‘The Boys’ Season 4 Makes It Clear There’s a Power Stronger Than Compound V
The Boys season 4 finale wants us to prepare for a whole new world where superheroes rule, unfettered, led by Homelander. But is he really leading them? Or is he just a puppet in the hands of whoever’s clever enough to pull his strings, like Sister Sage?
More importantly, do the events of season 4 just confirm something we’ve known all along about how to beat the supes at their own game? And it doesn’t even require Compound V. This earth shall be inherited not by those who wield the strongest superpower, but the cleverest brain that can channel it, manipulate it, marshal it right? To pull a loose analogy, we’ve seen this in Avengers: Endgame, when all the superheroes cannot stop Thanos, but Doctor Strange, with foresight, is able to figure out the one action that could give them a fighting chance.
At the beginning of season 4, we see Homelander, in his mid-life crisis, seek out Sister Sage, the smartest brain on the planet, to help him make superheroes great again. In the course of the season, it looks like Sage’s ambitions are very low-hanging because all she has done is orchestrate a presidential takeover. There’s even a point where we start suspecting that this is all a long con that will lead to Vought’s downfall.
Until, in The Boys season 4 finale, it all falls into place. As Homelander watches his plan fail with the death of Victoria Neuman, Sage walks in and tells him she kept key details and outcomes of her master plan from him. They had actually won. When Homelander asks her why she helped him despite his bad treatment of her, she tells him she wanted to see if she could do it, thanks him for giving her the chance to experiment.
One thing is for sure; now that she has proven herself to Homelander in his time of need, he is going to listen to her every word. She’s got him under her thumb. But do we know what Sage will do next? She walks out with a sinister smile on her face, promising a Phase II to her plan. Yet even after all that she has done, we still can’t be sure if she is working with Homelander or working towards bringing this whole supe empire down. And this unpredictability and lack of emotion makes her the most powerful, most dangerous person right now.
Beyond Sage’s smarts
There’s an important lesson to learn here. Another supe this season tried to pull off a Sage. Firecracker, already a danger to the fabric of the society with her fake news, almost had Homelander drinking her Kool-Aid (or breastmilk). She made herself indispensable to him like Madelyn Stillwell and Stormfront were in past seasons.
But Firecracker is a cautionary tale for anyone who wants to try their smarts against the supes. You see, the supes are power-driven by impulse. If you want to control them, you cannot afford to be driven by the same impulses yourself. Firecracker, owing to her hormones, makes the mistake of letting her emotions get the better of her. And as we can see from Homelander’s disdain for her self-promotional servitude to him already, it’s made her look meek to him, and he absolutely hates that.
We’ve seen the pattern since The Boys season 1. Madelyn Stillwell was able to control a powerful supe like Homelander because she knew his weaknesses and needs, and was able to cajole him into listening to her because she projected power. But the moment her eye was off the ball, Homelander despised her and killed her.
Another human player in the game that proves the brain over brawn theory is Stan Edgar. The former Vought CEO is unafraid of Homelander, and even goes on to tell him he’s “bad product,” without having a hair on his head harmed. Stan can press Homelander’s buttons and still live because he knows how to play with the supe’s insecurities. Stan managed to run Vought the way he did, and still survives staying human, because he is a shrewd player who rarely shows his hand, and plays the long game. The one time he allowed an emotional blindspot over his adopted daughter, Victoria Neuman, he ended up benched.
Victoria learned from the best. She even played the player, her own adoptive father Stan Edgar! But even she fell victim to her emotions over her daughter, and her friendship with Hughie, which led to her death. The old Victoria would never have been so trusting of The Boys or Homelander, and would have watched her back. RIP!
Unfortunately, if the above theory is true, then it doesn’t quite bode well for The Boys, who are all pure emotion and morality. They were once led by two people who could put their emotions aside and think strategically. Grace Mallory and Butcher may have been fuelled by revenge over the death of their families, but when they had their heads in the game, they could be ruthless. But see what happened to Mallory when she tried to be “Auntie Grace” and get Ryan to voluntarily become her weapon instead of manipulating him? Dead, she wound up dead.
On the other hand, Butcher is in the perfect position to be the ultimate weapon against Sage and Homelander. And no, the Compound V in his system isn’t the reason; it’s merely a catalyst. In fact, from his time in naval service, we know that he was always a great strategist, someone who was mind over matter, always diabolical. It was his emotional side, his connections to humanity like his brother Lenny, his wife Becca, even Hughie, that grounded his sense of right and wrong and made him human.
What the V did then was free his mind from the bonds of that morality. With the symbiote/his alter-ego Joe Kessler in the driving seat, he is just as ruthless, remorseless, and sharp enough to match up to Sage. He is probably the best bet against the machinations of Sage and the power of Homelander because he won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes. Butcher might just achieve what he sets out to do with that supe-killing virus too!
So what happens once Butcher’s won? When all the above qualities push him to a point of no return, and make him a formidable villain that The Boys must now defeat? Yeah, it’s not going to be pretty.
Season 5 is going to be bonkers!
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