The Boys

For the television series, see The Boys (TV series). For the comics, see The Boys (Comic Series).

For the Dynamite version of the team, see The Boys/Comics.

“

I got the Boys back together.

”

The Boys are the titular anti-heroic main protagonists of The Boys comic series and its corresponding Amazon television series. Their name is derived from a British Cockney slang term for a gang or posse that dispenses street justice; "When you need someone hurt, you send The Boys after them."

They are a team of vigilantes under the CIA with the mission of bringing down Vought International and The Seven, its elite superhero team, by any means necessary. The group was first founded by Grace Mallory and its first lineup included Billy Butcher, Frenchie and Mother's Milk. However, after their activities resulted in the deaths of Mallory's grandchildren, she gave up on hunting Supes and disbanded The Boys.

Five years later, Butcher decided to reform the group after discovering a lead on The Seven through Hughie Campbell, prompting him to reunite with his old teammates, recruit both Hughie and Kimiko into The Boys, and restart their war with The Seven and Vought.

Plot[]

Season 1[]

Thanks to Translucent's intel, The Boys learn about A-Train's relationship with Popclaw and begin spying on the duo. Their investigations into the two Supes eventually lead the gang to discover the existence of Compound V, a serum created by Vought that gives the Supes their powers. Along the way, they encounter a Japanese Supe named Kimiko, who gained her powers as part of a scheme to create superpowered terrorists and later joins them after Frenchie befriends her. Hughie also forms a sexual relationship with Starlight, a heroic member of The Seven who is unaware of his activities with The Boys.

In an attempt to find out more about Kimiko, Frenchie and M.M. ask the Supe Mesmer to use his powers on her. Unfortunately, this backfires when Mesmer rats them out to Homelander, resulting in them all becoming wanted fugitives and leading Butcher to furiously beat Mesmer to death for his treachery. Although Vought is later able to capture the entire team except for Butcher, Starlight, who now knows the truth about Hughie and sympathizes with his ideology, shows up to save them, allowing The Boys to escape and go underground. Meanwhile, Homelander kills Madelyn Stillwell for her lies, frames Butcher for her murder, and takes him to see his wife Becca, who is revealed to be alive and having spent the last eight years raising Ryan Butcher, a child she conceived when Homelander raped her, in secret.

Season 2[]

Hughie and Starlight are able to successfully expose the existence of Compound V to the public. Butcher also manages to find out where Becca is being held with Mallory's help, although he neglects The Boys while doing so. However, after Black Noir attacks the team and nearly kills Hughie, Butcher blackmails him into backing off and takes back control of The Boys once more.^[1]

Following Butcher's return, The Boys discover the existence of the Sage Grove Center, a psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania that acts as a front for Vought's illegal experiments with Compound V, and begin working with Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, who publicly opposes Vought and schedules a congressional hearing against the corporation for its various crimes. After a head-popping Supe attacks the hearing and kills Jonah Vogelbaum, Shockwave, and multiple others, The Boys are officially deputized as CIA operatives by Mallory. Unbeknownst to any of them, however, Neuman is the head-popping Supe and a spy for Vought within the American government, having manipulated Mallory and The Boys for her own ends.

When Homelander and Stormfront kidnap Ryan, Becca comes to Butcher for his help. Hughie and Starlight use intel given to them by A-Train to leak Stormfront's real identity as a Nazi to the public. The Boys are ultimately able to rescue Ryan and also critically injure Stormfront, who is disavowed from The Seven and incarcerated. Following Stormfront's defeat, Mallory is also able to get all charges against The Boys dropped, allowing them to go back to their old lives.

Season 3[]

Over the next year, The Boys, except for M.M., continue to work as contractors for the FBSA until Hughie discovers that Neuman is the head-popping Supe and gives Butcher the green light to go back to their old ways of sabotaging Vought and The Seven. The Boys are initially united in their efforts to locate a Russian anti-Supe weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy and might be able to kill Homelander. However, the team starts to fracture when M.M, Frenchie, and Kimiko discover that Butcher and Hughie have been secretly taking V24, a temporary version of Compound V that gives humans superpowers for 24 hours. Butcher and Hughie justify using V24 as a way of ensuring their victory, while the others worry it will corrupt their goals and make them hypocrites. Even worse, Soldier Boy turns out to be alive and nearly kills Kimiko by negating her powers, taking her out of commission and turning her back into a normal human. This defeat, along with a number of disagreements, prompt M.M, Frenchie, and Kimiko to leave the group when The Boys return home to America, although M.M later reluctantly rejoins Butcher and Hughie when Soldier Boy accidentally causes a massacre in New York.

Running out of both time and options, Butcher and Hughie track down Soldier Boy and offer him a deal; they'll help him get payback on Payback and in return, he'll help them kill Homelander. Although Soldier Boy agrees to this partnership, it strains Hughie's relationship with Starlight and costs Butcher M.M.'s loyalty, causing The Boys to split in two. Despite their disagreements, both factions eventually wind up in Vermont, where the TNT Twins are hosting the annual Herogasam Event. Things ultimately go out of control when Homelander arrives at Herogasm to fight and kill Soldier Boy; in the ensuing battle, Homelander is brutally overpowered by Butcher and Soldier Boy (with Hughie serving as support), and narrowly escapes death by flying away before Soldier Boy can use his radiation burst attack on him. The Boys then depart Herogasm, but not before Starlight exposes Homelander's true nature to the world through a live-streamed video and quits The Seven for good.

Meanwhile, Frenchie waits with Kimiko to recover from her encounter with Soldier Boy. When she awakens, Kimiko is overjoyed to discover her powers have been nullified and hopes to live a normal life with Frenchie. However, Little Nina is unhappy with the damage they caused in Russia and demands Frenchie repay her with another hit. When Frenchie doesn't, Nina kidnaps Frenchie, Kimiko and Cherie. Kimiko frees herself and brutally kills Nina's guards before Nina flees the area. The three treat their wounds in the hide-out with Kimiko depressed that even without the V she's still a "monster". The duo do eventually regroup with M.M and Starlight to help them fight against Soldier Boy. Frenchie and M.M analyze the Russian experiments to determine Soldier Boy's weakness, while Kimiko asks Starlight to get her some Compound V to regain her powers. When Annie retrieves the Compound V, to her horror, she learns that V24 is lethal if taken in multiple doses.

Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy continue their hunt for Payback's remaining members, leading them to Mindstorm. Although Solder Boy succeeds in killing Mindstorm, Hughie grows concerned when he learns Soldier Boy isn't as admirable as he portrays himself to be. Annie's warning of V24's lethality combined with Butcher's growing concern for Hughie's safety leads him to abandon Hughie and continue alone with Soldier Boy. Hughie is picked up by Annie and they regroup with Frenchie, M.M, Queen Maeve and Kimiko to decide how to proceed. They initially plan to intercept Butcher and stop Soldier Boy, however, the members are betrayed by Queen Maeve when she decides that Homelander is a bigger threat than Soldier Boy. Butcher then imprisons the Boys while he, Queen Maeve and Soldier Boy venture to the The Seven Tower to confront Homelander. The three standoff against Homelander, with the latter pleading with Soldier Boy to join him, meeting only refusals. The fight changes when Homelander involves Ryan in the fight. Soldier Boy and Butcher begin to fight with Butcher defending Ryan while Soldier Boy clings to the original plan of killing Homelander by any means. Butcher is backed by the others after they freed themselves from their prison. Frenchie and Kimiko work to create Novichok, Soldier Boy's one weakness, while the others hold him off in the meantime. When the Novichok is created, The Boys restrain Soldier Boy in an attempt to incapacitate him. Soldier Boy refuses to be taken captive again and charges up his most devastating blast yet. Maeve then tackles Soldier Boy out the window and saves them all. After the destruction, Butcher is diagnosed with a terminal illness due to his V24 use, the presumed dead Maeve announces her retirement with Elena, and The Boys welcome Annie as their newest member. Their celebration is interrupted with a TV broadcast that announces Victoria Neuman as the new Vice President Nominee, and The Boys resolve to focus on taking down Victoria.