The Boys, an Amazon Prime TV series, has wrapped up its third season with the strongest climax conceivable in episode eight. One could never have predicted all the turns that occurred, and it appears that there will be many more in the story to come.
Beware of Spoilers before continuing, as we will be revealing every detail from the Season three episodes. The two epic combat scenes that close episode eight are the only significant character changes. The rest of them survive, but Black Noir perishes at Homelander’s hands after admitting that he had been keeping all of the details regarding Soldier Boy from him.
Due to the V-24 he had been injecting into himself to combat Homelander, William Butcher has cancer and only has a few months to live. This does not alter him in the slightest, though, as he tells the doctor to Fuck off and lights up his cigarette. He declares that Victoria Neuman must be removed after he and The Boys learn that she has been appointed vice president, indicating that they will all now pursue Victoria after the season made it clear how cruel and devious she could be.
Annie, aka Starlight, who is now a member of The Boys and poses a threat to Hughie, was threatened by Victoria earlier in the season. We will make predictions about what will happen in season four with William Butcher using all the information from season three.
The TV series has made quite a number of changes from the comics. Like how they elaborated Black Noir’s character instead of making him a clone of Homelander like in the comics and with Soldier Boy. These changes were undoubtedly successful in preserving the undying thrill of this controversial series and might also be the same with William Butcher. William Butcher in the comics is a cunning CIA agent who is ruthless in killing supes.
He hates them from the core of his heart. William grew up in a lot of turmoil and had a troubled childhood with his alcoholic and abusive father. Although the comics had a different set of events, the TV series gave us a glimpse of William’s past when he was under the control of the Superhero and ex-Payback member, Mindstorm. The only good phase that William experienced was with his wife Becka, whose life was ruined by Homelander and Vought.
Towards the end of the comics, Butcher becomes the worst version of himself and goes on the mission of killing every Superhero on the planet, and this is exactly what he might be doing in season four, as now he only has a few months to live. From his final words in episode eight, it is clear that he will now be going for Vice-president Victoria Neuman, who is also a supe and has been popping heads in season two and three, but will he forgive Homelander?
To be unbiased, most of the damage caused in season 3 has been because of Williams’s decision to ally with Soldier Boy, which in the end proved catastrophic for him. This might also make him believe that no superhero could be trusted. Going back to the comics, William’s wife died after a supe baby tore its way out of her body. The baby was an outcome of Homelander’s sexual assault on his wife, about which she had always kept quiet.
Unbeknownst to William, it was Black Noir who had raped his wife, and throughout the comics, he tried to seek ways to take revenge from Homelander.Later when Black Noir’s true identity was revealed, he cracked open Black Noir’s skull with a crowbar. After killing the Superhero who raped his wife, Butcher felt worse and decided to wipe off every single Superhero from the planet in hopes of never letting any of them hurt innocents. This also might be the similar case for William Butcher in the TV- series.
Although it’s hard making predictions for the TV series, William’s traits cannot be overlooked. He is vindictive and a damaged man. He lost Becka and also failed to keep his promise of taking care of Ryan and this might trigger him to start purging the planet of superheroes. William dies in the comics, and so will he in the Tv series, leaving us with the question, “What will he be doing in his final days?” especially when he is aware of his terminal illness.
When someone is aware of their soon-to-arrive death he/she will definitely move towards completing the tasks that are left to be done, and for William, it is undoubtedly, killing Homelander. Earlier with the temp V in his blood, he still seemed to have a chance, but now that it’s not possible he will be doing the same thing he did in the comics. In the comics, he developed a bomb with the help of Vogelbaum which could create a cloud of explosive compound V strain capable of killing millions of superheroes if dialed to a particular frequency.
This was, however after the death of Homelander and Black Noir in the comics, but in the TV series, he might as well do it for Homelander and other powerful superheroes like Victoria Neuman. Ryan has taken sides with Homelander and might be a problem for William as he has a weak spot for him. In the comics, William Butcher killed the baby born out of Becca and he might also end up killing Ryan in the TV series which might make his depression more complicated than ever. This has been the best part about the series as it portrayed several shades of darkness in literally every character.
Throughout the series William had often been compared to his heartless father which did get him upset as he hated him and blamed him for the death of his brother Lenny but there is still has a part of him inside. He can be ruthless and can compromise anyone’s life for his mission and motives, which gives us a stronger hint that he might not stop himself from killing Ryan in season four.
William’s character is second best in the series after Homelander and all these predictions do have a significant chance of happening in season four. In all cases, waiting for season 4 is going to be tough as ‘The Boys’ have surely changed the scenario for superhero movies, and it’s a hit in a period where every other comic book adaptation have started traveling the multiverse.