Summary

• The Boys features a diverse range of powerful characters with unique abilities, including super strength, telepathy, and control over blood. Some characters, like Homelander, are considered the strongest in the series.
• The inclusion of new characters in later seasons, such as Gen V supes and members of The Seven, adds depth and diversity to the show's superhero world.
• While some characters have limitations or weaknesses, such as Crimson Countess needing to bring her hands together to use her powers, others, like Homelander, are nearly invincible with a wide array of abilities.

The Boys' strongest characters match up with any superhero series, especially from Marvel or DC. The TV show is based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and The Boys has a much more cynical approach to superheroes, bringing to TV a new ‘dark’ take on the genre. However, the show still has many hero archetypes that we’ve come to know from Marvel and DC, some of which are much stronger than others.

Since that first season was a huge success, Amazon Prime has developed more seasons of The Boys as well as spinoffs, both animated and live-action, with Gen V introducing a new generation of supes that have powers that might even rival those of the super-powerful heroes from the Seven. With the addition of characters like Soldier Boy and even the Boys themselves getting powers of their own when needed, the show has started to really grow into its superhero roots.

25 Blindspot

While seeking a replacement for Translucent, Ashley Barrett discovered a blind person with abilities. She believed he'd not only be a great addition to The Seven but also a welcomed, positive light on Vought's public image. Blindspot's abilities include super hearing and amazing agility with proficiency using daggers and bow staves. Unfortunately, Homelander wasn't too thrilled. To prove a point and assert his dominance over Barret, he smacked the young hero's skull, causing him to bleed from the ears. Without his hearing, he's just another hearing-impaired person, or so Homelander believed.

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24 Naquib

Desperate to create a super terrorist for the headlines, Homelander forced a man named Naqib to ingest Compound V. His resulting powers included super durability and self-detonation. Naqib was a living bomb capable of emitting massive amounts of energy from his body, creating an explosion. While this is essentially all he has to offer, a bomb that goes off anytime, anywhere, and survives for more explosions is a supreme threat. Homelander unleashes him onto an American military base in season one which he quickly destroys. The character appeared again in season 2 during Black Noir's attempt to clean up the mess.

23 Mesmer / The Mesmerizer

Mesmer was a super telepath capable of both mind reading and memory manipulation. While he's a play on the trope of mind-oriented heroes who can't really fight, his abilities give him a dangerous edge over other supes. Mesmer can manipulate memories to change public opinion or even make other supes view him as a god. He could have actually ended Homelander's tyranny if he played the game smarter. In the show, Mesmer uses his mind-reading abilities to find out more about the girl, Kimiko. After several sessions, he discovered her tragic backstory but ultimately betrayed The Boys by offering their identities to Vought.

22 Crimson Countess

Many supes in The Boys are analogs of popular Marvel and DC characters, and Crimson Countess is a clear homage to Marvel's Scarlet Witch. Though Wanda is one of the most overpowered heroes of all time, the Countess is much more limited in strength. Crimson Countess can create and shoot powerful balls of energy that explode on impact. The only caveat, which proves to be a sizable weakness, is that she needs to bring her hands together in a triangle shape to do it. The Boys are able to tie her up, and she's rendered largely harmless.

21 Cate Dunlap

While she doesn't look as strong as other supes on The Boys, Cate Dunlap is one of the most powerful characters on the show. She has similar powers to The Mesmerizer and to a lesser extent to Mindstorm. She is a student at God U and can control the minds of others. However, what makes her less powerful than someone like Mindstorm is that she struggles to control and maintain her powers. She also has to touch someone to begin the mind control, and her energy drains as she uses her powers, so there are true limitations. However, the fact Cate can control someone and make them die for her is a nice power to have.

20 The Deep

The Deep is The Boys’ version of Aquaman. Despite being a member of The Seven, The Deep is widely ignored by Vought International and is often treated as a joke. His powers include aquatic respiration and telepathy, as well as above-average strength and endurance. In the comics, The Deep always wears a diving helmet that he is unable to take off due to an ancient curse. Moreover, the hero distances himself from The Seven to join a different team in the comics. However, the TV series showed Vought International punishing The Deep and forcing him into taking a sabbatical from The Seven after he sexually assaulted Starlight.

19 Popclaw

By the time viewers met Popclaw – whose real name was Charlotte – on The Boys, she was no longer an active super-abled hero. As a young girl, Popclaw was part of the Teenage Kix team and starred in the in-universe movie franchise Terminal Beauty. Over time, however, she develops a more private life and focuses on dating A-Train. Popclaw is able to retract a claw from both of her wrists and has an above-average strength in comparison to other humans. Despite the fact that she is quite strong, she is far from being the strongest super-abled person in the universe of The Boys. She also died at the hands of A-Train.

18 Lamplighter

Audiences learn in the first season that an ex-member of The Seven, Lamplighter, retired into obscurity. For a while, the most known about him was that he was a pyrokinetic and Starlight took his place. His story picks up in season two when the main cast meets him as an orderly at Sage Grove Center, a secret Vought facility. Instead of a retirement, Vought has him tending to Compound V subjects. His role involves burning the evidence of failed experiments. With a lighter in hand, he blasts innocent patients until nothing remains. Additionally, this shows Lamplighter needs a source of fire to work with instead of creating it himself.

17 Translucent

Translucent is a bulletproof character who has super-abled strength and endurance and can also turn himself invisible. Needless to say, Translucent is among the strongest of The Seven and is largely regarded as nearly undefeatable. On The Boys, Translucent is captured by the Billy Butcher-led Boys team, which struggles greatly to find a way to actually kill the hero. Eventually, Translucent dies at the hands of the Boys, who figure out that the super-abled character is nearly impenetrable from the outside, but not from the inside. It was when they found his weakness that Translucent proved he wasn't as powerful as many thought.

16 A-Train

A-Train is known as the fastest speedster alive on The Boys, thus granting him the chance to be part of Vought International’s The Seven. However, he is far from being the strongest super-abled character in the series, as most of his peak performance comes from experimenting with Compound V rather than relying on his actual skills. A-Train goes through many ups and downs while on The Boys, going as far as killing his girlfriend Popclaw after finding out that she had given the Boys confidential information. Later seasons of The Boys saw A-Train dip in power a bit due to issues with his heart.

15 Kimiko

Kimiko, who is more commonly referred to as The Female, ends up joining the Boys crew after being "rescued" by them. Portrayed by Karen Fukuhara (Katana in Suicide Squad), Kimiko has super-abled strength, reflexes, endurance, and speed, as well as the power to regenerate/heal her wounds. When first seen in season 1, Kimiko appears to be traumatized and highly violent. Over time, however, Frenchie enables her to open herself up to him and The Boys as a whole. She soon becomes a valued member of the group, even taking part in some of their heists.

14 Starlight

By the time The Boys begins, Starlight is an up-and-coming super-abled character hired by Vought International following The Lamplighter’s retirement from The Seven. All in all, Starlight (a.k.a. Annie January) is a small-town hero who was raised by a single mother and has strong religious beliefs. Her abilities include the absorption and manipulation of electricity, as well as above-average strength and endurance. She faced sexual assault, was subjected to corporate constraints, and came to grips with her religious affiliations while with The Seven. After dealing with Homelander's threats in season 2, Starlight proves she's more than capable of being a supe to fear.

13 Black Noir

Much of Black Noir's personality and backstory is a mystery, but he had his time to shine in season 3. In the comics, Black Noir is a clone of Homelander and is Vought International’s secret weapon to stopping the seemingly unstoppable supe if needed. However, on the show, Black Noir is a former Paypack teammate of Soldier Boy who suffered brain damage and abuse at the hands of his former leader. Noir is made more relatable (but less powerful) than his comic counterpart. Noir still has enhanced durability, but Homelander effortlessly puts his fist through Noir's chest, killing him almost instantly.

12 Golden Boy

Golden Boy was the face of God U and the hero who stood tall as the best among all the students there. He had thermonuclear powers and this meant he could control and utilize fire and also resist explosions and fly. When powered up, he also had superhuman strength and durability. He wasn't seen much in battle since he died in the first episode of The Boys: Gen V, but he couldn't really hurt Jordan Li and his brother Sam knocked him out in a fight. However, he was still very powerful, and the Seven actually offered Golden Boy a spot with the team before he even graduated from God U.

11 Sam Riordan

While Golden Boy was the head of the table for Gen V at God U, even he knew that his brother was more powerful. Sam Riordan is Golden Boy's brother, and he is so powerful that Vought kept him locked away, sedated, and imprisoned below the God U facilities. Despite all their precautions, Sam escaped more than once and resisted capture when other supes came searching for him. The show mostly reveals that Sam is more powerful than Golden Boy, with superhuman strength and durability, and he even knocked out his brother once. The only downfall here is that Sam was never trained to control his powers and focus them properly.

10 Jordan Li

Jordan Li is a supe with two different sets of powers. When it comes to this member of Gen V, Jordin Li can gender swap, and their powers change if they are a male or a female. When a female, Jordan Li can shoot energy pulses and can utilize energy blasts. However, when it comes to pure strength, Jordan Li is strongest when they are a male. In their male form, Jordan is indestructible and has enhanced strength. When The Boys: Gen V started, most people felt Golden Boy was the most powerful member of the team but when they battled Golden Boy and Sam, they took almost no damage and stood tall in the end.

9 Queen Maeve

Queen Maeve’s powers include above-average strength, endurance, and reflexes, as well as the ability to jump upwards of 12 feet high and being immune to virtually any physical harm (she is bulletproof). There is no doubt that Queen Maeve is one of the strongest super-abled members of The Seven, thus being one of the most powerful characters on The Boys. Despite being complicit to most of Homelander’s crimes, Maeve is still caring toward Starlight and displays more resentment for Vought International’s evil secrets than other members of The Seven do. However, in the last season, she took a beating and lost most of her power.

8 Marie Moreau

Marie Moreau has powers in The Boys: Gen V that are unlike any hero or villain in Marvel or DC. As a very original creation, Marie can control blood in both her body and the body of others as well. The only thing that holds her back compared to others is that she struggles to control her powers. She accidentally killed her parents with her powers, and they are extremely dangerous if left unchecked. She can use her own blood and turn it into sharp weapons, send it out like a rope to bind people, and she can even take control of the blood in someone else and blow them up from the inside out.

7 Victoria Neuman

A big mystery in season 2 was figuring out the identity of the head-exploding supe that killed several characters, including those about to testify against Vought in court. The finale revealed that the killer was Victoria Neuman, a politician that nobody knew had powers. Season 3 clarifies Victoria's powers a bit, revealing that she can explode any body part that she can see. It's not known if she can explode non-biological targets, and she does still fear Homelander, so it appears enhanced durability may overrule her powers. Gen V also further revealed that she and Marie have the same power, she's just seemingly mastered hers.

6 Billy Butcher

Viewers who never read the source material may have been shocked to see Billy Butcher get powers as he's made it his life's work to take out every supe he can. However, thanks to repeated doses of Temp V, Butcher gains Homelander-level durability and eye lasers. These abilities allow Billy to go toe-to-toe with Homelander and Soldier Boy. Billy is only held back by his lack of knowledge and experience using his powers, but he is able to go toe-to-toe in battle with Homelander and can do most of what the Seven's leader can do other than fly. He could become even more powerful if he survives more doses.