In many ways, The Boys is a show that is extremely American. Of course, the ideas are universal, but it’s a show about superheroes, an art form that the US developed and may excel at. The drama also looks at capitalism’s almost limitless power to control and corrupt, a theme that feels very American these days.
Although the show has a strong American flavor to it, some of the key characters are immigrants. Billy Butcher, portrayed by Karl Urban, has a distinct accent, although your own accent may impact where you think he’s from.
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In Amazon’s The Boys, the captain of the titular team’s past is radically altered. One of the major alterations in the program was Billy Butcher and his wife, Becca, who in the show survived giving birth to a super-powered kid despite dying in the novels.
So, who is Billy Butcher, and what do we know about him? Let’s have a look.
Billy Butcher’s Tragic Backstory
The Boys was initially released in 2006 under the Wildstorm line of DC Comics. It was terminated after six issues, purportedly due to DC Comics’ discomfort with printing something so diametrically opposed to their superhero-centric line. Thankfully, DC Comics returned the rights to the characters and premise to authors Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and gave Robertson (who was under contract with DC Comics at the time) special permission to continue working on The Boys when Dynamite Entertainment picked it up. The monthly comic ran for 72 issues and four tie-in mini-series until November 2012 with 72 issues and four tie-in mini-series.
It’s unknown why the narrative of Billy and Becca Butcher was modified for The Boys’ performance. The alteration was probably designed to surprise individuals who had read the comics, giving them an incentive to keep watching the show. Another explanation for the adjustment might be that the showrunners want to avoid overused comic book cliches. Becca Butcher’s death in the comics is a perfect example of what is often described as “fridging” in this situation.
Fridging is a term coined after the infamous incident in Green Lantern #54 in which Green Lantern Kyle Rayner returned home to find his girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, had been killed and stuffed in their refrigerator by a supervillain. It refers to any time a female character in a comic book dies for no other reason than to advance a male character’s storyline. In this scenario, Alexandra had to die to educate Kyle Rayner the importance of his newly acquired superpowers.
So let us look at Billy Butcher’s origin story as seen in the comics. William Butcher was the older brother of Leonard “Lenny” Butcher and the son of Samuel and Carol Atkins-Butcher. The Butcher children, who grew up in London’s East End, often spent their evenings listening to their father beat their mother over petty quarrels. Billy grew to dislike his father as a result of the beatings and became closer to his mother and her family. Billy began behaving out at school due to his difficult home situation, from getting into fights to calling instructors nasty names. After a few years of this sort of conduct that Billy had taken after him and his way of life, Samuel knew something Billy had fought hard to avoid.
Billy planned to murder his father one night, but Lenny intervened. After the event, Billy informed Lenny that he intended to join the Royal Marines. Billy joined the Marines at a young age, inspired by his grandpa on his mother’s side, and served in the 1982 Falklands War.
Butcher’s first experience of killing came during combat on Mount Kent when he wiped out a small foxhole of Argentina forces after members of his battalion were slain. Butcher was booted out of the Royal Marines after a bar brawl not long after the Falklands War ended. When Billy returned to the East End to see his mother and brother, he got into yet another bar brawl, which seriously injured both of his eyes.
Billy met a lady called Becky Saunders on the metro the day after his most recent bar brawl. After Saunders remarked that Butcher’s two black eyes reminded him of a panda, the two began up a discussion, which they continued over drinks after getting off the train. Becky listened to Billy recount his parents’ terrible relationship over lunch a week later, and Billy told her she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Following this meal, the two began a romantic relationship.
Becky urged Carol to leave Samuel for good at supper with Billy, Becky, Lenny, and Carol. Carol agreed, and they headed to Samuel’s house to confront him. Billy proposed to Becky after assisting his mother in escaping his father (and nearly battling him in the process). Becky happily said yes, and their wedding took place later.
When Billy’s brother Lenny was murdered by a bus in 1986, his life took a turn for the worst. Despite his grief at his brother’s death, Billy moved on with his life and eventually found work in construction. Billy and Becky finally went on a week-long vacation to Miami, Florida. The two came across The Seven during their journey, a superhero team who had recently saved the planet from a monster.
Becky was raped by a member of The Seven soon before they were to return to London, unbeknownst to Billy at the time. Billy was under the impression that he had done something wrong to her, and he was concerned that they were drifting apart. Becky was killed three months after returning from Florida when a super-powered foetus ripped its way out of her body while the two were asleep. Billy leapt from his bed and crushed the baby with a desk lamp. So as you can see, there is no Ryan in the comics as well.
Billy was taken in for interrogation by detectives after contacting the authorities, who instantly recognized that superhuman activity was involved. Billy was approached by a guy named Greg Mallory, who offered Billy a hidden journal written by Becky after fighting one of the investigators who wanted Billy to lie about the official account. Billy realized that the Homelander was responsible for raping Becky via the journal’s contents, and she kept it a secret from Billy out of fear that his bloodlust might return and he would perish trying to kill the superhero.
Mallory told Butcher that he could teach him how to exact vengeance on Homelander, but it would be a lengthy procedure that would take years to accomplish. Billy agreed to Mallory’s proposal. Butcher’s first task was to kill the super-occupants of a huge lodge in the woods as part of his “training.” Billy slaughtered everyone inside the home with ease, thanks to abilities he learned while serving in the Royal Marines.
After that, Billy and Mallory would recruit others, such as Mother’s Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female, to join their cause of “keeping superheroes in check” throughout time. Each member of this squad called “The Boys” by Billy was given a dose of Compound V, a serum that gave certain superheroes their abilities. This version of “The Boys” split somewhere between late 2001 and early 2002.
Billy’s preparations for revenge against The Homelander, which had been set up years before, began to come together during this newest version of “The Boys.” years later, Billy would be in charge of reuniting “The Boys,” this time with the addition of Hugh “Wee Hughie” Campbell, a man who had a loved one slain as a result of the “supes.” Billy’s methods had gotten more vicious by this point, as seen by his deployment of a modified version of Compound V to murder an entire warehouse of over 150 European-based heroes simultaneously.
Now I won’t be completing his story arc as it might give out spoilers for the show’s fans. Speaking about the show, let’s talk about Billy Butcher from Amazon’s The Boys.
Billy Butcher was virtually the same character in Amazon’s The Boys as he was in the comics, as played by Karl Urban. As the program began, the only apparent modifications to his past were that Becca Butcher was a marketing executive with Vought International rather than a social worker and that she vanished suddenly rather than being killed. While their friends and relatives assumed that Becca had left Billy to start a new life elsewhere, Butcher began to suspect that the Homelander had raped his wife and that Vought International had murdered her to keep what had happened a secret.
Another drastic change is that Butcher grabbing Compound V is one of the most essential takeaways from Season 3. Some fans are concerned that this would significantly alter the show’s powerless heroes, but comic book enthusiasts know that The Boys have always had powers in the comics. It looks like a clash with the indomitable Homelander is on the horizon.
Butcher in the show appears to have comparable powers as Homelander, which is a significant enhancement. His abilities were the usual fare of super-strength and durability in the comics. While these are obviously handy, they are not capable of defeating Homelander in a one-on-one fight.
Another Important character missing from Butcher’s life in the show is Terror, Butcher’s lovely Pet bulldog. Terror was introduced to us in Season 2. He’s adorable, yet Butcher has given him a “F*ck” command that drives him to perform nefarious things. In the comics, this dog was a full-fledged Boy. I don’t mean his gender; I mean he was one of “The Boys”. He was a full-size combat dog rather than a pet.
He was presumably upgraded as well, considering his ability to bite pieces out of supes. There will most likely be no combat from Terror in the show. That’s a relief because it presumably saves him from death in the comic version that too in the hands of The Homelander. No, No, not in this one. We will talk about this in another video only if you want us to.
What Makes Billy Butcher So deadly?
Recently in the show, Butcher has injected himself with a vial of V24 given to him by Maeve, allowing him to gain incredible superhuman strength as evidenced by his ability to send Gunpowder flying into a vehicle with a single blow. He has also achieved superhuman toughness, as shown by the fact that Gunpowder’s bullets did not even graze his flesh. Butcher can also create golden heat energy with his eyes.
These energy blasts are proven to be extremely powerful, as they quickly cleave Gunpowder’s head in half and cut straight through the automobile behind him, fully dividing it in two. I would compare his heat vision less with Superman or Homelander and more with X-Men’s Cyclops. Maybe because of the way Butcher is unable to control it.
Now in the comics, Compound V increased Butcher’s physical strength. As a result, he could easily lift a grown man and knee him in the crotch with enough power to impair his performance. He shattered a handgun in his bare hands and one-shot the Teenage Kix commander with a single headbutt. He effortlessly snapped another man’s arm while holding Shout Out above with one hand.
He knocked another man unconscious by slamming his head against a brick wall. With his trademark weapon, the crowbar, he can punch a hole through a computer display and one-shot a Supe. Butcher also chewed off Soldier Boy’s nose and used his belt to break Crimson Countess’s neck, something which won’t be shown in the show I am pretty sure of. Butcher is an exceptional fighter. He is extremely powerful in fighting, both physically and psychologically. As seen by several demonstrations throughout the comic series, he is also an extremely accurate marksman; also, his IQ is gifted.
Interesting Fact The Boys Fan Must Know About Billy Butcher
Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the creators of The Boys, have both worked on key Marvel storylines, most notably those involving The Punisher. While neither has directly acknowledged that Punisher/Frank Castle was an inspiration for Billy Butcher, the similarities between the two are remarkable, especially with the comic-book version of Butcher, who gets crueler with time.
Ennis began his run with the Marvel vigilante with the one-shot Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe, in which Frank Castle targets all major Marvel superheroes while his family is killed in a fight between the X-Men and the Avengers. Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker #4’s cover also features a subtle homage to Castle’s skull logo, which appears on a passerby’s sleeveless jacket.
Another interesting fact from The Boys comic series is that The Butcher becomes a villain in the end. Not that surprising, right? Judging from his nature and all. However, I am not quite sure how much of that will be adapted in the Show.
Butcher has recently gained superpowers in the show but it is still unclear to us the nature of his powers or for how long they will stay with him. We have seen him disintegrate Gunpowder with ease but won’t he be coined as a hypocrite by his teammates when they find out? We will have to watch and find out as the series continues.
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