Each season of The Boys always comes with a fair share of questions that need answers. This fifth and final season has been no different, with Butcher and Homelander’s years-long feud leading towards a massive fight for America’s freedom. To us, one of the biggest questions revolves around Soldier Boy and Homelander. This duo has quite the interesting relationship, as Soldier Boy goes along with Homelander’s quest to find V-One throughout this season. Homelander leans on him more than anyone at Vought, in the White House, or even the other Seven supes at this point.
For as long as we’ve known him, Soldier Boy never held back on his intense dislike of Homelander and even said that any V-One left needed to be destroyed. He knows that someone like Homelander having it is no good for anyone, yet Soldier Boy literally passes on the chance to take Homelander out in episode five. And, as we see in episode six, he gives Homelander the V-One because “that’s what Clara would’ve wanted.” Bro, what are you talking about?! Why won’t Soldier Boy and Homelander just kill each other?!
Of course, that would be a lot less fun for the series, narratively speaking. Homelander and Soldier Boy’s ongoing banter and, at times, disgust with each other is entertaining to watch. So obviously that’s a good reason to keep them around. But, let’s look at what’s going on between them this season.
In Soldier Boy’s case, he has something to gain from Homelander’s death, which Mr. Marathon and Malchemical both pointed out. He can be the leader of the Seven again and essentially control Vought as he sees fit, if that’s what he wants. Or, he could simply live in a world where he doesn’t have Homelander constantly annoying him and doing insane things every single day.
Without Homelander, Soldier Boy doesn’t have to continue to witness all of this weird fascist and pseudo-religious bulls**t that’s currently happening. Homelander and his team are making America less cool, indeed. Also, he is aware that Homelander’s dismissiveness towards Clara/Stormfront played a role in her death, and that Homelander slept with her as well. That’s plenty of reason to blast Homelander and take away his powers.
However, Soldier Boy has shown himself to have something deeper underneath that tough exterior. It’s clear that what happened at Fort Harmony affected him deeply, and perhaps he does have a longing for genuine connection with someone. He even shows Bombsight mercy and takes away his powers so he can live out his life with Golden Geisha. Homelander, for all his madness, does actually seem to care about Soldier Boy. His own father literally locked him into a chamber in episode four, yet he let him go because Soldier Boy was… sad. And yes, we know that Homelander is desperate for Soldier Boy’s approval and some semblance of love, but he’s also psychotic.
When it comes to Homelander, getting rid of Soldier Boy would certainly fit his ongoing method of dealing with detractors. At this point, anyone whom he even thinks is opposing him or standing in the way of his ascension to becoming America’s God is met with a swift death. He even took out Firecracker, who had been more devoted to him than ever. But, with Sage going MIA to help the Boys find Bombsight, the Deep being mostly useless, and the others dead on top of his relationship with Ryan being completely over, Homelander doesn’t have much to hold onto at this point. This is his last desperate and twisted claw to feel loved and validated, even though he basically has the country in his hands.
In episode six, Soldier Boy expressed to Homelander that he doesn’t deserve to live forever. So, even if he does have some affinity for him, the choice to give someone as dangerous as Homelander the V-One is nuts, at least on the surface level. Now, he will have to listen to Homelander yap and whine for eternity, it seems. Maybe he thought that if Homelander gets his immortality that he will finally find some happiness. If you ask showrunner Eric Kripke, it all makes sense in a very dysfunctional way.
“I think when Homelander had a perfect opportunity to kill Soldier Boy, but didn’t take it, Soldier Boy is kind of cocking his head a little bit at Homelander,” Kripke told Nerdist. “And they’re never going to hug and go play baseball, but there’s something about Homelander that awakens a little bit of a paternal instinct in Soldier Boy in the most dysfunctional, toxic way you can possibly present it. But he still has it. And so there’s a little part of him that’s becoming a little bit of a father to Homelander, which is bad news for everybody else.”
Does this mean that Soldier Boy will continue to be Homelander’s right hand man? Maybe. Now that Homelander has V-One in his veins (and let’s be honest, it’s not going to kill him), he’s going to be more unhinged than ever. Can Soldier Boy really sit back and witness that? Or will he end up deeply regretting his nonsense choice to make Homelander immortal? We will have to see as The Boys comes to an end.