengeance? Why didn't she kill the Boys? How did she get involved with the Church of the Collective? Does she have plans for Homelander's son? Fans won't get answers about the congresswoman from the comics, since she bears no resemblance to her counterpart, Victor Neuman. All viewers know for sure is she's incredibly dangerous, Hughie's new boss, and the Boys' next mystery to solve during season 3.
What Is Up With The Church Of The Collective?
The Church of the Collective, The Boys' equivalent to the Church of Scientology and a transparent way to mock Tom Cruise, began courting The Deep at the start of season 2. The head of the shadowy organization was Alistair Adana. His interest in The Deep and A-Train seemed to be to get one or both back as part of The Seven, and then try to use them to have some pull with Vought. It was never clear what the Church of the Collective's objective was other than talking people like The Deep out of their money.
Alistair was aligned with Victoria Neuman, and the Church has an archive full of Vought's dirtiest secrets. Now that Alistair is dead (fans can agree that blackmailing Victoria was his biggest mistake), will the Church of the Collective remain in the mix during season 3? What happens to all that incriminating information? What else did Alistair know about Vought and its Supes? Why didn't he use it against Stan Edgar sooner? It seems like the Church of the Collective has served its purpose on The Boys, but who knows?