The Boys season 3 trailer promises the rivalry between Homelander and Billy Butcher is reaching new levels of diabolical. Alongside Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), Homelander (Anthony Starr) and Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) are the main characters of The Boys. Throughout seasons 1 and 2 audiences witness how the vendetta between these two brings out the worst in each other, and The Boys season 3 trailer confirms they’re about to get a lot worse.
At the end of The Boys season 2, both Homelander and Billy Butcher’s worlds are shattered. Billy Butcher witnesses the death of his wife Becca (Shantel VanSanten), and in the aftermath his friends drift apart. Meanwhile, Homelander’s lover Stormfront (Aya Cash) is burnt to a crisp, his estranged son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) abandons him, and Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) blackmails him. The show is not a direct adaptation of the Garth Ennis comics, but their influence is never far away. In the comics, both Homelander and Butcher commit atrocities yet unseen in the show, but now that their television counterparts find themselves in a state of emotional freefall, they could be capable of committing such acts in The Boys season 3.
The editing of the music and images in The Boys season 3 trailer indicates Billy Butcher and Homelander are darker and more unhinged than ever before. The trailer song “Bones” by Imagine Dragons is all about a powerful person losing control of reality, and that’s exactly what is happening to Billy Butcher and Homelander in the upcoming season. Now that Butcher’s wife Becca is dead, Butcher has made it clear he doesn’t care who gets in his way iin his mission to take down Supes. There is little left to stop him from becoming as desperately homicidal as his comic book counterpart. Homelander, meanwhile, is in free-fall after Butcher takes away his son and Queen Maeve blackmails him with the video of him allowing a plane full of civilians to crash. It is only a matter of time before he hurtles toward a superpowered breakdown considering how season 2 left him.
The Boys season 3 trailer depicts Billy Butcher becoming his most dangerous self. His laser eyes and superhuman strength indicate he is taking Compound V like his comic book counterpart. As Butcher’s powers develop in season 3, it’s hinted he’ll grow physically ill and that his emotional connections will also be even more at risk. When Butcher’s ally and friend Hughie’s arm is broken, Butcher looks on with a bemused expression. Otherwise, the majority of the footage depicts Butcher alone, isolated from his friends who act as Butcher’s moral conscience. The trailer’s editing of images to the song’s lyrics highlights Butcher’s mental state. The lyric “I’m losing all control, ’cause there’s magic in my bones,” for example, refers to the Compound V pushing Billy Butcher to lose himself to his rage.
The trailer also portrays Homelander on the brink of snapping in The Boys season 3. Homelander is first seen staring at himself in the mirror as the lyric “face in the mirror is all I need,” highlights his massive ego and his massive self-hatred, likely to be exacerbated now that he’s been betrayed. The trailer also shows Homelander planning revenge after The Boys season 2’s finale and his defeat, becoming more unhinged and unpredictable than ever before. The trailer shows season 3 promises to pay off Homelander’s steady tailspin into madness and murder that has been building since season 1. He appears set to conquer America just like his comic counterpart.
Though audiences don’t know what Billy Butcher and Homelander will do in The Boys season 3, the trailer demonstrates that the two characters are losing all control of themselves. The show takes care to avoid some of the more heinous content from the comics, but never shies away from moral ambiguity. Seeing Billy Butcher with powers and Homelander attacking his fellow Supes is enough to excite and terrify audiences for The Boys season 3.
The Boys season 3 premieres June 3 on Amazon Prime.
