The Boys season four is right around the corner and fans can once again expect a bloody and explosive ride. This upcoming season will have additional layers, thanks to everything that happened in Gen V’s first season, to build on all the chaos. Believe it or not, it has been two years since The Boys’ third season hit our TV screens. We always think a rewatch of The Boys is a good time; however, some folks ain’t got time for all that! Life is busy and there is a plethora of TV to watch at all times. So, here is everything important you need to remember from The Boys season three to be ready for season four.
The Introduction of Compound V24 a.k.a. Temp V
The Boys season three introduces Compound V24, a.k.a. Temp V. We wrote about it a TON but let’s recap. At the beginning of season three, Homelander is unraveling mentally because 1) his comrades are more popular than him after the Stormfront debacle 2) Starlight becomes his co-captain and 3) Butcher took his biological son Ryan to a safe location with Grace Mallory and refuses to tell him anything. Queen Maeve, the Boys, Starlight, and quite a few others want him dead.
In fact, Maeve visits Butcher, revealing there is a weapon that possibly killed Soldier Boy, who was basically the OG Homelander. She wants them to use it to kill Homelander and suggests that Butcher track down the Payback collective (the original Vought supe team) to find out more info. Maeve introduces him to Temp V, a drug that grants a normal person superpowers for 24 hours.
Butcher eventually takes it and, like Homelander, can laser his enemies. He also gets super strength. Hughie, who feels powerless next to Starlight and rejoins the Boys after discovering Victoria Neuman is the head-popping supe, swipes some of the drug and is able to teleport. Of course, all drugs have a side effect. We see some of that with Butcher’s sweats, black goo leaking from his ears, and upset stomach leading to green vomit. Starlight later discovers that if you take three to five doses of Temp V, it will kill you. She tells Butcher but he doesn’t inform Hughie of this truth, even though he pressures him into stopping Temp V.
Butcher’s usage of Temp V and partnering with Soldier Boy in an attempt to kill Homelander (more on that later) leads to a splinter in the group. Well, actually all of the Boys (including new member Starlight) hate Butcher for using the drug, putting Hughie in harm’s way, and just generally being an asshole. Going into season four, MM is the true leader of the Boys, as he should be.
The Red River Institute and Our First Glimpse Into Gen V
Poor Hughie. He spent a year working for the Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, hoping he could change the world with less violence before discovering the truth about Congresswoman Victoria Neuman. He witnesses Victoria’s conversation (and deadly fight) with Tony, an old friend who called her Nadia and said the world needed to know the truth about Red River. This leads Hughie to the Red River Institute, a group home for superpowered kids, many of whom killed their parents.
While looking at resident files, we see a girl named Marie M., whom we now know is the hemokinetic supe from Gen V. We didn’t see the Red River Institute long, but it turns out Nadia was living there for a while until…
Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Now VP Candidate) Is Stan Edgar’s Adopted Daughter
…Stan Edgar comes in and adopts Nadia as a teen. He basically uses her as his weapon at his disposal. This makes Hughie feel eve sicker about working for Victoria because he confided in her about Ryan’s location at Grace’s home. Speaking of her, she’s at the center of not one but two scandals. First, she made Victoria Neuman the head of the bureau after trying to save her from the infamous head-popping attacks she caused in the Congress. Grace wants to eliminate Victoria but, thanks to Butcher’s deadly encounter with Payback member Gunpowder, he wants to know all about what happened in Nicaragua with Soldier Boy first.
The CIA Nicaraguan Cold War Mission That Led to Soldier Boy’s Capture
After blackmail pressure from Butcher, Grace Mallory spills the tea that puts everything concerning Soldier Boy into focus. She explains Operation Charly, a CIA mission by Reagan to help Contra rebels fight the Russian-backed Sandinistas. She was in charge of trafficking Contra cocaine into the US and then using the profits to buy more weapons for the conflict.
In 1984, the CIA was gearing up for a fight during the Cold War but a wrench was thrown in Grace’s plans in the form of the Payback collective, led by Soldier Boy and including a younger Noir. Naturally, she wasn’t happy about ridiculous celeb supes getting in her way. A young Stan Edgar, then a Vought associate, explained that the company contracted with the government to fight the war against communism. He said it was a “trial run” for supes in the military, and she begrudgingly has to go along with it because her superior signed off on it.
It doesn’t take long for Payback’s hijinks to give away the soldier’s position. A ton of people die and Crimson Countess, Soldier Boy’s supe girlfriend, claims that the Russians killed him with some kind of super weapon and took his body.
The BCL Red Weapon Is Actually Soldier Boy
Of course, we eventually find out Soldier Boy was traded to the Russians by Vought/Payback and is still very much alive. The BCL Red weapon that she spoke of is actually Soldier Boy himself after all the experiments done on him. He can release a radiation-fueled particle beam that kills people and fries the Compound V in supe’s bodies. We see this when the Boys find him in Russia and his beam hits Kimiko, taking away her powers until Annie/Starlight gives her more Compound V.
The Story of Black Noir: His Payback Time and His Death at the Hands of Homelander
In the Nicaragua flashbacks, we see Black Noir prior to his head injury. He speaks with Stan Edgar about his displeasure at having to hide behind his mask all time. Ya know, because of racism and all. Later on, we discover that Black Noir was verbally and mentally abused by Soldier Boy, who even blocked him from trying to start an acting career. Noir came into agreement with Stan Edgar and Vought that Soldier Boy was doing too much and needed to be subdued.
During the aforementioned ambush, Payback attacked Soldier Boy; however, he got free and gave Noir a brutal face and brain injury. In the present, Noir takes out his tracker and goes on the run after discovering that Soldier Boy is back. (This is what sends the Deep and eventually Homelander to Vermont for Herogasm, which we will talk about later.) We learn his story through his imaginary cartoon friends. Sadly, Homelander kills him when he returns to Vought tower because he feels betrayed (will get into that more later, too.)
There’s a new Noir in the suit in season four, so we will have to see how things go.
Homelander Is on His Wildest Behavior
After Homelander loses his Nazi queen and snaps on live TV about being superior to the human race, he gains a strong following from a very certain type of person. (Do I really have to say it?) Starlight tries to pull the Flight 37 video out of her chamber to control him but he tells her to go ahead and use it. In fact, he threatens to take our several large government entities. He pressures her into playing as his girlfriend for the public and reinstating the Deep in the Seven. She sticks in there hoping that the Boys will get that supe-killing weapon, but fears for her life the whole way.
Homelander does so much wild stuff that we put it in this post for your enjoyment. Who can forget him making Deep eat a sea creature, him forcing a woman to die by suicide, or how he drank cow’s milk straight from the source?
Shenangians aside, he gains great power and becomes the leader of Vought after partnering with Victoria Neuman to betray her father. She does so to keep her daughter (and her own secret of being a supe) safe. In exchange, she gets Compound V from Homelander to give her daughter powers. He gets Deep to kill the VP nominee so she can take his place. As Stan predicts, he has no damn idea what he is doing and things begin to crumble. But he still has his awful core following, even after he lasers a Starlight supporter’s head off.
In Gen V, he makes a cameo after the big battle at Godolkin, lasering Marie without killing her. Vought locks up Marie and those on her side for being traitors. He brings Cate and Sam (the real chaotic ones) into the supe fold and they will be at Vought in some capacity in season four.
Homelander Is Soldier Boy’s Son
What a plot twist. Soldier Boy reveals to Homelander that he is his father, which makes Homelander even more unhinged and desperate. Soldier Boy’s own terrible relationship with his father led him to Vought experiments in the first place. But that doesn’t mean he wants to be Homelander’s daddy. There’s no father/son good feels between them during the big battle at Vought.
Soldier Boy Killed MM’s Grandfather
This season, we discover a huge reason why MM deals with depression, anxiety, and OCD. Soldier Boy is the supe who killed his grandfather when he was a kid. In Harlem, MM and his granddad woke up to Soldier Boy confronting a group trying to steal a car. He watches in admiration but Soldier Boy picks up the car and flings it at their home, killing his grandfather. This led to MM’s father obsessively pursuing justice (at the expense of their relationship) until he died from stress at his typewriter. The Soldier Boy mission is why MM decides to rejoin the Boys. It also makes things even worse when she discovers that Todd, his ex-wife’s new (white) boyfriend is a Homelander enthusiast. Thankfully, MM takes care of him in spectacular fashion.
MM comes face to face with Soldier Boy a couple times and, even though he isn’t a supe, he is still willing to fight him. He partners with Frenchie to get Novichok, a typically deadly neurotoxin that is strong enough to at least knock out Soldier Boy. He comes up with the plan to kill Soldier Boy before he murders everyone at Vought. Of course, a division comes with Maeve, Butcher, and Soldier Boy determined to use Soldier Boy to kill Homelander, even if it leads to many casualties.
With help, he is able to get Frenchie’s quickly made Novichak gas on Soldier Boy’s face, but it doesn’t quite work. He ends up going to his daughter Janine and tells her the truth about Soldier Boy and superheroes in general, which is cathartic for him. He wants her to know that he’s fighting for justice, just like her grandfather.
Ummm, Herogasm Happened
Whew. So, Soldier Boy, Hughie, and Butcher head to the sprawling home of the TNT Twins, who are having their annual supe orgy known as Herogasm. MM and Starlight, who are not down with this plan, head that way, too. They want to stop more deaths from happening, a rather futile attempt at morality in this situation. Everyone gets more than what they bargained for at this Vermont sex fest. MM has an unfortunate reunion with Love Sausage and gets a huge, um, finish all over him. Supes die. The Deep has intimate time with an octopus. Homelander escapes despite Soldier Boy and company’s best efforts.
It all ends with MM recording Starlight going live and condemning Homelander, Soldier Boy, and Vought. She formally announces that she’s done with the Seven. (At the end of the season, she gets rid of her suit and decides to simply be Annie, a member of the Boys.)
Homelander Finds His Son to Train Him in the Ways of Evildom
After finding out about Soldier Boy and Nicaragua, Butcher is enraged and breaks Ryan’s heart in the process. The boy didn’t want to let Butcher leave, so Butcher snapped at him to hurt his feels. Ryan’s eyes go lasery but he stops and says he hates Butcher. Eventually, Victoria Neuman gives Homelander the address to Grace Mallory’s to keep him on her side.
He easily takes Ryan after placating his guilt over hurting Stormfront in season two. Butcher tries to get Ryan back at the big Vought battle, but it is to no avail. Ryan chooses to leave with Homelander, calling him Dad. Ryan witnesses his father laser a man’s head off after he throws a plastic bottle. We can only assume that Homelander plans to train him in the ways of evildom.
Billy Butcher Is Sick and Weeks Away From Death
After warning Butcher about the Temp V side effects, he takes yet another dose in his relentless attempt to kill Homelander. It doesn’t work and a doctor’s visit reveals that Butcher only has about 12-18 months left to live. But that isn’t stopping him from still trying to kill supes. At the end of Gen V, he comes into the Woods, which means he knows about that supe-killing virus. We know Victoria has the goods, so he will have to catch up with the VP hopeful in season four.
Maeve Is Alive But Without Her Powers
We don’t get a ton of Maeve in this season but she still plays a key role. In addition to helping (and um, having) Butcher, she verbally eviscerated Homelander, and he along with Noir captures her. She’s locked up in a secret facility at Vought. Homelander says he will harvest her eggs and combine them with his DNA to create perfect super kids.
Thanks to Starlight shining a public light on Maeve missing, Ashley and Deep attempt to move her to another location but she escapes the transport. She makes it to MM’s place and reunites with Starlight for the final showdown. She sides with Butcher, choosing to attempt to kill Homelander versus Soldier Boy. In the end, Maeve tackles Soldier Boy and takes his blast directly on. She saves all our faves but losing her powers. (She also lost an eye in a fight with Homelander.) Vought reports her as a sacrificial lesbian heroine and condemns “Russian terrorist” Soldier Boy. But she’s actually alive and living quietly with her girlfriend, which Ashley is aware of.
Soldier Boy Is in Government Custody (Again)
When the Boys “release” Soldier Boy, he is shocked to find a new world with the Seven as its heroes. He somehow makes his way to Manhattan and starts causing a ruckus. It isn’t long before goes to the Legend, picks up his suit, kills Crimson Countess in retaliation, and constantly makes inappropriate comments. Soldier Boy basically wants help with finding and killing the remainder of Payback, so he’s down to kill his Vought successor. The Homelander killing plan doesn’t work out at Herogasm and things go awry at Vought when Soldier Boy is willing to kill Ryan. He tries to do one big blast but Maeve tackles him out of a window. Now, he’s in custody under the watchful eye of Grace Mallory.
In addition to ALL that info, here’s some Gen V intel to make sure you’re ready for The Boys season four on June 13: