The Boys Season 5 Sets Up A Comic-Accurate Ending (With One Big Change)
After an explosive run, The Boys (2026) is preparing to take its final bow with Season 5. The superhero satire set itself apart with its heavy use of shock, unpredictable dark humor, and twists and turns. As it heads into its final season, the stakes are higher than ever after Season 4 ended with the boys in prison, a new US president who swears allegiance to Homelander (Antony Starr), and the United States under martial law.
It’s quite obvious that Homelander is moving into his endgame. Homelander has always been corrupt and sadistic, but much of the series sees him testing the waters for how much he can get away with. Over the course of the series, he begins to let his true self surface more and more as he seeks greater power. Now, in Season 5, he’s eager for immortality and to declare his power as absolute, as the boys scramble to stop him. Based on Prime Video’s trailers for the final season, it seems there’s only one way the series can end, and it almost matches the comics, but with one major twist.
How Does ‘The Boys’ End In The Comics?
The Boys’ ending isn’t a complete mystery since viewers have the comics for guidance. Although the show has made changes to the source material, it tends to remain accurate enough to appeal to the comic book fans. As in The Boys TV series, the comics see Homelander grow more and more unhinged, culminating in him laying siege to the White House and murdering the President.
Leading up to his White House attack, Homelander had begun to spiral and began having apparent blackouts, learning of atrocities he committed that he has no memory of. However, it turned out it wasn’t him committing such atrocities, but Black Noir. Vought secretly created Black Noir as a clone of Homelander as a contingency plan, so if Homelander went rogue, Black Noir could take him out and assume his position. Desperate to fulfill the purpose Vought created him for, Black Noir began framing Homelander for vicious crimes to justify taking him down.
Eventually, Black Noir and Homelander come face-to-face in the White House, where the former reveals the truth to the latter. Enraged, Homelander attacks Black Noir, and the pair fight, but he’s not powerful enough to overtake his clone. In the end, Black Noir kills Homelander, tearing off his face and finishing him with his laser eye beams.
Will Homelander Die In ‘The Boys’ Season 5?
There are a few more aspects to the comic book ending that we’re uncertain if The Boys will adapt. However, based on the trailers, it seems like The Boys Season 5 will keep one major element: Homelander’s death. The final trailer for The Boys Season 5 drops a big hint that it will end on a comic-accurate note. At the 2:11 mark, you can see a clear, eerie shot of Homelander, sitting in the Oval Office of the White House. The room is empty, and Homelander sits in what would usually be the President’s chair, a smirk on his face.
The shot appears to be a reference to the comics, as Homelander meets his demise in a showdown with Black Noir in the White House. On top of that, the entire series has been building up to the defeat of Homelander. That White House tease is just the final hint of The Boys Season 5’s direction. However, fans of the show will know that Homelander can’t meet his end the same way as in the comics.
In the show, Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) was never a clone of Homelander. Additionally, the real Black Noir is already dead in The Boys, having been replaced by an actor after Homelander murdered him. There’s no chance the man posing as Black Noir could kill the strongest supe in The Boys’ universe. Still, the show already has the perfect workaround for this issue.
We Think We Know Who Will Kill Homelander In ‘The Boys’
To be fair, multiple candidates could kill Homelander in The Boys, as Season 5 features Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) embracing his supe powers and the resurrection of Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). However, the trailer appears to tease one individual in particular. During the trailer, you can hear Homelander’s voiceover saying, “To those who seek to destroy me, the nonbelievers and backstabbers.” The camera pans to several people who have gone behind Homelander’s back, including Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) and Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie). Interestingly, at the word “backstabber,” the camera turns to Ryan (Cameron Crovetti).
Ryan is a bit of a wildcard in The Boys, switching allegiances between Billy and his father, Homelander. In the Season 4 finale, Butcher and Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) reveal the truth to Ryan about his conception. They also offer him a proposition: kill Homelander. Ryan is reluctant to listen, and the situation ends with him killing Grace before he runs away. Still, once he has had time to process what he has learned, it’s difficult to imagine he’d still align himself with Homelander.
Not only does Ryan have the motivation to kill Homelander, but he’s a rare character in The Boys universe who is powerful enough to do so. Homelander meeting his demise at the hands of his son rather than his clone adds a potentially tragic, dark twist to The Boys’ finale, but also would set the stage for the story to continue. As Homelander’s story ends, Ryan’s would just be beginning.
