The Boys Season 4 is Running Off Into Uncharted Waters With Its New Villain
After two seasons revolving around saving him from Homelander, the new bad guy for Amazon Prime Video's The Boys seems to be Ryan – the son of Billy Butcher's late wife, Becca.
In a show that's already taken a lot of liberties from the comic source material, fans are officially in uncharted waters.
In the comics, Becca does have a son, but with a wildly different storyline. In the middle of the night, the unborn Supe smashed out of Becca's body, killing her instantly. It flew around the room, lasering everything in sight. Butcher grabs a lamp and is forced to beat the child to death.
The show took a far more heartfelt approach.
When Billy finally found Becca after years of assuming her dead, she was revealed to have had a son with Homelander. Butcher has some inner turmoil on whether to escape with the Supe child or leave him behind. After Becca's pleading, he accepts Ryan.
In the Season 2 finale, Ryan shoots Stormfront with a vicious laser blast from his eyes, accidentally killing his mother – Butcher's wife – in the process. Butcher honors his promise to his wife and watches the child for Season 3. But in a fit of rage, he berates Ryan for killing his wife, pushing him into the arms of Homelander.
In the final shot of Season 3, we see Ryan proudly standing in front of his blood father – who just laser-eyed a civilian.
There are two theories of what will happen. One is that Butcher will eventually convince Ryan to come back to him, eventually battling Homelander. The other is that Ryan will develop into the same egotistical villain that his father is, turning into the show's next big bad. Either way, Season 4 will begin with Ryan opposite Butcher.
Whatever happens, we are absolutely in uncharted waters.
Fans have expressed that they'd love to read the comics but want to avoid spoilers; fans of the comics have said that there's not much to spoil. The show has taken wildly different turns from the comics, meaning it's hard for fans to theorize where the show might go.
Most fans like that the show has diverged from the comics. While the comics had a great base of ideas (on which the show has been based), fans argued that they didn't have much substance. They said it tried to be too edgy and came off cringey.
Because there's no precedent of Ryan joining Homelander in the comics, fans will have to wait until the Season 4 premiere in 2023 before any theories are confirmed.