Unquestionably, Butcher’s butchery knew no limitations when it came to eliminating supes. Although he was employed by the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, he continued to act at his whim and frequently went against established protocol and rules.
You know, Butcher’s fixation with eliminating Translucent in the first season was almost nauseating. In essence, Butcher behaved like a specific cruel and self-centered god who just used people rather than trying to help them. Because Butcher had the biggest gripe with Homelander, he enlisted the help of Hughie, Frenchie, and Mother’s Milk, persons who had also lost a loved one as a result of the supes.
Butcher was not the only one forced to follow this path to his demise; the others were also compelled to do the same. In retrospect, Butcher was no less the monster she set out to eliminate than Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones.
If we live long enough to see ourselves turn into the villain, I suppose we truly die a hero. And by the end of The Boys comics, Butcher has transformed into a bloodthirsty villain. Let us find out how.
Killing Mother’s Milk
While we are still trying to cope up with the ending of the third season of The Boys, the comics had a different arc altogether. In the show, we know that it was Homelander who assaulted Butcher’s wife, Becca, and that’s what started Butcher’s crusade against supes, especially Homelander. However, in the comics, it was actually Black Noir who assaulted poor Becca.
Black Noir was Homelander’s clone, who often dawned the latter’s costume to commit horribly despicable acts of sadism and pure evil. When things go out of hand for Black Noir, he reveals this secret and ends up murdering Homelander. But the battle was tense and Black Noir sustained several injuries. Butcher took advantage of the silent ninja’s wounds, and killed him in cold blood, thereby exacting his revenge.
But you see, the thing about revenge is that it is hardly fulfilled, ever! Naturally, Butcher’s thirst for revenge and bloodshed was not quenched even after Black Noir’s death and he wanted more, a lot more. In order to carry forward his crusade against supes, he decided that each an every supe on the face of mother earth should be eliminated, irrespective of their allegiance and them being good or bad.
He didn’t care if these supes were innocent children or outright villains. In fact, Hughie confronted Butcher about his plan and said that killing all the supes would be like the Nazis killing the Jews. To this, Butcher replied that it would be like the Jews killing the Nazis. However, there was a difference here, according to analogy, the Jews were going to kill all Germans, women, children, and the elderly.
In Issue #68 of The Boys Comics, Hughie talks about a special kind of Compound V from Russia that exploded people’s heads if the detonation frequency was achieved. Furthermore, according to his intel, Butcher had almost a hundred and eighteen metric tonnes of that stuff, enough to kill all the supes of the world and still surplus would remain to bathe in that crap. The Boys immediately swing into action to figure out Butcher’s whereabouts and that of this head-exploding Compound V.
It wasn’t before long that Butcher met Mother’s Milk, who was investigating the safehouses where Butcher could have kept all of the twisted Compund V. However, when MM confronted Butcher about his diabolic plan, a fight broke out between the two. Initially, MM easily overpowered Butcher and would have taken the Irish man down, had it not been for the grenade that Butcher detonated near MM’s face. MM took some serious injuries, but was still breathing. Displaying utter evil nature, Butcher went on to strangulate MM, hence ending his friend’s life, once and for all.
Killing Frenchie And The Female (Kimiko in TV Series)
In the sixty-ninth issue of the comics, the worst comes to life as Butcher once again shows just how demented he had become. So, in this issue, Hughie and Frenchie came to the conclusion that it wasn’t possible for Butcher to pump the head-exploding Compound V into the millions of supes, not unless he was able to turn the liquid into some form of gas that could be easily inhaled by the supes.
But they also knew that Butcher wasn’t a biochemist, and achieving such a feat would be impossible for him alone. Naturally, he had to be working with someone smart. When all doors closed for the duo, they thought that it could be Vogelbaum, who could be helping Butcher, either intentionally or under pressure. Hughie reaches Vogelbaum’s only to find him long dead and all his notes gone.
Butcher called to confirm that it was he, who wiped the place clean. Hughie left the place disheartened and unsure of what to do next, which is when he called Frenchie. The two of them were talking about the issue at hand, when Frenchie heard something ticking. Upon inspection, he discovered a bomb in his apartment, and Frenchie was sure that it was Butcher’s doing.
Time had run out, and he knew that an attempt to escape with his beloved, The Female, aka Kimiko, would be futile. He then goes up to her, holds her in her arms, and expresses his love for the first time in the comics. The bomb then detonates, killing the two of them, while Hughie was close enough to get rocked by the impact.
Hughie found himself devastated at what Butcher had done, how he killed all those who cared for him, worked with him. MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko were not just a part of The Boys, they weren’t just Butcher’s colleagues, but his friends, his true friends. However, Butcher was blinded by his rage and obsession to kill the supes. Now, it was not difficult for Hughie to realize that he was the only one who could stop Butcher from executing his plan.
How Does Billy Die?
With everyone gone, Hughie found himself battling with an inner demon. I mean, the poor dude had lost his girlfriend, his friends, basically everyone he ever held dear. And now, he was supposed to take down his mentor, who was definitely more than a match for petit Hughie. Yet, Hughie’s determination was the only trait that was strongest in him when compared to the rest of The Boys. One thing led to another and Hughie found himself with Butcher atop the Empire State Building. Their verbal exchange pushed Hughie to run into Butcher with the intention of taking him down below.
But as we know, Hughie is not really the kind of person who wins a physical fight. He missed Butcher and broke the window, but Butcher caught him just before he could fall to his death. However, Butcher couldn’t hold on to Hughie for long and the two of them fell from the towering building. Hughie’s leg got slashed by the fencing, while Butcher ended up paralyzed below his neck.
Somehow, Hughie managed to break the sharp fence and fell to the ground; sitting across Butcher, the two of them spoke about the things they had done and reminisced the sequence of events that led them to the situation they were presently in. Butcher realized that this was the end for him, and he wanted Hughie to end it for Butcher. However, Hughie was someone who didn’t take pleasure in killing, not even if the person he was slaying was the murderer of his girlfriend. And here, it was Butcher, his mentor, his friend.
But Butcher was someone who knew exactly how to get things done, right? When simple requests failed, Butcher tried other tactics like goading Hughie into finishing him off. Butcher ultimately succeeded when he spoke shit about Hughie’s parents. Losing all his cool and calm temperament, Hughie pulled out the steel pipe from his thigh and stuck it into Butcher’s chest, only for Butcher to go off in peace, smiling.
If you think about it, there was some kind of poetic justice in what Hughie had just done. He was the only one left from The Boys, and only one who didn’t wish for the supes to die unnecessarily. All he wanted was for the bad supes to be taught a lesson, to be punished. It was fitting that he was the one to end the mess once and for all.
Will The Show Follow The Comics?
Well, as far as the show is concerned, it follows the basic storyline as the comics where Butcher is going against Homelander with everything that he has. Having said that, there exist way too many stark differences between the two piece of work. For instance, in the show, Black Noir is no clone of Homelander, and has a rather pitiful backstory, there have been several gender reversals for major characters, etc. Yet, Butcher seems to be following the path in the comics because he has alienated himself from everyone in The Boys.
He went so far as to join hands with Soldier Boy, someone who is MM’s archenemy. Furthermore, Butcher made it extremely clear to Queen Maeve in one of the scenes that he wanted all the supes dead. Now that Amazon Prime has confirmed a fourth season for The Boys, I think the creators will follow a similar arc as in the comics, at least as far as Butcher is concerned. He’s been on a path of self-destruction from the get go, and it is highly unlikely that Butcher will stop anytime soon. In his own words, with great power, Butcher had ensured that he had turned into a hunt, or something rhyming that starts with a C.