Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Boys: Season 3, Episode 4! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out IGN’s review of “Glorious Five Year Plan.”
The Boys: Season 3 has introduced a number of new superhuman characters, but none more important than Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy. This Captain America-esque hero finally makes his present-day debut in Episode 4, in a scene that hints he may be the one man in the world with the power to challenge the almighty Homelander.
Still, with Soldier Boy only appearing for one, brief scene and promptly vanishing, we have far more questions than answers about this new addition to the series. Let’s break down the biggest questions surrounding Soldier Boy and his impact on the show’s many ongoing story threads in Season 3.
Episode 4 shows Butcher leading his team in an assault on a Russian base, hoping to uncover the secret of a weapon codenamed “B.C.L. Red.” Butcher believes this weapon is what killed Soldier Boy, making it the team’s best option for finally taking Homelander off the table.
However, it would seem B.C.L. Red is Soldier Boy himself. Since his disappearance in 1984, Soldier Boy has become a test subject, with the apparent goal of boosting his already impressive powers to new heights. Already the Captain America analogue of this universe, Soldier Boy also seems to have a bit of the Winter Soldier woven into his back-story. He’s a former American icon transformed into a terrible instrument of destruction by Soviet scientists. Or you could make the comparison to Wolverine – an already accomplished killer who becomes even deadlier after Weapon X works its magic on him.
That’s what we can infer from the climax of Episode 4, anyway. We still don’t know exactly what the Russians were trying to accomplish. Is Soldier Boy meant to be their entry into a global superhuman arms race? Is he simply test fodder for a newer generation of Russian superheroes to oppose the Seven? Or could he be a sleeper agent, intended to return home and unleash his deadly power at just the right moment?
Homelander’s powers may echo Superman’s, but unlike Kal-El, he has no Achilles heel (not a physical one, anyway). As far as we know, there’s no Kryptonite in this universe that can cancel out Homelander’s powers or make him vulnerable. By an order of magnitude, he’s stronger than any other superhuman we’ve seen, and he knows it.
The question now is whether Soldier Boy is the one person who can rival Homelander in sheer power. Prior to 1984, the answer would have been no. Soldier Boy was certainly Vought’s most impressive creation in the company’s early years, but he never showed the same level of strength and invulnerability as Homelander. But given his new power boost, there’s really no telling how much stronger Soldier Boy has become.
Presumably, the latter half of Season 3 will see Butcher and the team try to play Soldier Boy’s return to their advantage. Butcher was looking for B.C.L. Red, and he found him. By the time this season wraps, we’ll hopefully see Homelander and Soldier Boy battle it out and see whether or not the strongest man in the world can withstand the full force of Soldier Boy’s energy blasts.
Mind you, The Boys just got renewed for a fourth season, so whether or not Homelander survives that inevitable showdown, this won’t be the end of the team’s mission.
Episode 3 features a flashback to Mallory’s time in Nicaragua, as we see how the Iran-Contra affair played out in this alternate universe. That flashback reveals why Mallory hates superheroes so much, but it doesn’t fully address Butcher’s actual question. What really happened to Soldier Boy during that botched mission?
The official story is that he was killed in action by a mysterious Russian super-weapon. But all we see is a helicopter flying away with Soldier Boy’s supposedly dead body. There’s clearly something more to the story that even Mallory doesn’t know. How was Soldier Boy incapacitated? Why did he fall into Soviet custody? Did Vought simply lose control of their most valuable asset, or was giving Soldier Boy to the Russians all part of the plan?
While both Hughie and Butcher are dabbling with V24 right now, Kimiko is currently the only member of the team with permanent, innate powers. Episode 4 demonstrates the extent of her super-strength and healing when she assassinates a Russian oligarch. However, we also see the limitations of those powers when Kimiko is seriously injured by Soldier Boy.
The obvious question here is why Kimiko’s healing powers aren’t working. If she can shrug off a bullet to the brain, why are burns such an issue? Is it just that her healing power was overwhelmed by the sheer force of the blast?
Or could it be that Soldier Boy’s new energy powers don’t just destroy things, but also cancel out the effects of Compound V? Were the Russians building an assassin that can singlehandedly fight back against Vought’s vast army of supes? if so, we’re all the more eager to see Soldier Boy fight Homelander.
The Boys are really proving that old adage about absolute power corrupting absolutely. Both Butcher and Hughie have now succumbed to the temptation of V24, trading their souls in exchange for a super-powered hit. At this point, the morally compromised Butcher is little better than the monsters he’s waging war against.
Will this downward trend continue for both characters? Will they continue to seek the rush of a V24 dose while continuing to tell themselves it’s all for the greater good? Will Kimiko’s injuries serve as a wake-up call, or push them further into this obsession with fighting fire with fire?
Of course, there’s also the problem that Butcher’s limited supply of V24 has now been used up. He took two vials, and Hughie took the third. If either character wants another fix, they’re going to have to figure out how to steal a supply of what is surely one of the most heavily guarded drugs in the entire world.
There’s also the ongoing question of whether the effects of V24 are as temporary as claimed. Butcher was experiencing lingering symptoms after just one dose, and there’s no telling what might have happened to Hughie’s body when Butcher vomited all over his face. One or both characters could be facing a permanent power boost, which would just bring the show closer in line with the comics.
For more on The Boys: Season 3, find out how that explosive scene from the premiere was created, and learn why the creators want to slowly create a cinematic universe.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.