Every 'The Boys' Character Death In Season 5, Ranked By Brutality
Prime Video’s The Boys (2019) is in its fifth and final season and has delivered on the gore and violence. Much like the comic books, the Boys’ final bow is a literal bloodbath, as Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) takes a “by any means necessary” approach to destroy Homelander (Antony Starr), and Homelander goes full unhinged and declares himself “God.” Characters both new and old have met their demise throughout Season 5.
Use our guide to find the biggest character deaths in The Boys Season 5, ranked to the most brutal.
13. A-Train
A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) marked one of the earliest character deaths in The Boys Season 5. In the season premiere, A-Train struggles to balance his devotion to the resistance with his need to protect his family. At the last minute, though, he chooses the heroic route and shows up for an incredibly risky rescue mission to save Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), and Frenchie (Tomer Capone). He saves the trio by diverting Homelander’s attention to him, resulting in a high-speed chase.
Homelander catches A-Train and kills him effortlessly by snapping his neck. It’s a chilling and shockingly quick death for one of The Boys’ staple characters for five seasons. Although he gets his hero’s death and last laugh at Homelander, it marks one of the least gory and graphic deaths of the season, allowing him to go out in a bit more dignified manner.
12. Billy Butcher
As most comic book readers suspected, Billy Butcher meets his end in the series finale of The Boys. After defeating Homelander, Butcher finds himself with no purpose after his dog dies, and Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) declines his offer to start fresh. He heads to Vought, where Hughie finds him preparing to unleash the virus and end all supes. The pair fight, with Butcher getting the upper hand.
However, he hesitates for a moment when Hughie reminds him of his late brother, Lenny, giving Hughie just enough time to shoot Butcher fatally. It’s a grim, devastating moment, but nowhere near as bloody and brutal as the comic book fight between the pair. It’s a little bloodier than A-Train’s death, but on the whole, it is perhaps the least brutal death one would’ve anticipated for Butcher.
11. Sheline and Dogknott
The Boys Season 5 features the demise of two of its weirdest characters: Sheline (Emma Elle Paterson) and Dogknott (Zach McGowan). In Episode 7, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk,” the pair prepare to kill a room full of civilians who reacted poorly to a screening of Homelander propaganda. As Dogknott and Sheline begin clawing and biting their way through the room, Mother’s Milk and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) come to the rescue.
Starlight shows off her impressive strength, overpowering Dogknott and killing him by slamming him into a wall. Meanwhile, Mother’s Milk distracts Sheline with a rat long enough to stab several needles into her back, killing her. Sheline and Dogknott cause more brutality than they ultimately receive, but their deaths are still a pretty standard, brutal fight scene.
10. Frenchie
The Boys Season 5 shocked viewers by killing one of the Boys before the season finale. In Season 5, Episode 7, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk,” Frenchie works to recreate Soldier Boy’s (Jensen Ackles) depowering abilities in Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara). When Homelander shows up at the base, Frenchie hides a weakened Kimiko and lures Homelander after him into a uranium chamber.
We don’t actually see how Frenchie dies, as he gets a more dignified death, much like A-Train’s. He tells Homelander off before the scene cuts off. In the next scene, Kimiko finds him fatally wounded, having left a trail of blood from the chamber. While it’s likely Homelander wounded him, he may have already been fatally exposed to radiation from the chamber. It’s still a bloody death, but keeping the most brutal parts offscreen makes the death more tragic than sensational and emphasizes his sacrifice.
9. Rock Hard and Jetstreak
Much of The Boys Seasons 4 and 5 revolve around Butcher’s desire to perfect a deadly supe virus. Season 5, Episode 2, “Teenage Kix,” features the first two deaths from the virus: Rock Hard (Andrew Iles) and Jetstreak (Dylan Colton).
After the Boys lock them and Soldier Boy in a room with the virus, we see its terrifying power. Jetstreak develops gnarly boils all over his face while vomiting black ink, while Rock Hard’s body literally falls apart after spewing the black ink. It’s not the most gory death in the season, but it sure is gnarly.
8. Firecracker
The Boys Season 5’s bloodbath includes both the heroes and villains as Episode 5, “One-Shots,” sees the death of Firecracker (Valorie Curry) at Homelander’s hands. While Firecracker relentlessly sought Homelander’s approval, she irked him with her relationship with Soldier Boy and especially his suspicion that, deep down inside, she didn’t believe he was “God.”
When Homelander finally confronts Firecracker, she desperately tries to prove her love and adoration for him. In the process, though, she accidentally references his humanity by suggesting even “God” needs love. Reminded of his weakness, which is his desperate desire to be loved, Homelander impales Firecracker on the wing of a nearby statue. The abruptness of the lethal blow and the way her eyes continue moving after her impalement certainly make it quite brutal and chilling.
7. Black Noir
After the original Black Noir’s (Nathan Mitchell) death in The Boys Season 3, Season 5 says goodbye to Black Noir’s replacement, too. Through the season, The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir butted heads as The Deep became increasingly desperate to prove himself to Homelander, while Black Noir tried to distance himself from Vought and try his hand at theatre. The resulting feud saw The Deep kill Black Noir’s theatre director, after which Black Noir sabotaged Vought’s pipeline and killed significant marine life.
In Episode 6, “Through Heaven’s Fall,” the pair have a final confrontation, in which The Deep strangles Black Noir with a cable before stabbing him in the neck, killing him. The prolonged struggle leading up to his death and the grisly neck wound make Black Noir’s death quite brutal. It’s also surprising that such a brutal death came from The Deep rather than Homelander.
6. Mister Marathon and His Celebrity Friends
In The Boys Season 5, Episode 5, “One-Shots,” Soldier Boy and Homelander track down Mister Marathon (Jared Padalecki) in hopes of finding V1. Mister Marathon has a group of celebrities hanging out at his place, including Seth Rogen, Kumail Nanjiani, Will Forte, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Craig Robinson. When Mister Marathon and his friends incapacitate Homelander, Soldier Boy goes after him.
During a bloody, brutal chase, in which Mister Marathon accidentally runs through and kills all of his celebrity friends in spectacular explosions of blood and organs, Soldier Boy catches him. He breaks both of Mister Marathon’s legs to get him to reveal what he knows about V1 before Homelander awakens and stomps on his head. It’s easily one of the most cringe-inducing deaths of the season, as you hear bones snapping and see blood spraying in one of the most Boys-esque deaths of the season.
5. President Steven Calhoun
President Steven Calhoun (David Andrews) is the puppet president of the United States in The Boys Season 5. He’s just a figurehead while Homelander pulls the strings. However, despite his willingness to give Homelander whatever he wants, it proves not to be enough in Episode 7, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk.” Homelander makes himself at home in the Oval Office, where he gives the President an erratic list of demands, including dissolving the separation of church and state, enacting a nationwide abortion ban, and disbanding Congress.
When the President doubts the viability of these demands, Homelander has Ashley (Colby Minifie) read his mind. After discovering that the President truly finds him terrifying and “psychotic,” Homelander abruptly crushes his head with his hands. The abruptness of the scene and the sheer carnage make it one of the most brutal deaths this season.
4. Adam Bourke
Like Mister Marathon’s celebrity friends, Adam Bourke (P. J. Byrne) found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time in The Boys Season 5. In Episode 5, “One-Shots,” the theatre director forms a connection with Black Noir. However, this draws jealousy and resentment from The Deep.
After a meeting with Black Noir, Bourke goes to the bathroom, and things take a grisly, nightmare-inducing turn when an eel springs from the toilet and up his anus. In the ensuing struggle, we see plenty of blood spray and bodily organs. It’s not just one of the most brutal deaths of the season, but of The Boys in general. It’s so gory and disgusting that it’s unforgettable.
3. Oh Father
The Boys Season 5 finale’s bloodbath also claims Oh Father (Daveed Diggs). The evangelical singing supe is one of the last lines of defense between the Boys and Homelander. When he realizes the Boys have infiltrated the White House, he tries to get Butcher and Kimiko, but mistakenly finds himself in pursuit of Hughie and MM. When he corners Hughie and prepares to kill him with his sonic scream, MM finds an unlikely weapon: a gag ball.
Oh Father’s wife, Ashley, got him a specialized ball gag that would be able to sustain his sonic scream without exploding. When MM puts the ball gag on Oh Father and cuts off his sonic scream, the force has nowhere to go but inward, causing his head to explode in perfect The Boys fashion. It’s a gruesome, gory explosion, and the fact that a sex toy is involved adds to the humiliation and brutality.
2. The Deep
In The Boys Season 5, The Deep is the last holdout of the Seven. Although Homelander repeatedly rebuffs him and tries to disband him, he continues to grovel for the supe’s approval. In his last effort to win Homelander’s approval, he fights Starlight one-on-one. She tries to reason with him, but there’s no redemption arc in store for Deep.
During the battle, Starlight blasts Deep into the ocean. However, the place that was once his haven is now filled with marine life intent on getting revenge on the supe responsible for the devastating pipeline. Sharks swarm him, and an octopus creeps up underneath. As he tries to swim to safety, a large octopus tentacle impales him from underneath, surfacing through his mouth. The death is highly reminiscent, but even gorier than Adam’s death, and the karma is just as brutal as the octopus tentacle.
1. Homelander
Just like in the comic, The Boys series finale ends with Homelander’s death. However, his death is slightly different from the comics. In the show’s finale, the boys successfully replicate Soldier Boys’ depowering abilities in Kimiko. The subsequent explosive showdown sees Butcher and Ryan restrain Homelander long enough for Kimiko to depower him, then leave him to Butcher.
After years of waiting to avenge his wife and friends, Butcher unleashes all his fury on Homelander. The depowered supe proves his cowardice by groveling and begging for mercy before Butcher brutally kills him with a crowbar through the skull. Between the incredibly gory death and humiliation, Homelander’s death delivers the most brutal character ending of the season.
