Soldier Boy and Homelander had a Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker moment, Kimiko got her powers back, and Black Noir is the last name on Soldier Boy’s list. But can now assume that Butcher and Soldier’s Boy deal is off after the big father/son announcement. Let’s see how it all ends.
Homelander: Dad of the Year
With the help of Neuman, Homelander finds Ryan and Grace. He promises Ryan that he still loves him after what he did, he’ll always love him, and that sometimes people who are as strong as them do actually accidentally kill people. After being abandoned by Butcher earlier in the season, Homelander’s promise to be there for him seems to land home.
Maeve Escapes
Ashley and Deep are trying to move Maeve before a search warrant arrives since the search warrant is in search of Maeve. Despite gassing her, Maeve ends up escaping out of the armored van.
The Final Mission
Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie are set to go after the last member of Payback, until Butcher leaves Hughie behind knocked out cold in a gas station bathroom. He takes off alone with Soldier to Vought Tower in New York. When Annie picks Hughie up from where Butcher left him, she asks him if Butcher told him about the Temp V side effects. He didn’t, but that’s also why Butcher had abandoned him in that gas station. So he couldn’t take another dose. Annie and Hughie put their differences aside and then she gets a call. Queen Maeve is at the apartment.
The Boys (minus Butcher, plus Maeve) agree that they need to take out Soldier First, then Homelander. Neither of them can be trusted anymore. They also agree that despite his growing list of transgressions, Butcher needs to be saved.
Butcher and Soldier Boy have a bonding moment over their horrid fathers. Soldier Boy, Ben’s, father was disappointed he’d taken a shortcut to greatness by using V. He goes on to say he always wanted kids to do better than his father, and Butcher reminds him that Homelander isn’t really his son. He can’t treat him as such. The deal still stands.
Black Noir’s Fate
Although it’s Soldier Boy who’s after him, Homelander gets the kill. He felt betrayed by Noir who never once told him he had a father out there, even though he knew.
Kill the Homelander
The Boys head to their office where Butcher is holed up with Soldier Boy waiting to go in after Homelander. Maeve is on team Kill Homelander at any cost, so in the end sides with Butcher and Soldier Boy in their very focused quest of getting this done without caring too much about the costs. They stash the rest of the team in a safe and head over to the tower.
Homelander tells the remaining members of the Seven–Deep and A-Train–along with Ashley that he did indeed kill Noir. He sends Deep on a mission Deep to drown the expected Vice President nominee, makes Ashley show her real hair, and forces A-Train to publicly come out in full support of Vought and all its decisions in the name of justice.
Annie frees the team from their prison and they make another new game plan. Frenchie can remake the nerve agent Maeve tossed out the window in Vought’s lab, from there, they’d have to hope for the best.
Father & Son
Homelander wants to be a family, with him, Soldier Boy, and much to Butcher’s dismay, Ryan. Soldier Boy has zero interest, he thinks Homelander is quite the attention-seeking pussy and has no desire to be associated with him. He’s a f*cking disappointment.
Maeve and Butcher pin Homelander down and Soldier Boy readies his V-obliterating bomb, but Ryan saves the day at the last moment, hitting Soldier Boy who retaliates against Ryan uncaring that he’s a literal child. Soldier Boy gears up again, but this time Butcher stops him to save Ryan, who was unconscious on the ground. So now, we get the rarest of rare moments: a Butcher/Homelander team-up against Soldier Boy. They hated it.
Frenchie and Kimiko make the nerve agent as the team upstairs occupies the two Supe psychopaths
Soldier Boy isn’t ready to stand down against Homelander, he doesn’t care about Ryan and hates how weak Butcher has also turned out to be. Maeve is still out for her own revenge and prevents Homelander from being able to give Butcher a hand with Soldier Boy as she takes Homelander on. She holds her own but ends up losing an eye to his thumb as Soldier Boy mops the floor with Butcher until Annie and MM arrive just in time.
No one really stands a chance against Homelander and Soldier Boy, despite their best efforts, at one point Annie is left the last woman standing and in a last-ditch effort to power her up, Hughie turns all the lights in the TV studio they’re in up to supercharge her. Floating into the sky, Annie hits Soldier Boy hard enough to stun him while MM gets the nerve agent on him.
But Soldier Boy is charging up, he’s going to blow the whole place up. He refuses to go back into that box. Maeve makes the ultimate sacrifice, leaping with Soldier Boy out the window she saves the rest of the team as he blows up midair.
In another shocking, and worrisome, turn of events, Ryan heads off with Homelander instead of Butcher. His allegiance has been decided.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Butcher’s use of temp V has fried his brain, the lesions so advanced he has 12, maybe 18, months to live. MM gives Janine the whole truth, that Soldier Boy killed so many of their own family members, popping her perfect image of superheroes that she’s been clinging to.
Maeve has made it out alive, in extremely rough shape and completely free of powers, but alive. Her and Elena are running, maybe starting a farm. Ashley gets footage of Maeve being rescued by Frenchie and Kimiko, immediately deleting it to let Maeve go off and live a life with the world thinking she was dead. It was the best service she could have done her.
Soldier Boy is going back in the box under the supervision of Grace (good riddance) and the Deep is in deep trouble because Cassandra has written a book about her nightmare of a marriage to him. But hey, he’s got that nice painting of him and Homelander in his room now.
Annie officially joins the Boys by unanimous vote, and Butcher is clearly going to leave his deteroriating condition a secret it true Butcher fashion. And they’ve lined up their next target, the hidden Supe, Victoria Neuman, is now the Vice President candidate.
Finally, to really wrap up the incoming shi*t package if we get a season 4, Ryan is all aboard the Homelander hype train, enjoying the cheers his dad receives after literally blowing a protestors head off. Amazing. This isn’t a problem at all …
Season 3 of The Boys is now streaming exclusively on Prime Video. Look back at all of our coverage on the series, including episodic recaps and more.
