Warning: The article contains spoiler for The Boys season 3 and depiction of violence from scene clips.
The season 3 finale of The Boys ended with a bang – Starlight becomes a member of The Boys, Soldier Boy is put back in a cryotube, and Ryan joins Homelander. With Karl Urban revealing that season 4 will start filming this summer for a potential 2023 release, some fans noticed that the finale has opened up quite a few new issues that need to be addressed.
Season 3 concludes with issues of The Seven in disarray and Victoria Neuman becoming the new VP candidate, which only means more conflict will ensue in season 4. While it is unclear how the writers and showrunners envision developing these problems, fans hope these plot points are resolved in the upcoming season without losing a touch of its emotional undertone and horror aspects.
Who Will The New Members Of The Seven Be?
An interesting aspect of the major superteam in The Boys, The Seven, is that they must, at all times, have seven members and are constantly dying throughout the series.
In this case, season 3 had its biggest hit to the Seven yet. Supersonic, Maeve, Starlight, and Black Noir will not be returning to The Seven for various reasons. This means that the only remaining members of the group are Homelander, The Deep, and A-Train. Who the four new members of the squad will be an interesting conundrum.
Maeve’s Retirement
While she may not have died, fans are wondering if the season 3 finale’s implication is that Maeve is still effectively “written off” and will be out of the picture for possibly the rest of the series.
Meave’s “heroic sacrifice” ended up being almost a complete positive for her. Not to mention, deleting the video of Maeve’s survival made Vought employee Ashley a bit more likable and kept Meave in the clear from Homelander. The Boys doesn’t usually have totally happy endings, so it will be interesting to see if there are more consequences in store for Maeve.
The Boys’ New Hierarchy
The Boys now have a new member, Annie, and there was a declaration from Frenchie that they’ll no longer take orders from Butcher and function as a democracy.
This new dynamic will impact season 4 heavily. Before, Butcher was the undisputed leader of the group, and almost everyone (especially Frenchie) would reluctantly do as he said in almost every situation. Between the new inclusion in Annie and the newly confident Frenchie, the power dynamics in the group will be fascinating next season.
Todd’s Fanaticism
Mother’s Milk had a tenuous relationship with his daughter, Janine, at times during the season. A huge part of his struggle came from his ex-wife’s new boyfriend, Todd, a Homelander fanatic.
Todd seems to have completely gone off the deep end (pun intended) with his veneration for Homelander. At the season finale, he ignited cheers in a previously silent crowd after Homelander lasered a Starlight fan to death in the streets. How this will impact Janine and Mother’s Milk is yet to be seen, but it’s likely to be a huge part of their story in season 4.
Stan Edgar’s Whereabouts
Even without powers, Stand Edgar was one of Homelander’s most powerful enemies. Thanks to Victoria Neuman, he’s been fired as CEO of Vought and is supposedly in custody.
A character like Stan Edgar likely wouldn’t be completely written off with incarceration, and he’s likely to at least be a small part of season 4. Seeing as Billy Butcher and The Boys are targeting Neuman in the next season, her adopted father, Stan Edgar, could be a valued piece in taking her down. This is especially true when fans consider that the two parted on very poor terms.
A-Train’s Relationship With His Brother
Nathan Franklin, A-Train’s former coach and older brother, didn’t exactly have the best time in season 3. With Nathan permanently paralyzed from the lower body down, Nathan’s relationship with A-Train is strained at best.
So far, everything A-Train has tried to do to remedy the sins of his past has gone awry. Killing Bluehawk clearly didn’t help A-Train mend his relationship with his brother, and now they’re more distant than ever. Whether they’ll be able to reconcile at all in season 4 remains to be seen, but this could also put A-Train in a possible redemption arc if he starts to open his eyes about the corruption within The Seven.
Soldier Boy’s Survival
After being abducted during his time in the military, Soldier Boy was experimented on and became an unparalleled super weapon. Now, just like he feared in the finale, he’s trapped in another box.
Grace Mallory, now in possession of unconscious Soldier Boy, is one of the more interesting choices they could have made with a still-alive Soldier Boy in season 4. Mallory has always been teetering on the edge of how aligned she was with The Boys, and this decision will make the friend-or-foe line especially interesting.
Neuman’s Vice Presidential Candidacy
The Deep’s assassination at the instruction of Homelander was an interesting subplot, but the payoff was bigger than anyone could have expected. Neuman, now aligned with Homelander, is running for Vice President.
What the “head popper” will be able to do in the executive branch of the American government is something nobody wants to see, and she’ll likely be one of the primary antagonists of season 4. This is a huge piece of the conflict going forward that likely won’t end without some popped heads and intense battles.
Butcher’s Running Out of Time
After five uses of his new temporary superpowers thanks to Temp-V, lesions in Butcher’s brain have left him with around a year to a year and a half left to live, according to a doctor.
With only so much time left, Billy Butcher and The Boys will need to complete two major tasks if Butcher is to rest in peace: stop Neuman and kill Homelander. Of course, it’s always possible that Butcher can still somehow be saved from his gruesome fate. However, in a show like The Boys, it feels more likely that he’ll go out with a bang.
Ryan’s Heel Turn
Homelander’s son Ryan is slowly starting to become who fans were most afraid of him becoming – a tiny version of his father. This change is much to the dismay of Butcher, who was unable to take Ryan back with him.
What originally looked like Ryan just trying to connect with his only family quickly became far more obvious as the season came to a close. As the crowd celebrated his father’s murder of an unapproving civilian, Ryan’s face began to curl into a small smile. Whether this is the start of a complete heel turn, however, remains to be seen.
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