This Crucial Change In Butcher's Character In The Boys Season 4 Could Alter His Comic Book Fate

This post contains spoilers for "The Boys" and its source material.

In the latest season of "The Boys," Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) seems to be living on borrowed time. After recklessly consuming V24 (also known as Temp. V) to combat Homelander (Antony Starr) alongside Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), Butcher is now experiencing the life-altering side effects of an unstable drug that was never meant for frequent use. The Soldier Boy plan obviously fell apart last-minute by the end of season 3 — Butcher willingly let go of the rare chance to take Homelander down, and the boys had to band together to contain an extremely out-of-control Soldier Boy and kill him once and for all. As the three-episode season 4 premiere hones in on Butcher's deteriorating condition, it introduces significant changes in his character that might completely alter his fate in the series, which could also diverge from what happened in the comics.

Before we dive into Garth Ennis' comic book source material, it is crucial to grasp Butcher's priorities in the latest season. Throughout "The Boys," Butcher has only had one goal: to avenge Becca (Shantel VanSanten) and punish Homelander in the process. As a man with nothing left to lose, Butcher's actions always had a brutal edge to them, informing his willingness to skirt the lines of anarchy and morality in the most complex situations. However, in season 4, Butcher realizes that killing Homelander will not bring Becca back or ease his pain, especially now that he's dying and barely has any time left for elaborate revenge schemes. Instead, Butcher's sole priority at the moment is to save Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) from Homelander's clutches, as he is not just a reminder of Becca's kindness but someone Butcher has come to deeply care for over the seasons.

Ennis' Butcher is ruthless in his quest to kill Homelander, and after a string of shocking events leads to the laser-eyed supe's death, Butcher realizes that the void left by Becca's demise can never be healed. Instead of taking a step back, Butcher plans to do the unimaginable: he decides to detonate a remote strain of Compound V that flows through the veins of every supe, where this explosion would exterminate millions (including innocent civilians) without discrimination. After the boys try to stop him, Butcher turns on his friends, killing everyone in the group except Hughie. During a tense confrontation on the roof between the two, they fall, leading to Butcher being paralyzed and goading Hughie into killing him. Although initially refusing to do so, Hughie stabs Butcher with an iron pipe, bringing the tale of a singularly unwell, grief-stricken man to a grisly end.

While "The Boys" has strayed away from comic book canon in its treatment of characters — such as the show's handling of Black Noir — it is unlikely that any variation of Butcher's comic book fate will play out in the series. If anything, season 4 seems to be nudging Butcher towards a different path, where he appears to be leaning towards making decisions that are considerate of the people around him. Yes, Butcher is still dangerous and a wild card who can flip any situation around with his devil-may-care brutality, but for the first time, he is afraid of hurting the people he cares about.

A good example would be when Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) asks Butcher to swipe her files from the CIA database that Hughie (Jack Quaid) has access to. However, he doesn't do it at the last minute, deciding to not betray his friend.

Butcher's uncharacteristic thoughtfulness in season 4 is not a situational fluke, as he actively makes choices that grant the boys a fair chance to evaluate the group's evolving priorities. Butcher comes clean about his illness and is more upfront about his schemes, even though this gets him thrown out of the group, with MM (Laz Alonso) taking over as leader. Although Butcher initially decides to team up with CIA operative Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to extract Ryan to safety, he decides not to drug the kid as a part of their plan or coerce his counter-programming by the CIA as an asset targeted to take down Homelander.

Butcher is at his most vulnerable when he speaks to Ryan about his imminent death and admits that he has not always been a good person; he acknowledges the darkness within him, along with fear of not doing right by Ryan before his inevitable death. This is the first time Butcher admits that he is afraid — afraid of dying, losing his friends, and not being able to protect the one person he cares so deeply about while leaving a legacy that feels hollow and meaninglessly violent. In this moment, Butcher is no longer driven by vengeance but a genuine urge to protect an innocent life, where his hidden compassion shines through in a rare moment of accountability and self-introspection. Butcher knows it's too late to make better choices, but he desperately wishes his final act to be one driven by his humanity.

Although Butcher might still meet a violent end, or end up surviving due to some wild deus ex machina, he is no longer consumed by unfettered rage or vengeance. Instead, he now finds himself driven by an authentic urge to make things right before death comes knocking.

New episodes of "The Boys" season 4 drop Thursdays on Prime Video.