Amazon's subversive superhero satire was one of the biggest streaming hits of the year, and it's not hard to see why. In a market saturated with comic book heroes, a darker take on the old tropes is a refreshing change of pace. Its success didn't surprise Amazon either, as it greenlit a second season before the first even premiered.
Unlike many superhero works, The Boys is not afraid to show the violent results that superpowers could wreak on the human body. But what were the most brutal moments? Let's count down the 10 most gruesome scenes in the first season of The Boys.
Robin's Death
Everybody knows that a lot of the things you see in superhero movies aren't realistic. If Superman caught Lois Lane falling at terminal velocity without slowing down, he would kill her just as surely as the impact with the pavement. The Boys, on the other hand, has no qualms about showing the horrific results of such a collision.
While out for a walk with Hughie, Robin is hit by The Seven's speedster, A-Train, going at full speed. The impact reduces her to little more than a puddle of blood and gore. Except her hands, which remain in Hughie's. Not a good way to go.
Mesmer's Death
Billy Butcher is hardly a nice guy. Looking at him objectively he's one of the biggest jerks in the show. He idles at bad, but when he decides to indulge his sadistic side, the results are just as terrible as anything one of the Supes is capable of.
When Butcher catches up with telepath Mesmer after the latter's betrayal, he does not hold back with his vengeance. First, he lets Mesmer read his mind so he knows exactly what's about to happen to him. Then he bashes his face in with a sink while the smaller Super begs for mercy.
PopClaw And The Landlord
Not all Supes mean to use their powers to kill or maim those they come into contact with. Sometimes they just forget their strength, and accidents happen. Such is the case with Popclaw and her unfortunate landlord.
What begins as a routine attempt to collect rent quickly turns into an intimate encounter between the two. Things take a turn for the worst and eventually Popclaw ends up crushing the man's skull completely by accident. Some might see this as a decent way to go, but most people will be as horrified as the Supe herself at this outcome.
The Plane Crash
Even when they're supposed to be acting as good guys, the Supes are brutal in doing their job. While rescuing a hijacked flight, necks are snapped, and chests burned through with laser vision. It takes a turn for the terrifying when Homelander accidentally cuts one of the terrorists in half with said vision, critically damaging the aircraft's controls.
At this point, Homelander coerces Maeve into letting the plane go down to cover up his mistake. When the passengers try to escape, he threatens them with death. In the end, everyone on board goes down with the plane, screaming for their heroes to save them.
Terrorist Takedown
When your good guys are as morally grey as The Boys, your villains have to be truly terrible to make the heroes sympathetic. Homelander, the show's Superman analog, does this in spades. He is easily the most sociopathic character on the show, and he is not afraid to get rough with the people who oppose him.
While taking on a Syrian terrorist cell, he goes on a rampage with his laser vision, indiscriminately targeting the terrorists as well as unarmed civilians. People are sliced in half, heads are vaporized, and limbs sliced off as Homelander goes about doing his job.
Stillwell's Death
Madelyn Stillwell is arguably the person most to blame for the collateral damage caused by The Seven. She covers up their crimes and makes sure their public images stay squeaky clean. It would be hard to feel sorry for such a person, but the way she goes out is still pretty tough to watch.
In the season finale, Stillwell is taken captive by Butcher in an attempt to bait Homelander. The Supe arrives and, after an almost tender moment, uses his laser vision to burn right through her eyes, burning away everything in her skull. We even get a few shots of her partially melted face.
The Birth
The mystery surrounding Billy Butcher's wife Rebecca is one of the central plotlines of the first season. In the penultimate episode, Homelander pays a visit to the scientist who created him to learn the truth. What he finds out isn't pretty.
It turns out that, through means unknown, Rebecca had become pregnant with Homelander's child. As the fetus shared its father's powers, it posed a very real danger to the mother and had to be removed. Before this can happen, the child claws its way out before drowning in its mother's blood.
This turns out to be a lie, but it's pretty disturbing to watch.
Translucent's Death
Hughie Campbell is one of the nicest characters on the show. The only reason he joins Billy Butcher's brutal crusade against Supes is that A-Train killed his girlfriend and wasn't punished for it. But when he decides to get nasty, he can be almost as bad as Billy himself.
After being captured by Frenchie, the hero Translucent has a bomb implanted inside him to get him to give up some information. Translucent eventually escapes and seems to convince Hughie, who is holding the detonator, to let him go. But at the last second, Hughie changes his mind and blows the Supe apart from the inside out.
Kimiko's Vengeance
There is no shortage of dark and troubled pasts on this show, and Kimiko's is up there with the worst of them. Kidnapped along with her brother, she was put through horrific experimentation, and then locked up. When she escapes, she wastes no time settling old scores.
She goes on a full-blown rampage; gouging out eyes, snapping necks, and disemboweling gangsters with her bare hands. Her captors are so terrified of her that one of them blows his brains out rather than face her wrath. While they certainly deserve it, the viciousness with which she dispatches her tormentors is unnerving.
Kimiko Vs Noir
The great thing about characters with a powerful healing factor is that you can do almost anything to them and they'll walk it off eventually. This turns out to be a good thing for Kimiko after her fight with Black Noir. The member of The Seven comes into conflict with her as he attempts to hunt Frenchie, and the results are not pretty.
After a brief fight, the silent hero guts the young woman like a fish before resuming his hunt. Kimiko heals from the injury in a matter of seconds, ready for more. Can't keep a good woman down.