Two characters fromThe Boys- created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson - who could not be more different are Butcher and Homelander. The two stand for nearly completely opposite ideals and have no fondness for one another. Butcher hates Homelander for everything he is, and Homelander really doesn’t care about Butcher at all. Despite their major differences, I’ve noticed their deaths are remarkably similar.
Butcher and Homelanderboth had brutal deaths, and the reasons they died were pretty similar, but those deaths have one key difference between them. When Homelander was killed, he was tricked and manipulated byBlack Noir, the clone of Homelander. Black Noir wanted nothing more than to kill Homelander and manipulated Homelander into attempting genocide to finally have a reason to kill him.
Butcher, meanwhile, planned to orchestrate a massive genocide, and he was eventually killed by someone close to him. But Butcher wasn’t manipulated into this situation; he planned out everything, even his own death. While both Homelander and Butcher were killed by their successors,Butcher was able to accept it, while Homelander wasn’t.
Why It’s Best The Boys Isn’t Following Black Noir’s Comic Storyline
The Boys' Black Noir had a very different storyline in the comic books, which the writers of the show smartly avoided.
Homelander Couldn’t Accept His Successor
Black Noir Was Always Going to Win
Homelander always thought he was in control. After he accepted that he believed himself to be a bad person capable of monstrous things, he had no issue planning a genocide for the majority of humanity. He was on his way to becoming a brutal dictator, but when he realized Black Noir, someone created as a fail-safe for him, was going to stop him, he went ballistic.Homelander couldn’t believe someone had been manipulating his life and attacked Black Noir with everything he had, leading to a bloody brutal fight whereHomelander was ultimately killed.
At his core, Hughie is a good person, and he just couldn’t see the world the way Butcher did.
WhenButcher began planning genocide, it was wee Hughie who managed to take him down. Hughie was also the successor to Butcher, literally trained by Butcher to be tougher and harder with a cynical outlook on the world. Fortunately, Hughie wasn’t able to take these lessons to heart. At his core,Hughie is a good person, and he just couldn’t see the world the way Butcher did. Even after Butcher slaughtered all of Hughie’s friends, Hughie still refused to kill Butcher. It was only because Butcher was able to calmly manipulate Hughie into believing his parents had been murdered that Hughie finally killed Butcher.
Butcher Admits Hughie Was Always Meant To Stop Him
The Opposite of Homelander and Black Noir
Ultimately, both Homelander and Butcher were killed by people meant to take their place, but Butcher was able to accept this change — he’s even the one who orchestrated it. Homelander was completely oblivious to Black Noir’s manipulations, and he was murdered brutally because of this oversight. Butcher was stopped, and even then, he still went out on his own terms. It’s fitting that the two major antagonists ofThe Boysboth die in similar fashions, but for very different reasons.
The Boys
Cast
The Boys is a gritty and subversive take on the superhero genre, focusing on a group of vigilantes who confront powerful superheroes abusing their abilities, exploring themes of corruption and moral ambiguity in a world where heroes are not always what they seem.
