Despite the show’s overall unpredictability, every season of The Boys has had the same ending, which is a problem. With The Boys season 4 already in production, viewers can be sure that the storylines set up at the end of The Boys season 3 will continue in some form. Still, compared to how high-stakes most of The Boys season 3 was, the season finale saw way too much compromise. Black Noir was the only major character to die at the end of The Boys season 3, and the conflict between Homelander and Butcher’s crew continues unresolved.
As unique as every season of The Boys is, all of the three season finales played out in the same way. The Boys season 1 ends with a confrontation between Butcher and Homelander in which the former had no chance of winning followed by Butcher making it out alive and finding out that Rebecca and her son were also still alive. The Boys season 2 saw Butcher and his friends once again defying the odds to survive a fight against Homelander and Stormfront followed by Ryan tragically unleashing his powers. Similarly, The Boys season 3 saw the multiple-supes fight ending with no clear winners followed by yet another Ryan-Homelander twist.
The Boys’ Finales Always End With Homelander & “The Boys” Compromising
What perhaps best defines The Boys’ first three season finales is the word compromise. There has not been a clear winner in any of The Boys’ finales as they all ended with both Homelander and Butcher’s team coming to terms. In The Boys season 1, Homelander killed Stillwell, yet decided to let Butcher leave. In season 2, Starlight and Maeve put Homelander in check with the incriminating video. Now, The Boys season 3 sees a similar scenario in which neither side has won and both Homelander and the Boys are set to fight again. With Soldier Boy back in a deep sleep and Maeve retired, The Boys season 3 reverted the season to its typical status quo ending.
The Boys Season 4 Cannot End With Another Boys & Homelander Truce
After three seasons in which The Boys saw its main characters compromising at the end, The Boys season 4 cannot end with another Boys and Homelander truce. The truth about Homelander, the Seven, and most of the Supes has been known for three seasons now, yet neither Vought nor Homelander has suffered any major losses. The same can be said about Butcher’s group, which came close to dying several times but ended up surviving against the world’s strongest supes. That is not to say The Boys has to wrap up the Homelander vs. Butcher storyline in season 4, only that each season finale should have higher stakes.
While The Boys is known for its gruesome character deaths, the show has so far avoided killing off either one of Butcher’s friends or Homelander’s inner circle, the only exception being Black Noir. The fact that Butcher is now terminally ill and that Ryan has aligned himself with Homelander obviously raises the stakes for The Boys season 4. However, for those setups to be paid off, The Boys season 4 will need a finale in which there are consequences for both Butcher’s team and Homelander instead of another truce. In other words, there has to be a clear winner in the next Homelander vs. Butcher battle.