Homelander is the ruler of America (with Sage’s guidance) and we are all very afraid for the Boys. The season four finale left things in a very chaotic place with most of our favorite collective in custody, quite a few people MIA, and some appearances and teases that will give us lots to speculate on as we wait for season five. Here’s all the biggest questions we have after The Boys season four finale.

Where Is A-Train and Will He Return to The Boys in Season Five?

Let’s start off with one of the most obvious questions following The Boys season four finale. Many people thought that A-Train would die in the season finale after he revealed the truth to the Deep and Black Noir. But there was far too much going on with the Robert Singer assassination plan and Homelander’s spiraling for anyone to even check on him. A-Train took off to parts unknown along with his entire family and did not appear in the season four finale. Maybe he took Ashely’s suggestion and went to Florence, Italy. No matter where he is, he will certainly have to keep a very, very low profile. The wrong person recognizing him and/or recording him could lead to disaster. 

It’s highly likely that A-Train will return in season five. Annie is essentially on her own, and she will need supe help to be able to save the Boys and take down Homelander for good. 

Will Queen Maeve Get Her Powers Back and Return to Fight Homelander and Soldier Boy Again?

At the end of season three, Queen Maeve took Homelander on and gave the Boys a chance to subdue Soldier Boy. She made the ultimate sacrifice by tackling Soldier Boy out of a window so his blast wouldn’t kill everyone. It left her without her powers, but it also gave her the perfect way to leave Vought forever. Outside of Ashley (and her assistant Ashely, who is now dead), no one else at Vought knows that Maeve is still alive. She’s living the good life with her girlfriend on a farm, but all the chaos in the world could lead to her suiting up again. She could easily take Compound V to regain her powers, like Kimiko did, and help A-Train and Annie/Starlight in this final push to take down Homelander and Vought. But will she? We’ll have to wait and see what the answer to this The Boys season four question is when The Boys returns to our screens once more.

What Happened to Ashely After Taking Compound V in The Boys Season Finale? Is Ashely a Supe Now?

Speaking of people taking Compound V, the latest person to inject themselves with the drug was Ashely. After Homelander gives the Deep, Black Noir, and Firecracker a list of Vought employees to kill, they realize that Ashley is the one who knows the most dirt about them. She overhears this and takes off running to Homelander’s apartment. Once there, she injects herself with Compound V, and a grotesque reaction appears to take place. We see her infamous wig fall off, but we never see what she looks like nor what powers she has now. It’s not even clear if she survives the injection or how “human” she is, if alive. We will have to wait for answers to questions about Ashely’s fate in The Boys season five.

What Did Cate Whisper to Frenchie?

After the media frames the Boys and Robert Singer for Victoria Neuman’s death, they split up with fake passports to live their lives. Unfortunately, Homelander and Sage are on the case, using police forces and supes to hunt them down. Gen V’s Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan are the duo who catch Frenchie and Kimiko. Cate whispers something in Frenchie’s ear that causes him to go with her without a fight. This upsets Kimiko greatly to the point that she speaks for the first time, yelling “no” repeatedly. It is a sad ending for the pair, who finally kissed and were planning to make a life together. 

Will Kimiko Continue to Speak in The Boys Season Five?

A traumatic event took Kimiko’s voice away as a child and now another one restored her voice. We aren’t sure what will happen to Kimiko but we hope that she will continue to speak in season five. She deserves all the happiness in the world. 

Where Did Ryan Go, and Will He Return to Homelander?

Butcher and Grace Mallory tried to convince Ryan to stay in a government bunker and train to kill his father Homelander. It’s a lot to put on a mostly innocent kid, especially one who just found out that Homelander raped his mother Becca and killed an entire airplane full of people. (So much to digest.) Ryan wants to go, but Grace tries to keep him there. He pushes her into a wall and snaps her neck before leaving the facility as a horrified Butcher looks on. We don’t see Ryan return to Vought Tower, so his whereabouts are unknown at this time. Where he went is absolutely a question on our minds after The Boys‘ season four finale.

Will Sameer Find Zoe at the Red River Institute? 

Now that Victoria is dead, her poor daughter Zoe is a resident at Red River Institute. It is the one place that her mother didn’t want her to be. But it is rather strange that she’s there. Her father Sameer isn’t dead. He left the facility where Butcher was holding him hostage with one less leg, but still alive. Surely he’s gotten wind of Victoria’s death and will seek out his daughter, right?

Where the Hell Is Stan Edgar?!

Speaking of people missing in action, we haven’t seen Stan Edgar since all that mess at the farm. Victoria allowed him to leave instead of going back to prison, but where did he go? Will he look for Zoe? And what kind of revenge will he plot on the Boys for killing his daughter? We have so many Stan questions, but we shall wait patiently to see how Stan fits into season five. 

Who Is the Telekinetic Supe That Attacked Annie and Hughie? 

At the end of the finale, we see all the Boys come across supes working for Homelander. There’s one person who isn’t as familiar. She’s rocking a shaved head and sweatpants in the style of Stranger Things’ Hawkins Lab subjects. Quite a few fans won’t remember her because, well, we’ve barely seen her in this series. The supe that attacks Hughie and Annie is telekinetic supe Cindy from season two. She was a former patient at Sage Grove Center, a psychiatric hospital owned by Vought to experiment on humans.

After things go awry during a visit from Frenchie, Kimiko, and MM, Cindy escapes and walks off in the streets. Outside of a TV appearance that says she’s wanted for several crimes, this is our first time really seeing Cindy again. We assume Homelander has forgiven her for her crimes and will include her in his supe inner circle. Someone has to replace A-Train, I guess…

Where Is Butcher Going, and Will He Release the Virus?

This is perhaps the biggest question in The Boys universe right now. Butcher appears to be alive and well after letting that parasitic dark side to take over. He kills Victoria and goes off on his own to some unknown place. He has the virus in hand, but how he is going to get enough of it to cause a supe genocide? Where is he going? You never know what he’s up to but it sure doesn’t look like he’s gonna die. 

What Will Annie Do Without the Boys, and Where Will She Go Next?

Poor Annie is on her own. She escaped capture and flew off, finally regaining her powers at the best possible moment. But she’s still a wanted woman with a very recognizable face. She cannot go home to her mom nor back to any familiar place. Perhaps she will try to find A-Train or Queen Maeve so they can help her break the Boys out of wherever they are being held. 

 Does Anyone Work at Vought Anymore? What’s the Status of the Company?

Homelander’s takeover plan included killing any Vought employee who has dirt on them. That’s pretty much every person working at the company. It looks like they marked off most of the names on their sheet, so it begs the question who even works at Vought anymore on The Boys? What is the status of the company with Ashely officially gone (or dead) and the supes busy running America? The Boys season five could answer this question quickly and reveal that Vought is no longer a conglomerate to be reckoned with. 

What Does Sage Really Want? 

Sage is making the world burn because 1) she hates humans and 2) she can. It’s pretty clear she’s using everyone, including Homelander, for her own entertainment. But does Sage want something else out of the deal? Does she have an ulterior motive, or is she just chaotic for no reason? These are questions that The Boys may answer in season five, but Sage herself has some thoughts.

“I think she is processing so much information and so many possibilities all the time,” Susan Heyward, who plays Sage, told us in a recent interview. “…I think she needs something to make her excited, something to give her a reason to live. She has the opportunity to create chaos and a universe that was unlikely. I think it gives her a thrill to help her feel alive.” 

Now that’s diabolical. It will probably be a while before these questions get answers but in the meantime, we can watch The Boys season four all over again (and again). 

The post The Biggest Questions We Have After THE BOYS Season Four Finale appeared first on Nerdist.

Who would have ever thought that there’s a supe more dangerous than Homelander? That’s exactly what we got in The Boys season four, thanks to the arrival of Sister Sage. (Let’s just drop the “Sister” and call her Sage, okay?) The smartest person in the universe turned America’s government system and ongoing supe war into her own personal game of chess, using everyone around her as pawns to craft pure chaos.

Thanks to her sheer genius and others’ lack of emotional intelligence and self-control, supes are running the US and Homelander is their leader. Sage doesn’t care about societal conventions nor does she have powers that can protect her if she falters. Therefore, every move she makes is intentional, calculating, and downright diabolical. We caught up with The Boys actress Susan Heyward to talk about Sage’s psyche, fandom love, and the catharsis and life lessons from playing a radical character. 

Nerdist: What was your favorite Sage moment in this season and why? 

Susan Heyward: Oh, gosh, there’s so many! I have to say I loved Sage’s setup for Firecracker because I think it speaks to her nature. She met Firecracker and immediately got the “old boy racist” vibes from her. And Sage tucked that information away and waited for a moment when she knew that she could create a situation where Firecracker would go the direction that Sage wanted her to for her own benefit. The way Sage kind of stepped back and was like, ”I’m going to let you be who you are” and let her get her ass beat by somebody who has the power to do it… that was delicious to me. 

It was fantastic. I’m glad you brought up a big part of Sage’s personality which is withholding information and using people’s worst natures against them. We get a chance to see her surface level motivations for wanting to work with Homelander. She doesn’t really think humanity is worth saving, which I do get. Do you think Sage has other ulterior motives against Homelander or is she just a Machiavellian agent of chaos who only wants to see the world burn? 

Heyward: It is hard to choose, honestly, because I think she is processing so much information and so many possibilities all the time. I have to say it’s a little bit of both. I think she’s a survivor. The world has not necessarily been a kind place to her. So she’s always thinking about her own survival. Always thinking about how she can do what’s best for her. And I think she needs something to make her excited, something to give her a reason to live. She has the opportunity to create chaos and a universe that was unlikely. I think it gives her a thrill to help her feel alive.

It’s so interesting she’s doing all of this and purposely staying behind the scenes. To me, that makes her more threatening than anyone else on the show. Sage isn’t concerned with being loved nor adored by anyone and she’s certainly no one’s savior. As a Black woman, did you find any catharsis in being able to portray a woman who’s really unrestrained and rather radical? 

Heyward: Absolutely. I feel like there’s so much pressure in our culture as a woman, especially as a Black woman, to be liked, to be nice, to see how we can be of use and of service to everyone we meet. And I found it really liberating to play a character whose concerns were living life on her own terms… I liked seeing that play out with her. It is liberating and I feel like we are seeing [something similar] play out with women in real life. Women are not so concerned with being liked and they aren’t making that the focus of their forward phase. 

I absolutely love it! So, the season four finale sets Sage up to continue to play a big role in season five as Homelander’s advisor. What are some of your hopes and dreams for Sage’s storyline as we move forward? 

Heyward: Oh, there’s so many things I’m pitching ideas for! I would say world domination is clearly one. [laughs] I’m also interested in seeing some of her personal life. We’ve got glimpses of her relationship with A-Train before they ended up on the Seven together. I’m interested in that. I’m also interested in getting more about her family, whom we don’t see her ever talk to. I think one of the biggest lessons Sage has taught me is how important it is to stay connected to your community. We find her in an isolated moment surrounded by her books, but not people… that’s affecting who she is… So I’d love to see her either finding community or dealing with the community that she’s lost in season five. 

There’s definitely a possibility for that. A-Train was definitely disconnected from his community and his Blackness in many ways, and he’s found his way back. There’s hope for Sage to do that… somewhere in the mix of her world domination! 

Heyward: We could totally get those two working together.

I’d like to see that. When it comes to Sage’s persona, I assume a lot of it came from what was written on page. But what other sources and characters did you draw from to build her characterization? 

Heyward: That’s such a good question. I tried to watch a lot of chess matches because there’s this idea, I think especially in the media, that if you’re smart, you wear glasses and you don’t have a lot of confidence. That’s a media shorthand for what it means to be smart. And I wanted to watch people who were in the act of thinking, strategizing, and holding different possibilities in their mind. And there was such focus on the task at hand rather than the outside appearance or presenting or showing how much they’re working. 

I found a lot of power in stillness, which is not me. I’m a naturally gregarious person. I thought it really fun to bring that stillness to Sage, especially in a world where everyone is almost cartoonish… I wanted to bring a certain mystery and stillness to her. And in talks with [showrunner] Eric Kripke, he said he saw Sage as a sphinxlike character. So I wanted to bring that sense of reserve to her. 

That is a cool way to build a character. I enjoyed her juxtaposition to everyone else because, like you said, they can be so bombastic. Sage feels incredibly grounded, even down to her superpower of beyond genius intelligence. That seems like it could be tangible, minus the lobotomizing part. 

Heyward: [laughs] Yes. And I feel like not giving her those types of physical powers away affects her. She cannot take as many risks. So there’s this line that she’s always dancing, certainly with Homelander, Firecracker, and with anyone who has these huge physical powers. If she moves too fast in the wrong way, those laser eyes are going to catch her. So there’s a juxtaposition of her intelligence strength with her physical vulnerability that made for nice tension. 

It certainly puts her in a precarious place but she’s making it work! Now that the season is over and you’ve seen the fandom love for Sage, what does it feel like to be a part of something so bonkers yet beloved? And how has portraying Sage changed you as a person? 

Heyward: I’m deeply grateful and excited. I was a fan of the show from season one, and I personally was hoping for someone like Sage. So to be in a position to actually be that person and have the creative input, I feel very, very grateful and excited for what’s to come. It’s surreal, I have to say. There’s a bit of distance between who I am and the character.

So I feel like I’m on the sidelines watching the audience have this relationship with Sage that has only a little bit to do with me… I love seeing Black women see themselves. I think I saw one post on Instagram that was like, apparently people say Sage is my doppelganger. And then she put a picture of herself next to some stills of Sage and I was like, “Oh my gosh, she does look like me!” Long lost cousin, where you at?! What’s up?! [everyone laughs]  

Sage has helped me deal with my own need to be liked and confront my own habits of maybe people-pleasing or leaning into cuteness or niceness in order to survive this crazy world and get what I need. I’m letting my voice drop a little lower and have some bass when normally I would use a higher pitch. There are all of these unconscious ways that we make ourselves smaller or we make ourselves palatable for people. I’ve become far more aware of the ways I used to lean into that and I get to choose to do something else. And that’s thanks to Sage.

I feel you on that, deeply. Sage’s unapologetic boldness is inspiring. I know you say you are mostly not like Sage, so which The Boys character are you like?

Heyward: I think I’m most like Hughie.

Really?! That’s interesting. 

Heyward: Yeah, there’s something so beautiful about Hughie’s appeal to humanity. He does not want to become a monster in order to fight the monsters. He looks up to Butcher and also has this deep hope that Butcher doesn’t become one of the monsters. He’s fighting them and always appealing to mercy or inclusion or grace for people. Hughie is also struggling with the monster in himself, the ways he has internalized sexism, the way he deals with Starlight, the way he wants to be a good guy, but he’s always confronting the ways in which he’s not that great. I feel like that’s what it is to be human, to try to hold onto your humanity, but also be really interested in the ways you’re falling short of who you want to be. And always keep trying to be better. 

I love that about him. And I also love that Sage got to be a full force villain, too. It feels like a win for us, you know?

Heyward: Yes! Thank you so much for your questions, for being excited, and for watching. It’s truly the reason I do what I do, I want to create feelings like that.

The post THE BOYS’ Susan Heyward on Sage’s Machiavellian Mindset, Ulterior Motives, and Her Season 5 Hopes appeared first on Nerdist.

We knew that The Boys season four would end in an explosive way. With an assassination plot in progress against Robert Singer, a shape-shifting supe LARPing as Starlight, and the Boys trying to figure out how they are going to kill Homelander and stop all this chaos, there was going to be a death or two. But we did not expect Victoria Neuman to actually die in The Boys season finale, nor did we expect how it went down at all. Let’s recap Victoria’s final stand in this episode.

Homelander Outs Victoria Neuman as a Supe on National Television

Victoria Neuman starts the episode still on board with Homelander’s plans for her to become the first superpowered President. The duo, along with Firecracker, go onto VNN to talk about her role as VP only for Homelander to go left field. He’s already pissed about Ryan having a photo of Butcher and Becca in his bookbag and he goes rogue on live TV once again. Homelander outs Victoria Neuman as a supe. She’s livid but there’s not much she can do to refute it, especially after Homelander lasers at her head and she’s able to stop it.

Meanwhile, Homelander believes that the shapeshifter will kill Robert Singer so he can change the world alongside her. But things don’t go to plan when the Boys figure out that Starlight is actually the assassin in disguise. The real Starlight shows up and they eventually defeat the assassin, allowing agents to hide Robert Singer in a more secretive location. 

Victoria Neuman Attempts to Team Up With the Boys

She begins to deeply regret her alliance with Homelander, especially after he threatens to murder lots of people and rip Zoe to shreds if Victoria steps out of line. She calls Hughie, saying she cannot go along with this because she will just be Homelander’s puppet. Victoria says she will resign from her position without a fight. However, she needs the Boys to get the CIA off her back and help her and Zoe disappear. Hughie is upset at first for obvious reasons but she reminds him that they also betrayed her. She’s legitimately scared and doesn’t want her daughter to die over this mess.

Butcher Kills Victoria Neuman and Leaves With the Supe Killing Virus

The Boys eventually agree to work with him but are still on guard with the supe killing virus in case she makes a wrong move. Victoria tells them where to find Zoe and they all meet up to devise a plan but Butcher shows up looking miraculously healthy. Teaming up with his inner evil seems to do his body good. He uses tentacles from his chest to subdue everyone while he rips Victoria Neuman in half. Her eyes are covered so she’s unable to pop anyone’s head and save herself. Butcher says “you’re welcome” and leaves with the virus. Predictably, his choice does extreme damage to his former colleagues and the world.

The Impact of Victoria Neuman’s Death in The Boys Universe

The Boys Are Blamed for Victoria Neuman’s Death and Taken Into Custody

This all actually works into Sage’s overall plan, some of which she kept from Homelander because he is, well, not that smart. The shapeshifting supe recorded Singer in the bunker saying that the Boys should have killed Victoria Neuman like he said. Singer gets taken into custody and the Boys become fugitives. They attempt to go on the run but legal forces and several supes, including Cate, Sam, and Love Sausage, track down everyone and take them into custody. The only one who escapes is Starlight, who is able to use her powers to fly away.

Homelander Basically Becomes the President and America Is Under Supe Control

Zoe ends up at Red River Institute, which is probably the last place her mother wanted her to be. (It is unclear where Stan Edgar is at this time nor if Sameer will resurface to claim his daughter.) Now, the next in line to be President is Speaker of House, Mr. Calhoun. He pledges allegiance to Homelander and immediately puts the country under martial law with supes in charge. All of the supes patrolling the streets will report to Homelander. Sage is thrilled that she could pull it off (she’s one twisted chick) and will continue to advise Homelander.

Butcher Goes Off on His Own to Be Absolutely Unhinged

Meanwhile, Butcher drives off to an unknown destination with the supe virus in hand. He has no team, no Ryan, and no Grace Mallory to ground him. The only voice of reason is Joe Kessler, who is unreasonable. The death of Victoria Neuman was what the Boys thought they wanted so badly. But it is perhaps the worst thing that has happened to them so far. The wait begins to see how this saga will end when The Boys returns for its fifth and final season.

The post THE BOYS Kills Off a Major Character and Changes the Course of America appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys season four finale leaves America in a scary place. Victoria Neuman is dead, Robert Singer is locked up, and the new President Calhoun is Homelander’s puppet. Sage is back in his ear and most of the Boys collective is locked up after they are framed as the assassins. Oh, and most, if not all, of the Vought staff is dead. As if that wasn’t enough, The Boys dropped a mid-credits scene that hints at Soldier Boy’s return. 

The very short scene shows Homelander and President Calhoun going into a holding facility. Calhoun admits that he found out during a security briefing that morning that Soldier Boy was being held in a chamber. It is the same one we saw Grace Mallory put him in at the end of season three. Vought positioned Soldier Boy as a traitor and his statue was toppled, so he’s definitely not seen as a hero anymore. Homelander looks upset to see Soldier Boy there, who is interestingly not wearing the mask that was subduing him. It isn’t clear what the CIA planned to do with him considering Grace Mallory is now dead.

We don’t know what his plans are next but we can only assume that he will be trying to awaken Soldier Boy. Perhaps he thinks he can use him as a tool of sorts against the Boys and anyone else who opposes this supe regime. Homelander still wants a father and to be loved so he refuses to see that Soldier Boy doesn’t care about him. A part of Homelander feels threatened by Soldier Boy so he probably wants to kill him. The problem is, he has no idea how to do it. We will eventually see how Soldier Boy plays into The Boys season five.

The post THE BOYS Mid-Credits Scene Brings Back a Familiar Face appeared first on Nerdist.

Just when you thought Homelander was down, he once again gains the upper hand. The end of season three seemed as terrible as it could get with him lasering a Starlighter’s head off and his fans cheering for his senseless violence. But that’s nothing compared to the season four finale. This very wild episode basically makes Homelander the President of the United States AND the Secretary of Defense in one hell of a twist. Here’s what happens to Homelander in the season four finale of The Boys. 

Sure, we knew Homelander wouldn’t die this season. What good is a show if it doesn’t have its main villain? However, we hoped his stint as sad and depressed Homelander would last longer. In the season finale, Homelander outed Victoria Neuman as a supe on national television. He thought that it didn’t matter considering President Robert Singer would be dead by the end of the day.

Thanks to the Boys, that didn’t happen but Butcher’s rogue choice to rip Victoria in half caused chaos that leaned in Homelander and Sage’s favor. A video of Singer telling the Boys that they should have killed Victoria Neuman and her dead body led to all of them (sans Butcher, who wasn’t present) being charged with the crime. Their faces are all over the news as Starlighters who infiltrated the government and killed a good American.

Victoria’s death and Robert’s arrest enacts the 25th Amendment. This puts the next person in succession, Senator Calhoun, in the highest office of America. That’s a bad move because he is a known Homelander supporter. Calhoun’s a puppet for Homelander to control with Sage pulling the strings behind-the-scenes. President Calhoun immediately declares martial law with supes patrolling America and essentially replacing the current military. And, of course, their leader is the one and only Homelander. Vought is barely existent at this point after Homelander ordered the Deep, Firecracker, and Black Noir to kill anyone with dirt on them at the company.

It is a new world indeed and it is not looking like a bright place to live at all. Starlighters and those who oppose Homelander will get a one-way ticket to prison camps. Most of the Boys are in custody and separated from each other. And Butcher doesn’t care about the Boys or anything else except killing supes, especially Homelander, who happens to be sad again after finding Soldier Boy’s body in a chamber. What a way to end things.

The post What Happens to Homelander in THE BOYS Season Four Finale? appeared first on Nerdist.

Four seasons later, The Boys is still one of the wildest shows to ever hit TV. This season is already full of totally diabolical moments, plot twists, and so much blood. Homelander has a new advisor, Sister Sage, who is amping up the violence in an ongoing war. Victoria Neuman aims to pop Robert Singer’s head and become the President of the United States. And the Boys are causing trouble every time they step on the scene. We have no idea where things will go. But one thing is for sure. The Boys season four is packed with shocking, gross, and plain weird moments. 

Here are all the things that made us gasp, groan, cringe, and laugh out loud. 

Jump To: Episode One // Episode Two // Episode Three // Episode Four // Episode Five // Episode Six // Episode Seven // Episode Eight

The Boys Season Four, Episode One’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “Department of Dirty Tricks” 

Victoria Neuman’s Daughter Zoe Rips Kimiko’s Arm Off 

It doesn’t take long for The Boys to get back into its supe shenanigans and wild, shocking moments. The team is at election night and trying to quietly assassinate Victoria Neuman. Of course, things go wrong when Victoria’s daughter Zoe catches Frenchie, Kimiko, and a few CIA agents in their hotel room. Zoe, who got a dose of Compound V last season, finally displays her powers and they are gruesome. Tentacles shoot out of her mouth, crushing and ripping apart her adversaries with ease. She tears through a couple of agents before going one-on-one with Kimiko, ripping her arm off in the process. Thankfully, Kimiko’s powers include her ability to heal from pretty much anything…

Kimiko’s Face-Off Moment

…including her jump out of a window. Starlight flies up to catch Frenchie but Kimiko slams into the pavement in front of MM. She sits up shortly afterwards but her entire face is peeled off. Kimiko puts it back in place and heals pretty quickly. 

A Shot to the Head and Victoria Is Not Dead 

It seems head-popping isn’t the only power that Victoria has. She survives Hughie’s acid attack and Butcher shooting her point blank in the head with humorous ease. Victoria tells them that they are getting worse at her job before casually strolling off.

Homelander Is Plucking His Pubic Hairs 

Homelander continues to be an enigma to us all. He’s plucking grey pubic hairs and storing them in a container. It is obvious that he’s not happy about his body aging but why the hell is he saving them? 

The Deep Is Willing to Go Down on A-Train 

Everyone is so afraid of Homelander that it is destroying Vought. Ashley and company agree with his every thought, which is beginning to frustrate him. Homelander expresses his annoyance with this after asking the Deep to give A-Train a blowjob, which he nearly does out of fear. The problem is, Homelander likes to punish and/or kill people who oppose him. So what is everyone supposed to do?!

Firecracker’s Endless Lies

This one will probably apply for every episode. But Firecracker is an unhinged truther who accuses Starlight’s organization for at-risk teens of having some “LGBTQ dungeon,” child trafficking, and more. 

Frenchie’s Hot New Romance

Frenchie and Kimiko do not seem destined for a relationship despite being very close. He’s in a romance with Colin, a guy who works at Starlight House. They have apparently been meeting up in the bathroom for hookup sessions. Kimiko knows what’s going on and she’s cool with it. 

The Seven Beat Three Homelander Fans to Death, Including Todd

Sage’s first idea to cause discord and turn people against Starlight is a brutal one. She invites three of Homelander’s biggest fans, including Todd, to meet him. Things quickly go violent when the true reason behind this meeting is revealed. Homelander tells the Deep, A-Train, and Black Noir to beat them all to death with bats. They hesitate but the Deep and Black Noir do it. A-Train eventually places the bodies at a protest outside of Homelander’s verdict reading at the courthouse to frame a couple of Starlighters. This is very, very nasty work. 

Black Noir Speaks?!

Hold on…this character has always been silent but deadly. Whoever is under that mask speaks and it is jarring. 

Sister Sage Starts a Brutal Fight 

Sage appears in the crowd dressed as a Starlight supporter. After he’s found not guilty, she throws something at a Homelander fan and yells at him, starting a massive fight between the opposing sides. It gets brutal with Colin and another Starlight House worker suffering injuries. The bodies are placed and discovered, making it seem like these deaths happened because of Homelander’s verdict.

Butcher’s Butthole Attachment

Butcher considers sending Victoria Neuman the Red River files that she desperately wants from Hughie. But, after Becca’s spirit appears to him, he has a change of heart. Instead, he sends over an attachment of a hairy butthole. Is it his butthole? We will never know and don’t really want to know.

The Return of Hughie’s Mom 

Hughie’s mom, who inexplicably left when he was very young, returns in the wake of his father’s coma. We don’t know why she’s there or what she’s been up to but it is a shocking twist for him, indeed. 

The Boys Season Four, Episode Two’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “Life Among the Septics” 

Butcher Reveals His Diagnosis 

The Boys are all shocked that Butcher is going to die in a matter of months. He’s been sick for six months and, according to Homelander’s senses, he probably only has another six months left to live. It angers MM, who kicks him out of the Boys for being deceptive. 

Ryan Is “Homeboy”

This is more funny than anything else. The entire pitch for Ryan’s supe story is hilariously stupid and Sage is the only person that admits it blows. Using the word “homeboy” for a white kid is so unserious. 

Sister Sage’s Takedown of Ashley

Ashley thinks she can verbally bully Sage like she does with others. But Sage puts her in her place, saying that she’s so afraid of Homelander that she’s bald and the only way Ashely will be useful is if she starts lactating so he can suck on her breasts. Good Lord. She then immediately tells the Deep to stop taking crap from someone who is genetically inferior like Ashley. Honestly, I love it.

The Deep’s Takedown of Ashley (With a Toilet Threat) 

Ashley tries to get smart with the Deep during a rehearsal and he tells her that he will drown her in a used toilet if she talks to him like that again. She’s shocked and clearly afraid while he feels empowered for the first time in a while. 

Kimiko’s Drunk Escapades

After tracking Sister Sage to a hotel with a weird truther convention going on, Kimiko is upset when she sees a post that’s triggering to her. She finds beer and drinks eight of them and her behavior gets super funny, including her stealing Frenchie’s phone and sending a sext to Colin. 

Splinter Eats His Own A** (Again and Again) 

Frenchie and Kimiko always end up in some BS. MM tells them to follow Splinter, a supe who can splinter himself into duplicate versions, as he wanders off from Firecracker’s ongoing alt-supe rant. They find him in a spa room with several versions with their mouths deep in buttcrack while the main one is, um, pleasuring himself to her photo. Good lord. 

MM Beats the S**t Out of Butcher

This moment has been brewing for a while. MM’s frustration over Butcher’s behavior and general lack of care for anyone else in the Boys comes to a head at the aforementioned convention. He punches Butcher a few good times before telling him to stay away for good. Sure, Butcher doesn’t listen but it’s a wild and rather sad moment to see two former friends have such animosity between them. 

A-Train Is Trying to Be Good?!

A-Train seems to be turning over a new leaf this season after his previous actions led to his brother being in a wheelchair. He noticeably didn’t beat anyone’s brains in when requested and, after his brother calls him out for being a fraud, he decides to do the right thing. A-Train shows up at the Boys headquarters and drops off a video that will clear the two wrongly accused Starlighters. Annie still hates him for obvious reasons but Hughie appreciates his actions. 

Ryan (Accidentally) Splatters a Man Onto a Building

The staged rescue scene that Vought planned for Ryan goes awry. Ryan is still very young and not fully aware of his true strength. He’s supposed to lightly fling the (fake) robber but instead he launches him into the side of a building. Yikes. 

Splinter, Firecracker, and the Boys Crash a Bat Mitzvah and Oh S**t There Are Penises

Obviously, Sage set the Boys up by luring them into a room. She tells Firecracker and Splinter to kill them so they can get to the next level with Homelander. The fight spills into another innocent party room, where naked Splinters run everyone away. Firecracker manages to toss in a few racist comments, bullets litter the floor, and Butcher comes in for a brave moment to help his comrades. It’s an all-around rad scene.

Frenchie Killed Colin’s Family

Frenchie reveals that Colin was a judge’s son and that, in his previous line of work, he murdered his whole family. It’s obviously tearing him up inside and won’t end well when Colin finds out. 

Jump To: Episode One // Episode Two // Episode Three // Episode Four // Episode Five // Episode Six // Episode Seven // Episode Eight

The Boys Season Four, Episode Three’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here” 

Ashley Becomes the Vought Mascot and Homelander Lasers a Head

Damn. Sage swoops in for her next power play and becomes the CEO of Vought, leaving Ashley as its “Ronald McDonald.” She’s on the verge of resigning and leaving for Disney until she sees Homelander laser a woman’s head in the middle of trying to tell the truth. Oh, and she’s still literally crushing her boy toy’s balls. 

Frenchie’s Drug Trip and Ducks 

Frenchie goes with Kimiko to dig into her past a bit more but he’s not very helpful. He’s higher than the moon and seeing rubber ducks as well as hallucinating people he’s killed. Great job, buddy. 

Starlight Was a Mean Pageant Girl Who Ruined Firecracker’s Career 

We finally know why Firecracker hates Starlight so much. She reminds Annie that they were on the same circuit until she told everyone that Firecracker had an “a**f**ck gangbang” with the judges. Annie called her white trash and said it was the only way she was in the competitions. Firecracker believes that Annie hasn’t changed deep down and will do what she can to destroy her. 

The Ice Capades Jesus Show Massacre

Vought is putting on a holiday show that’s all about putting the Christ back in Christmas. (Sigh.) While the skaters are running through their performance, Hughie and MM are spying on Homelander, Victoria, and Sage, who are cooking up some nefarious deals. Sweaty Hughie captures the attention of Homelander, who lasers a skater while trying to get Hughie. Things go full panic as skaters accidentally cut each other to shreds with their blades. Yikes. We guess this show will not proceed as planned. 

The Deep and Sister Sage Hook Up 

What an odd couple. Sister Sage is eating a blooming onion when the Deep comes in to chat with her. They weirdly have a few interests in common and, the next thing you know, she’s rubbing a fried onion across his lips.

The Boys Season Four, Episode Four’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – ”Wisdom of the Ages” 

Homelander’s Homecoming Revenge

There’s so much to say about this that we wrote up a separate piece about Homelander’s bloody homecoming. But of course it is on this list because his visit is gross, shocking, bloody, and gets very weird at times. From making Marty masturbate in front of everyone to barbequing a human to lots of bloody body parts, Homelander gave us perhaps his most awful moment yet.

Kimiko and Hughie’s Big Bloody Battle

Kimiko is not happy with Hughie. She goes with him to be his muscle for a situation, only to realize they are meeting A-Train. Hughie wants Compound V to save his father, which Kimiko doesn’t agree with. They quickly have to set aside their differences when a band of people from Kimiko’s past pop up. Hughie gets pretty bloody as he slices a man open and, well, Kimiko is always ripping up bodies.

Firecracker Is a Pedophile… and Uses It to Her Advantage

Firecracker is still on Annie/Starlight’s behind, so Butcher and MM attempt to get her to shut up. They find out that she committed statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy and threaten to tell the world. Firecracker pulls a fast one on them, tweeting it out herself and then “confessing her sin” in front of the world. Her weirdo followers eat up her words and it doesn’t affect her.

Annie’s Righteous Revenge Against Firecracker

Firecracker chooses to tell the world that Annie had an abortion when she was six weeks pregnant. This is horrifying to Annie, not because she’s ashamed of her decision. It is terrible because 1) it is her private medical business and 2) it will tank her plans to align with Robert Singer. Annie finally loses her cool and beats Firecracker up in front of cameras. She deserved it, tbh.

Butcher Fights a Stretchy Supe and Gets the Upper Hand

Butcher gets into a fight in Firecracker’s trailer and we assume he’s going to be killed. But, Butcher gets the upper hand. How is that possible? Well, he took Compound V to cure himself and he’s super strong, yet still dying. Butcher turns the other guy into mincemeat, which MM later discovers.

Sister Sage’s Lobotomy

Sister Sage asks the Deep to do her a favor. Apparently, her brain has a superhuman ability to heal, which means she can get a lobotomy and eventually become her normal self again. Her brain regenerates constantly. She asks him to do it, which “dumbs her down” and says she will have anal sex with him.

Someone Gave Hughie’s Dad Compound V (and It Wasn’t Hughie)

After a chat with Butcher, Hughie decides to not give his father Compound V and accept that he’s dying. But at the end of the episode, we see that blue juice running through his IV and he wakes up with a start.

Jump To: Episode One // Episode Two // Episode Three // Episode Four // Episode Five // Episode Six // Episode Seven // Episode Eight

The Boys Season Four, Episode Five’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “Beware the Jabberwork, My Son”

A-Train Admits He’s a Traitor to Ashely

A-Train knows that Sister Sage will soon figure out that he’s a traitor. So, he admits it to Ashley, making her an accomplice and instructing her to help cover his tracks. And boy does she do that by framing Cameron, her ex-boyfriend, whom Homelander has beaten to death.

Victoria Neuman’s Lab of Farm Animal Horrors

MM and Butcher manage to free Stan Edgar in exchange for his help to find out where Victoria is hiding the supe-killing virus. This takes them to a remote farm property Stan owns, which is where he’s sure Victoria is keeping secrets. And it turns out she has a lab of people who are studying how the virus impacts Compound V.

Things go awry when the Boys (minus Hughie), Victoria, and Stan go looking for Sameer, a scientist who happens to be Zoe’s father. They traverse the farm and run into some wild s**t, including diabolical chickens and a flying flock of murderous sheep. It is very, very ridiculous.

Hughie’s Dad Experiences the Worst of Compound V

We wrote more extensively about Hughie’s dad and what happens to him. But his final moments are incredibly bloody, erratic, and sad. He develops a power to basically teleport through things, including human flesh, but his damaged brain means he cannot control them. Hugh Campbell accidentally kills a couple of people and is very, very scared. Hughie eventually gives him a medication that allows him to pass away peacefully, but not after much blood is shed.

Ryan Becomes a Mini Homelander

Homelander finally cracks the code on how to win over his son Ryan. He asks Ryan what he wants and Ryan tells his dad he really wants to help people. So Homelander gives him a chance to help Brenda, a Vought employee who is being sexually harassed by Adam Bourke. Ryan asks Brenda in front of Adam if she’s okay, to which she replies no. Ryan makes Adam apologize but it is not enough. After having Adam get on his knees and beg, Ryan decides that isn’t enough.

Homelander coaches him through it, which eventually leads to them allowing Brenda to repeatedly punch Adam as he begs for mercy. While Adam deserves some good punches to the face, this is the beginning of setting Ryan up to deal with all things by inciting violence. Homelander and Ryan smirk at each other, sipping milkshakes as Adam cries out. It is a chilling moment, indeed.

Butcher Makes Demands for More Supe-Killing Juice

Butcher decides to go rogue with (ghost) Joe Kessler. He cuts off Sameer’s leg (well, part of it) and demand that he make some of the supe-killing virus. This should go over very well with Victoria Neuman.

The Boys Season Four, Episode Six’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “Dirty Business”

MM Gives Webslinger Drugs in the Butt and Gets a Wet Surprise

MM, Annie, Hughie, and Kimiko are on a mission to infiltrate Tek Knight’s conservative douchebag party to find out more information. In order to get Hughie in undetected, MM goes to to see Webslinger, a supe whose a drug user. He has a web hole near his butthole and he likes to take drugs in the latter area. MM, whom we all know hates germs, gives him a drug strong enough to knock him out in the butthole. And, Webslinger thanks him with a white squirt from his webhole that goes onto his face. Hughie comes in just in time to hand him ample hand sanitizer. Poor MM.

Sister Sage Reveals Why She Hates Humans

In order to get Victoria fully onboard with Homelander’s plan, Sage tells her about her tragic childhood. Her grandmother was dying from leukemia and she actually came up with a cure but no one took her seriously. Now, she believes it is not worth solving the world’s problems because humans are awful. She is not totally wrong. 

Tek Knight’s Tek Cave Activities

We have an entire post about all the weird s**t that happens in the Tek Cave but it has to be on this list. From Hughie sitting his bare bottom on a cake and passing gas to Ashley’s many kinky desires, it is a wild, wild place. This might be the grossest episode of the show so far.  

A-Train Saves MM…and Likes Being An Actual Hero 

After a run-in with Sage, who verbally pushes him to the brink, MM suffers a panic attack and passes out. Poor Kimiko, who is not verbal, eventually convinces A-Train to help MM. He runs out of Tek’s mansion and drops MM off at the hospital. While there, he pauses as a Black boy smiles at him. For the first time (maybe ever), A-Train sees value in being a supe who does something good. Unfortunately, when a character has this sort of revelation and changes drastically, it usually means death is on the horizon. 

Butcher Is Losing His F**cking Mind

Butcher’s Compound V drenched mind is slipping far from reality. We discover that the real Joe Kessler is not alive but a figment of his imagination. Joe’s image represents the dark, chaotic side of Butcher, a contrast to his visions of Becca that appeal to his more humane nature. It is sad to see our Boys leader spiral this way. But it’s also kind of humorous that Sameer has watched him talk to himself for a while without asking why he’s talking to thin air.  

Tek Knight’s Death 

It is a little shocking that The Boys killed off Tek Knight. He dies by the hand of his butler Elijah after admitting that he was working with Homelander and Sage to create prison camps for non-supes. After years of dealing with Tek’s gross ways, Elijah decides to take matters into his own hands and prevent Tek from continuing to hurt people through his prison industrial complex. 

Firecracker’s Milky Surprise for Homelander

Firecracker affirms her loyalty to Homelander by revealing that she’s been taking a drug to produce breast milk.This really hits his button as he lays down to suckle at her boob while she cradles him like a baby. This show is something else, man.

The Boys Season Four, Episode Seven’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “The Insider”

A Shapeshifting Supe Nightmare

Butcher, Annie, and Hughie get a gross surprise as they chase a shapeshifting supe. She’s able to touch people and then rip off her skin to reveal a new body that looks like someone else. We see her do this in very gross fashion as she litters a stairwell with flesh. 

MM and Monique Are Back Together (Sort Of) 

MM has been dreaming of a normal life with his ex and their daughter for a while. He got a taste of that this episode when Monique kissed him and said she wanted him to come with them on that trip to Belize. Marvin considered it deeply, even putting Butcher back in charge so he could step away. But A-Train (of all people) changed his mind and rightfully said that this problem wasn’t one they could run (hehe) away from. MM decided to let his family go away and fight with the Boys once again. Damn. Hopefully Monique will still be willing to reconcile with him after all this chaos. 

Webweaver Spills Out of His Webhole Before Homelander Rips Him in Half

Determined to continue one-upping Sage, Firecracker goes on a mission to find the leak. She believes it is Webweaver, so she brings him in for an interrogation. He admits to giving Butcher information but the entire time he’s spewing white stuff from his webhole. Webweaver says this happens when he’s nervous and he has a right to feel that way. Homelander eventually rips him apart and leaves the room, frustrated with it all. 

Kimiko Reveals How She Lost Her Voice

We thought we knew how Kimiko lost her voice. Her brother previously said it happened after the Shining Light Liberation Army killed her parents in front of her. But that’s not true. Kimiko actually lost her voice after she had to murder another girl during her first night at the camp. She wasn’t allowed to make a sound but, when they gave her permission to speak again, she couldn’t. So it is still childhood trauma, but from a different source. 

A-Train Reveals Himself as the Leak

We have a whole post about this but it is shocking that A-Train decides to out himself as the leak. He shows up in the nick of time to save Annie and Butcher from getting beat down by the Deep and Black Noir. It’s really lovely seeing him fight alongside MM and become the hero he’s meant to be. Hopefully he will survive and perhaps get to build a new Seven in a better way. 

Homelander Fires (and Doesn’t Kill) Sage

Of course, the Deep and Black Noir tell Homelander that A-Train is the leak. He finds out that Sage already knew and quickly sends her packing back to Detroit. Honestly, it is shocking that he didn’t rip her into a million pieces. Maybe he was too sad. 

The Deep Kills Ambrosius 

This is probably the most shocking moment in this episode. The Deep believes Sage actually loves and respects him as an intelligent being, so he begins to abandon his relationship with Ambrosius. They get into an argument where she tries to convince him that Sage is simply using him. He believes Ambrosius thinks he is stupid and allows his anger and fragile ego to make him irrationally angry. He breaks her aquarium open and allows her to suffocate. Absolutely awful. 

Kimiko Loses a Leg

Kimiko and Frenchie decide to do the right thing and let Sameer go. But he’s very wired up after being held captive, so he stabs Kimiko in the leg with the supe-killing virus and makes a run for it. Frenchie has to save Kimiko quickly and takes a saw to cut her leg off. Now she’s growing back her leg but thankfully still alive. At least the virus works, right? 

Ryan Stands Up and Butcher Falls Down

Ryan stands up to Vought’s problematic messaging during that dumb kids’ Christmas special and Butcher is a proud dad. But his excitement doesn’t last long as the ongoing effects of Compound V cause him to pass out on the floor. He looks a lil dead but we are sure the show wouldn’t take him out so unceremoniously. 

Starlight Is Held Captive

The shape-shifting supe hit Starlight with the okie-doke at the bar. She kidnaps her and takes her place, even wearing her costume and having sex with Hughie. Lord.

The Boys Season Four, Episode Eight’s Most Shocking, Gross, and Wild Moments – “Assassination Run”

Shapeshifter Annie/Starlight Proposes to Hughie

Hughie’s having the time of his life with Annie, including some pretty kinky sex. She decides to propose to him (mainly to anger the real Annie) and he happily accepts, still not getting that his girlfriend is, well, not his girlfriend. 

Homelander Outs Victoria Neuman as a Supe on TV

Homelander is known to go left field but this is a wild move, even for him. He proves Vicky is a supe by lasering at her head while her eyes are graying for head-popping purposes. This marks the true beginning of this episode’s downward spiral. 

Grace Spills All the Beans and Ryan Kills Her 

Well damn. Grace decides to push Ryan into helping them take down Homelander by revealing some brutal truths. She tells him that Homelander raped his mother Becca and killed everyone on that airline flight, among other things. Ryan is heartbroken but he still wants to leave. He realizes that the walls are thick and made to hold supes. After feeling frustrated and betrayed, Ryan pushes Grace out of his way, causing her to snap her neck and die on the floor as a sickly Butcher watches in horror. 

Ashley Takes Compound V and Perhaps Becomes a Monster 

Homelander comes up with a plan to make sure there are no more leaks and betrayals at Vought. He makes a list for Firecracker, the Deep, and Black Noir with all the employees to kill. They decide that there’s one person who should be at the top of the list: Ashley. She does have a ton of dirt on all of them and they frankly don’t need her anymore. Ashley runs to Homelander’s place and takes a dose of Compound V in hopes of being able to fight back and survive. It begins to mutate and disfigure her body but we don’t see the final results of that. 

Annie Rips her Skin Off to Save the Boys

Annie is handcuffed in an undisclosed location. She drags her hands through handcuffs and shows up just in time to fight her doppelgänger and save her comrades. This episode and season was all about Annie facing herself—literally and figuratively—and realizing that she’s not such a sweetheart after all. 

The Deep Punches Through a Man’s Head 

We see a part of Homelander’s murder plan at Vought Tower, including a gruesome scene where the Deep punches through a man’s head. He’s becoming more violent and twisted by the day, especially after killing his octopus bae. 

Frenchie and Kimiko Kiss!

There’s not a ton of good-natured romance in this show. But thankfully we have Frenchie and Kimiko, who finally affirm their love for each other with a kiss. It’s too bad their happiness doesn’t even last until the end of the episode. 

Butcher Is Back and Kills Victoria Neuman

The plan to work with Victoria fails miserably when Butcher, hyped up on more V and with Joe Kessler in his head, shows up and kills Victoria Neuman. He’s got tentacles sprouting from his chest and he uses them to his advantage. He takes the supe virus and leaves, hurting his former colleagues in an immeasurable way. 

Sage and Homelander Win and Run the USA 

Victoria’s death leads to a big win for Homelander and Sage, who had been planning to kill Victoria and frame Robert Singer and the Boys for it all along. The new President is a Homelander fan and allows supes to patrol the country with Homelander as their leader. 

Kimiko Speaks!

Kimiko talks for the first time (outside of dreams) in this show and it is heartbreaking. To avoid capture, she goes on the run with Frenchie but they don’t make it very far. Cate and Sam subdue them and Kimiko screams “no” as her love is taken away.

Jump To: Episode One // Episode Two // Episode Three // Episode Four // Episode Five // Episode Six // Episode Seven // Episode Eight

We cannot wait to see what other gross, shocking, bloody, and plain weird moments will pop up in The Boys season four.

Originally published June 14, 2024.

The post The Most Shocking, Gross, and Plain Weird Moments of THE BOYS Season Four appeared first on Nerdist.

Marvin T. Milk a.k.a Mother’s Milk b.k.a. MM, played by the fantastic Laz Alonso, is one of the most grounded and well-crafted characters on The Boys. He isn’t the fearful Hughie nor the often callous and unpredictable Butcher. He’s not a supe but instead a highly skilled medic, loving father, clever fixer, and a man whose past haunts him. And, in the midst of many hijinks, he’s the serious yet caring guy who’s often unintentionally funny as hell. But, there’s one more claim to fame for MM: T-shirt God. It’s a small detail that many may not notice; however, it says a lot about his personality and style.

Alonso himself spilled the details about his threads, affirming that the shirt choices are intentional. “I work with our onset costume coordinator, the head of the costume department, and every episode, we pick a shirt that kind of thematically encompasses what MM is going through and where we are in the story,” he tells Nerdist. “We have always done groups and artists and this season, we also started doing songs. For example, we did Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America.'”

And that’s just one of many incredible choices. In honor of his style, here’s an ode to a bunch of the awesome shirts that Mother’s Milk wears on The Boys. 

Jump To: Season 1 Shirts // Season 2 Shirts // Season 3 Shirts // Season 4 Shirts

The Best T-Shirts That Marvin “MM” Milk Wears in Season 1

Episode 7 – De La Soul

When we first meet Marvin Milk, we don’t know much about him. In fact, he’s the last member of the OG Boys crew who begrudgingly returns. Soon, we uncover more about his life in almost perfect tandem with the intro of his incredible shirts, majority of which lean into Black culture. This one’s an ode to the eclectic hip-hop trio responsible for songs like “Me Myself and I.” It’s a nice nod to a group that was highly influential when MM was likely coming of age. 

Episode 8 – The Big X

Mother’s Milk wears a black T-shirt with a big X scrawled across the front. It’s presumably a sign for “don’t cross me,” which, well, says a lot about him. (Sometimes, an X is used to represent the Bronx; however, MM is a Harlem native so that’s probably not it.) He doesn’t have the powers (or twisted mind) of supes like Homelander but he’s still a force when pissed off. And, he looks really, really good in black. Or anything, to be honest. Moving on…

The Best T-Shirts That Marvin “MM” Milk Wears in Season 2

Episode 1 – Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang ain’t nuthing ta f*** with and neither is Marvin. Once again, this logo shirt speaks volumes. I’m pretty sure that Laz Alonso himself likes Wu-Tang (because why wouldn’t he?!) but it is a known fact that MM is a Wu fan. And if you don’t know about Wu-Tang, you better ask somebody. 

Episode 2 – Boogie Down Productions 

Boogie Down Productions was a hip-hop collective in the ‘80s featuring the legendary KRS-One, DJ Scott La Rock, and D-Nice, the DJ who infamously made the beginning of covid more tolerable with his “Club Quarantine” live DJ sets. Strong political and social commentary anchored their storytelling about the harsh realities of the South Bronx. It’s very dope to see him show such a pivotal and frankly underrated group so much love. 

Episode 3 – Public Enemy 

Once again, MM doesn’t miss, this time paying homage to Public Enemy. Long before Flava Flav became a reality show icon, he was a part of this collective alongside Chuck D. There isn’t a person over the age of 30 who doesn’t know “Fight the Power,” which is essentially what MM does as a Boys member. A true king of the people. Too bad it gets whale guts all over it. 

Episode 4 – NY Giants Love

MM is a NY native, so it’s not surprising to see this Giants shirt. This one has those nice pops of color that we all recognize from the NFL team’s uniform colors. More blues and reds, please. 

Episode 4 – Power to the People 

MM rarely gives us a double dose of T-shirts in one episode. He is a busy guy, after all. But we get a wardrobe change into a Black Panther shirt. No, not the comic character but the organization. His shirt is particularly about the program ran in the late 1960s-early 1970s to feed Black youth breakfast before school. And, I must admit, the material looks soft and cozy against his muscles.

Episode 5 – Run-DMC 

The odes to NY hip hop abound with the infamous Run-DMC shirt that MM rocks with his signature leather jacket. MM’s taste in music and T-shirts is truly unmatched. 

Episode 6 and 8 – Black Fist Hoodie 

A shirt looks great but a hoodie. Wow. Perfection on MM. This hoodie is actually a part of Mississippi rapper and humanitarian David Banner’s “Black Fist” clothing collection. Love to see him in a hoodie so nice that he wore it twice.  

Episode 7 – Camouflage Yankees 

The New York Yankees get some love in this episode with a camouflaged logo shirt. Marvin is a former Marine (and yes, they do wear camo sometimes) so it’s a small homage to his past.

Episode 7 – Phife Forever

MM pays homage to Phife, a member of A Tribe Called Quest. The rapper died in 2016 and Forever is the name of his final album, which was mostly completed at his time of death. 

The Best T-Shirts That Marvin “MM” Milk Wears in Season 3

Episode 3 – N.W.A.

Our precious guy links up with the Boys and gets back on his T-shirt bullsh*t in the best way. He rocks an N.W.A. shirt as the crew reunites. We even hear the group’s single “Express Yourself” playing as MM does his usual meticulous cleaning. And he brings back the jacket AND shades. Very hot content. 

Episode 4 – Ruff Ryders 

RIP to DMX. MM’s Rough Ryders shirt is for the label and rap collective that included X, Eve, Swizz Beats, The Lox, and more. The “R” is instantly recognizable to ‘90s hip-hop fans, appearing on shirts as well as pendants for chains. 

Episode 5 – Stop the Violence

What a phrase to wear when you’re always in the midst of it. We’ve seen MM wear a Boogie Down Productions shirt and “Stop the Violence” is one of their song titles. Interestingly, this coincides with the division among the Boys when Butcher and Hughie start taking sh*t too far. 

Episode 6 – This Is America 

MM is tired of taking the high road and having to keep a level head as a Black man. (I’m not a man but whew, I get it.) This lines up well with his “This Is America” shirt, which shares a title with Donald Glover’s song about the injustices that Black people face. I don’t think MM will ever wear this shirt again, cause, well, Herogasm. 

Episode 6 – The TNT Smile Time Hour

This is one shirt that’s actually just specific to this universe and something that MM would never wear. It’s a shirt from the supe twins’ former show but you gotta wear what you can wear when your shirt gets… messed up. I must say, that color looks impeccable on his skin. 

Episode 7 – Dark Man X

Like the Ruff Ryders logo, DMX’s is also iconic. And MM continues his deep love of Black shirts, rocking one with a red logo on it. Love to see it. Alonso tells us more about why he wanted MM to wear this shirt in episode seven. “We did a shoutout to DMX and the Ruff Ryders this season,” he says. “The DMX one is in the episode where I knock out Todd. That [moment] was declarative. And we wanted to have that shirt during a moment when MM exhibits a moment of gaining back his family and control.”

Episode 8 – Snoop Dogg 

The West Coast gets a little love with this Snoop Dogg shirt. Perfect 10, no notes. 

Episode 8 – 2Pac 

He ends the season and this episode with a shirt that makes total sense considering his Snoop shirt. 2Pac is heavily associated with Cali thanks to his Death Row days; however, he’s an East Coast native who spent his high school years in the DMV, Baltimore to be specific. It turns out that Laz Alonso is himself a native of the area, hailing from DC. 

The Best T-Shirts That Marvin “MM” Milk Wears in Season 4

Episode 1 – GangStarr

MM starts The Boys season four off right with a Gang Starr shirt in the show’s opening scene. This Boston, MA hip-hop duo found success primarily in the ’90s and early 2000s. DJ Premier continues to work in the music industry to this day. Unfortunately, Guru passed away after a bout with cancer in 2010. Leave it to MM to always honor legends.

Episode 1 – EPMD

The crew is back at Boys headquarters and a perpetually stressed MM is trying to log into his damn CIA account. In this scene, he’s wearing an EPMD T-shirt, which obviously honors the influential hip-hop group featuring Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. They came to rise in 1987 and gave us hits like “Strictly Business” and “You Gots To Chill.”

It’s the perfect shirt for MM, who is trying to handle being the leader of the Boys and always standing on business.

Episode 1 – The LOX – “Money, Power & Respect”

At first, it is hard to make out what this shirt is while MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko are tracking Todd. But, during the Starlighter/Homelander supporter showdown, we can clearly see the shirt honors The LOX, a rap trio comprised of Styles P, Jadakiss, and Sheek Louch, who were popular in the late ’90s as a group prior to each person finding their own success.

Episode 2 – Eric B & Rakim

Eric B & Rakim are a classic rap duo, much like MM and Butcher are a great pair. Well, they used to be. MM is wearing this shirt when Butcher tells everyone about his diagnosis and he subsequently kicks him out of the Boys. Then, he beats Butcher up with this shirt on. Good lord. Eric B & Rakim rocked the mic during the golden age of hip-hop in the late ’80s with classics like “Paid in Full” and “I Know You Got Soul.”

Episode 2 – OutKast

OutKast is everlasting and also a great addition to MM’s T-shirt lineup on The Boys. The Southern rap legends Andre 3000 and Big Boy are two of the most influential and successful musicians of all-time. MM slides this great shirt in at the end when he chats with Butcher and decides he’s truly done with his s**t.

Episode 3 – MF DOOM

MF Doom is what’s on MM’s chest when he is at the headquarters and suggesting that he will get A-Train to work with them. It’s a simple black hoodie (it is near Christmas and cold, apparently) with white lettering that honors the late, great British rapper who died in 2020.

Episode 4 – Big Pun

As MM decides to bring Butcher back into the fold, he’s wearing a Big Pun shirt. The Bronx rapper rose to fame in the mid-’90s with hits like “Still Not a Player.” Sadly, he died in the midst of a growing career in 2000. It’s lovely to see MM continue to honor rappers who are no longer with us. It is the only shirt he wears throughout the episode.

Episode 5 – Big Pun (Again!)

At the beginning of the episode, MM keeps his long-sleeved Big Pun T-Shirt for this episode. This makes makes sense considering time isn’t passing very quickly. But he soon goes for a quick change that’s closely related with a fun hoodie.

Episode 5 – Fat Joe

MM honors Big Pun’s partner-in-music Fat Joe with an all-black hoodie. His hoodie gets quite dirty, thanks to some Compound V-fueled chickens at Victoria’s hellacious farm.

Episode 6 – The Notorious B.I.G.

Outside of his professional attire, we only see MM in one hip-hop shirt this episode. It is an obvious reference to the Notorious B.I.G., a ‘90s rapper who became an eternal legend after his shooting death in 1997. The East vs. West Coast battle between his crew and 2Pac’s is a sad era of rap history that ended with both of the promising rapper’s untimely demises. 

Episode 7 – Black Sheep

MM sticks to one shirt and his ongoing penchant for wearing black with this shirt. Black Sheep is a late ’80s-early ’90s hip-hop duo who found success with “The Choice Is Yours.” (Most people recognize the song’s “you can get with this or you can get with that” lyrics with “uhh come on” ad-libs.)

Episode 8 – Dead Prez

This is a pitch perfect shirt to wear for this season finale, considering the plot against President Robert Singer. Dead Prez is a hip-hop duo that has been around since the mid-1990s whose music encourages social justice through force and Black pride. They eschew media influence and are pioneers of the “conscious rap” subgenre.

I’m thankful for every dope ass T-shirt he wears and how they fit. Give that costume person and Laz Alonso a raise!

Originally published July 8, 2022.

The post An Ode to Marvin ‘MM’ Milk’s Impeccable T-Shirt Collection on THE BOYS appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys‘ spinoff series Gen V (mostly) did its own thing with the mystery at Godolkin University. But that doesn’t mean these shows aren’t closely intertwined. For college supes like Marie Moreau, the deification of superheroes led their parents to inject them babies with Compound V in hopes that they’d gain powers. This drug is a big part of The Boys’ overall history and future storylines. So, let’s dig into all things Compound V, its different forms, and what it means for the characters of Gen V and The Boys. 

The History of Compound V and Compound V24 in The Boys, Explained

The first season of The Boys introduces us to Compound V. It is a blue serum that can give both humans and animals extraordinary abilities. Nazi scientist Frederick Vought created it during WWII to turn adult soldiers into supes. Over the years, Vought International continued to make and manipulate his formula. The abilities a person can get are random and, if there are multiple doses, the powers can change based on how it mutates in the body. Interestingly, Compound V has a better survival and success rate with babies and young children versus adults. It is not a guarantee that anyone who takes Compound V will develop powers at any point in their lives. And, as expected, higher doses for those who can successfully process Compound V makes them stronger/faster/etc. This is why Queen Maeve and Homelander are so wildly strong.

In The Boys, we see an adult and already superpowered A-Train and his then-girlfriend Popclaw take Compound V. They use it in regular, small doses to enhance their abilities, much like a steroid does for normal human athletes. Unfortunately, it can cause the opposite effect and weaken their powers or cause major damage to their organs. That’s what happens to the speedster A-Train, who ends up needing a heart transplant.

The Boys season three gives us a different form of the serum with Compound V24, which is also known as Temp V. Compound V24 is a green super serum that allows a regular person to be a supe for 24 hours with just one dose. It is expensive—two million dollars, to be exact—and doesn’t seem to be addictive. Well, unless you count a person’s ego boost as addictive. Butcher gets his initial dose from Queen Maeve in hopes of being able to fight Soldier Boy and the Payback collective. Hughie also takes some of it so he can gain powers and feel more useful in general. 

Like any drug, Compound V24 has side effects. It made Butcher vomit green blood, drizzle goo out of his ears, and eventually led to such severe sickness that he only has months to live (allegedly). Starlight reveals that Compound V24 is fatal after three doses and Butcher has hit that mark.

Compound V24 comes into play in The Boys season four as we learn more about Butcher’s fate. The first three episodes show how it is affecting his body, with wormlike crawling happening under his skin. He’s hallucinating and seeing Becca, often unable to stand, and just looks like s**t in general. We discover in episode four that Butcher tried to take regular Compound V to save his life and, while he does have some serious physical strength, it is not enough. Later on, we discover that Joe Kessler is not even alive but a figment of his Compound V-drenched brain. He was a real person and former colleague whom Butcher left to die and now he’s manifesting as Butcher’s bad side.

We see how dangerous Compound V can be through Hughie’s father, who gets a dose from Hughie’s mom. He initially pops up like toast from a serious coma but, in episode five, he gains an uncontrollable and deadly power along with some mental instability. Hughie ends up giving him a drug so he can pass away peacefully.

We also see that it causes some serious deviant behavior in animals, thanks to Victoria Neuman’s farm experiments. From deadly flying sheep to chickens that will fly right through your torso, Compound V is a mess of a drug. In the season finale, we see Vought CEO Ashley take it and it appears to disfigure her in some way. We don’t see the final result of her decision but it is probably not good.

Compound V in Gen V, Explained

It’s pretty obvious that Compound V plays a role in Gen V. It is right there in the show’s name. According to Indira Shetty’s conversation with Ashely Barrett in episode two, 400 kids (including Marie) found out that they weren’t born special but were drugged with Compound V as babies. Luke and Sam further discuss this in an episode three flashback. Sam is understandably furious when he finds out but Luke tries to defend his parents, saying they just thought they were giving them powers.

Why would a parent give their child a dangerous and potentially fatal drug? We assume most parents did this in hopes of making their kids wealthy/famous like the Seven. That is the case with Emma’s mom for sure. As we discover in Gen V, many of these young supes don’t know how to control their abilities when they first activate. Like Marie, some of their powers don’t kick in until puberty or another life-altering event and they are completely shocked.

They often end up in places like the Red River Institute, which is a supe orphanage. After a certain age/timeframe, they “transition” to a facility like Sage Grove psychiatric hospital or Elmira Adult rehab center where they are locked up or killed. Some supes like Sam have to grapple with mental health hurdles, too.

Marie’s power may not be as “marketable” as being a speedster or having super strength; however, she’s still one of the lucky ones. Landing at God U seemed like the best fate given her traumatic past. But we now know that the school is a front for gruesome experiments. Interestingly, we discover more about Marie’s powers, including her ability to suss out Compound V in a person’s bloodstream.

The mysteries of that weird facility known as “the woods” revealed that there’s a supe killing virus that presumably deadens the Compound V in a being’s system. The Boys season four will probably reveal something new about Compound V, so let’s stay tuned.

Originally published September 29, 2023.

The post Compound V and Compound V24 in THE BOYS and GEN V, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys season four is over and, to quote the great MM, it was truly “the bold and the bats**t.” Butcher’s choice to kill Victoria Neuman literally changes America and leads to his former colleagues being locked away. Homelander is running the country with President Calhoun under his thumb after Robert Singer goes down for Vicky’s death. And Sage is enjoying all of it. Despite having a ton of superheroes, no one on this show is truly a hero. But some characters activities are more nefarious than others. Quite a few villains are at play in The Boys season four, so let’s look at how they are shaking up this universe.

Homelander

Of course, the chief antagonist is Homelander. He’s trying to mold Ryan in his own twisted image and is willing to do anything to take down Annie/Starlight and the Boys for good. Homelander is threatening Victoria Neuman, lasering the heads of innocent people, and being an all-around d*ck to most of his Vought family. He’s also unraveling mentally so he could do or say literally anything at any moment, like when he went back to his birthplace and killed pretty much everyone in horrific fashion. In episode five, he even starts to turn Ryan into a diabolical mini-me by appealing to his son’s desire to help others while offering his twisted guidance. The longer Ryan stays with him, the less chances of Butcher being able to save Ryan before he becomes a full-fledged baddie. We saw Ryan warming up to him as the season progressed; however, things change in episode seven. Ryan is not feeling a Christmas TV spot encouraging kids to tell on their adults if they are not pro-supe and stands up to Vought and Homelander. Ryan does kill Grace Mallory (mostly by accident) but it is not clear if he goes back to Homelander or on his own.

Homelander forms a supe army with the Seven members as well as Gen V‘s Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan. He’s also working with Victoria Neuman to overthrow the POTUS so she can take his place. It’s all very scary, indeed. Homelander’s crumble over the season has been quite the spectacle. He is heartbroken about A-Train’s betrayal, which resulted in him firing Sage from the Seven. (She obviously knew it was A-Train.) But Sage gets the final laugh when things all work according to her wild plan and Homelander gets President Calhoun to enact martial law that puts supes in charge of America and gets the Boys out of his hair.

Sister Sage

Homelander brought her into the fold to help sustain Vought’s power and destroy everything that Starlight has built. And boy is she using her smarts to the wildest extent. She convinces Homelander to have A-Train, Black Noir, and the Deep murder three of Homelander’s biggest fans and pin it on two Starlight supporters. (Her doing this as a Black woman and framing two Black men is exceptionally nasty work.)

She’s also turned the Deep against Ashley, which helped her secure power as Vought’s CEO. And, she brought Firecracker, a dangerous conspiracy theorist with a rabid following, into the fold to tell her lies on a really large platform. Having someone as calculating yet even-keeled as her to balance out Homelander is frightening. And, after discovering that she and Homelander were working with Tek Knight to set up prison camps, she’s really on some wild stuff. She knows A-Train is the leak but says nothing (despite them not liking each other), which indirectly results in the unnecessary deaths of Cameron Coleman and Webweaver.

In episode seven, Homelander fires her and she leaves Vought Tower in a huff. But the season finale reveals that Sage got video of Robert Singer chastising the Boys for not killing Victoria as he instructed, which allows all of them to go down for her murder. Homelander has Sage by his side once again as he basically becomes the leader of a nationwide supe militia. Sister Sage may not be killing people directly but she is certainly a villain in The Boys season four. 

Firecracker

Being a dangerous “truther” aside, Firecracker is dangerous because of her deep-seated hatred for Starlight. In episode three, we discover Firecracker was shunned from the pageant world after Annie told people she had sex with judges. She’s certainly within her rights to hate Annie’s guts but she’s also putting a lot of innocent people in danger with her lies and twisted propaganda. Homelander’s followers are bad, but her devotees are 10 times worse because they will literally believe anything she says. Sounds familiar, right? 

From sharing Annie’s very private information on a national platform to her gross statutory rape of a teenage boy, Firecracker is absolutely a villain in The Boys. She’s also Homelander’s new sidekick after, um, making milk for him. Firecracker is happy as can be in the season four finale with a country run by Homelander that will establish the “good values” that Jesus wants for America. Good grief.

Victoria Neuman

Victoria is also up to no good for most of season four. She’s working with Homelander and Sister Sage to get Robert Singer out of the way so she can be the President. Once installed, they want Victoria to give supes ultimate power in every city and get rid of any educational platforms/theories that are “anti-supe.” After what happened with Soldier Boy killing MM’s grandfather and Blue Hawk’s murder of an innocent Black man, this certainly isn’t good for society. 

In episode five, we discover that she’s taken the supe-killing virus from God U and has (sorta accidentally) created an entire farm of Compound V-powered deranged animals. She wants to take Homelander down but she also wants to make sure that she obtains the highest level of power. Right now, she’s playing nice with the Boys and Stan Edgar, but Butcher’s decision to hurt Zoe’s father and force him into making more of the virus will probably lead to her popping a few heads. Hughie tries to get her to abandon the assassination plan in episode seven, but she refuses to go along with it. Victoria looks slightly guilty, but her desire for self-preservation (and protecting Zoe) will not allow her to do the right thing.

However, she sings a different tune in the finale after Homelander outs her as a supe. She’s willing to give up her VP title and run away from it all but Butcher kills her before that can happen. Welp.

Is Billy Butcher a Villain in The Boys Universe?

Butcher has never been an exceptionally morally just person. But he’s more of an anti-hero than villain… until now. His decision to push back against his team and murder Victoria, who was trying to do the right thing, is bad. He has no MM, Becca, nor Grace to reel him in. The only voice in his head is that darn Joe Kessler and that could lead to supe genocide.

We will have to wait and see how the surviving villains move in The Boys season five, which probably won’t come our way until 2026.

Originally published on June 13, 2024.

The post Who Are the Villains in THE BOYS Season 4? appeared first on Nerdist.

In the first episode of The Boys season four, we finally get to meet Joe Kessler, the mysterious character played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Until now, we only knew that he used to work with Butcher in some capacity. We didn’t really know who he was until episode six, when it is revealed that he’s basically the devil on Butcher’s shoulders opposite of Becca’s angelic/morally just apparition. Here’s everything we know about Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler in The Boys. 

Related: Joe Kessler Is Dead in The Boys, Actually

Episode one takes place six months after the events of season three. Billy Butcher is sick, no longer the leader of the Boys,and, well, pretty much everyone around him hates him. After a failed mission to kill Vice President-elect Victoria Neuman, Grace Mallory and President-elect Robert Singer call MM in for a heavy scolding. Butcher is not welcomed into the room but he is shocked when Joe Kessler “appears” at the CIA office. They worked together at the CIA and were in a war on some covert s**t. It’s been over 10 years ago, so they exchange some pleasantries and jokes before catching up over coffee.

Joe asks why Butcher is still trying to be down with the Boys. Butcher says he will get his leadership position back. Butcher is laser focused on killing Homelander and saving Ryan while Joe is clearly frustrated about Mallory’s preoccupation with killing Victoria Neuman. Joe says they need someone like him before supes start rounding up humans and putting them into camps. It’s not totally clear who the “they” is but we can assume that Joe is working on something behind Mallory’s back. 

We see Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Joe Kessler again in episode three after Butcher admits to the Boys that he only has months to live. MM is unwilling to help Butcher with his dying mission of getting Ryan away from Homelander for good. So he goes to Kessler for assistance. Joe gives Butcher a powerful drug that will knock Ryan out and allow them to essentially hold him hostage at Grace’s safehouse. Butcher bakes the drug into cookies but, after opening up about his fears of dying, decides to earn his trust instead.

Joe feels like Butcher is wasting precious time. He reveals that he looked into Butcher’s medical files and knows about his diagnosis. He also says they “need” Ryan because the whole world is about to burn. This angers Butcher because he doesn’t want Ryan to be a killing asset. Joe warns that they either figure out how to train him or they may have to figure out how to kill him. Honestly, they are both making valid points. Ryan is only 12 years old and maybe shouldn’t be trained to be a soldier. However, his lack of training could prove to be dangerous. He did (accidentally) fling a man into the side of the building and crush him, after all. The question is whether Joe is someone with good intentions or not.

In episode five, Butcher meets with Joe and gives him photos from The Woods at God U. Joe says that he and Butcher should do the job of killing Homelander without the rest of the Boys because, well, they are all a mess. (He’s not wrong.) Joe says that the two of them don’t belong with decent people. Later on, Butcher goes with the crew, Stan Edgar, and Victoria Neuman. They find Sameer, a scientist working at Victoria’s secret lab who is also her daughter Zoe’s father. He argues with Annie/Starlight about whether they should use the last bit of the supe-killing virus to take a shot and make a run for it from the Compound V animals or try to use it on a man’s corpse to kill the deranged animals. MM talks sense into everyone and they make the latter choice to save everyone, but Butcher never goes with the flow.

At the end of the episode, Butcher brings Joe to the secluded farm after he’s tied up Sameer and cut one of his legs off at the knee. Butcher threatens Sameer to make more of the supe-killing virus, lest he wants to lose more body parts. This brutality pleases Joe, who smiles in the background.

Except… Joe is not involved in any of this. Why? He died way back in the Panjshir Valley. Butcher did not save Joe Kessler but instead left him to die. This shows just how down bad he is, thanks to Compound V24. Joe and Butcher are now in the midst of a conflict, with Joe unhappy that Butcher isn’t down to follow his violent plans.

In episode seven, we don’t see Becca at all but Joe appears a couple of times. He berates Butcher for telling the group the truth about the supe-killing virus’ instability. Joe even “abandons” Butcher during a massive fight against the Deep and Black Noir. At the very end of the episode, Butcher tells Joe that he knows Ryan can be saved after seeing him go off script during that ridiculous Christmas spot. He collapses on the floor as Joe looks over him with some amusement.

Butcher is in the hospital and in very bad physical shape in the finale. He even calls and basically tells Hughie goodbye, asking him to tell the Boys that he’s sorry. But after Ryan kills Grace after refusing to go along with their plan to train him to kill Homelander, Butcher decides to let Joe truly become a part of him. We can only assume that between this mental shift and Butcher probably taking more V, he’s back and completely unhinged.

He kills Victoria Neuman in front of his former crew (and her daughter!) and takes the supe killing virus with him. Joe Kessler is seen in the back seat as Butcher drives down a snowy abandoned road. The Boys (except for Starlight) are now in custody and Butcher will probably attempt supe genocide in season five under Joe’s guidance.

Joe Kessler Will Return in The Boys Season Five

This is pretty much a given based on the season four finale. Butcher is being driven by this dark part of him to the point that Becca doesn’t even show up anymore. Joe will likely push Butcher to his brink, perhaps even causing him to sacrifice himself to defeat Homelander. Will Butcher have to kill Ryan? Can he ever reconcile with the Boys after this? We will have to wait and see what happens.

Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s The Boys Character Joe Kessler From the Comics?

There isn’t a Joe Kessler in The Boys comics but there is a Howard Kessler. He’s a CIA analyst who feeds the Boys information. Butcher calls him Monkey due to a gross incident that happened at a brothel. Howard Kessler is a terrible person who tries to sexually assault a woman. Butcher responds to this by having his dog Terror deliver sickening justice. I’d rather not get into all that but it seems that Joe’s last name is simply a nod to that character and nothing more.

Originally published on June 13, 2024.

The post Who Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Character Joe Kessler on THE BOYS? Butcher’s Former Colleague, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys’ fourth season is a game changer in many ways. Butcher is officially on his own, the other Boys (except Annie) are in custody for Victoria Neuman’s murder, and Homelander is basically running America. This is truly scary times for humanity. Throughout the season, The Boys ties in Gen V in quite a few ways, including appearances by Cate Dunlap, Tek Knight, and Sam Riordan. Let’s dive into all the diabolical mess. 

Butcher Tells the Boys About the Supe-Killing Virus at God U 

The desperation to get rid of awful supes like Firecracker, Homelander, and Victoria Neuman is at an all-time high at the beginning of the season. So Butcher decides to tell the team about a virus that can kill supes by basically frying the Compound V out of them. MM and the others are annoyed but not shocked that he was withholding information once again. Butcher knows that Victoria has the goods, so he works with MM to strike a deal with Stan Edgar. They visit the former Vought leader in prison and say that they will help exonerate him and assist him with getting custody of Zoe. Stan is very angry that Victoria betrayed him and gave Zoe Compound V, so he agrees to help. 

Butcher is so obsessed with getting more of the supe-killing virus that he kidnaps Victoria’s baby daddy Sameer, cuts off his leg, and threatens to do more if he doesn’t make more of it. He doesn’t want to do that because it would become airborne and kill anyone with Compound V in their veins. Yikes.

In the end, Frenchie is able to replicate the virus but Butcher swoops in, kills Victoria Neuman, and takes the virus with him. It looks like he will go the genocidal route and the Boys don’t know how to stop him. He’s suped up and shooting deadly tentacles from his chest.

Victoria Neuman Led Experiments on Animals, Regrets Her Homelander Team Up, and Dies in The Boys Season Four Finale

The Boys team (minus Hughie) and Stan travel to a remote home he owns to see if Victoria is stashing the supe-killing virus there. She was not only keeping it there, but also having a crew of researchers, including Zoe’s father Sameer, experiment on small animals. Victoria likely wants to perfect it so she can take out Homelander. One hamster went rogue, Compound V got into the water supply, and the farm became a not-so-pleasant space. The crew battles deadly flying sheep and chickens before they eventually discover that there’s only one dose of the supe-killing virus left. 

She’s not going to be happy about Butcher taking Sameer. She’s also not super thrilled about working with Homelander and Sage but she’s willing to do whatever to become the next POTUS. She has billionaires in her back pocket and is determined to become the leader of America. But after Homelander outs her as a supe and gets incredibly violent, Victoria decides to work with the Boys to take him down. She’s even willing to resign as VP but it is too late. Butcher shows up and uses his tentacle powers (wtf) to rip her in half in front of her own child and his horrified former teammates. Now, Robert Singer and the Boys (minus Butcher and Annie) are in custody for her murder and Homelander is running the country with President Calhoun as his puppet. Jesus.

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Gen V Characters Tek Knight, Cate Dunlap, and Sam Riordan Are in The Boys Season Four

We get a few familiar faces from Gen V at a convention to announce Vought’s next media phases. Tek Knight announces a film called The Tek Knight with a dark sequence and a great soundtrack. (God, I love this show.) Then, the “Guardians of Godolkin” come out to announce their show Flipped. Cate plays a stuck-up sorority girl, Sam is a nerd, but a gypsy swaps their bodies. Honestly, that show sounds awful.

Sam and Cate also appear at Vought with Homelander and the Seven. Homelander says they will now be wrathful gods and Cate happily agrees to do whatever he wishes. Sam, on the other hand, looks afraid and doesn’t have much to say. But he apparently gets on board by the season finale when the duo capture Frenchie and Kimiko to take them to some unknown place.

We see a brief mention of Marie and the other captured Godolkin supes on TV but they do not make an appearance in The Boys.

Episode six features a lot of Tek Knight and his freaky a** Tek Cave, where we discover he was working with Homelander to use his prisons as camps. Yikes. He’s dead now, thanks to his butler, but we don’t know how far they got in their plan.

Does The Boys Finale Set Up Gen V Season Two?

The Boys season four ends in a way that doesn’t give us too much for Gen V‘s second season. Perhaps the Boys will be taken to the same holding facility as Marie and her friends. We will have to see how The Boys and Gen V continue to blend their narratives.

The post Here’s How GEN V Ties Into THE BOYS Season Four appeared first on Nerdist.

Until season four, we thought we knew the truth about how Kimiko lost her voice in The Boys. Her brother said that she stopped speaking after the Shining Light Liberation Army killed her parents in front of her. But season four’s seventh episode finally gives us the truth about Kimiko and why she is silent. While Frenchie and Kimiko are looking after Sameer, they have a conversation about the bad things they’ve done and forgiveness. Kimiko tells Frenchie that the story her brother told about her losing her voice is not true. In reality, she lost her voice the first night when she was taken into the army’s camp and forced to become a silent killer. And Kimiko spoke for the first time (outside of dreams) in The Boys season four finale! (More on that later.) There would be so much to explore in a Kimiko spinoff series, right?

A flashback reveals that Kimiko fought a girl and killed her without making a sound. When she was given permission to speak again, Kimiko wasn’t able to do so. So Kimiko did lose her voice due to childhood trauma, but not in the way we originally thought. This revelation brings a lot of her character arc into focus, specifically why she struggles with morality and often regrets violence. Kimiko hates herself because of her past but she’s trying to find forgiveness.

Kimiko Gets Her Voice Back in The Boys Season Four Finale

We knew it was possible for Kimiko to speak again. Mutism stemming from trauma can be addressed with a lot of therapy with a professional and patience. Sadly, Kimiko hasn’t gotten any therapy nor peace. Instead, Kimiko spoke for the first actual time (dreams don’t count) in The Boys season four finale. And it was heartbreak and trauma that broke her silence.

At the end of the episode, Frenchie and Kimiko decide to go on the run together after their kiss to avoid capture following Victoria Neuman’s death. Cate and Sam show up with the former whispering something in Frenchie’s ear to control him. Kimiko screams “no” repeatedly as the pair are separated. Her only dream was to spend a happy life with the man she loves and that’s in serious jeopardy.

We hope that Kimiko will continue to be able to use her voice and find happiness at the end of The Boys.

The post THE BOYS Delivers a Shocking Kimiko Moment in Its Season Four Finale appeared first on Nerdist.

The penultimate episode of The Boys season four packs a lot of punches, literally and metaphorically. MM makes the tough choice to stay behind and stick with the Boys instead of living his dream of normalcy with Janine and Monique. Starlight is locked up at an undisclosed location after the shape-shifting supe stole her entire face (and slept with her man). And Ryan is finally standing up to Vought and Homelander to honor his mom’s legacy. But the most important thing that went down in this episode was the big battle at the Boys’ Flatiron headquarters. This fight was a game-changer that sparked a crumble among the Seven and made the Boys stronger (well, sort of). Nothing about it is holly nor jolly despite the Christmas decorations everywhere.

Butcher, Annie, and Hughie go on a mission where they discover the full details of the Bob Singer assassination plan. They run into a shape-shifting supe who gains the upper hand on them, wounds Hughie, and escapes. Butcher and Annie return back to the Boys’ homebase while Hughie goes off to try to reason with Victoria Neuman one last time.

A-Train Reveals That He’s the Leak to the Deep and Black Noir

Upon their return, the Deep and Black Noir are inside their headquarters and intent on killing them as Homelander instructed. The fight starts out quite rough for Butcher, who is sickly, and Annie, who still doesn’t have her powers back. But A-Train shows up and decides to reveal himself as the Vought leak. It’s a bold move for A-Train to make even if he thinks his secret will come out soon.

A-Train and MM help subdue Black Noir and the Deep; however, they don’t kill either one of them because they aren’t quite sure how (especially in Noir’s case). A-Train knows the duo will inform Homelander of his deceit, so he goes to Ashley and accepts her previous offer for them to run away from it all. She declines out of fear but tells him to remove his tracking chip. 

Homelander Fires Sage After Discovering that A-Train Betrayed Him

Homelander is legitimately crying and devastated that A-Train would betray him. By this time, A-Train and his entire family are nowhere to be found. As Firecracker tries to comfort him, Sage enters the room and Homelander is angry that she somehow missed this information. She finally admits that she knew it was A-Train all along. Sage said it wasn’t a bad thing because he told the Boys exactly what she wanted him to tell them. Sage says they can still stick to her plan but Homelander immediately fires her. She leaves Vought Tower immediately, but not before a humorous reveal that she was playing (and sleeping with) the Deep and Black Noir. With the Deep and Black Noir beaten and bruised, Homelander heartbroken, and Sage and A-Train gone, the Seven is looking very weak. So much for that diversity initiative and A-Train’s ridiculous biopic, right?

Meanwhile, the Boys are more of a mixed bag. MM is back to being the crew’s moral compass and Butcher is actually leading like he should be, until he passes out at a bar from sickness. Frenchie and Kimiko are learning to forgive themselves and heal their friendship. Hughie is, well, doing the best he can, which isn’t great considering he is clueless about a shapeshifter imitating Annie. The crew is moving forward with stopping the assassination. Oh, and perhaps they will get the supe-killing virus to actually take out Homelander and/or Victoria Neuman. The finale is going to be a wild one, for sure. 

Will A-Train and/or Sister Sage Return in The Boys?

That remains to be seen. The Boys could use A-Train’s powers and help in this final fight but he’s a walking target at this point. It is not impossible that he could pull a Queen Maeve and leave to live a normal life with his family. But it is more likely that he will have to face Homelander and the potentially deadly consequences for his betrayal. 

Sister Sage felt like she found purpose and power through her association with the Seven. Now, she’s angry and heartbroken but she is also someone carrying a lot of rage and resentment in her bones. Yet another white man has betrayed her and this time she probably won’t let it slide. Sage played such a critical role in this season that it would be odd to have her leave and never return. We will see what happens in The Boys finale after this epic fight.

The post THE BOYS’ Big Fight Changes the Future of the Seven Forever appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys is wrapping up its wild saga in season five. That series finale will probably be a couple of years from now, but we are already wondering how everything will end. Who will survive it all? Will Homelander die? Can the Boys finally take down Vought and evil supes for good? We don’t know the answers to that but we do know that this universe will continue to expand. Showrunner Eric Kripke said there are more spinoffs on the way as well as future seasons of Gen V. The show’s social media pages seem to be dropping a few very early hints about what we could see but there are quite a few fun ideas to play with.

Here are all The Boys spinoffs that we’d like to see after the series ends:  

A Teenage Homelander Prequel Spinoff Series 

We have written about this before but a Homelander prequel series seems to be in the cards. The Boys‘ social pages have released several clips of a younger Homelander during his time in an exploitative laboratory. However, the best Homelander prequel would take place during his teenage years after he left the lab to presumably head to Vought Tower. How did a lonely and abused supe become the charismatic and psychotic leader of the Seven? A prequel series could explore this time in his life and give us a glimpse into the very early days of the Seven collective. 

Joe Kessler and Billy Butcher’s Big War Adventures

Yes, we know that Joe Kessler is dead. But he is from a very specific and obviously impactful time in Butcher’s not-too-distant past. A miniseries spinoff about their time working together would be fun to watch. Karl Urban and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s chemistry is off-the-charts. And who doesn’t want to know more about why Butcher is the way he is? 

A Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs Drama Spinoff in The Boys Universe

The Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs (FBSA) has been around since season two, yet it feels like we don’t know much about this organization. We’ve gotten some inner glimpses, thanks to Victoria Neuman and Hughie Campbell, but a collective that exists to deal with wayward supes and contracts the Boys deserves its own show. If the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs gets its own The Boys spinoff, perhaps we can see it getting rebuilt and possibly led by Hughie or someone else we know. Or, The Boys season five could introduce us to a new character and provide a backdoor pilot for the organization. This universe loves parodies so perhaps it could take its format from Law & Order or NCIS with an even darker twist.

A 1970s Vought Spinoff Led by the Legend, Frederick Vought, and Soldier Boy

This spinoff idea would not surprise anyone. Vought’s history spans decades with lots of diabolical history that none of us know about. Perhaps a prequel series can go back to the ‘70s when The Legend was its VP and the founder, Frederick Vought, acted as CEO. This is around the time when Soldier Boy led the Payback collective on a series of covert missions for the company and the U.S. government. The Boys gave us a small glimpse into this era but a series would really let Jensen Ackles shine as a leading character with a potty mouth. It is a Vought and Payback prequel all wrapped up in one neat package. If they do this, get Jared Padalecki on the phone to reunite with his Supernatural brother. We’d take this over a season five cameo or minor role in The Boys, tbh.

Exploring the Red River Institute in a Spinoff Led by Madelyn Stillwell’s Son Teddy

The Red River Institute is mostly in the background of The Boys and Gen V with characters like Marie Moreau and Victoria Neuman living there as kids. A spinoff series about this supe kid orphanage and what happens to those who lives there could be yet another interesting way to explore young supes in this universe. And we know the perfect supe to lead a future series at Red River Institute. When Homelander killed former Vought CEO Madelyn Stillwell, her supe son Teddy—who is but a toddler—was sent to Red River Institute.

We even saw him when Hughie visited to learn more about Victoria Neuman back in season three. He teleported Hughie around to mess with his head for a bit. Depending on the events of The Boys season five, this series could easily go into the future with a teenaged Teddy who is determined to use his powers to take down evil supes. Maybe he learns the truth about his mother’s death and he’s dead set on revenge…

Vought’s Crisis Management Team Takes the Sitcom Spinoff Route

Another Vought spinoff idea would be to focus on one of its specialty departments. The most interesting one is probably Vought’s Crisis Management Team, which deals with cleaning up the near-constant controversies of the company. We get some peeks and allusions to this department but we don’t know a lot about it. A sitcom-style spinoff in the vein of The Office would be a hilarious way to follow what Vought’s employees go through on a day-to-day basis. 

A Supe Anthology Series, From Small Towns to Other Major Cities

There are plenty of other supe collectives across America. Who are the big supes in a city like Miami? Are they morally just or downright evil? Taking this universe’s action to completely different cities or small towns and causing a stir could make for a fun anthology series. 

Kimiko’s Shining Light Liberation Army Days

We keep getting more pieces to the puzzle of Kimiko’s complicated and painful past. There are many things that she doesn’t fully remember and would maybe like to forget. But a spinoff about her journey from being in the Shining Light Liberation Army to her arrival in the USA would be compelling. Again, a miniseries format would be the way to go to tell this story.

The Suped-Up Teenage Kix

Sister Sage and A-Train share a terse past after being in Teenage Kix, a teen supe collective similar to Young Justice. We don’t know if either of the will survive The Boys, but it would be fun to go back in time to the late ’90s and early 2000s to learn more about them. There’s some interesting comic material to draw inspiration from for this spinoff series, which the flagship show does with absolute brilliance.

The post All THE BOYS Spinoffs We’d Love to See After the Series Ends appeared first on Nerdist.

The world of The Boys and Gen V never fails to leave us with questions that need answers. Until recently, one of the biggest mysteries leading into The Boys season four was about Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s mysterious new character. A lot of fans, myself included, assumed that Morgan would portray Tek Knight, a character from The Boys comics. We discovered that wasn’t the case when Gen V actually introduced Tek Knight, played by Derek Wilson, in its fourth episode. But who is Tek Knight and what role does he play in The Boys’ universe? Let’s get into his history, powers, and much more.

The History of Tek Knight in The Boys Comics and TV Show, Explained

As we all know, The Boys characters are (mostly) evil parodies of Marvel and DC Comics icons. Tek Knight a.k.a. Robert Vernon is no different as a mashup of Iron Man and Batman. In the comics, he is a founding member of the Payback collective despite having no clear superpowers. Instead, technology and intelligence are his powers; however, he uses them for nefarious reasons. Tek Knight is rather homophobic and engages in bizarre sexual behaviors, some in reality and others during moments of imagined psychosis. But compared to other villains he was mostly harmless, at least in the eyes of The Boys. Tek Knight’s behavior is explained due to a tumor in his brain. Eventually, a psychotic episode leads to his death. He thinks he’s saved Earth by having sex with a meteor but a falling wheelbarrow actually hits and kills him. [Editor’s note: A whole lot to unpack there.]

The Boys TV show mentioned Tek Knight a few times throughout its first three seasons. There’s a movie called Tek Knight Lives and that he’s made some tech in the universe. And Tek Knight was apparently a part of a hostage situation that left a woman paralyzed, as evidenced by a newspaper clipping in MM’s closet. So he’s certainly been in the ether for a while before his Gen V appearance (more on that below).

Following Gen V, Tek Knight made a brief appearance in The Boys season four’s fifth episode during a Vought event where he revealed his new movie, hilariously titled The Tek Knight. He had a much larger role in following episode, which took poor Hughie to the Tek Cave. A lot of strange sex things went down but, more importantly, the crew discovered that Tek Knight was working with Homelander and Sister Sage to use his prisons as internment camps for non-supes. In the end, Tek Knight’s butler Elijah kills him after discovering the truth, allowing Hughie, Annie, and Kimiko to escape his lair.

Tek Knight’s Motivations, Powers, and Place in the Gen V Spinoff 

Gen V’s fourth episode is very, very Tek Knight heavy. We meet him through a Vought+ commercial for his crime investigation series The Whole Truth. Tek Knight is a famous Godolkin University alumni who is back on campus to dig into Golden Boy’s death. His presence is unsettling for many, especially Dean Shetty. She’s very busy trying to keep the truth about the woods, Golden Boy, and Sam’s escape under wraps. Dean Shetty reveals that many of Tek Knight’s interview subjects end up dead or badly beaten after crossing his path.

Unlike the comics, Tek Knight does have some level of special powers. He’s able to sense that Dean Shetty has adrenaline coming from her pores and is apparently ovulating. Tek Knight later uses his powers to break down Andre after smelling Maddie’s, erm, hole on his breath. He later agitates Marie, calling her a liar when her pupils dilate during an impromptu class interrogation. Thankfully, Andre calls him out for being a hack and a “small man playing f**king hero” because he’s never been one. Still, Tek Knight is so unnerving that Marie ends up admitting the truth. She tells the room about what happened with Golden Boy, finally giving Jordan their due credit.

Tek Knight is willing to do anything to continue to increase his celebrity and popularity, including fabricating wild lies as the truth. He tells Dean Shetty that knows the complete truth and tries to blackmail her into taking the fall for Golden Boy’s death. Mr. Knight says he will go to Vought about Sam’s escape but he underestimates the power of a human dean with a lot to lose. 

Dean Shetty gets the last laugh with some dirt on Tek Knight. Like the comics, Tek Knight has a fatal brain tumor that causes him to do sexual things with pretty much any object that has a hole. She shows him video evidence of his odd trysts and threatens to leak them online if he doesn’t get out of God U’s business. Tek Knight flips his story, saying Golden Boy’s death is nothing more than an unfortunate tragedy. He goes about his business but not without having a couple intimate moments with a tree and a bathroom hand dryer. Thank you, sir, for your contributions to our post about Gen V‘s gross and shocking moments.

Unless there is a flashback, we will not see Tek Knight anymore. And we are kind of okay with that.

Originally published October 6, 2023.

The post Who Is Tek Knight? His Comic and TV History in THE BOYS and GEN V’s Universe, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys continues to show us the dangers of Compound V and Compound V24 in its fourth season. Hughie’s desperate attempt to save his ailing father ended in disaster in episode five. And, throughout the season, Butcher kept physically spiraling while trying to kill Homelander. He teamed up with a former colleague and friend, Joe Kessler (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), earlier in the season to dig into locating and using the supe-killing virus from Gen V to get the job done. The show turned all of this on its head in episode six by revealing that Joe Kessler is actually dead and a figment of Butcher’s imagination in The Boys. The supe-killing virus is also far more unstable and dangerous than we thought. 

In this episode, Butcher is still holding Sameer hostage to force him to make more of the virus. He goes out to gather the necessary ingredients needed and also has a long conversation with Joe Kessler about coming home from war. Of course, his visions of Becca continue as she urges him to make a better choice to save Ryan. Towards the end, both Becca and Joe Kessler are speaking to Butcher in a very “angel and devil on shoulders” type of way.

Joe Kessler Is Actually Dead and a Figment of Butcher’s Compound V24-Influenced Imagination

Becca urges Butcher against genocide (more on that later) while Kessler is ready to kill all supes. Suddenly, Butcher tells Becca to shut up (basically) and Butcher is shocked. We see things for what they are for the first time with Butcher having a full-on conversation with no one. So yes, Joe Kessler is not a living person but the physical representation of Billy Butcher’s dark side, a contrast with Becca’s light. This makes sense considering we never saw Joe Kessler interact with anyone else on the show. We cannot imagine what’s going through Sameer’s mind during his imprisonment. 

Speaking of him, he refuses to make more of the supe-killing virus. Why? Because to make the virus strong enough to kill Homelander, it would become very unstable and potent. It is airborne and highly contagious, which means the supe virus would not only kill the intended person (Homelander) but anyone with Compound V in their veins. That’s likely thousands, if not millions, of people worldwide at this point. Butcher is going to die either way but that puts Kimiko, Starlight, and Ryan, among others. 

What Happened to the Real Joe Kessler in The Boys Universe?

The Joe Kessler apparition reveals the real person died back when they were in the midst of a conflict in the Panjshir Valley. Butcher did not pull Kessler out and save him but instead left him to die, which checks out for good ole Billy. He cannot seem to remember that very real fact and buys into the idea that he’s scheming with his old buddy. The effects of Compound V24 (and that V shot) are taking a major toll on Butcher, indeed. Now, he must deal with his choice to cut off Sameer’s leg and the ramifications that will come from messing with Victoria’s man. 

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The Boys sixth episode is a chaotic, wild, and heartbreaking ride. MM suffers a major panic attack, A-Train puts himself closer to danger, and we discover Joe Kessler is literally a figment of Butcher’s imagination. But the most uncomfortable part of this episode of The Boys (besides Homelander sucking milk from Firecracker’s breasts) is Tek Knight and his Tek Cave. 

Related: Who Is Tek Knight? His Comic and TV History in The Boys Universe, Explained

What Happens at Tek Knight’s Tek Cave in The Boys?

A-Train reveals to MM that Cameron Coleman was brutally killed after Ashley set him up as the Vought leak. He also tells MM about Homelander bringing the Seven, Cate, and Sam together to form a supe army for some reason and Tek Knight was talking to Sage in secret. So, Hughie, MM, Starlight, and Kimiko go on their own undercover mission at Tek Knight’s federalist society party (I know…) at his estate to find more information. (Frenchie turned himself in for his crimes, so he is locked up. And Butcher is off torturing Sameer like a psychopath, unbeknownst to everyone else.)

MM is able to accost Webweaver, a very gross supe who is an obvious parody of Spider-Man, and get Hughie into his smelly suit to infiltrate the party. It is a risky move considering Tek Knight has superhuman smell/taste and he can sense when a person’s heart rate increases or if they are nervous. Things are initially going well despite Hughie discovering that Sage, Homelander, Firecracker, and Victoria Neuman are also at this party.

Then, it goes quickly awry when Tek Knight invites Hughie, whom he initially seems to believe is the real Webweaver, to his Tek Cave (a play on Batman’s Bat Cave). The Tek Cave is deep under his estate, minded by his butler/right-hand man Elijah (read: Alfred). It is basically a BDSM and/or torture chamber for Tek Knight to appease his sexual proclivities. That guy loves all sorts of holes. Hughie goes along with Tek Knight’s weird request to sit his naked butt on a cake and pass gas into it.

Ashely and Tek Knight Like to Play Sexual Games Together

But everything goes way left field with the arrival of Ashely, who apparently matches (and perhaps exceeds) Tek’s freak. Oh, and Tek Knight’s former sidekick Laddio is in a full leather outfit and chained to the wall to watch it all. 

Ashley binds Hughie up, tickles his feet, and says some pretty explicit things about what she will do to him. We don’t see any of them happen thankfully but she does, um, climax and wipe her fingers on the mask Hughie is wearing. Tek Knight is watching it all and asks Hughie what the safeword is, which Hughie doesn’t know because he is not a regular member of the Tek Cave Sex Club. Meanwhile, the Boys crew decides to stage a rescue mission (To the Tek Cave!) which predictably goes wrong. After a few setbacks, Starlight and Kimiko reach the Tek Cave and subdue Tek Knight, who is preparing to torture and assault Hughie. 

Tek Knight Is Working With Sister Sage and Homelander to Make Prisons Into Internment Camps

They try to torture information out of Tek Knight, which doesn’t work because he’s a masochist. So they hit him where it really hurts: his pockets. They send millions to liberal organizations but he doesn’t crack until they almost make a donation to Black Lives Matter. He tells them that Sage and Homelander want to use the many prisons he owns to create internment camps for regular humans. This is highly disturbing for a couple of reasons. First, as we heard earlier in the episode, this is why Tek Knight is so filthy rich. Second, this is a scary development in Homelander and Sage’s plan to control the masses while supes rule with impunity.

Tek Knight admits he doesn’t know the details of their plans. And, to be honest, it would not be smart for him to say no considering Homelander could kill him. He might as well have said no because Elijah steps in and suddenly kills Tek Knight. Elijah says he’s been tired of Tek Knight’s entitlement and gross behavior but creating internment camps takes things too far. The crew escapes while Elijah and Laddio stay behind to make Tek Knight’s death look like an accident. Hughie is very disturbed by what he endured and has a breakdown, saying he misses his father. That poor guy is having an awful time.

What Will Happen in The Boys After Tek Knight’s Death?

Later on, Firecracker tells Homelander Tek Knight is dead and that she saw Starlight at the house. Now, he knows the leak wasn’t Cameron, but someone else. Between this and a kid spotting A-Train saving MM’s life, it is not looking good for the speedster. Tek Knight’s death is a lot less weird than it was in The Boys’ comics but that Tek Cave makes this version of the character one to remember.

We will have to see how his demise throws a wrench in Homelander and Sage’s plan and if Laddio and Elijah will step up to help the Boys in the near future. The Boys do have access to Tek Knight’s information via that laptop for now, so there could be other secrets that will help them end this plan for good.

The post THE BOYS Takes Us to Tek Knight’s Super Freaky ‘Tek Cave’ appeared first on Nerdist.

Many villains are at play in The Boys season four. But episode six solidified one fact: Sister Sage and Homelander are one hell of an evil duo. Homelander continues to distance himself further from any shreds of humanity still in his superpowered body as he works to put supes and billionaires in complete power. He is also strong-arming Victoria Neuman into forcing billionaires to commit treason and create a 25th Amendment situation (i.e. if the President dies, the VP becomes President). This would create a world where supes rule without oversight. But, until now, we weren’t quite sure why Sister Sage was so invested in helping Homelander advance his plans. 

Sister Sage’s Family Tragedy Led to Her Hate all Humans

Sage, Homelander, and Victoria Neuman all attend Tek Knight’s alt-right shindig at his estate. While he’s off in the Tek Cave being a wild dude, Sage and Victoria have a conversation. Sage reveals her grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 3 leukemia. She said the doctors didn’t care to save “some old ex-Black Panther,” so Sage came up with a cure. She gave the research to them and they brushed her off. Her grandmother later died in pain.

Sage says she could cure cancer, reverse global warming, and more, but she believes there is no point because humans are animals. She uses this story to appeal to Victoria, saying they both understand living in a world where they are ignored. Sage encourages her to take power by getting one hand in the enemies’ pockets while slitting their throat with the other. Oof. 

If I were a billionaire and a group of supes—including one with the power to laser my head off and another that can pop my skull—asked me to be part of their coup plans, I’d have to consider it. The billionaires push back on a few very valid issues (how to handle the military, stock markets, etc.) but Victoria uses her cunning to sway them in her favor. (Sister Sage was dealing with temporary brain damage courtesy of MM shooting her in the head.) They all seem in favor of supporting her but it remains to be seen if that holds up.

Sage and Homelander Want to Create Internment Camps for Humans (and Anti-Supe Folks)

In this episode, we also discover Sage and Homelander were working with Tek Knight to create internment camps. Knight’s ancestors owned a large portion of the prison industrial complex, which explains why he is so rich now. He agrees to partner with Sage and Homelander to use those spaces to hold humans as supes take over the world. It’s a bleak plan that sets up the possibility for genocidal activity. The show doesn’t make it clear how much Victoria knows about this plan, but she only cares about herself and her daughter, who is now a supe. I am sure she would be down to do something so vile. 

With Tek Knight dead, Victoria getting billionaires into her pocket, and Sage’s hatred of white men possibly leading to her double crossing Homelander, The Boys is spiraling as season four begins to come to a close.

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The Boys season four’s fifth episode is a doozy. There’s a heap of blood, guts, gore, murderous farm animals, and more. We even see Gen V’s Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan for a brief cameo at a Hall H Comic-Con style event promoting their new comedy series. A lot of funny and shocking things happen but the episode ends with heartbreak. The effect of Compound V on Hughie’s dad is absolutely devastating, proving that Butcher is actually right sometimes. 

At the end of episode four, Hughie’s dad comes out of his coma after an injection of Compound V. In this episode, we find out that Hughie’s mom gave it to him after Hughie hesitated to do so. At first, everything seems cool as they laugh, reminisce, and are a family again. But Hughie notices that his father is having a hard time remembering certain things. He goes to grab a Snapple for his dad while his mom is in the restroom. Upon returning, his mom is back, but Mr. Campbell is missing.

Hughie and his mom frantically look for him, only to find him standing stoically in a room with a bloody heart in his hand after accidentally killing a hospital worker. Hughie tries to get him to calm down so he can explain what’s going on, but a nurse comes in and panics. She alerts security and Hughie’s dad shakily teleports and runs through a wall. He accidentally kills more people and is frightened by his uncontrollable actions.

Hughie once again tries to talk to him but he doesn’t recognize his own son anymore. Instead, he believes Hughie is eleven years old again and becomes enraged at the sight of his estranged wife. He nearly kills her before Hughie steps in to talk him down. Both Hughie and his mom know that his father cannot live this way. Hughie decides to give his father a fatal dose of a drug to help him die peacefully. They bid him a tearful farewell as Hughie’s dad admits that he’s afraid. He calls his son “Wee Hughie,” a reference to Hughie’s comic moniker, and dies shortly afterward. 

Even if Hughie’s dad hadn’t taken that Compound V, he was going to succumb to his massive brain injury in a short amount of time. Like Kimiko and Butcher previously told Hughie, you cannot save everyone and sometimes you simply have to let people go. Watching a beloved parent die in front of your eyes is one of the worst pains a person can imagine (I’ve experienced it in real-life), so it is understandable why Hughie didn’t want to let go of his father.

We don’t know what this means for him in the future but hopefully Hughie can continue to heal his relationship with his mom. And, it is yet another scenario that affirms the awful dangers and side effects of Compound V.

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The Boys just might offer us a Supernatural Winchester family reunion. Jensen Ackles’ played the villainous Soldier Boy in season three and will reprise that role this season alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan. So that’s Dean and his father John Winchester right there. The Boys showrunner and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke hoped to bring Jared Padalecki to this universe to complete the trinity. And Deadline reports that Padalecki is down to be a part of The Boys‘ fifth and final season.

“I mean, he created Supernatural. He created Sam Winchester. He created Ruby [played by Genevieve Padalecki], who I ended up marrying and starting a family with,” he said. “I adore him. I adore his humor. I adore him as a person, his storytelling. So I can’t wait. I don’t think [Season 5] films until next year, but I will be ready when he makes the phone call. I’ll just say ‘Okay, when am I flying out?’”

Padalecki’s schedule is a bit more open now following the unfortunate cancellation of his Walker series. And that’s when Kripke started making his desire to bring Padalecki into the mix known.

“Texts have been sent,” Kripke previously told Entertainment Weekly shortly before the cancellation news dropped. “I feel like it would be a bummer to not have Jared on the show one way or another at this point, even if it’s just the one-episode thing. He’s been shooting Walker, but with that show wrapping up, maybe he’ll have some time to come in and play with us. I would love it. We have definitely talked about it.” 

Kripke additionally added, “I don’t have a specific role yet, but I have the will, and where there’s the will, there’s the way. I don’t know whether it would be recurring or just one episode , but I can’t imagine I’ll finish the show, whenever it ends, without getting Jared in there, at least once. He’s been unavailable for years now, and now he is [available], so I definitely wanna bring him in for something.”

Finally, Kripke referred to an eventual Padalecki and Ackles reunion on The Boys as his Supernatural Pokémon game. He shared, “I feel like I have to complete my game of ‘Supernatural’ Pokémon and I have my one big one — very big one — left to catch.”

We don’t know if it will be a complete family reunion, per se. There’s certainly hope for season five; however, there’s a chance that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character and/or Soldier Boy could be legit dead by then. We will see what happens but, either way, we are totally down for it.

Originally published on May 22, 2024.

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The Boys will end its story in a fifth and final season. We know that Eric Kripke plans to continue Gen V for a few more seasons and create other The Boys spinoffs, too. And we are getting some very, very strong hints that The Boys‘ main villain, Homelander, could be getting a prequel spinoff series. Is this a good idea? I think so, if it is approached the right way. 

In episode four of season four, Homelander spends time confronting some of his deepest and earliest core wounds. He goes back to the Vought lab where he was born and raised for a “family reunion” of sorts. He confronts a couple of people who mistreated him as a child. Of course, Homelander gets bloody revenge on pretty much everyone, setting the stage for him to become even more unhinged. This small peek into Homelander’s origin story gives us a lot of context to some of his frankly disturbing proclivities. A prequel Homelander series would further establish how he became such a twisted being. 

I am not super interested in seeing a very young Homelander get tortured by adults. That just seems overly brutal, even for this universe’s standards. But I think the period from where he becomes “The Homelander” at age 16 through him becoming the leader of the Seven is an intriguing part of his life that we know little about. After spending years with lots of isolation and brainwashing, how did he learn to navigate larger society and become the hero of America? What challenges did he face? His journey from socially awkward supe loner to the cunning leader we all know would be fun to witness. It would largely hinge on finding the right young man to compliment Antony Starr’s flawless portrayal of an adult Homelander.

I am not always a fan of trying to humanize a villain. But the duality of having the powers of a god yet the innate human need for love, family, and approval, even after excruciating torture, makes Homelander such an effective antagonist. Sure, we could get flashbacks to his young child and pre-teen days in a The Boys spinoff series, like what The Boys posted on social media with the hashtag #HomeSweetHome. (Is that a title hint? I’d like for it to be Home Sweet Home(lander) personally.)

But that shouldn’t be the primary focus of a Homelander prequel spinoff series. By aiming at his late teen and early 20s, we’d get a chance to meet other members of the OG Seven, like Queen Maeve, at a more impressionable point of their lives, too. Maybe we can discover what happened to Mister Marathon, whom A-Train replaced prior to the events of The Boys. In fact, The Boys could even make it a true “Dawn of the Seven” spinoff story about how they all came together but with a larger focus on Homelander’s story.

Right now, we don’t know if Homelander will survive the events of The Boys or not. (My guess is he’s going to stick around.) But, if Homelander does, it wouldn’t be out of the realm for him to appear on other The Boys spinoffs. A prequel series would be an excellent way to have a complete picture of Homelander as he moves forward. In fact, it could even connect to what we get in The Boys: Mexico or future Gen V seasons. Who knows how far Dr. Vouglebaum’s reach extends? Let’s see where this wild world takes us the in future.

The post THE BOYS Is Hinting at a Homelander Prequel Spinoff Series, and It Could Be Rad appeared first on Nerdist.

Episode four of The Boys season four is certainly one for the books. Annie completely loses it after Firecracker takes her Starlight bashing antics a step too far. Hughie and Kimiko go on a wild mission while he tries to save his father’s life. And poor Frenchie finally has to admit to Colin that he killed his parents. But Homelander absolutely dominates this episode with a trip back to his place of birth as he “confronts” his past in the only way he knows how to anything: with unhinged violence. 

At the end of episode three, the many voices existing in Homelander’s head agree that he must confront his past. So, this episode starts with Homelander arriving back at the lab where he was born and raised as a child. The workers there seem both surprised and scared to see him for obvious reasons. He singles out a couple of old faces he remembers, specifically Marty and Frank. Marty even refers to him as John before he quickly tells him to use Homelander instead.

Homelander comes with a fudge whale cake and tells everyone to eat some of the cake. He also asks for a woman named Barbara, who is off-site at the moment, and instructs them that she needs to come back for the reunion. His sinister smile and narrowed eyes indicate that he’s not just there to have a homecoming party. 

Homelander invites Frank over for a game of wastepaper basketball (which most of us just call “trashketball”), saying the best out of three will win. He reminds Frank that he taught him about that game because he watched Frank play it while he was in a nearby oven. Frank was the person who ran tests on kid Homelander, turning up the temperature to see if it would burn his skin. It’s a small glimpse into Homelander’s inhumane treatment that certainly contributes to why he is such an awful supe.

It begins to dawn on Frank and the others that this visit will spiral into violence. Frank says that he was just doing his job and, well, Homelander responds by making Frank get in the oven. Frank apologizes to Homelander but he’s not trying to hear it. Homelander turns the oven up high and cooks Frank to melted bits in front of everyone. Yikes.

Later on, Homelander looks at marks on the wall of his growth and we discover that he got his Homelander moniker at 16 years old. He calls Marty over and says that he is sorry for what he did to Frank. (A lie, obviously.) Homelander says Marty was one of the kinder ones, but notes that Marty used to call him Squirt. He tells the story about why Marty gave him that name. Homelander said he would be left in an isolation room for hours while Marty and cameras watched him. As he got into puberty, Homelander would masturbate at night between Marty’s nightly rounds to feel something good. This explains why Homelander is always getting someone to satisfy him in that way now, if he’s not doing it himself.

Marty caught him doing it one night and laughed at him, calling him Squirt. Homelander decides to get revenge by making Marty masturbate in front of the entire room of people. Marty is having a hard time, uh, getting hard, and Homelander says he will do it or lose his penis to laser eyes. Marty can’t do it and Homelander lasers right at his crotch. He later steps on his head and crushes it. 

At this point, Barbara shows up and, unlike most others, she talks to Homelander without fear. He takes her into a room that he called “the bad room.” She calls him out for his behavior and says they were just people following Dr. Vogelbaum and Stan Edgar’s orders. He refutes this by saying he was a child and someone should have stood up for him. For the first time, Homelander has a point. Barbara says the day he was born he lasered out of his mom’s stomach, killing her and three others that same day. She notes that he could have broken out of there at any time, but his need for approval and love and to not disappoint them took over.

She says they brought in psychologists and helped to engineer and instill that in him so he’d be obedient. And, until this point, it has mostly kept him in check. But that’s over now, it seems. We last see Barbara in that room looking horrified at the remains of her co-worker’s dismembered bodies strewn everywhere. Homelander gets into an elevator with blood all over his face to do god knows what next. 

Between this and a season one vault video posted by The Boys social media team (seen above), there’s a chance that we could get a Homelander prequel series. We know that The Boys is ending in season five and that there are other planned spinoffs on the way. And there’s certainly a lot of diabolical things to explore with the creation and eventual rise of the show’s greatest villain. Until then, we will see how Homelander’s return to his birth place will affect his future.

The post THE BOYS Explores Homelander’s Birthplace and Origin Story in Brutally Bloody Fashion appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys fourth season is days away from premiering, but we already knew it wouldn’t be the series’ last. Prime Video recently announced it had already ordered a fifth season. But now we know that season five of The Boys will also be its final season. Showrunner Eric Kripke took to Twitter to say that, after admittedly being “cagey,” he’s ready to admit season five will be The Boys supe swan song. Yes, The Boys will end with season five.

After it seemed as though The Boys might (maybe even likely) continue past season five, Kripke has surprisingly revealed it will actually end after five seasons. (Plus what should be at least two years of its spinoff Gen V.) The showrunner said that ending The Boys after five seasons was always his plan, which is both good and bad.

It’s good because it means Kripke is telling the story he set out to tell and it’s ending where he thinks is the show’s natural endpoint. But it’s bad because this means no more The Boys, one of the best, most consistently entertaining shows in TV history, after season five.

In full, Kripke’s message about the end of The Boys reads as follows, “The Boys Season 4 Premiere Week is a good time to announce: Season 5 will be the Final Season! Always my plan, I just had to be cagey till I got the final OK from Vought. Thrilled to bring the story to a gory, epic, moist climax. Watch Season 4 in 2 DAYS, cause the end has begun!”

Additionally, Kripke later shared, “This story of The Boys will not continue on. With any luck, Gen V will continue on, there will be hopefully a couple others in development that we’re talking about that can continue on, but The Boys story ends in season 5.”

Of course, this begs the question, does Eric Kripke know exactly how The Boys‘ ending will play out? It sounds like Kripke has a vision for season five of The Boys‘ very final moments… But not necessarily the whole arc of the season. Here’s what he had to say:

I’d say we’re squarely in the middle. Every season we know that we want Homelander to get a little more disconnected from reality, and we want Butcher to get a little scarier. The show is, at the end of the day, about these two forces charging towards each other, between Butcher and Homelander. I know that them finally smashing into each other, once and for all, will be a big part of whatever end game we come up with. But beyond that, and beyond knowing where I want Hughie, it’s like I know where I want a lot of the characters to end up. That’s what I would say. I actually don’t even necessarily know the climax of the show, as much as I know that 10 pages that happens at the end, when they say six months later, and you see where everyone is. I know where everyone is. Then my job, as whenever we get to it, my job is to just make sure we can back into that.

But the end of The Boys is still a ways away. We have seasons four and five of the series left to still enjoy. And f***ing hell, we are going to enjoy every last second of them.

Originally published on June 11, 2024.

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Spoilers ahead for the first three episodes of The Boys season four.

Since The Boys‘ earlier seasons, the Seven collective has been in near-constant flux. At the end of season three, the group was barely clinging on with only Homelander, the Deep, and A-Train remaining. Homelander’s continuous mental unraveling and overall instability certainly hasn’t made it easy to find replacements either. But the Vought supe team is determined to move forward in season four with three new weapons in its arsenal: Sister Sage, Firecracker, and a new Black Noir (!!!). We learn a lot about these Seven members in the first three episodes, so let’s dive into their stories. 

Sister Sage Is the Smartest Person in the World, Homelander’s New Right-Hand Woman, and Vought’s True CEO 

The first addition is Sister Sage, a Black woman from Detroit whose superpower is being the smartest person in the world. A-Train is against her joining the Seven because of their previous history together in Teenage Kix, a group similar to the one in the DC Universe’s Young Justice. (We have only heard of Teenage Kix in the TV show but they haven’t been seen outside of the comics.)

A-Train thinks Sister Sage is annoying and not an asset but Homelander personally seeks her out for a few reasons. First, he is aging and concerned about the world/legacy he’s leaving for Ryan. Second, he wants to use her brain to help him figure out how to find fulfillment and joy in his new role as a leader so he can keep the Vought train running. Third, he’s tired of everyone always agreeing with him and wants someone to actually be useful. Fourth, he wants to destroy Starlight and the Boys collective for good.

Sage is interested in gaining some level of power and influence, so she joins Homelander and she is absolutely on some diabolical s**t. From killing Homelander fans to frame Starlighters to setting traps for the Boys, Sage is pulling all sorts of strings. Outside of calling the shots and causing chaos, her other motivations aren’t super clear at this time. But she’s playing the hell out of everyone to the point that she’s Vought’s CEO now. Ashley is relegated to a figurehead whom even the Deep doesn’t respect anymore. Speaking of him, she’s messing around with him and mayyybeeee killed his octopus bae. Good times. 

Firecracker Is a Conspiracy Theorist With a Connection to Starlight’s Past 

One of Sage’s tasks is to bring in someone new who can take the Seven to another level. She finds Firecracker, who makes videos and does “truther” conferences where she spreads all sorts of weird theories and lies. One of her main targets is Starlight, whom she says is running a child sex trafficking ring with Tom Hanks and Oprah. (I know, I know.) Sage feels like Firecracker has the right spark to galvanize Homelander fans into destroying those who support Starlight and her foundation. Starlight eventually confronts Firecracker, who reveals that she was on the pageant circuit with Starlight when they were younger.

Then know as Sparkler, she was ousted from the pageant world after Starlight spread a rumor about her having inappropriate sexual relations with judges. Starlight said that was the only reason that “fat, white trash” like her would be in that world. So this explains why Firecracker has so much spite for her. She says she will do whatever she can to expose Annie for the heartless b***h that she truly is. Starlight is obviously remorseful for her childhood actions but now she will have to face her past in a new way.

Firecracker is also very eager to win Homelander’s affections, which makes her even more dangerous. Unlike the more reclusive Sage, Firecracker has an audience and influence among the same demographic that supports Homelander. 

The New Black Noir Is a God U Graduate and Super Chatty

The funniest addition to the Seven is a new Black Noir. We don’t know who is under the mask but he’s very actor-y and constantly complains about not knowing what they want from him. He’s obviously willing to play along and even kill but he is also annoying everyone around him. Maybe he’s someone we’ve met before but it is likely that he’s a new character whose face we will see in the near future.

There is still one spot open in the Seven so we will have to see who takes that final chair at Homelander’s roundtable of foolishness.

The post Who Are the New Members of the Seven in THE BOYS? appeared first on Nerdist.

Spoilers ahead for the first three episodes of The Boys season four.

Every good character has to have a core wound. It’s usually something that happened to them in the past that shaped who they are today. Or it is some aspect of their life that is unclear or painful that they have yet to address. When it comes to The Boys characters, there are core wounds galore. From MM’s anger and anxiety after Soldier Boy killed his grandfather to Homelander’s deep rooted insecurities and desire to be truly loved, everyone is dealing with some complex issues. This season, we are diving into Hughie’s biggest core wound: his mother abandoning him. Hughie’s mom comes back into the picture in season four, affecting his work with the Boys and making him question his future. 

After Hughie’s father has a stroke and slips into a coma, Hughie rushes to be by his side. He feels guilty and distraught for obvious reasons, but those feelings soon give way to anger when his mom arrives. Until now, we knew that she left without a trace when Hughie was a kid but the details weren’t clear. Through a couple of heated encounters, we discover Hughie’s mom took him to school when he was six years old and disappeared.

You can feel his pain as he verbally unloads on her about her decision. He asks her why and how she could leave her own child. She tells Hughie that she had him at 22 years old and suffered from postpartum depression for years. She hid her pain from her family and finally hit a breaking point where she attempted suicide. The next day is when she left to try to save her life. Hughie’s mom said she wanted to get in contact with him but his father was too hurt and angry to let her back in their lives. She apologizes profusely and seems sincere but it is so hard to trust anyone on this damn show.

Hughie’s mom raises eyebrows for a couple reasons. First, she works for Vought (technically Voughtality selling herbal supplements and oils), which sucks because she surely knows about Hughie’s history with the company. Then again, everyone who works for Vought isn’t inherently bad. Hughie is also a grown man and she could have come back into his life years ago. The more disturbing reason is that she has medical power of attorney over Hughie’s ailing father, even noting that he updated his will recently.

She claims they have been in frequent contact recently but it is still suspicious that Hughie’s father would give that power to a woman who abandoned the family versus his beloved son. I wouldn’t say she’s a full-fledged villain but it is very strange for her to suddenly show up. We will see if Hughie and his mom can patch up their broken relationship or not.

The post THE BOYS Reveals the Heartbreaking Reason Why Hughie’s Mom Left the Family appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys is back for season four. And that means many wildly inappropriate, intensely gross, and truly amazing moments await us from our favorite Supes. But one important part of enjoying The Boys season four is knowing what time to tune in so you don’t get punched in the face with spoilers you don’t want.

Well, The Boys season four has an all-new release time. Yes, Prime Video has shared that The Boys episodes “have a new drop time this go around…” and that’s deep-ly important if you know what we mean. (We know you do.)

In any case, we’re here to answer the question: what time do new episodes of The Boys season four release? Well, new episodes of The Boys season four will arrive at 3 am ET / 12 am PT. It’s not quite the prime-time luxury of Disney+’s new release schedule, but we’ll take it. The Boys wouldn’t be themselves if they made things easy on us.

The post When Time Do New Episodes of THE BOYS Season 4 Release? appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys‘ creator, Eric Kripke, recently revealed that season five of The Boys would be its final one. But even though the story of The Boys‘ main series will end, that certainly doesn’t mean the franchise is going anywhere. On the heels of announcing The Boys was ending, Eric Kripke shared that he was hopeful more spinoffs will arrive to continue the legacy of The Boys.

Here’s what Kripke said about The Boys‘ future, more spinoffs, and Gen V:

This story of The Boys will not continue on. With any luck, Gen V will continue on, there will be hopefully a couple others in development that we’re talking about that can continue on, but The Boys story ends in season 5.

We’re glad to hear the Gen V spinoff isn’t going anywhere, even if the main The Boys series won’t accompany it anymore. And it’ll be fascinating to see what other kinds of spinoffs Kripke might cook up for the franchise. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy the time we have left with the original version and get ready for The Boys season four.

The post More THE BOYS Spinoffs In the Works Despite Final Season Announcement appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys hit Prime Video back in 2019 and TV hasn’t been quite the same since. Over the past three seasons we’ve watched a band of morally corrupt supes maim, kill, and completely destroy lives without remorse. And, no matter how much the Boys try to mitigate the Seven’s impact, it seems that nothing can stop the worst of them all—Homelander—from becoming an increasing threat. So, what does the future hold for these characters? That remains to be fully seen next season.

Based on this first-look clip, we do know that Ryan is still with Homelander and doesn’t intend on leaving any time soon. We also know that Butcher is legit dying because Homelander can see a black mass swirling around his brain. Oof.

Here’s everything we know about The Boys season four so far. 

The Boys Season Four’s Plot 

Here’s a quick synopsis for The Boys season four:

In Season Four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

We also have an awesome trailer and it is very on brand. Homelander has some new friends and they are as twisted as he is. And there’s some cameos from Gen V as well.

Showrunner Eric Kripke’s previously told Deadline that the Gen V college spinoff would affect the events of The Boys season four. Now that Gen V has come to an end—after featuring multiple cameos from the original show—we have a better idea how it might. Gen V featured the creation of a deadly supe-killing virus which Victoria Neuman now possesses. The Boys know about it, though, and Billy Butcher personally inspected The Woods, the experimental Vought lab facility beneath Godolkin University. Homelander also locked up some truly heroic young supes, who might now be ready to take on Vought if they can escape from the company.

There are also these fun posters with Butcher and Homelander being their glorious selves. Kripke also notes that this season is the craziest one yet. That’s intriguing and also terrifying.

We do know that there will be copious amounts of fighting, as these posters suggest. I just wanna know who that is with the American flag painted on their face and bunny ears. A Starlight supporter, perhaps? Also, Homelander is very scary on his own poster.

Read more about the connections between both shows and what they mean for The Boys’ fourth season.

• What Gen V’s Season 1 Finale Means For The Boys
• Here’s How The Boys Characters Showed Up On Gen V’s First Season
• Every New Gen V Hero And Their Powers On The Boys’ Spinoff

In the meantime, we have the title of episode one for The Boys upcoming fourth season.

Behind the Scenes 

Eric Kripke will continue to be the showrunner for The Boys season four. The season began filming in August 2022.

The Boys Season Four’s Cast

The titular crew is coming back for another round with Karl Urban (Billy Butcher), Jack Quaid (Hughie Campbell), Tomer Capone (Frenchie), Karen Fukuhara (Kimiko), Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk), and Erin Moriarty (Starlight) reprising their roles. From the evil supes (and those who support them) side, Antony Starr (Homelander), Jessie T. Usher (A-Train), Chace Crawford (The Deep), Colby Minifie (Ashley Barrett), and Claudia Doumit (Victoria Neuman) will return. Giancarlo Esposito will also make his way back onto the show. It’s not clear if Dominique McElligott will return as Queen Maeve. But we do know that Black Noir actor Nathan Mitchell will return as a new person in that infamous suit. 

We have some questions about what’s going on with the Seven. Entertainment Weekly shared a new image of the supe team, which includes some new faces we are shocked to see like Sister Sage and Firecracker. So much for Marie Moreau becoming the first Black woman of the Seven, not that she’d want to at this point anyway.

There’s also the new Black Noir, and we aren’t sure if he’s someone we haven’t met before or perhaps someone like Sam Riordan in the suit. Who will be the seventh member considering Starlight is one of the Boys now? Maybe Cate Dunlap is stepping into that role.

In August 2022, Variety revealed that Cameron Crovetti—who plays Ryan—will be upped to a series regular. Newcomers Valorie Curry and Susan Hayward will portray Firecracker and Sister Sage. They are not comic book characters, so fans will have to wait and see how they fit into the season’s puzzle. Jeffrey Dean Morgan will join the cast, too. We still don’t know anything about his character but he doesn’t seem to be a supe.

The Boys Season Four’s Release Date 

The Boys season four will hit Prime Video on June 13 with its first three episodes followed by weekly releases for the rest of the season.

Originally published on October 10, 2022.

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The Boys is coming back to Prime Video for a fourth round and, based on the trailers, there will be lots of fighting. The Seven (well, Six) against the Boys, the Boys against Victoria Neuman, Starlighters vs. Homelander supporters, and so much blood and gore. Fans are absolutely loving this series and, until now, were expecting it to come to a close in its fifth season. That’s what creator and showrunner Eric Kripke said years ago. Now, Kripke is whistling a different tune and saying that he is rethinking that five season plan for The Boys. When you have success, you gotta run with it like A-Train, right? 

Now that The Boys has gotten a season five renewal, he is not quite ready to bring this series to an end. Here’s what he recently said in an Inverse interview: 

“I have learned since then to not try to call the seasons as the person who, and this is without hyperbole, is literally the most wrong in entertainment history of how many seasons their show should go. Someone pointed that out to me and I was like, ‘You’re right. That’s ridiculous. I need to keep my mouth shut.’ And so I will.”

Of course, he’s no longer making any statements nor promises about how long The Boys will run. Maybe it will go the far, far distance like Supernatural. Or, maybe Kripke will decide that season six or seven is enough. Either way, this universe is just now heating up with Gen V gaining steam and surely more spinoffs coming our way. We certainly aren’t complaining about more supe action in the future.

The post Eric Kripke’s Five Season Plan for THE BOYS Is (Probably) Changing appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys season four is right around the corner and fans can once again expect a bloody and explosive ride. This upcoming season will have additional layers, thanks to everything that happened in Gen V’s first season, to build on all the chaos. Believe it or not, it has been two years since The Boys’ third season hit our TV screens. We always think a rewatch of The Boys is a good time; however, some folks ain’t got time for all that! Life is busy and there is a plethora of TV to watch at all times. So, here is everything important you need to remember from The Boys season three to be ready for season four. 

The Introduction of Compound V24 a.k.a. Temp V

The Boys season three introduces Compound V24, a.k.a. Temp V. We wrote about it a TON but let’s recap. At the beginning of season three, Homelander is unraveling mentally because 1) his comrades are more popular than him after the Stormfront debacle 2) Starlight becomes his co-captain and 3) Butcher took his biological son Ryan to a safe location with Grace Mallory and refuses to tell him anything. Queen Maeve, the Boys, Starlight, and quite a few others want him dead.

In fact, Maeve visits Butcher, revealing there is a weapon that possibly killed Soldier Boy, who was basically the OG Homelander. She wants them to use it to kill Homelander and suggests that Butcher track down the Payback collective (the original Vought supe team) to find out more info. Maeve introduces him to Temp V, a drug that grants a normal person superpowers for 24 hours. 

Butcher eventually takes it and, like Homelander, can laser his enemies. He also gets super strength. Hughie, who feels powerless next to Starlight and rejoins the Boys after discovering Victoria Neuman is the head-popping supe, swipes some of the drug and is able to teleport. Of course, all drugs have a side effect. We see some of that with Butcher’s sweats, black goo leaking from his ears, and upset stomach leading to green vomit. Starlight later discovers that if you take three to five doses of Temp V, it will kill you. She tells Butcher but he doesn’t inform Hughie of this truth, even though he pressures him into stopping Temp V.

Butcher’s usage of Temp V and partnering with Soldier Boy in an attempt to kill Homelander (more on that later) leads to a splinter in the group. Well, actually all of the Boys (including new member Starlight) hate Butcher for using the drug, putting Hughie in harm’s way, and just generally being an asshole. Going into season four, MM is the true leader of the Boys, as he should be. 

The Red River Institute and Our First Glimpse Into Gen V 

Poor Hughie. He spent a year working for the Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, hoping he could change the world with less violence before discovering the truth about Congresswoman Victoria Neuman. He witnesses Victoria’s conversation (and deadly fight) with Tony, an old friend who called her Nadia and said the world needed to know the truth about Red River. This leads Hughie to the Red River Institute, a group home for superpowered kids, many of whom killed their parents. 

While looking at resident files, we see a girl named Marie M., whom we now know is the hemokinetic supe from Gen V. We didn’t see the Red River Institute long, but it turns out Nadia was living there for a while until…

Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Now VP Candidate) Is Stan Edgar’s Adopted Daughter

…Stan Edgar comes in and adopts Nadia as a teen. He basically uses her as his weapon at his disposal. This makes Hughie feel eve sicker about working for Victoria because he confided in her about Ryan’s location at Grace’s home. Speaking of her, she’s at the center of not one but two scandals. First, she made Victoria Neuman the head of the bureau after trying to save her from the infamous head-popping attacks she caused in the Congress. Grace wants to eliminate Victoria but, thanks to Butcher’s deadly encounter with Payback member Gunpowder, he wants to know all about what happened in Nicaragua with Soldier Boy first. 

The CIA Nicaraguan Cold War Mission That Led to Soldier Boy’s Capture

After blackmail pressure from Butcher, Grace Mallory spills the tea that puts everything concerning Soldier Boy into focus. She explains Operation Charly, a CIA mission by Reagan to help Contra rebels fight the Russian-backed Sandinistas. She was in charge of trafficking Contra cocaine into the US and then using the profits to buy more weapons for the conflict.

In 1984, the CIA was gearing up for a fight during the Cold War but a wrench was thrown in Grace’s plans in the form of the Payback collective, led by Soldier Boy and including a younger Noir. Naturally, she wasn’t happy about ridiculous celeb supes getting in her way. A young Stan Edgar, then a Vought associate, explained that the company contracted with the government to fight the war against communism. He said it was a “trial run” for supes in the military, and she begrudgingly has to go along with it because her superior signed off on it. 

It doesn’t take long for Payback’s hijinks to give away the soldier’s position. A ton of people die and Crimson Countess, Soldier Boy’s supe girlfriend, claims that the Russians killed him with some kind of super weapon and took his body.

The BCL Red Weapon Is Actually Soldier Boy

Of course, we eventually find out Soldier Boy was traded to the Russians by Vought/Payback and is still very much alive. The BCL Red weapon that she spoke of is actually Soldier Boy himself after all the experiments done on him. He can release a radiation-fueled particle beam that kills people and fries the Compound V in supe’s bodies. We see this when the Boys find him in Russia and his beam hits Kimiko, taking away her powers until Annie/Starlight gives her more Compound V.

The Story of Black Noir: His Payback Time and His Death at the Hands of Homelander

In the Nicaragua flashbacks, we see Black Noir prior to his head injury. He speaks with Stan Edgar about his displeasure at having to hide behind his mask all time. Ya know, because of racism and all. Later on, we discover that Black Noir was verbally and mentally abused by Soldier Boy, who even blocked him from trying to start an acting career. Noir came into agreement with Stan Edgar and Vought that Soldier Boy was doing too much and needed to be subdued.

During the aforementioned ambush, Payback attacked Soldier Boy; however, he got free and gave Noir a brutal face and brain injury. In the present, Noir takes out his tracker and goes on the run after discovering that Soldier Boy is back. (This is what sends the Deep and eventually Homelander to Vermont for Herogasm, which we will talk about later.) We learn his story through his imaginary cartoon friends. Sadly, Homelander kills him when he returns to Vought tower because he feels betrayed (will get into that more later, too.)

There’s a new Noir in the suit in season four, so we will have to see how things go. 

Homelander Is on His Wildest Behavior 

After Homelander loses his Nazi queen and snaps on live TV about being superior to the human race, he gains a strong following from a very certain type of person. (Do I really have to say it?) Starlight tries to pull the Flight 37 video out of her chamber to control him but he tells her to go ahead and use it. In fact, he threatens to take our several large government entities. He pressures her into playing as his girlfriend for the public and reinstating the Deep in the Seven. She sticks in there hoping that the Boys will get that supe-killing weapon, but fears for her life the whole way. 

Homelander does so much wild stuff that we put it in this post for your enjoyment. Who can forget him making Deep eat a sea creature, him forcing a woman to die by suicide, or how he drank cow’s milk straight from the source?

Shenangians aside, he gains great power and becomes the leader of Vought after partnering with Victoria Neuman to betray her father. She does so to keep her daughter (and her own secret of being a supe) safe. In exchange, she gets Compound V from Homelander to give her daughter powers. He gets Deep to kill the VP nominee so she can take his place. As Stan predicts, he has no damn idea what he is doing and things begin to crumble. But he still has his awful core following, even after he lasers a Starlight supporter’s head off.

In Gen V, he makes a cameo after the big battle at Godolkin, lasering Marie without killing her. Vought locks up Marie and those on her side for being traitors. He brings Cate and Sam (the real chaotic ones) into the supe fold and they will be at Vought in some capacity in season four. 

Homelander Is Soldier Boy’s Son 

What a plot twist. Soldier Boy reveals to Homelander that he is his father, which makes Homelander even more unhinged and desperate. Soldier Boy’s own terrible relationship with his father led him to Vought experiments in the first place. But that doesn’t mean he wants to be Homelander’s daddy. There’s no father/son good feels between them during the big battle at Vought.

Soldier Boy Killed MM’s Grandfather 

This season, we discover a huge reason why MM deals with depression, anxiety, and OCD. Soldier Boy is the supe who killed his grandfather when he was a kid. In Harlem, MM and his granddad woke up to Soldier Boy confronting a group trying to steal a car. He watches in admiration but Soldier Boy picks up the car and flings it at their home, killing his grandfather. This led to MM’s father obsessively pursuing justice (at the expense of their relationship) until he died from stress at his typewriter. The Soldier Boy mission is why MM decides to rejoin the Boys. It also makes things even worse when she discovers that Todd, his ex-wife’s new (white) boyfriend is a Homelander enthusiast. Thankfully, MM takes care of him in spectacular fashion. 

MM comes face to face with Soldier Boy a couple times and, even though he isn’t a supe, he is still willing to fight him. He partners with Frenchie to get Novichok, a typically deadly neurotoxin that is strong enough to at least knock out Soldier Boy. He comes up with the plan to kill Soldier Boy before he murders everyone at Vought. Of course, a division comes with Maeve, Butcher, and Soldier Boy determined to use Soldier Boy to kill Homelander, even if it leads to many casualties. 

With help, he is able to get Frenchie’s quickly made Novichak gas on Soldier Boy’s face, but it doesn’t quite work. He ends up going to his daughter Janine and tells her the truth about Soldier Boy and superheroes in general, which is cathartic for him. He wants her to know that he’s fighting for justice, just like her grandfather. 

Ummm, Herogasm Happened

Whew. So, Soldier Boy, Hughie, and Butcher head to the sprawling home of the TNT Twins, who are having their annual supe orgy known as Herogasm. MM and Starlight, who are not down with this plan, head that way, too. They want to stop more deaths from happening, a rather futile attempt at morality in this situation. Everyone gets more than what they bargained for at this Vermont sex fest. MM has an unfortunate reunion with Love Sausage and gets a huge, um, finish all over him. Supes die. The Deep has intimate time with an octopus. Homelander escapes despite Soldier Boy and company’s best efforts.

It all ends with MM recording Starlight going live and condemning Homelander, Soldier Boy, and Vought. She formally announces that she’s done with the Seven. (At the end of the season, she gets rid of her suit and decides to simply be Annie, a member of the Boys.) 

Homelander Finds His Son to Train Him in the Ways of Evildom

After finding out about Soldier Boy and Nicaragua, Butcher is enraged and breaks Ryan’s heart in the process. The boy didn’t want to let Butcher leave, so Butcher snapped at him to hurt his feels. Ryan’s eyes go lasery but he stops and says he hates Butcher. Eventually, Victoria Neuman gives Homelander the address to Grace Mallory’s to keep him on her side.

He easily takes Ryan after placating his guilt over hurting Stormfront in season two. Butcher tries to get Ryan back at the big Vought battle, but it is to no avail. Ryan chooses to leave with Homelander, calling him Dad. Ryan witnesses his father laser a man’s head off after he throws a plastic bottle. We can only assume that Homelander plans to train him in the ways of evildom. 

Billy Butcher Is Sick and Weeks Away From Death 

After warning Butcher about the Temp V side effects, he takes yet another dose in his relentless attempt to kill Homelander. It doesn’t work and a doctor’s visit reveals that Butcher only has about 12-18 months left to live. But that isn’t stopping him from still trying to kill supes. At the end of Gen V, he comes into the Woods, which means he knows about that supe-killing virus. We know Victoria has the goods, so he will have to catch up with the VP hopeful in season four. 

Maeve Is Alive But Without Her Powers

We don’t get a ton of Maeve in this season but she still plays a key role. In addition to helping (and um, having) Butcher, she verbally eviscerated Homelander, and he along with Noir captures her. She’s locked up in a secret facility at Vought. Homelander says he will harvest her eggs and combine them with his DNA to create perfect super kids.

Thanks to Starlight shining a public light on Maeve missing, Ashley and Deep attempt to move her to another location but she escapes the transport. She makes it to MM’s place and reunites with Starlight for the final showdown. She sides with Butcher, choosing to attempt to kill Homelander versus Soldier Boy. In the end, Maeve tackles Soldier Boy and takes his blast directly on. She saves all our faves but losing her powers. (She also lost an eye in a fight with Homelander.) Vought reports her as a sacrificial lesbian heroine and condemns “Russian terrorist” Soldier Boy. But she’s actually alive and living quietly with her girlfriend, which Ashley is aware of. 

Soldier Boy Is in Government Custody (Again) 

When the Boys “release” Soldier Boy, he is shocked to find a new world with the Seven as its heroes. He somehow makes his way to Manhattan and starts causing a ruckus. It isn’t long before goes to the Legend, picks up his suit, kills Crimson Countess in retaliation, and constantly makes inappropriate comments. Soldier Boy basically wants help with finding and killing the remainder of Payback, so he’s down to kill his Vought successor. The Homelander killing plan doesn’t work out at Herogasm and things go awry at Vought when Soldier Boy is willing to kill Ryan. He tries to do one big blast but Maeve tackles him out of a window. Now, he’s in custody under the watchful eye of Grace Mallory. 

In addition to ALL that info, here’s some Gen V intel to make sure you’re ready for The Boys season four on June 13:

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One of the biggest mysteries going into The Boys season four is the details surrounding Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s mysterious character. At first, many fans (including me), thought he would play Tek Knight, the universe’s version of an unhinged Iron Man/Batman mashup. But we discovered that wasn’t true in Gen V when Tek Knight showed up in all his hole-loving glory. (No, I don’t want to talk about it.) The Boys season four is nearly here and, while the cast is remaining tight-lipped about who Jeffrey Dean Morgan will play, Eric Kripke is giving us a little more insight. 

In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Kripke said that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has wanted to join the show since its debut in 2019. This totally makes sense considering he portrays the diabolical Negan in The Walking Dead universe. A few things, including Morgan’s schedule, got in the way of it happening until now. Kripke says that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character in The Boys is actually a former colleague of Billy Butcher who also hates superheroes. He teased that this character is someone who would encourage Butcher’s often erratic decisions/behavior, which cannot be good for anyone in the end. 

We know that Butcher did several things before becoming the leader of the Boys. He was a Royal Marine Commando, a Special Air Service Operator, and later worked for the CIA when he came to the US. The latter is likely where he met Morgan’s mysterious character, who may still work for the organization in some capacity. We will have to wait and see what these two get into and if this character is truly trustworthy or not.

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Homelander is bringing his unhinged behavior to a whole new universe. It’s no secret that Homelander is the worst superpowered being in The Boys universe and perhaps in any fictional world. He’s ready to sacrifice whomever to make himself look good and has a very dangerous legion of fans condoning his deplorable actions. We can safely say that he would cause chaos and fight wherever he goes. So it totally makes sense that the Mortal Kombat 1 video game is adding Homelander to the mix. The first look at Homelander in Mortal Kombat 1 reveals that Homelander is ready to face any mortal, supe, or god. 

The clip is a slice of delight for The Boys fans as he begins the clip by drinking milk. We know he has a sorta-secret thirst for getting cow’s (and human’s) milk straight from the source. He goes up against Liu Kang and proceeds to fight him before lasering his head to pieces. Yep, that checks out.

The latest gameplay trailer released by Mortal Kombat 1 reveals even more of Homelander in his Mortal Kombat 1 form.

You can grab the Mortal Kombat 1 Premium edition and add Homelander into the mix when he arrives on June 4.

Originally published on May 6, 2024.

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Give me a big “Oi!” The Boys is officially coming back for season five. The show made the glorious announcement via its social media pages a little over a month before the premiere date of its fourth season. The Boys is undoubtedly one of Prime Video’s most popular shows (for a great reason) so it is not a shocking announcement at all. In true Boys fashion, the announcement clip includes Kimiko using a knife to carve the words “season 5” into wood. 

Showrunner Eric Kripke previously said that five seasons is a good stopping point for The Boys. So this could possibly be the final round for this bloody supe series. Of course, this won’t be the end of the universe. There’s still a lot of story possibilities for Gen V as well as other opportunities to do all sorts of spinoffs. Imagine a Homelander prequel or perhaps Kimiko and Frenchie setting off for their own adventures. Either way, another season means this franchise will likely get a chance to complete its story. In today’s streaming world, that’s a blessing for the fandom. 

Here’s what Kripke had to say about The Boys coming back for a fifth season:

The Boys is an unabashed and bold series that continues captivating our customers all over the world by piercing the cultural fabric season after season,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “We are proud of this series that has grown into a global franchise, and we are thrilled that Eric Kripke and the creative team have more engaging stories to tell for all the loyal fans.

Recently, Kripke also gave an update on season five of The Boys, noting there was some craziness in store. He revealed, “we’re about a month into the writers room right now, so we have some pretty cool notions. It’s a very raw lava-esque deal right now. It hasn’t hardened into anything, but I’m excited. I think there’s some crazy sh-t’s been talked about, that’s for sure.”

In the meantime, we are ready for The Boys season four to drop on June 13.

Originally published on May 14, 2024.

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The world of The Boys continues to expand. After the first live-action spinoff series Gen V arrived to much fan and critical acclaim, now yet another spinoff is on the way from Amazon. Only this will be a Spanish language series, set in Mexico City. According to Deadline, The Boys: Mexico will be written by Blue Beetle’s Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, and produced by Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, who may both take on minor acting roles in the series.

In a Variety interview, Banal confirmed the series as well as his involvement. He couldn’t go into details, obviously, but did offer a brief statement saying, “I’m very excited about what we can do, because we can do something very interesting in Latin America.” Flagship series creators Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg will executive produce for Sony/Prime Video.

Recently, Eric Kripke told Entertainment Weekly that there’s still quite a few hurdles to jump before The Boys: Mexico is truly happening. “They are still making the deal with the writer for the pilot,” Kripke said. “He has an amazing pitch, and we all giggle and think about how fun it would be. But there are a lot of hurdles for that show before it’s a real show. He’s got to write an amazing pilot, he’s probably got to write an amazing episode 2. I think he can and he will, but we’re a while away from truly starting to drop in the Easter eggs and the setups and stuff.”

So what would The Boys: Mexico even be about? Right now, we don’t have details. We’re not even sure that title is sticking. The name “The Boys” is about the underground group trying to bring down Vought and The Seven. Unless Mexico has its own set of Vought heroes and its own underground group of “boys,” would that title even make sense? So much of the adaptation of the Garth Ennis comic book series parodies famous tropes from Marvel and DC Comics. But both universes have superhero groups all over the world. Groups like DC’s Global Guardians and Marvel’s Canadian heroes, Alpha Flight. We may see a more unhinged version of this concept for this new show.

Gen V tied directly into the events of the previous season of The Boys, even though it was very much its own show. We even had an appearance by Homelander himself at the end. It will be interesting to see how many of the cast of the main series will appear, as they will shoot in Latin America. The show is only in development as of right now, and has not landed a greenlight yet. But given how hugely popular The Boys is, we expect this one to go through.

Originally published on November 28, 2023.

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Almost five years ago, we met Hughie Campbell (played by Jack Quaid), a tech nerd living a quiet life until tragedy turned his world upside down. Who can forget that show-defining moment in The Boys when A-Train accidentally runs through Hughie’s girlfriend and completely obliterates her body? If ever there were a moment that would radicalize a normal person, that was certainly one. Since then Hughie’s been on quite the journey, from joining the Boys and screaming at all things bloody to gaining powers of his own and killing for survival. Ahead of The Boys season four, Nerdist caught up with actor Jack Quaid to chat about Hughie’s evolution, working with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and what we can expect next. 

Nerdist: In the season 4 trailer, Hughie has a sobering moment where he says that the Boys’ solution to everything is murder and violence, and that isn’t always the answer. Can you tell us about his mindset and how that’s going to challenge his relationship with everyone? 

Jack Quaid: What I love about playing Hughie is his growth throughout every season… I love that line in the show. I won’t blow the context of how that comes out, but I love that he went from a guy who wanted revenge for his dead girlfriend in season one to a character who says some pretty sobering stuff like this. I think that’s kind of the hidden message of the show.

As violent as the show is, as extreme as it is, that violence isn’t brave. It’s kind of our secret little, if you could call it, moral in a world like The Boys. So the fact that I got to be the one iterating that notion was really special to me. But yeah, obviously [the Boys] solution to most things is murder, and having an idea like that does put you at odds with the team that seems hell-bent on that, particularly somebody like Butcher. You’re going to have to wait and see how that all plays out. It’s amazing.

Oh yeah, for sure. I know you can’t spoil things, but can you tell us how Hughie is going to continue to be challenged and grow throughout the season?

Quaid: Well, I think I could talk about this ’cause it was announced. So this season his mom comes back into the picture. His mom, as we know from other seasons, left him when he was a kid, and it’s the reason why he is the way that he is in a lot of ways. He is loyal to a fault, he’s afraid of being alone, and she comes back into his life in a very interesting way and they have to deal with that.

Rosemarie DeWitt plays Daphne Campbell, and getting to work with her was a dream ’cause she’s a legend. And getting to work with Simon Pegg [who plays Hughie’s father] again was also a dream ’cause he’s a hero and continues to be a hero. I’m very excited for audiences to see the Campbell family chaos that ensues. And as an actor, it’s so rewarding to have a character like that come back into Hughie’s life ’cause you get to deal with characters’ core trauma. I really thank [showrunner Eric Kripke] and the writers for coming up with some really good stuff for not just Hughie, but for everybody. I was very happy with my material this year. It was great.

We are definitely looking forward to get into Hughie’s psyche a little more and know more about his foundation. You mentioned working with legends, and you’ve got Jeffrey Dean Morgan, yet another legend, joining the cast this season, which is super exciting. What was your experience like working with him on set?

Quaid: Oh, man. I mean, you said it, he’s a legend. I was really lucky because he joined The Boys and then months later, after we were done wrapping, I shot a little indie movie with him. Obviously it has nothing to do with The Boys, but it’s the two of us working every day together. I already knew it from working with him on The Boys, but he’s the best. He’s one of my favorite people I’ve ever worked with in my life. He is such a professional, he’s so unbelievably nice and generous, and I want to continue [working with him] forever if I could. Jeff is the best. I’m really excited for audiences to see him in The Boys because obviously this is something that’s been brewing for a while…  It’s phenomenal what he does in the show.

Love that! You’ve also got a couple of the Gen V cast members in the fold this season. How much of an impact will The Boys season 4 have on what we can expect next for Gen V?

Quaid: I remember being 26 when I started doing The Boys. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would have our own universe spanning two shows. That’s unbelievable! And now the fact that we’re having a little bit of cross-pollination between the two is huge.

Each season of each show does influence the other, and there is a continuity that fans can track and that’s so cool. That’s the stuff nerd dreams are made of and I’m a huge nerd, and once I heard that they were coming aboard the show, I lost my mind. 

It is super cool. As you said, you’ve been tapped into this universe and the character of Hughie for a while. What ways have you grown as an actor and what have you learned about yourself through this experience?

Quaid: It comes down to time on a set. I know that that sounds so simple. When I first started, I had done a TV show and a few movies. But with TV, you’re [on set] a lot. You’re boots on the ground and you get this crash course of what it means to be on set and do your best work. You learn the ins and outs of the rhythm of a set, and what you should bring to each day. I feel like that’s helped on so many other projects. So I’ve grown in about as many ways as you can count. I was relatively green when the show started and now I’m a little less so.

I got to grow as a person. I think Hughie has grown as a character, and to get to do that alongside him is so surreal. I was 26 when I started, I’m 32 now. I can’t even begin to tell you how lucky I am to be on a show that’s run for four seasons.

I don’t think Hughie and I are exactly the same person. Obviously we’re similar, but to me he’s like an old friend from middle school. I fit with him like a comfy old sweater now. And I love every chance I get to go and play him again and discover these new layers to him…  it is so cool to see him grow and change and evolve…

That’s an awesome journey! And, I am very glad that you are more like Hughie and not like [your Scream character] Richie. What a relief!

Quaid: [laughs] Yeah, I think we are all happy about that!

Tai Gooden is the Features Editor for Nerdist and a big fan of bloody and shocking universes like The Boys. If she could, she’d totally raid MM’s closet for one (or five) of his T-shirts and wear them while hanging out with her daughter (in her mind) Marie Moreau.

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The Boys ended their third season with a game-changing moment for the series. Homelander discovered he could do the unthinkable in public—and many in the public would love him for it. This left us all foaming at the mouth for season four. And now, it’s almost here. Fans attending the first-ever CCXP México were the first to see the official trailer for the fourth season of The Boys, coming to Prime Video on June 13. Cast members Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Chace Crawford, Karen Fukuhara, and Claudia Doumit were on hand to debut the trailer to a crowded room of fans. You can watch the latest trailer in full right here:

Here’s the official description for The Boys season four, as well as key art:

In Season Four of The Boys, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

Judging from this trailer, certain major plot elements from the spinoff series Gen V will factor heavily into season four of The Boys. Namely, the virus that kills super-powered individuals. Homelander himself appeared in the Gen V finale. However, it’s unclear how many characters from that series filmed anything for the parent show. And clearly, the sociopolitical allegories are stronger than ever this season. The Boys will premiere its fourth season on June 13, 2024, with three episodes. These are followed by a new episode each week, ending with the epic season finale on Thursday, July 18.

The post THE BOYS Season 4 Trailer Shows Direct Ties to GEN V appeared first on Nerdist.

When The Boys first introduced Compound V24, a.k.a. Temp V, in season three, I knew it wasn’t going to go well. Butcher and Hughie shot up a few doses of it in their relentless attempt to kill Homelander. And, well, they made a big mess in the process. Not only did they free Soldier Boy, who killed hella people, but Homelander is still alive and has Ryan under his wing. And, to cap it all off, Butcher is apparently dying from Compound V24 after taking one too many doses in The Boys season three. Let’s talk about what we learn in the finale, Butcher’s brief appearance in Gen V, and what the future could hold for Butcher with his grim diagnosis. 

What Diagnosis Does Billy Butcher Get in The Boys Season Three? 

In the finale, Butcher keeps Hughie from taking another dose of Compound V24. We already know Butcher’s guilt over what happened to his brother so it’s understandable that he’d hide the truth about the drug from his comrade. Starlight fills Hughie in, who is understandably terrified. Butcher uses his powers during the big Vought Tower fight and ends up having to subdue Soldier Boy after he tries to kill Ryan, a move that he might live to regret. That is, if he sees it at all.

At the end of the episode, Butcher is in the hospital. A doctor is talking to him but he’s not listening so we don’t get a clear diagnosis. There is a treatment—likely involving draining fluid—but it will possibly impact his quality of life without extending it. Butcher bluntly asks how long he has to live and the answer is a grim 12-18 months, if he’s lucky. He lights up a cigarette and tells the doctor to f*ck off. Seems like he’s full of regret about a lot of things. 

Will Billy Butcher Return for The Boys Season Four? 

Our poor, dying Billy Butcher will be in The Boys season four. We saw him in a brief post-credits scene at the end of Gen V‘s first season, which takes place only months after The Boys season three. He looks relatively normal as he scours the remains of The Woods. He does pop up in the final moments of The Boys last season as well. He comes to their headquarters to say they need to get rid of Neuman, after all. Butcher still needs to accomplish a few things before he possibly dies, including killing Homelander, saving Ryan from becoming the next evil supe, and bringing down Vought.

It remains to be seen how his health will deteriorate from Compound V24’s deadly effects. The Boys season four will take place shortly after Gen V‘s finale events so that means he still has some time left to figure things out. In fact, he might just throw all caution to the wind and take more of it. And it’s also not clear if any of his comrades know that he has less than two years to live. That is, if we don’t get some kind of cure for Compound V24.

Next season probably won’t be the final one but it could all end with Butcher dying from Compound V24. He’s a total jerk most of the time but he is the driving force of the Boys. We will see what happens.

Originally published July 9, 2022.

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The first season of The Boys spinoff series Gen V is giving fans a wild ride at Godolkin University. It turns out this school is not a safe space for anyone to thrive. The heartbreaking experimentations happening in a secret facility are slowly unfolding towards chaos that will change this entire universe. So, it’s not shocking Gen V is coming back for its sophomore year. That’s right, Gen V has been renewed for season two.

The Prime Video show’s official X page shared the delightful news with fans. We really love the video of the God U crew celebrating their good fortune.  

Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon MGM Studios, spoke further about the future of Gen V in a Variety statement. “Expanding the universe of The Boys with a series as bold as Gen V has been an incredible journey for us and our wonderful partners at Sony. From our first conversation with showrunners Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, along with Eric Kripke, Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen, we knew Gen V would push the boundaries. Their unapologetic approach is exactly what audiences love, and it has helped Gen V become the No. 1 series on Prime Video in over 130 countries. Gen V is Prime Video’s most acquisitive new Original series of 2023, and we’re excited that our incredible cast and crew are going to continue telling brave and bold stories from Gen V to our customers.”

And there’s certainly a lot of storytelling potential here. We know Dean Shetty is doing some horrific experiments on supes like Sam. She’s in cahoots with Vought, which means her reasons for maintaining The Woods have to be nefarious. There’s also still some major questions about the details behind Golden Boy’s mental unraveling, Marie’s sister, and how Andre will deal with his father.

Gen V‘s season two renewal was announced in October 2023. And now school is returning to session. Thomas Schnauz, a writer on season two of the series, revealed to Arc Studios, “I am working on a show called Gen V… I did not work on season one, I am currently helping them with season two, with breaking story. And they start shooting in not too long up in Canada, now. Production starts in probably two or three weeks.” Sounds like its an early start for production on Gen V season two.

We are glad that Gen V is renewed for season two because we need answers… and more puppets. 

Originally published on October 19, 2023.

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Gen V’s first season gave us the gift of some seriously wild yet loveable college supes. The journey through discovering the dark secrets of Godolkin University was quite the ride full of blood and gore. From the heartbreaking lives of Sam Riordan and Emma Meyer to the mystery of Luke Riordan a.k.a. Golden Boy, there was a lot to explore. We caught up with actors Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Lizze Broadway to dive into the Sam/Emma romance and Golden Boy’s unexpected role in Gen V. 

Nerdist: The final fight scene at God U was wild. Asa, can you tell me what it was like filming those fights?

Asa Germann: Filming that sequence was insane! I think we shot there for 10 days on the lawn of the campus and just witnessing the entire sequence, especially when I wasn’t even in a shot, was incredible. We had tons and tons and tons of people just running around. We had a helicopter. It was amazing. And getting to be a part of that was very special.

Let’s talk about Golden Boy. I think a lot of people assumed that he was going to present himself in a Homelander-ish way, but he ended up completely subverting those expectations. Why do you think it was important for him to occupy that specific role?

Patrick Schwarzenegger: I think what you’re referencing is that he ended up being this really kind person towards Marie [and others]… he was really this humanizing character that cared for the new person and cared for other people. I think that that was a better writing decision because it made you feel for him and buy way more into the story when he ended up dying. Spoiler.

Indeed. And with you, Lizze, there were some wild scenes for Emma. There’s that one scene where you had to film with a very, very large phallic object.

Lizze Broadway: Can we say the word?

I don’t know! I didn’t want to say it…

Broadway: …What should we say? What words can I use?

A…rod?

Interviewer’s Note: Reader, this is where things get chaotic and everyone continuously spirals into laughter. We are not mature people.

Broadway: A rod, a big rod. So how was it being on the big rod?… Because when I saw that big rod… Honestly, I know it’s crazy, but our show, nothing is done for shock value. It’s really character based. So it was really good for Emma’s storyline to ride that rod. 

**insert laughter here**

But honestly, the first time I saw it I was like, this is my chance to add physical comedy. So I could start at the head and slide down. It’s a rod, right? Start at the top of the thing and then slide down. This is not making it any better… [laughs] and then pull out…

Schwarzenegger: Jeez.

Broadway: …[Head of Makeup] Colin Penman… I can’t, I’m trying so hard. [laughs again] Colin Penman gave me such a wonderland to play in… I wanted to do that justice. This is painful, I’m sorry… It was a fun day.

I created chaos and I’m sorry! Moving on… Sam and Emma’s relationship is probably one of my favorite elements of this first season of Gen V. Sadly, they end up on the opposite sides of a major moral debate. Do you think they’ll be able to restore their bond in the future?

Broadway: Absolutely not.

Germann: Whoa! It’s so funny because Lizze and I actually talk about this a lot, and I think that we come at things from a different perspective. We were so ingrained in these characters and getting to explore this relationship dynamic that we will see what happens. 

Broadway: I think that relationship is so beautiful. But I think they both need therapy. I love working with [Asa] as an actor. I think [he brings] the best out of me. So in that context, I would love to have Sam and Emma come back together, but I don’t know if it would be healthy for Emma. I think she needs a lot of therapy.

Germann: …I think in general what I love about this show for both Sam and Emma is that they both have so much struggle internally and they have so much struggle in terms of the environment around them and how they’re responding to it… I feel the same way, in terms of getting to work with Lizze, it was just so much fun to get to explore that relationship and those dynamics and see how we adapted in those environments within ourselves. So I think there’s a lot of room there, but we’ll see what happens.

Broadway: I mean, they’re two misfits that came together and I feel like everyone has suffered from not feeling good enough or fitting in. And then you had these two people coming together that completed them [like] a perfect puzzle piece. And I think that’s every love story that we want.

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Gen V exploded onto television and brought all the energy of The Boys universe to a university. The show’s first season follows a group of college supes at Godolkin University who discover dark secrets at their school. At the heart of this collective is Marie Moreau, a freshman with the power to manipulate and weaponize blood. While adjusting to campus life and grappling with her heartbreaking past, Marie soon finds herself in conflict with Jordan Li, a fellow student and genderfluid supe who’s determined to rise up the school’s rankings. Their initially terse relationship soon evolves into a romance as they redefine what it means to be a hero. We caught up with Gen V actors Jaz Sinclair, Derek Luh, and London Thor to chat about their characters’ evolution and that explosive fight in the finale. 

Nerdist: The final scene at God U was absolutely chaotic and super explosive. What was it like for each one of you to prepare for and film those scenes?

Jaz Sinclair: Episode eight was insane! It was so much action and so much happens back to back to back to back. And I just remember being on set those days and being shocked at the scale of everything. You think you know what it’s going to look like, and then you get there and it’s so much bigger and bloodier and crazier. And the stunt guys were amazing.

London Thor: Yeah, the setup for that day was insane. For days, it stayed the same on the campus. There were fake bodies everywhere and blood everywhere, and it really kept you in the moment. For sure.

Jaz Sinclair: And there’s so much happening with each of the characters. Over here, Andre and Sam are having their big fight and then [over there are] Marie, Kate, and Jordan. It’s just like anywhere on campus, some crazy action packed thing is happening. So [the filming crew] had to consider that when they were filming. They were like, we can’t turn too far this way because that’s where Sam and Andre are supposed to be at. So we had to angle it all around that stuff too, which is pretty cool.

Oh my god, it was so wild. So Jaz, it’s interesting how Marie Moreau’s powers tie into menstruation and the confusion and shame associated with that. She ends up facing all of those things and breaks through her guilt, which lets her manifest and unlock new layers to her powers. Can you talk about some of those connections and how Marie’s journey led to her finding her personal power?

Sinclair: I think you just made some really beautiful connections. I do think that for someone who carries as much shame as Marie does about what she did and what her powers mean, it makes sense that she would assume that she would have to hurt herself to be powerful. And then as the show goes on, she butterflies a little bit and realizes that she can tap into other sources of power. [There’s also] her having love for Jordan and that unlocks different levels of just out of sheer desire to protect someone she cared about. I thought that was really cool. 

I love the spots in which the writers chose to evolve Marie’s powers. I thought it was really impactful and meaningful, and I think they did a great job of tying what she can do with her emotional state, which I thought was amazing.

I loved her character arc. Now, for you London and Derek, Jordan goes on this journey of trying to find their place in the world and acceptance within themselves and others around them. Can you both talk about how you two partnered together to really help bring Jordan’s journey full circle?

Luh: Yeah. Well, I think we got very fortunate that we were just so similar and in a beautiful way, so different at the same time. And we had a bunch of open discussions about Jordan… I think we read lines together one time and then we just, I mean, had a lot of dinners together and kind of just took on each other’s personalities. From the moment that we both got the role and read the first script, we fell deeply in love with Jordan and wanted to protect that story.

Thor: Yeah, I think it’s a character we both understand fully. And I mean, we’ve both dealt with our own struggles that relate to Jordan and our own relationship to that stuff. And I think that being able to talk about it together helped a lot.

Your characters have come together for a beautiful romance! There’s so much fandom love for Marie and Jordan. How aware are you of the fan edits and fanfiction floating around in the world?

Thor: I’m aware of it! I love it. I’ve seen some really cool stuff. Some of the artwork that’s been made is amazing, and the love for this relationship is so beautiful and nice and it warms my heart.

Sinclair: It’s a good relationship.

Thor: It’s a good one.

Sinclair: The people love it!

It brings me joy! Last question for the crowd. What would you say was your strangest filming experience on set?

Sinclair: The freaking scene with Rufus. It was awkward. It’s like, yeah, amazing when you’re watching the scene, it’s like a whole 30 seconds of weird closeup penis stuff… that was half the day [of me] getting flashed. Anyway, bless Alexander [Calvert]. It’s great. But that was a day where I was like, “What is my job?!”

Luh: I think the strangest for me would’ve been anytime there was a kiss, because we’d lean in and then they’d be like, all right, stop, swap out. And then I’d have to go in and then I’d have to match. It was onion skinning where I’d have to…

Thor: Yeah, so [the crew would] put a light image of whoever was there first, and you’d have to match the exact position that [the other person] was in. And then they’d have to put apple boxes everywhere. And Jaz just had to stand there and not move.

Luh: …They’re like, “Okay, action. Now be super romantic and super in it and make it believable!”

Sinclair: You guys killed that though!

Luh: It was a great day.

Gen V season one is done but thankfully the show will return for a second season. We can’t wait to see where Marie Moreau and Jordan Li’s story goes next. Sophomore year is going to be diabolical.

The post GEN V Stars Jaz Sinclair, London Thor, and Derek Luh on Filming and MarieJordan Love appeared first on Nerdist.

The world of The Boys is on the cusp of all-out chaos. The show left us in a lurch at the end of season three with way too much s**t going on. Homelander’s supporters are straight-up worshipping him as he guides his son Ryan down a path of pure evil. Annie rejects being Starlight and joins The Boys collective. Butcher’s Compound V24 gives him a grim diagnosis. And Victoria Neuman’s Vice Presidential bid is the cherry on top of an impending disaster. Speaking of the latter, she popped up (pun intended) in Gen V, took a formula that kills supes, and is prepared to turn the world upside down. We see a glimpse of the diabolical action to come in the first trailer for The Boys season four, which premiered at CCXP. 

This The Boys season four teaser gives us a lot of love… and fear. We get to see a better glimpse of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s still-unnamed character, and it seems he will be working directly with Butcher. The teaser mentions several different parts of the world, so perhaps Morgan’s character is the leader of another Boys-like organization somewhere else. Or maybe he’s from a part of Butcher’s past that we aren’t quite familiar with. Either way, the man knows how to wear a suit.

We also see some new season four supes in play alongside Homelander in this The Boys trailer, including Susan Heyward’s scary Sister Sage and Valorie Curry’s Queen Maeve-coded Firecracker. MM’s T-shirt game is still amazing, the Starlight vs. Homelander dissension is destroying the streets, and there is a mention of a taint. The Boys season four trailer is very on-brand, indeed. 

In addition to the trailer, here’s a brief synopsis of this next season of The Boys to really get you prepared. 

In Season Four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

What Is the Release Date for The Boys Season Four?

We still don’t have a release date for The Boys season four, but it is coming sometime in 2024.

The post THE BOYS Season 4 Trailer Reveals a World on the Cusp of All-Out Chaos appeared first on Nerdist.

Recently, we heard discussions about the original Avengers returning to the MCU, saw a Mean Girls sequel (kind of), and learned the secrets of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 post-credits scenes and Easter eggs. But in the mix of all of that, there have been some truly exciting announcements and reveals we wouldn’t want you to miss out on.

Here are some of our favorite pop-culture news odds & ends from this week.

This Week’s Odds & Ends in News

Jump to:

• Horror Sequels Galore! The Black Phone 2 Will See Return of Original Cast, Terrifier 3 Sets Release Date and Shares Teaser, and It Follows 2 Is On the Way
• Another John Wick Spinoff Show and an Anime Series Are Apparently In Development
• Poltergeist TV Series Is in Development at Amazon MGM Studios 
• Disney+’s Cancelled Captain Nemo TV Series Nautilus Saved By AMC
• The Fall of the House of Usher Prop Auction Invites You to Purchase Something Haunted and Stylish
• Bratz Dressed Up as Barbie for Halloween, and Rick and Morty Dressed as Five Nights at Freddy’s
• The Boys Will Likely Have More Seasons Than Originally Planned
• Sesame Street Is Changing Its Format to Include “More Peril”
• Fourth Wing TV Series in the Works From Amazon and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society
• Jurassic World LEGO Sets Are Roaring to Life in January 2024

Horror Sequels Galore! The Black Phone 2 Will See Return of Original Cast, Terrifier 3 Sets Release Date and Shares Teaser, and It Follows 2 Is On the Way

Fall may be drawing to a close, but Halloween season never is. And it’s a good thing, too, because a ton of horror sequels are coming our way.

The truly terrifying Universal and Blumhouse movie, The Black Phone, is set for a sequel. The Black Phone 2 will release on June 27, 2025 and, per Variety, it will be the “launch of a sinister new franchise.”

We don’t yet know much about what The Black Phone 2 will entail, but in a fascinating turn of events, The Black Phone‘s original cast will all return for more scary calls. Yes, Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, and Miguel Mora will all return for the sequel terror.  Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill will also return to write The Black Phone 2. We have chills already.

Terrifier 3 and its terrifying slasher Art the Clown will arrive in theaters on October 25, 2024, for another round of Christmas horror. We can’t wait to see what terrifying naughty-list mayhem will transpire.

To get us into the holiday spirit, Terrifier 3 has shared its first teaser trailer, and it’s certainly festive. Santa who? A release further shares of Terrifier 3, “The upcoming installment will be Christmas-themed, adding an extra layer of anticipation for horror enthusiasts. In the third installment of Damien Leone’s breakout horror film, Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.” We’ll be seeing this Saint Nick in our dreams tonight.

It Follows will also receive a sequel titled They Follow. The writer and director of It Follows, David Robert Mitchell, will return for the sequel alongside star Maika Monroe. It Follows was a movie that encapsulated the terrifying feeling of someone always lurking behind you, and we bet its sequel will double the sensation.

In case you were curious, we’ve broken down the horoscopes of 12 iconic horror villains.

Another John Wick Spinoff TV and an Anime Series Are Apparently In Development

Surprise! Another John Wick spinoff series is apparently in development, according to John Wick director Chad Stahelski. And that’s not all, a John Wick anime is in the works as well. Stahelski noted to Collider, “We’re doing a John Wick TV show, which, again, keeps my head going.” And added, “I would love to do a couple of episodes of the TV show just because I think I’d have fun trying things that we didn’t get to try in the films. I mean, absolutely. There’s some great ideas. And to work with a different cast and a different story structure without John Wick, it would be a fun challenge.”

He also shared with The Discourse podcast, which we saw via IGN, that “Lionsgate is having us develop the John Wick TV show, so we thought we could explore The High Table in that a little bit.” But confirmed this was separate to The Continental. Stahelski noted, “Yeah, I love Donnie [Yen], I love Rina [Sawayama], love the Tracker (Shamier Anderson), and the TV show and the ancillaries will give us a chance to expand the kind of fun world we’ve created… It doesn’t have to be John Wick, the character specific, you know what I mean, so that we can explore all that stuff.” Of course, which, if any of these characters would stare in a new John Wick TV series has not yet been confirmed.

On top of that, Stahelski broke the news that a John Wick anime is also in development. He shared, “We’re doing that and a Japanese anime because I love Japanese anime so much… So to create all the cool stories that anime could achieve better than we could and the TV show to expand our world, we’ll still get our fix, you know what I mean? And we’ll still have all the fun.” We guess we’ll stay tuned to see what develops.

As if that weren’t enough John Wick, John Wick 5 is still on the table.

Poltergeist TV Series Is in Development at Amazon MGM Studios 

You can never be free of some ghosts. Variety reports a series adaptation of the classic ’80s movie Poltergeist is in the works at Amazon MGM Studios. Currently, no plot details or writers are attached to the series. However, we know “Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will executive produce on behalf of Amblin Television.” In 1999, Showtime released a four-season series adaptation set in Poltergiest‘s world—but television has come a long way since.

For more horror-based TV, check out what we know about Max’s The Conjuring show.

Disney+’s Cancelled Captain Nemo TV Series Nautilus Saved By AMC

In a worrying streaming trend, shows are being ordered and completed only to be canceled before release. But sometimes, there is good news. Deadline reports that although Disney+ canceled its Nautilus series, a 10-episode TV show based on Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, AMC has now saved the series. Nautilus will air on AMC and AMC+ in 2024 and tell the origin story of the iconic Captain Nemo.

To see what we learned about Nautilus initially, check out our write-up here:

The Fall of the House of Usher Prop Auction Invites You to Purchase Something Haunted and Stylish

Mike Flanagan’s final show with Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher, was filled with horrifying yet beautiful visuals. If you loved the show’s aesthetic, you can now take a part of it home with a special prop auction.

The Fall of the House of Usher auction will take place from November 15-29 with 100% of its proceeds going to charity. Among other items, you can bid on “Verna’s (Carla Gugino) Rave Costume with Red Cloak,” “Napoleon ‘Leo’ Usher’s (Rahul Kohli) Drywall-Covered ‘Thor’ Hammer Replica,” and “Arthur Pym’s (Mark Hamill) Briefcase with Files and Accessories.”

For more about The Fall of the House of Usher‘s aesthetic, take a look at what its use of color really means.

Bratz Dressed Up as Barbie for Halloween, and Rick and Morty Dressed as Five Nights at Freddy’s

Happy Halloween from our favorite franchises. In a bit of a shady move, some Bratz dolls dressed as the unimpressed teens looking at Barbie for Halloween—a truly hilarious spin on a Barbie movie costume which was, admittedly, very popular this year.

Meanwhile, Rick and Morty‘s characters disguised themselves as Five Nights at Freddy’s animatronics, homaging the popular game series that just released its movie adaptation. We love series dressing as series!

If you enjoyed Five Nights at Freddy‘s, you may be wondering what that sound at the end of the credits means.

The Boys Will Likely Have More Seasons Than Originally Planned

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke originally planned for the series to have a five-season run. But it looks like that number is now defunct, and The Boys will likely have more seasons than that. Kripke shared with Inverse, “I have since realized that literally, no one in history is worse at predicting the amount of seasons of a show, like literally. I have learned my lesson, and I’ve stopped predicting how many seasons these shows go. You will find out in hindsight.” With the popularity of The Boys and its spinoff Gen V, that seems like a fair assessment to us.

Catch up with Gen V‘s most gory and shocking moments, here:

Sesame Street Is Changing Its Format to Include “More Peril”

Sesame Street wants you to know you can reinvent yourself at any age. Recently, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Sesame Street‘s format would be “reimagined” for season 56. The show will drop its “magazine style” format, which has been around for decades, in favor of “two longer, more narrative-driven segments, which will be paired with a new animated series, Tales From 123.”

Wilson Stallings, the executive VP and chief creative development and production officer for Sesame Workshop shared, “Kids love a little bit of peril, they love having emotional stakes, and in nine minutes, it’s kind of hard to really dive into those areas really effectively.” The show hopes to be able to tell a more compelling tale with these changes.

Be that as it may, we have to wonder, does Sesame Street really need more peril?

All we have to say is that Sesame Street had better keep gems like this.

Fourth Wing TV Series in the Works From Amazon and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society

Amazon MGM Studios and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society will be bringing to life a TV series based on Rebecca Yarros’ popular fantasy series, Fourth Wing. This overall deal includes all the books from the Fourth Wing universe titled The Empyrean, including its sequel Iron Flame, releasing on November 7, and the three books slated to follow.

Per Variety, the logline for the TV series shares:

Enter the brutal world of Basgiath War College where there is only one rule: Graduate or Die. Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail expected to live a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general― her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. If the fire-breathing beasts don’t kill her, one of her fellow riders just might. Suspense, action, romance, and dragons blend together in a propulsive fantasy adventure from NYT bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

In other fantasy novel adaptation news, House of the Dragon season two will release in the summer of 2024.

Jurassic World LEGO Sets Are Roaring to Life in January 2024

Show off your dino love with these two new Jurassic World LEGO sets. First up is a Dinosaur Fossils: T. rex Skull LEGO set, which turns LEGOs into bones. The official description of the set shares, “The first Jurassic World set made for display features a skull with an opening jaw, a stand with an information plaque, a hidden ‘amber’ piece at the back of the model and a ‘fossilized’ footprint.” Honestly, building a T. rex skull out of LEGOS, teeth and all, is pretty cool.

Also available is the “Baby Dinosaur Rescue Center” LEGO set and it comes complete with a bunch of, you guessed it, baby dinos. D’aww. Both Jurrasic World LEGO sets will release on January 1, 2024.

Click To View Gallery

For more creative and nature-focused LEGO fun, check out LEGO’s insect collection.

The post TERRIFIER 3 Shares Teaser, New JOHN WICK TV Series and Anime in the Works, and More News Odds & Ends appeared first on Nerdist.

Godolkin University is a place where you can thrive, cause chaos, and apparently run head first into murder. The Boys‘ spinoff Gen V draws from a bizarre The Boys comic arc with a wild roster of new characters who boast a bevy of powers. Compound V is one hell of a drug, right? And, as the show transpires, we will learn even more about each supe’s power and how it plays into all the bloody action.

Here is every new Gen V hero and what you need to know about their powers. 

Gen V’s Godolkin University Student Hero Lineup and Their Powers

Marie Moreau (Power: Hemokinesis/Blood Manipulation)

Our main girl Marie Moreau is an 18-year-old superhero with the power of hemokinesis, which is the ability to control and weaponize her own blood. We saw her use her power in the Gen V trailer as she uses blood tentacles of sorts to whip around and destroy things. The first episode of Gen V reveals that Marie’s powers activated when she began her menstrual cycle at around 10, even though she was injected with Compound V as a baby. She panics in the bathroom and accidentally ends up killing her parents because she doesn’t know how to control her weaponized blood. We also learn that she frequently uses her powers by cutting her hands and manipulating the blood.

Unlike most kids who end up at Red River Institute and later go to Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center where they are either locked up or presumably killed, Marie gets into Godolkin University. But she still grapples with her past and how people view her presently. That is, until Golden Boy’s death and some PR foolery by Godolkin and Vought leads her to become ranked in the top ten. Her newfound fame goes over well with everyone except Jordan Li (obvious reasons) and Polarity, who wants his son to be the sole star and finds Marie’s powers “unsanitary.”

Marie doesn’t seem to regret her powers but she is soon disillusioned with being the diversity showpony for God U. She moves up in the rankings to #2 in episode four; however, she’s now fully into exposing the nefarious woods. We get to see a different side of her powers when she explodes a fellow student’s penis after he tries to sexually assault her. Marie isn’t sure how she did it but being able to control blood within another person’s body is a new part of her abilities.

In episode five, Marie humorously reveals that she can sense when a person is about to start their menstrual cycle. More importantly, Marie is able to sense when there’s something obstructing blood flow, which is how she discovers the tracking device implanted in her neck. She can also sense Compound V in a person’s blood, which happens when she meets Victoria Neuman in episode seven. Honestly, her powers are the coolest. We see them really blossom in the season one finale when she is able to manipulate blood from dead bodies without even cutting her own palms. She creates deadly blood daggers and can even find the invisible Maverick by focusing on his heart and bloodstream. What a boss.

Andre Anderson (Power: Metal Manipulation and Superhuman Strength)

Andre is a junior at Godolkin University with magnetic powers and, of course, superhuman strength. We assume his powers are like his father Polarity considering he’s set to take his place after retirement. And if being charming and handsome are superpowers, then he has those too. He not only draws a metal bottle straight to his hand but also causes two trucks to smash together and capture a fleeing man. But that doesn’t mean his powers are dangerous. He nearly kills a woman after doing a “magic trick” with a piece of metal but Marie saves her, thankfully. Andre’s father pushes him even harder after Golden Boy’s death when he becomes the top-ranked student.

As Andre begins to investigate Golden Boy’s death, his powers come into play quite often. Unfortunately, the soldiers protecting the “woods” secrets have a device that can subdue his powers. But when that device isn’t in play, Andre can be a dangerous guy. He launches a refrigerator at Sam to subdue him and, in episode five, Andre uses gardening tools to pin (and nearly decapitate) Rufus in a moment of anger.

Andre discovers that his powers have a detrimental effect on his brain. His father, Polarity, goes into a seizure and nearly dies on national TV. The doctors reveal that their power set causes brain damage over time, so Andre must decide if he wants to continue to use his powers.

Emma Myer/Little Cricket (Power: Size Manipulation/Reduction)

Emma’s supe moniker Little Cricket is due to her ability to get super small. She’s much like Termite on The Boys, except she’s a YouTuber who makes fight videos with her rodent pet David Caruso. Her power also shines in the Gen V trailer when she crawls out of a dead man’s ear. Fantastic. In the show’s first episode, we discover that Emma sadly has to force herself to vomit in order to get small. People are either cruel to her online, fetishize her in real life, or use her to forward their own agendas. Justine is a terrible person. Emma’s own mother wants to use her to create a TV show. Things are rocky between her and Marie for a bit but they become friends, which brings some light to her sad story.

She also gets close to Golden Boy’s brother Sam. This relationship causes Little Cricket to use her powers in a different way in episode four. Sam is having a mental breakdown and all the blood and metal moving powers in the world won’t stop him. Little Cricket is at her regular size and gorges on food to get super big. She’s able to subdue him and also shocks everyone with her new (to them and us) ability. Emma’s new power reveal (and a video of her getting loose) increases her popularity and makes her rise up the student rankings.

Unfortunately, Emma and Sam break up, which is how we discover that Emma can end up really, really small if her heart is broken.

Cate Dunlap (Power: Mind Control)

Cate can make people do anything she asks by simply touching them with her hands. Of course, she uses this to her advantage, like sliding her way into a packed nightclub, and is super popular. She can also use them for revenge or to save someone in a tight spot. Like Marie, her powers accidentally destroyed her family after she told her brother to leave and never return. Her powers do have side effects from severe headaches to seizures if she takes things too far.

Unfortunately, Dean Shetty is using Cate’s power to her advantage. Cate is able to wipe people’s memories, which she did to the group to make them forget The Woods. She was also responsible for mind-wiping Golden Boy to make him keep forgetting his brother Sam. When Cate is not under strong meds, she’s able to hear everyone’s thoughts around her. She breaks free from these meds and goes completely rogue, killing Dean Shetty and liberating The Woods in a morally questionable way. Marie explodes one of Cate’s hands but she still has the other one to use. This new Guardian of Godolkin will certainly be an antagonist in Gen V‘s second season.

Jordan Li (Power: Gender/Body Transformation, Superhuman Strength and Durability, Energy Blasts)

They can change between male and female forms. Depending on their form, this hero has access to different power sets that we see in Gen V. The man is dense and indestructible, while the woman can use energy blasts and appears to be quick. They put up a formidable fight against Golden Boy towards the end of the first episode. Jordan doesn’t fit the social bill to be the hero of Godolkin so we will see how that affects their future.

Thankfully, Jordan can kick down doors, which helps save Marie from a campus creep. This, along with their obvious tension with Marie, leads to the pair hooking up. Love to see it.

Luke Riordan/Golden Boy (Power: Pyrokinesis/Fire Manipulation and Superhuman Strength)

Luke Riordan can light his entire body on fire and apparently use it as a shield. It seems he is this universe’s version of the Human Torch. But there’s a lot more to this pretty boy than meets the eye. Sure he’s all charms and smiles with Marie; however, Luke is dealing with something heavy. He keeps seeing visions of the mysterious “woods” and discovered the truth about what happened to his younger brother Sam. The visions cause him to go on a rampage, killing his supposed buddy Brink before he flies in the sky and explodes himself.

His story and the ongoing mystery about The Woods unfolds throughout the season but we really don’t learn much more about his powers.

Other Gen V Characters Who Have Powers

When Marie Moreau arrives at Godolkin University, we see a lot of ancillary students with a bevy of powers. It remains to be seen if we will get to know any of them in the season but there are some other Gen V characters who play a role and have powers.

Maverick (Power: Invisibility)

Maverick is Marie’s RA who makes an appearance a couple of times. He’s pretty witty but we don’t get a ton of him this season until closer to the finale. He can fight and is quick on his feet; however, he’s no match for Marie Moreau.

Polarity (Power: Metal Manipulation and Superhuman Strength)

Like we mentioned earlier, Polarity is Andre’s father and has the same powers. He is also well-aware of the secrets of the woods and, after falling into some serious illness in episode seven, ends up in a hospital bed. We still aren’t sure what his fate is at this time.

Sam (Power: Superhuman Strength and Invulnerability)

Sam is a troubled supe (and Golden Boy’s brother) who is trying to escape his unfortunate circumstances. He is a former resident at Sage Grove psychiatric hospital and a part of the sinister secrets of the woods facility, trapped in a lab where he is subject to torture. He’s extremely powerful with super strength and invulnerability but he also has to deal with hallucinations that blur the lines between reality and fiction. Luke was told his brother is schizophrenic but we aren’t sure if that is his true diagnosis or not.

Sam is perhaps the most powerful supe in this series but he’s also been through a lot of physical and mental trauma. But his powers, inside knowledge of the woods, and his brother’s tragic death all lead to him taking Cate’s side and using his powers to kill anyone in his path. Oh Sam.

Originally published September 29, 2023.

The post Every New GEN V Hero and Their Powers on THE BOYS’ Spinoff appeared first on Nerdist.

Gen V’s seventh episode was a complete doozy with tons of new revelations and The Boys’ character cameos. And boy did that episode’s ending set up the season finale well. It’s enough to make your head want to, ahem, explode. There has been lots of small connective tissue between The Boys and Gen V, from Queen Maeve posters to Adam Bourke showing up as a professor. However, things between these series are a lot more intertwined than we originally thought. Gen V reveals that Victoria Neuman and Marie Moreau are more alike than we thought and Dean Shetty harbors a personal vendetta against all supes, specifically Homelander, which explains why she is creating a supe-killing virus. Let’s get into how Gen V is perfectly setting up The Boys season four through season one’s final two episodes.

Dean Shetty’s Motivations in Gen V and Her Ties to Homelander’s Cruelty in The Boys

At the end of episode six, we discovered that Dean Shetty wants to use Dr. Edison Cardosa’s virus to infect all supes. Of course, this is in direct conflict with Dr. Cardosa’s intentions, which aren’t totally clear but apparently are not this nefarious. We knew we’d get an explanation behind her motivations at some point. It did seem odd to want to kill supes considering she is the dean of a university for supes. Now, we know that Dean Shetty hates supes because her husband and daughter died in the Crash of Transoceanic Flight 37.

In case you forgot, this is the plane crash from The Boys’ season one, episode four where Homelander and Queen Maeve attempt to stop hijackers on a commercial flight. They kill three of the hijackers but when Homelander discovers a fourth in the cockpit, he recklessly kills him with his laser eye powers. This destroys the plane, causing it to start crashing. Despite Maeve’s pleas to save the passengers, Homelander doesn’t want any witnesses. So, he leaves with Maeve and they watch everyone crash and die.

Indira Shetty is very well connected and a smart human. So it is not shocking that she knows the truth about this flight. It also seems that she hasn’t been the dean at the school for very long. She previously told Marie that she was previously a behavioral therapist and reminded Ashley that Vought hired her because she’s a “problem solver,” hinting that she came along in recent years. We’d bet his happened three years ago and she came into this sham of a school to continue studying supes. But unlike her predecessors, she’s taking her experiments to a dangerous new level.

In episode seven, Shetty goes to Grace Mallory, the former CIA Deputy Director and the founder of The Boys. Or, as Soldier Boy calls her, Captain Lesbo. Shetty tries to convince her that they can work together. Grace obviously declines this offer and makes a phone call to a mysterious person. She asks if they “got that” and hinting that “they” are on to her.

We don’t hear the voice on the phone, but it seems to be Butcher on the other end. Dean Shetty’s goals threaten every supe in this universe—both good and terrible. The Boys are not on that wavelength, especially with Starlight on their team. They will have to deal with this virus threat next season among other things. Vought is aware of The Woods and experiments, they don’t know that Shetty wants to kill all supes. Godolkin University is a front to study supes to craft new abilities and keep their business going. 

Any hopes of Dean Shetty appearing on The Boys are gone before the end of the episode. Cate controls Dean Shetty’s mind and makes her admit the truth to her friends. Then, she exacts her revenge by making her former mom figure slit her throat. Cate also prevents Marie from saving her, sending the God U crew into shock. Loyalties become divided with Sam believing that Cate delivered righteous justice while Emma, Marie, and Jordan believing she made a terrible choice.

In episode 8, we get confirmation that Butcher was on the phone, thanks to his appearance in a brief mid-credits scene. He walks through the now-dark hallways of The Woods before calling everyone a cunt. Perfection. We know The Boys will take place very shortly after Gen V‘s events, so we will see them looking into the events at God U.

The Boys‘ Victoria Neuman Comes to Gen V and Changes the Game

Now, it’s time for the Victoria Neuman drama. The former (??) anti-supe (but actually a supe) activist turned Vice Presidential candidate is at God U hoping to win over its students. Predictably, things go awry and Victoria has to leave the stage. Meanwhile, Marie sneaks in to speak with her directly, hoping that Neuman can use her political power to expose The Woods. She’s shocked when Victoria willingly invites her into a room for a conversation. Marie gets more than what she bargained for after Victoria Neuman invites her to analyze her blood. She realizes that the political powerhouse is herself a Supe and Victoria reveals that she also has blood manipulation powers. This makes a lot of sense considering she blows up folks’ heads on the regular.

Victoria also reveals that she went to the Red River Institute and played a small role in helping Marie get into Godolkin. (RED. FLAG.) Marie divulges all the information to her and Victoria tells her that she will “handle” it. She also tells Marie to go back to being a student, lest she want to cause trouble that will end with Vought shipping her to an adult facility. Victoria says the first Black woman in the Seven would have real power politically and culturally. She tells Marie to choose a path and that they will “keep in touch.”

This complicates things greatly for Marie because she could risk ruining her entire life behind exposing The Woods. At the end, Victoria takes the virus and kills Dr. Cardosa, so she will likely take off with the virus vials and use them to her advantage in The Boys season four. So while Dean Shetty is gone, Victoria Neuman is taking up the mantle of stirring up drama in the supe world. 

We know that Gen V will get another season that will build on whatever goes down in The Boys season four. What will Victoria do with the supe killing virus? How will Marie, Andre, Emma, and Jordan get out of their all-white prison? What will Cate and Sam do next? The plot thickens, indeed. Bring on The Boys season four.

Originally published October 27, 2023.

The post How GEN V Expertly Sets Up THE BOYS Season 4 appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys is known for its bloody and oft-gross world full of deceptive supes and shady corporate shenanigans. So it’s fitting that Gen V, the show’s spinoff series, is delivering that same energy in a college setting. Class is in session and there’s a lot of gross, shocking, and plain old weird moments in Gen V that are prime fodder for GIFs and memes. 

Here are all the scenes that will never leave your mind (and timeline).

Jump To: Episode 1 // Episode 2 // Episode 3 // Episode 4 // Episode 5 // Episode 6 // Episode 7 // Episode 8

Gen V Episode One’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “God U”

Marie’s Bloody Supe Origin Story

Gen V wastes no time getting into some dark and bloody s**t. At first, things seem normal with a preteen Marie starting her first menstrual cycle. She’s understandably unnerved by her bleeding but she becomes terrified when her blood starts to float towards her face. Her screams lead her mom to break down the bathroom door.

Marie isn’t able to control her newfound powers and a stream of her blood slits her mother’s throat. Her dad comes in to help but Marie’s panicking causes her blood to also kill him in a brutal fashion. Her sister comes in to see their parents dead and Marie on the floor in shock. 

Not Suitable for School Sex Videos

A now-teenage Marie is at Red River Institute, an orphanage for young supes, and simply wants to use a computer. But one of her housemates is using it to watch sex videos. Weirdly, he’s watching it with no headphones in a room with others around. Marie rightfully calls him a perv and tells him to move. She also has to, um, clean the keyboard before she can use it. 

Little Cricket Vs. David Caruso the Gerbil 

This is tame for Gen V and The Boys’ universe but it is still very weird. We meet Little Cricket a.k.a. Emma, who shrinks down and makes fighting videos with her pet gerbil. It’s strange and fun and I’m okay with it. 

Golden Boy’s Arm-Ripping Techniques 

Golden Boy is the man at God U. So of course he has to battle his fellow classmates in a gladiator-style battle, right? He turns on the flames and quickly takes out an opponent. The fight ends with him ripping the other guy’s arms off for a burst of bright red. Thankfully this supe has healing powers and his arms are reconnected to his body. 

Hella Strong Supe on the Loose 

Marie and Andre both discover a supe running across campus as armed guards chase him. They use their powers to apprehend him but not before he’s able to toss some vehicles and people around. This sets up a big mystery and goes against the picture perfect image that God U maintains. 

A Night Out and a Throat Slashing (Again)

As a freshman, Marie is living the dream. Andre invites Marie to hang out with him, Golden Boy, Jordan Li, and Golden Boy’s girlfriend Cate. Are they supposed to leave campus? No. But college life is all about breaking the rules. Things are going well until Andre gets drunk and decides to manipulate a coin into a bird to impress a girl at the bar. Someone bumps into him and the coin slices a woman’s neck. Marie is able to save her life but it begins a downward spiral that nearly gets her booted from school.

Little Cricket’s Goes on a Wild and Woeful Ride

Little Cricket didn’t get a chance to hang out with Golden Boy. Instead, she hooks up with a random guy who is a fan of her online videos. Predictably, he only cares about her getting small so she can, um, take a ride on his private part. She isn’t thrilled about it but in the midst of her sadness she does it anyway. We also discover that Little Cricket has to force herself to vomit in order to get small. It really brings her story and powers into a sad focus. 

Golden Boy’s Killer Rampage and Explosive Ending

Marie decides to fight back against Professor Brink’s decision to expel her in order to protect Golden Boy and company. What she didn’t bargain for was seeing Golden Boy burning Brink alive before turning his attention to her. Jordan saves the day (even though they barely survived) but Golden Boy makes it outside. In the end, Golden Boy says goodbye to his bestie Andre before floating up in the sky and exploding himself. His blood and guts rain down on everyone below as they stand in a state of shock. An explosive ending to an episode, indeed. 

Gen V Episode Two’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “First Day”

Guts Cleanup on Godolkin Campus

The first scene of the episode shows the gory aftermath of Golden Boy’s death. Chunks of his flesh and blood are all over the place and it is terrible.

Nancy Reagan That S**t

Justine will do anything to get views, including telling others that Emma purges to get small. While that is gross and shocking from a moral perspective, Justine is also a creep. She convinces a supe to suck her tail on camera, telling her to “Nancy Reagan that s**t” in a calm voice. Yuck.

A Dive Into Polarity’s Private Parts

Andre finally pieces together what Golden Boy said moments before his death. “Your dad has it” wasn’t meant to be taken literally after all. It turns out Luke/Golden Boy hid a secret phone in the crotch of the Polarity statue, which Andre opens and retrieves.

Cate Saves the Day with Dirty Mind Control

Andre’s mission to find out about Luke and Sam goes awry when guards catch him. Cate comes in and uses her mind manipulation powers to convince one guard to suck on the others flashlight before it goes, well, where the sun doesn’t shine. Cate is so creative and clutch.

Gen V Episode Three’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “#ThinkBrink”

The Fist Up the Throat

Sage Grove doesn’t seem like a fun place to be. In a flashback, Luke and Cate go to visit Sam. Besides seeing a very long “love sausage” they discover that Sam is quite upset after learning the truth about Compound V. Luke calms him down but an officer shoots him, which leads to Sam punching an officer so hard in the chest that his fist comes out of his mouth. Delightful.

Well, That’s One Way to Grieve

Cate and Andre are both mourning Luke’s death and trying to piece together this mystery. In the midst of it all, college hormones take over and they have sex. Somehow, we don’t think Luke would be pleased.

Jordan Li’s Little Romp

This show changes scenery and tone at the drop of a hat. One moment we are grieving with Golden Boy and the next one Jordan Li is having a tryst in their room with a lot showing in broad daylight. Gen V really does embody the spirit of The Boys well when it comes to random shocking moments!

A Little Cricket Ear Adventure

Little Cricket meets Sam and they actually get along quite well. Soldiers come in and hit Sam with a taser. She chooses to defend him by crawling into a man’s ear and going all the way through to the other side. It’s bloody, weird, and a moment that no one will forget.

Gen V Episode Four’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “The Whole Truth”

Sam’s Trail of Carnage Candy

Sam is on the loose and he leaves a lot of carnage candy in his wake. Dean Shetty discovers a gruesome scene with most of her soldiers’ bodies twisted and bloody in a hallway. It’s not the first time we have seen Sam deliver blood to the screen and it certainly won’t be the last. 

I Exploded His D**k

Yes, Marie is a supe and currently #2 at God U. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t still a naive freshman who doesn’t know what’s going on sometimes. Marie is desperate to find Emma, so she seeks out Rufus, an upperclassman with psychic and telepathy powers. She wants him to use his abilities to locate Emma and he agrees, coercing Marie to sit close to him.

However, he somehow portals them to his dorm room after knocking her out with some sort of pheromones. Marie is confused and horrified when she discovers that he’s wearing a robe and fully exposing himself to her. Jordan shows up and creates a distraction. Marie holds her hands up and it causes the blood to rush to his penis. It explodes and that situation is a wrap. 

Marie and Jordan Hook Up

There’s been a ton of tension between these two and not in a sexual way. However, Marie finally telling the truth and Jordan coming to her aid sparks a flame between the pair. They share their first kiss before Emma barges in and end up having sex later in the episode. It’s not the graphic fare we’d expect in Gen V, but this moment is still shocking nonetheless. 

Tek Knight Is Humpin’ Around

Tek Knight’s extracurricular activities become his downfall in this episode. Dean Shetty discovers that his brain tumor leads him to engaging with inanimate objects in a sexual way. We actually get to see a few, including a donut, traffic cone, hand dryer, and even a tree. What a swell guy!

Emma Goes Giant

This episode reveals more about Emma’s abilities. Apparently, she can consume large amounts of food while regular sized and turn into a super-sized version of herself. This comes in handy when the God U crew tracks down Sam and tries to subdue him. Emma eats spaghetti and gets very big (and naked), holding Sam down and talking to him gently until he calms down. 

Gen V Episode Five’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “Welcome to the Monster Club”

The Dolphin Blowhole Sex Scene

The God U crew wakes up at a house party and doesn’t remember anything from the night before nor the woods. Andre and Cate walk through the house, where all sorts of wild things have happened. But nothing is like what they see in one room. A guy who can move his hand really fast sticks it inside of a girl with a blowhole. And um… she has her climax and shoots fluid out of the hole.

Who the Hell Is Sam?!

Things take a complete turn when Sam shows up. Emma and Marie have no idea who he is and remember nothing about The Woods. This is when we know something truly terrible has happened to our crew.

The Violent Puppet Scene

Dean Shetty’s guards/soldiers descend on Sam’s hiding spot. He takes them out in extremely brutal fashion but it seems less horrific because the fight is seen through his eyes. Everyone, including Sam, appears as a puppet. It’s only in the end where we see the true carnage that Sam left behind. The more you think about his puppet connection, the sadder it becomes.

Cate’s Deception

Marie discovers a tracking device in her neck and goes to Cate to see what to do next. Unfortunately, Cate reveals herself to be the one wiping their minds. Is she a horrible person? No. But it still makes everyone angry, especially Andre.

Gen V Episode Six’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “Jumanji”

Hello Soldier Boy

Everything about Marie, Jordan, and Andre’s encounter with Soldier Boy in Cate’s mind is weird and gross. He reveals that he is her childhood crush as well as all the ways she would masturbate to his image. We get great terms like “flick the bean” and “diddle that skittle” to describe it all. What a fun and wild cameo that ends explosively.

A Little Sex and an Emma Puppet

Is there anything else to say? After getting her memories back, Emma finds Sam and shows him the way to Pleasure Town. During their interaction, Sam briefly sees Emma as a puppet before she becomes herself again.

The Dean Shetty and Cate Connection

Well, well, wellll. It turns out Dean Shetty preyed on Cate at a young age after she’d been ostracized for nine years. Now we have a better understanding of why Cate would betray her friends and help Shetty in her dangerous mission.

Andre and Jordan Are Full of Sordid Secrets

Cate’s mind tells everyone’s personal business. While the revelation about Marie’s dark past made everyone feel empathy for her, Jordan and Andre’s secrets were of the anger-inducing variety. It turns out Golden Boy knew that Andre and Cate were sleeping together before he died. Spicy. And Jordan saw a confrontation between Golden Boy and Brink, but chose to stay quiet about it in exchange for their TA position.

Gen V Episode Seven’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “Sick”

Infected Andy Enters The Woods

Sam is out of The Woods but the horrors continue for the other supes there. We see the full scope of Dean Shetty and Dr. Cardosa’s nasty virus thanks to infected Andy. He looks like something from a zombie series in the grossest way possible. 

Dean’s Shetty’s Shocking Truth 

Marie and Jordan do a little snooping around in Shetty’s office and make a big discovery. It turns out Shetty’s family died in the flight that Homelander and Queen Maeve crashed in The Boys season one. This is why she’s dead set on killing all supes. For more about that crash and what this connection could mean, check this post out. 

Sam Explores Emma’s Underwear 

Sam is left to his own devices while Emma does a supply run. While it seems like a terrible idea to leave someone like Sam alone, Emma also knows he’s a wanted man. Sam explores Emma’s room and discovers her underwear drawer. Interestingly, she has underwear in all sizes and he takes a liking to her tiny ones. In fact, he begins to act out a weird scene with them to entertain himself. How can you not love him?

Polarity’s Onscreen Breakdown and Crushing Ride to the Hospital 

Polarity is back in Gen V and preparing to interview Victoria Neuman at a God U Town Hall. Things quickly go awry when Polarity goes into some sort of shock on live TV. Andre is watching and rushes to see about his estranged father. Polarity’s powers go off the rails, causing metal to fly all around and his ambulance to start crushing in on itself. Thankfully, Andre contains everything but it raises some unanswered questions about what happened to him. Is it connected to The Woods? 

Victoria Neuman’s Power Reveal

After a terrible Town Hall, Victoria Neuman and Marie Moreau sit down for a little chat. Victoria confirms that she also has blood manipulation powers, which makes sense because she pops people’s heads for fun. Maybe we will see a bloody battle between the two in the future.

Dean Shetty Dies Under Cate’s Control

The frankly awful relationship between Dean Shetty and Cate Dunlap comes to a tragic end. After years of feeding Cate meds to control her powers and coercing her to protect The Woods’ secrets, Cate is over Shetty. She gains mind control over her, making her confess all her sins before forcing Shetty to slit her own throat. This action causes some division among the group and sets Cate up to be a new antihero.

Popping the Doctor

Oh Marie. She tells Victoria Neuman all about what’s going on with The Woods and it immediately leads to mess. Victoria tracks down Dr. Cardosa, gets all the virus vials, and promptly pops his head before heading off to parts unknown.

Gen V Episode Eight’s Most Gross, Shocking, and Weird Moments  – “Guardians of Godolkin”

Sam’s Punch to the Skull

Sam and Cate go off on a mission to liberate The Woods and it quickly gets bloody. Sam punches clear through the helmet and head of a guard to set things into chaotic motion. He’s an awesome kid but Cate is certainly not the greatest influence on him.

Head Frying, Body Exploding, and Fear-Inducing Revenge

An escapee from The Woods gets out in the quad and immediately begins to exact his revenge against humans. The first non-supe professor gets her head promptly fried in front of a crowd and, well, its only the beginning of the havoc. There’s a full on war going on at Godolkin and the experiment supes have the upper hand for a bit.

Emma and Sam’s Official Breakup

Emma tries to stop Sam from continuing to kill. But he replies that he wants to make his own decision and that she will do anything to try to get people to like her. Sam is not totally wrong with his statement but Emma is right about them killing innocent people. Unfortunately, Sam decides to go along with Cate’s plan and allows her to deaden his emotions so he can be a killing machine. Poor Sam just wants to escape the pain and has pushed away the best person in his life.

Maverick Beats Up Marie… While Naked

This moment is more hilarious and enlightening than anything. Maverick (under Cate’s mind control) beats up Marie for a bit before she tunes deeply into her powers. She can suss out his bloodstream and uses that to knock him out. Also, Maverick is naked for no reason at all. Weird.

Marie Explodes Cate’s Arm and Faces Homelander’s Wrath

Speaking of Marie’s powers, she learns how to wield them in some mighty ways. Without even cutting her palm, Marie takes the blood of dead beings around her, forms daggers, and completely destroys a supe threatening Ashley Barrett, Adam Bourke, and others in a helicopter. Moments later, she explodes Cate’s arm (mostly by accident) to prevent Jordan from being mind controlled.

This move is seen by none other than Homelander, who puts Marie, Jordan, Emma, and Andre into some kind of weird holding chamber for their “crimes.” What a way to end a season.

We can’t wait to see what gross, shocking, and weird moments will happen in Gen V season two.

Originally published on September 29, 2023.

The post The Most Shocking, Gross, and Plain Weird Moments of GEN V Season 1 appeared first on Nerdist.

In a world full of superheroes controlled by an evil, all-powerful global conglomerate no good deed goes unpunished. That’s what Marie, Andre, Emma, and Jordan learned in Gen V‘s season one finale. But while their medical facility/prison has no doors, the show revealed a way out for them. A post-credits scene featured the world’s foremost supe hater is on the case. Billy Butcher stopped by The Woods to see exactly what Vought was up to at Godolkin University. While he might be looking for a virus that will play a major role in The Boys‘s fourth season, he could also find some super new allies who hate Homelander, too.

Dr. Edison Cardosa had been secretly working on a way to give Vought “compassionate control” over its superheroes. His monstrous experiments in The Woods resulted in a virus that left supes—and supes only—weakened. But Godolkin Dean Indira Shetty pushed Cardosa to not only make it more dangerous, she wanted him to make it contagious. Shetty also wanted him to make it airborne. She hated supes because she knew Homelander was responsible for her husband’s and daughter’s death in a plane crash that occurred during The Boys‘ first season. Shetty wanted the virus to exterminate super-abled beings all over the world.

After threatening Cardosa to give her what she wanted, Dean Shetty reached out to Grace Mallory, former Deputy Director of the CIA and founder of The Boys. Shetty said her project was getting more dangerous and she needed help. The Dean thought Mallory would happily work with her to “neutralize” every supe on Earth. Instead Mallory—who now has Starlight as an ally—called Shetty’s plan a “war crime.”

Shetty said she’d continue with her plan alone and left. That’s when Mallory pulled out a phone and asked someone if they “got all that” and to “keep a close eye” on the Dean. Mallory had someone record the entire conversation. Shetty provided proof of the horrible experiments Vought had been performing on kids at a school.

Meanwhile, thanks to a drunken Cardosa’s rant inside Dean Shetty’s office, a hidden Marie and Jordan learned about the virus. Marie then told a visiting Victoria Neuman all about it after Neuman revealed she is secretly a supe and they both share the same blood manipulation powers. In fact, Neuman had been secretly helping Marie for years.

Congresswoman Neuman would not help Cardosa escape the predicament he’d unknowingly created for himself. The Vought doctor had inadvertently made a virus that would destroy the company’s very own superheroes. The doctor was very happy when Neuman contacted him about the virus and happily gave over every vile in existence to her. He believed they were on the same side. However, once the doctor confirmed he was the only one who knew how to make the virus, Neuman blew up his head.

With Shetty (forced to slice her own throat by a furious Cate) and Cardosa both dead, the only person who has access to the virus is Victoria Neuman, a powerful, dangerous superhero who could potentially use the bio-weapon on enemy supes. She can also use it as leverage over Vought and anyone else who gets in her way. But Neuman isn’t the only one who knows it exists. Mallory and her Boys know, too, a fact Gen V reminded us during its season one finale post-credits scene.

The season ended with Billy Butcher showing up to examine the abandoned Woods facility. There he saw what Vought had been doing to its own young superheroes. (Which he described with his signature vocabulary.)

What exactly was he looking for there? Evidence of the virus and how to create it? The remains of a supe who died from it? Documentation of what really transpired? Anything that could support what Mallory recorded Shetty saying about the program? All of that and more? Whatever Butcher wanted—even if it was just a chance to see firsthand the depravity of Vought—might not be as valuable as what he didn’t find.

In the season finale Cate and Sam unleash The Woods’ patients on the humans of Godolkin. They wanted vengeance. Andre, Emma, Marie, and Jordan stopped the massacre, saving Vought’s entire board of trustees in the process. For that they earned Homelander’s scorn. (The very tough Marie got a laser eye blast to the chest.) Homelander accused them of killing their own “kind.” That earned all four a spot in a secret Vought medical facility. They’re imprisoned there while the world celebrates the free and clear Cate and Sam. Vought—under Homelander’s watchful eye and smile—is promoting the two of them as the “new” Guardians of Godolkin.

Vought is trying to bury the truth once again, but the company’s biggest enemies know about those dark secrets. And in the world of The Boys, where even Billy Butcher has learned to work with good, kind, moral supes, the four real heroes of Gen V might be just what he needs to reveal what the evil conglomerate is really all about. They’re all now natural allies, anyway. Those locked-up God U coeds are enemies of Homelander now. They need Billy as much as he needs them.

Well, they need each other and a deadly virus that can kill Homelander. Billy Butcher will probably wants to find that just as much as he does Godolkin’s true Guardians.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post What GEN V’s Season 1 Finale Means for THE BOYS appeared first on Nerdist.

The Boys‘ universe has a new class of supes who hope to join the Seven on Gen V. Marie Moreau, Andre Anderson, and others fought for the coveted #1 spot at Godolkin University and all the perks that come with being great. It’s an exciting new direction for the franchise, but our hearts are always with characters like Hughie, A-Train, and even Homelander. We knew a few characters from The Boys would appear on Gen V throughout its first season. But how did their stories intertwine with God U? Here’s which The Boys characters appeared on Gen V. 

A-Train Is a Beacon of Hope in Gen V 

A-Train appeared in the show’s opening scene in a flashback from eight years ago when he was drafted into The Seven. Marie’s dad was proud to see a Black man make it into the group. If he only knew the truth about that organization. A-Train’s draft clip is the only time he appeared on the spinoff.

The Late Madelyn Stillwell Comes Alive in a Flashback

There’s no use crying over spilled milk, but we’re still sad Homelander murdered Elisabeth Shue’s Madelyn Stillwell on The Boys. That made her quick cameo in a flashback to A-Train’s Seven draft day that much sweeter to drink in. And now we’re going to stop making milk drinking puns before we go too far.

Ashley Barrett Continues to Lie for Vought in Gen V

Ashley Barrett first appeared at the end of episode one after Golden Boy’s rampage and death by suicide. Of course, the Vought CEO lied and said there’s nothing wrong at Godolkin. She called Golden Boy “psychotic” and a “drug user.”

She then showed up early in episode two on a board meeting/phone call with Godolkin University president Indira Shetty to discuss Golden Boy’s death. Ashley quickly created a narrative to push Marie and Andre as the “Guardians of Godolkin” who saved the day so they could score points with the public and the NAACP. Ashley purposefully left Jordan Li out of the narrative because of their race and gender identity. A private conversation between Indira and Ashley revealed The Woods as a big and “potentially fatal” problem. Indira assured Ashley she will handle everything from a PR perspective.

By the season one finale Ashley’s confidence in Shetty almost cost her and the entire board of trustees their lives. Ashley was at God U during the supe rampage. Marie and her friends managed to save Ashley and the others, and for that they got locked up.

Adam Bourke Is a Godolkin Professor in Gen V, Apparently

Adam Bourke shows up exactly where we thought he would in Gen V—the school of performing arts. The famed director told his acting class to use their grief over Golden Boy’s death to push forward. His appearance is hilarious with a pitch-perfect monologue about the importance of the artist. Apparently, his students have to “bring the funk and not the junk” to get a passing grade.

Sam almost killed him in the season one finale, but Emma stopped Sam. Bourke thought he then saved himself by blackmailing Ashley to let him into her barricaded room by threatening to reveal their previous bathroom romp. Ultimately he survived the Godolkin massacre with an idea for his next film.

The Deep Ranked #6 at God U and Loved Brink

The Deep (well, his photo) shows up in a Godolkin University orientation video in episode one. While Queen Maeve and A-Train were #1 in their classes, The Deep came in at #6. Honestly, I’m shocked he made it that far up the rankings. He’s not qualified to be a professor, but he did send in a video for a fundraiser gala honoring Brink. In episode three, The Deep says Brink helped him hone his skills and sharpened his mind to turn him into the intelligent man he is today. He tells him to “rest in peace bro.”

Soldier Boy’s Gen V Cameo Is a Dirty Delight

It only took six episodes for Jensen Ackles to return as Soldier Boy. His appearance wasn’t technically the real him, but rather how he exists in Cate’s mind/imagination as her childhood crush. He met Marie and company in Cate’s memories and told them a little too much info about Cate’s masturbation methods. A burst blood vessel in her brain then “killed” him in a lightning blast. Everything about him showing up was awesome, especially when you consider that Ackles improvs his lines.

Victoria Neuman Is on the Campaign (and Chaos) Trail 

Victoria Neuman makes her Gen V debut in episode six. The head-popping VP candidate is at a Godolkin Town Hall trying to repair her image as a supe hater. Predictably, the town hall goes completely off the rails and Victoria is rushed off stage only to be accosted by Marie Moreau. Through their conversation, Victoria affirms she also has blood manipulation powers. Marie hands her information about Vought and The Woods (which she may have been at least vaguely aware of) and Victoria uses that to kill Dr. Cardosa and take vials of the supe killing virus. She will be a big antagonist in The Boys season four and surely this virus will be a part of her nefarious plans. 

Cameron Coleman Continues to Carry Vought’s Water on Gen V

Vought News Network‘s most famous lapdog/faux journalist showed up on Gen V to interview Polarity ahead of Victoria Neuman’s Town Hall. After Polarity’s seizure Coleman filled-in as the event’s host. There he pushed more pro-supes, anti-Singer/Neuman presidential ticket propaganda as only Cameron Coleman can (like a dishonest snake.)

The Boys‘ Grace Mallory Makes a Surprise Cameo Appearance in Gen V

Grace Mallory, the former CIA Deputy Director who was caring for Homelander’s son Ryan, is known for being the founder of The Boys and working closely with Butcher. She appeared briefly in Gen V in a scene with Dean Shetty, who tried to convince Mallory to use the supe killing virus. Grace refused and then called a mysterious person to make sure they got the recording. That’s useful information for The Boys collective who could try and use that horrific virus for their own purposes in season four. 

Homelander Arrives at God U in a Bad Mood

The most powerful supe in the world showed up after Marie and Jordan stopped the woods prisoners massacre, but rather than greet them as heroes Homelander attacked Marie for murdering her own “kind.” The blast would have killed most people, but Marie survived and is now imprisoned with Andre, Jordan, and Emma. Meanwhile Vought CEO and potential felon Homelander made sure to have Cameron Coleman promote Cate and Sam as the real Guardians of Godolkin.

Butcher Stops by The Woods For a Foul-Mouthed Visit

Gen V‘s first season ended with a post-credits scene featuring the biggest supe-hater in the world, Billy Butcher. He appeared in the abandoned woods facility underneath Godolkin University. There he saw the horrific prison. Why was he there, though? What was he looking for? Butcher knows about the supe-killing virus created there, but Victoria Neuman has the only vials. Could Butcher be looking for a victim to find evidence of the virus? More information?

We’ll have to wait until The Boys season four to find out.

Originally published on September 29, 2023.

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Gen V’s sixth episode takes Marie, Andre, Jordan, and randomly Dusty on a trip inside Cate Dunlap’s mind. After she restores their memories, Cate goes into a seizure and her powers create a state that drags them into her head. They witness the moment that changed Cate’s life: when she commanded her brother to go away and he walked off to never return. Poor Cate wasn’t aware of her newly activated mind control powers. Their peeping is interrupted by the very unlikely presence of Soldier Boy, whom we got (uncomfortably) familiar with in The Boys season three. What is Soldier Boy doing in Gen V? Let’s get into his wacky and brief cameo.

Soldier Boy approaches the group and wants to know why these “greasy sack of f**knuts” are there. Of course, they recognize him and ask him why he is in Cate’s mind. Soldier Boy reveals that he was Cate’s imaginary friend/boyfriend from her childhood. This makes sense considering that Soldier Boy is aesthetically appealing and presented as a heroic figure. (We all know the truth about his actual antics.) The scene quickly goes left field as Soldier Boy opens up about how he taught Cate to masturbate, revealing some very weird information that she wouldn’t want her friends to know.

Soldier Boy recognizes Andre as Cate’s new f**kboy and admits that she really loves him. Andre and Jordan accuse him of being a Russian agent (thank you Vought for the false information). Soldier Boy denies it because he’s a red-blooded (not “Commie red”) American. He finally explains that Cate wants them in her brain for some reason and says they need to figure out why before they become trapped forever.

According to him, Cate’s brain is unraveling, as evidenced by several strong sparks in the atmosphere. He says they need to know one really important thing and never finishes his sentence. A strike of “lightning” burns him to a crisp, which encourages them to hurry up. Andre comments, “That guy was a dick, right?” and we certainly agree. Jensen Ackles is so good at being a terrible supe like Soldier Boy.

We spoke with Gen V showrunner Eric Kripke, who revealed that Jensen Ackles actually improvised a lot of his lines for the Soldier Boy cameo. For more on that conversation (and a little Taylor Lautner chatter), check out our interview.

So far, The Boys character cameos have been fun and nonsensical, with the exception of Ashley Barrett. While this technically wasn’t the real Soldier Boy, we know that he will likely return for more chaos in The Boys season four. Until then, we really hope that the God U crew doesn’t ask Cate about her childhood crush.

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Gen V’s sixth episode is an incredible mixed bag of revelation, heartbreak, a hot hookup, and a splash of humor thanks to Soldier Boy. Marie, Jordan, and Andre get more than they bargained for after ending up in the recesses of Cate’s mind. Their darkest secrets come to light and they leave with a deeper understanding of why Cate betrayed them. Now more than ever, the God U crew is a united front determined to take down Dean Shetty and her cohorts at all costs. We caught up with Gen V showrunner Eric Kripke and executive producer Michele Fazekas to chat about that Soldier Boy scene, the Taylor Lautner cameo that almost happened, creating Cate’s world, and much more. 

Nerdist: Gen V does a great job of capturing all the wonderful things we love about The Boys, but it also feels wholly unique. What were some of your guiding principles and goals when you started crafting this series? 

Eric Kripke: Thanks for saying that because it is very intentional. [The Boys and Gen V] need to live as their own shows that have their own reasons for being beyond money, you know? We were really scared of appearing like we were selling out… In The Boys, the superpowers are a metaphor for the broadest possible social issues. They’re metaphors for celebrity and authoritarianism and fascism, and so as we were developing [Gen V], we said we should continue to use those metaphors, but we should use them for what young people are going through, and their own specific character and psychological issues.

Buffy was a really inspiring show for me in my developmental years and the way it used the metaphor of high school as literally hell was really smart. The idea that these powers you have are both advantageous to you, but also that wounds that you’re carrying around, felt like a good way into this story.

Michele Fazekas: One thing I recognized very early was the heroes in Gen V would be the villains in The Boys, but we’re getting to them before they’ve been corrupted. And so we actually get to see that moment that everyone deals with in adolescence of, “What kind of person am I going to be? Now that I don’t have my parents telling me what to do, I get to decide what I want to do.” You see that very important moment in these kids’ lives, but they just happen to be superheroes.

And we definitely see a lot of important moments of growth and discovery in episode six. It really takes us into some dark places for all of the characters, but specifically for Cate because we get to live in her mind and see her past experiences in such an interesting way. What went into creating those sequences from a visual and a storytelling perspective?

Fazekas: From a storytelling perspective, we really liked the idea of looking at these key moments in Cate’s life and letting our characters live through them with her. These were the things that shaped who she is, that maybe tell you why she betrayed her friends in such a huge way. She’s not just evil, she had reasons, and this sort of brings you to who she is as a person, so you have maybe a better understanding of her.

And visually, it was a big undertaking. How do we show a world that is a dream world? It’s like the world is crumbling around her, but we’ve seen a lot of dream worlds. So I think the challenge is, how do you do it in a way that you don’t feel like I’ve seen it a million times? So it was a lot developed with our visual effects team… What will look cool? What will look unique?

It came together beautifully. Of course I have to ask about Soldier Boy! Can you talk about what went into the decision to bring him back and what was it like crafting the dialogue? Every word that comes out of his mouth is absolutely hilarious and on brand.

Kripke: Yeah, a lot of that is from Jensen [Ackles]. The part called for Cate’s imaginary crush to guide [the group] into her mindscape. In a very early draft of the script, it was Taylor Lautner. So [in the episode] it’s like, “Taylor Lautner, what are you doing here?” And then it’s, “Oh, I’m Cate’s crush and here’s the rules of the world,” and then he explodes.

I love it!

Kripke: I forget whether we even brought it to Taylor Lautner or, very wisely, he passed, but suddenly Taylor Lautner wasn’t on the table. And we were trying to get Soldier Boy into the spinoff and we said, “Well, this is actually the perfect spot because he can be alive and well in a dream sequence, whereas in the reality of the show, he’s unconscious in a CIA basement somewhere.”

And so I called him and I said, “You’re suiting up. We need you.” He was awesome as always. He was shooting this show, Big Sky, and he moved around his dates and came in. His only request was, “It needs to be funnier.” And I said, “Totally,” and I was actually going to be there in Toronto at the time anyway. So I’m like, “I will be on set, I will be standing next to the camera, and you and I will riff until you are happy.” 

It was one of the most fun days I’ve had on a set. He’s there, I’m right behind the camera, and we’re just rolling. And he’s like, “What if I say this?” I’m like, “Say it.” And then, “What if you say this?” We must’ve come up with 100 euphemisms for jerking off, and we’ve only used 10% of them. It was a blast because he’s so good at improv, he always has been, so it was just him and I throwing stuff back and forth and rolling film on it.

I love that. So what can fans expect from these final two episodes of Gen V?

Fazekas: …Everything races to a head and everyone’s been set on these paths, especially Cate, because Cate sort of breaks. And then her friends have to decide, what side are we going to be on here? Because sides are going to form. We had to set up something to launch us into season four of The Boys, and so we did that as well. There’s a handoff between our show and their show.

Oooh that’s so exciting! Can’t wait to see what happens next.

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Gen V’s fifth episode completely flips the series around with a wild reset. The end of episode four suggested some trickery was afoot as the “save Sam” sequence abruptly cut to Marie Moreau and Jordan Li in bed together. This proved to be true with the entire crew waking up at a wild party and not remembering anything about what happened the night. Even worse, they don’t remember anything about Sam nor the woods. It set them on the path towards Rufus, the psychic supe, because all signs pointed to his involvement. Rufus is disgusting, but he’s not the culprit behind their major setback. It turns out Cate Dunlap is deeply involved with Dean Shetty and covering up what’s happening in The Woods on Gen V. 

In the episode, Marie, Jordan, Andre, and Cate try to remember how they all ended up at a wild house party. Jordan notes they never black out and a whole day has gone by without any of them remembering it. Later on, Marie and Emma are confronted by Sam, who is much calmer than when they last saw him. The problem is, they don’t remember him at all. Sam tells Emma there are dangerous people at the school who don’t want them to know about him. He says he will find a way to fix it and leaves.

Marie and Emma catch up with the group again and Cate suggests Rufus is probably behind their memory loss. It’s a convenient lie considering Rufus is 1) a horrible predator and 2) mad at Marie for exploding his penis. Marie also discovers a tracker is embedded under her skin, which is likely true for the others. She goes to Cate to update her and Cate uses her mind control powers to make her forget. Of course, Marie isn’t able to expose Cate’s deception because she cannot remember anything (again). 

However, Cate isn’t straight up evil like Vought. She tearfully tells Dean Shetty she can’t keep lying and pretending to be someone she’s not. Cate says her friends will eventually figure it out and Dean Shetty simply apologizes for what’s going on. Meanwhile, Emma finds Sam, who reveals Cate made Luke forget Sam over and over again. Everything crashes together when Jordan and Marie find Rufus, who says he can’t manipulate anyone who isn’t physically close. Emma calls and reveals Sam is Golden Boy’s brother and Cate is behind it all. Andre shows up with Cate and he’s very angry, nearly killing Rufus before Cate admits her deception and restores his memories. He’s visibly heartbroken and calls her a monster before walking off. 

Despite the circumstances, it’s hard to not feel sorry for Cate Dunlap. She genuinely cares about Andre and the others and doesn’t take pleasure in manipulating them. It’s not clear why Dean Shetty chose Cate as her reluctant accomplice. It’s possible that there’s some part of Cate’s past that Dean Shetty is able to use as a bargaining chip. Maybe Cate has some kind of connection to the woods that Gen V will reveal soon. Either way, Cate knows something—if not everything—and the crew will have to get that information out of her. The good thing about Cate being a decent supe at her core is that she can still use her powers to help stop Dean Shetty’s nebulous plan. The plot continues to thicken in this quest to take down God U and The Woods.

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