The Boys

[Infinity Cubed]

Agreed. My biggest gripe was.. HOW THE FUCK DOES BUTCHER SURVIVE GETTING LASERED?

We have NUMEROUS examples of homelander lasering the shit out of other supes no problem. And We also have Butcher lasering the shit out of a supe no problem. Butcher should be lying in half right now. I can see homelander being immune to it... because supposedly he's immune to everything. But man super power inconsistencies are probably my #1 gripe with super hero <everything>.

I mean, he clearly (and conveniently) gained all of Homelander's abilities save for flight--or at least as far as we know he doesn't have flight. So if Homelander is immune to his laser eyes, why wouldn't he be?

They (including Ryan) are also not the only ones to have developed that particular ability. The baby Butcher weaponized in season one had them, too. I imagine "laser eyes" includes "immunity to laser eyes," else they'd be fucked the moment they used it.

[Ghost of Cow]

Homelander uses his eyebeams at different strength. He probably didn't use full strength on Butcher... just enough to kill a normal human.

That's what I mean, though. And usually normal humans - at least the times we've been shown - just fall apart into a burnt or gooey mess when he hits them.

When Butcher took the hit and was knocked back, that should have been his first clue. We've never seen anyone do that, because the beam just slices through them.

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I mean, he clearly (and conveniently) gained all of Homelander's abilities save for flight--or at least as far as we know he doesn't have flight. So if Homelander is immune to his laser eyes, why wouldn't he be?

They (including Ryan) are also not the only ones to have developed that particular ability. The baby Butcher weaponized in season one had them, too. I imagine "laser eyes" includes "immunity to laser eyes," else they'd be fucked the moment they used it.

Maybe not total immunity, but at least some level of tolerance.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Though that raises a question that maybe it's worse getting a transplant from another supe due to compound v already altered the organ. I imagine that would result in a longer transition...

We really have very little info on how it works. They might all require Supe organs or not. They might otherwise follow the same transplant rules as regular humans or not. It might be different for every single Supe. For example: it stands to reason that someone like Kimiko, if she ever needed an organ transplant, might adapt to the new organ faster...because her abilities are focused on healing.

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That's what I mean, though. And usually normal humans - at least the times we've been shown - just fall apart into a burnt or gooey mess when he hits them.

When Butcher took the hit and was knocked back, that should have been his first clue. We've never seen anyone do that, because the beam just slices through them.

Watch the video I linked.... there's plenty of normal humans that didn't explode into gooey messes after getting hit by HL's lasers. Specifically, there is the dude on the plane where homelander just targets his heart and the dude just falls. Or Madelyn Stillwell...he just beams directly into her eyes. No big mess. Often homelander uses his lasers in kind of a sweeping motion...which is what makes the bigg messes.

He can control exactly how much power he puts into them...anything from heating up a bottle of breast milk to total disintegration.

I imagine with Butcher he just kind of dismissively beamed him, assumed that was it, and moved on to the real fight with Soldier Boy.

[Snuke]

I have no reason to believe they aren't. For all we know, it could be even worse for Supes... they might only be able to receive transplants from other Supes.

Sure, but the whole compound V aspect makes me suspect blood types are less of an issue. Because their blood type is V now.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Sure, but the whole compound V aspect makes me suspect blood types are less of an issue. Because their blood type is V now.

See, now you're the one making assumptions about how Supes work.

[Ghost of Cow]

Watch the video I linked.... there's plenty of normal humans that didn't explode into gooey messes after getting hit by HL's lasers. Specifically, there is the dude on the plane where homelander just targets his heart and the dude just falls. Or Madelyn Stillwell...he just beams directly into her eyes. No big mess. Often homelander uses his lasers in kind of a sweeping motion...which is what makes the bigg messes.

He can control exactly how much power he puts into them...anything from heating up a bottle of breast milk to total disintegration.

I imagine with Butcher he just kind of dismissively beamed him, assumed that was it, and moved on to the real fight with Soldier Boy.

I know, but my point is that Butcher was thrown back by the force of the beam. Even on the airplane with the guy, it immediately burns through him where he stood. No one has ever been knocked back like they received an impact from the force of them. (That I've seen, at least)

The dismissive part is why I presume he didn't notice, but yeah that should have been a dead giveaway for him.

[everydaygamer]

I don't really get that myself. Sure, the dude may have been racist...but his heart is just an organ. It doesn't have anything to do with the personality of the individual. If it were me I think I'd rather the heart to have come from the worst person possible...rather than some innocent kid or something. There's a lot less guilt to worry about knowing that you're only alive because some horrible piece of shit is dead.

I think it would be more unsettling for a racist to learn that their organs were donated to a black person. If A-Train wanted to be truly sadistic he could go to Blue Hawk's presumably racist family and be like "Hey, I killed your father/brother/husband/son and now his heart is now the thing that's going to keep me alive"

I think he's unsettled by the whole situation in general.

He's gained self awareness.

He knows he just murdered a man in cold blood and that it's completely messed up that he's being rewarded for it and that he's just supposed to go back to the way things used to be.

The truth gets covered up, he gets his career back but he can't just forget all the racist stuff or the fact his brother was crippled.

[Snuke]

See, now you're the one making assumptions about how Supes work.

I said suspect. Considering how V interacts with their physiology, and its existence at all, it’s hard to say supes operate on rules that normals do. Fuck, the shit makes them super.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I think he's unsettled by the whole situation in general.

Could be. But, This is A-Train. He was also unsettled when he murdered his girlfriend. He got over it pretty quick.

He's gained self awareness.

Me, I don't know if I 'd go quite that far. He regrets the consequences of his actions now that they've had a direct impact on him...not the actions themselves.

He knows he just murdered a man in cold blood and that it's completely messed up that he's being rewarded for it and that he's just supposed to go back to the way things used to be.

Not the first time that's happened and he's always gone back to the way things were before.

The truth gets covered up, he gets his career back but he can't just forget all the racist stuff or the fact his brother was crippled.

Again, not the first time. Ashley points up that they've covered for his murders in the past. Arguably, this guy might be the first person he murdered that actually kinda deserved it.

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I said suspect. Considering how V interacts with their physiology, and its existence at all, it’s hard to say supes operate on rules that normals do. Fuck, the shit makes them super.

Sure, but being "super" means something different for each one of them. Their powers aren't "one size fits all" ...so why would their organs be?

[everydaygamer]

Could be. But, This is A-Train. He was also unsettled when he murdered his girlfriend. He got over it pretty quick.



Me, I don't know if I 'd go quite that far. He regrets the consequences of his actions now that they've had a direct impact on him...not the actions themselves.



Not the first time that's happened and he's always gone back to the way things were before.



Again, not the first time. Ashley points up that they've covered for his murders in the past. Arguably, this guy might be the first person he murdered that actually kinda deserved it.

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Sure, but being "super" means something different for each one of them. Their powers aren't "one size fits all" ...so why would their organs be?

Now that it's happened to him he actually understands how messed up it is, that's why it bothers him when it wouldn't have before. It's why he was finally able to apologize to Hughie, because he finally gets how messed up it is to have something like that happen to you.

It's not like he feels guilty about what he's done in the past but he finally gets what it's like to have something like that happen to you and he doesn't quite know how to deal with it.

[eschatological]

Now that it's happened to him he actually understands how messed up it is, that's why it bothers him when it wouldn't have before. It's why he was finally able to apologize to Hughie, because he finally gets how messed up it is to have something like that happen to you.

It's not like he feels guilty about what he's done in the past but he finally gets what it's like to have something like that happen to you and he doesn't quite know how to deal with it.

To be fair, this happens in real life as well. It's why Dick Cheney, a conservative Republican, fought for gay rights - because his daughter was a lesbian.

The Boys kind of touched on the hypocrisy of one's opinion changing once it affects them when Ashley pointed out how she had to cover up 3 of his previous murders. I wonder if they'll continue on that narrative path. As I see it, A-Train has three options: 1) care about this one thing, this one time, because of what happened to his brother, 2) care about this one issue (brutality against black people) while completely being hypocritical in other areas (the Dick Cheney/gay rights choice), or 3) let this experience filter into actually changing his worldview, where he sees the corruption and rank hypocrisy of Vought and supes from top to bottom, and work to fix it.

Narratively, the third option is the "moral" thing to do, but for this story, I also think it's the worst option. The Boys doesn't have people become truly reformed. Even Maeve just kinda wants to die and is willing to fight Homelander because she thinks she deserves to die.

[Ophenia]

I know, but my point is that Butcher was thrown back by the force of the beam. Even on the airplane with the guy, it immediately burns through him where he stood. No one has ever been knocked back like they received an impact from the force of them. (That I've seen, at least)

The dismissive part is why I presume he didn't notice, but yeah that should have been a dead giveaway for him.

Let's not dismiss the fact Butcher's entire life revolves around Homelander. Even without V, he could have had prepared himself with some sort of shield that would reduce the laser eyes' damages

Furthermore, Homelander is a psychopath. If he wanted to kill Butcher, he'd have done that immediately. But he would prefer to see people suffer (e.g. Supersonic who didn't seem to die a quick death), and Butcher is still the only one to know where Ryan is. I saw that lasering as "get off my way for the moment, I'll be back to you once I dealt with Soldier Boy".

[Nerraw]

I imagine "laser eyes" includes "immunity to laser eyes," else they'd be fucked the moment they used it.

Some of the supes at the psych facility in season 2 were not immune to their own powers. The vomiting dude in particular was pretty fucked the moment he used it.

[Snuke]

Looks like the episode have all released at midnight GMT. So finale incoming in a little under 9 hours.

[enigma77]

Some of the supes at the psych facility in season 2 were not immune to their own powers. The vomiting dude in particular was pretty fucked the moment he used it.

True but they were unstable test subjects, weren't they?

[Kathandira]

True but they were unstable test subjects, weren't they?

Yeah, they were basically rejects for one reason or the other.

[AidanJLowe]

Not sure what to make of that finale, to me it felt a lot like Strangers Things S4 finale last week, all episodes building up over the entire season for a whole load of no payoff.

For me was one of the weaker episodes of the show this year.

[Very Tired]

Sure was expecting a higher kill count from a finale of this particular show. Seems like it was only Black Noir, and probably because the writers at least felt someone had to die. And seeing that a lot of people don't like how he went out either.

[Ivanstone]

Sure was expecting a higher kill count from a finale of this particular show. Seems like it was only Black Noir, and probably because the writers at least felt someone had to die. And seeing that a lot of people don't like how he went out either.

Assuming he's dead. He survived getting his head kicked in by Soldier Boy's shield. I imagine him and Stormfront all being experimented on by Vought in some secret lab.

[Vetali]

I would be surprised if Noir isn't dead, I thought the cartoon character fading out in his mask symbolized him dying.... but then again they really brought out the slowmo dramatic sequence to Maeve sacrificing herself only to have her survive sans her powers. So who knows. Pretty disappointing finale. Season overall was great though.