5 The Boys Characters Most Likely To Die In The Final Season, Ranked

Trigger warning: this article contains brief references to sexual assault.

Despite how violent and gross-out "The Boys" can get, only a few major characters have bitten the dust here and there. Homelander (Antony Starr) killed his handler Madelyn Stilwell (Elisabeth Shue) and later his only friend Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) after both slighted him. The season 4 finale also saw the deaths of Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) and Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit).

Even so, all six of the titular anti-heroes are still alive, Queen Maeve's (Dominique McElligott) seeming demise in the season 3 finale was a fake-out, and the Boys are no closer to killing Homelander than back in season 1. It's not surprising that some fans have criticized "The Boys" for going in circles and dragging out conflicts. But with its fifth season being the last, there's no status quo to maintain anymore. 

There's some characters whose fates I'm 50/50 on. A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is walking the path of redemption, so it'd be tempting but perhaps too predictable to kill him. Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is a plausible casualty, but the show already held off killing him back in season 3 and a death might take the winds out of his prequel spin-off, "Vought Rising." Former Vought CEO Stan Edgar's (Giancarlo Esposito) gimmick is always being the most powerful person in the room even with superheroes around him; it's easy to see Homelander finally giving into anger and killing him, but it'd also be a resonant message if the entirely human evil corporate boss ends the show back on top.

Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) are the only ones who seem assured to make it out. On the flip side, here are the characters who seem least likely to survive "The Boys" season 5.

It might be cheating to lump these three together but if you've read Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's original "The Boys" comic, you'll know why. The final volume of the series' original run, "The Bloody Doors Off," revealed the real villain was Billy Butcher all along. Even with Homelander defeated, he's not satisfied; he'd been planning a long time to wipe out all superheroes across the world. The other Boys aren't on the same page as him, so Butcher takes them out.

First, in a brawl with Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso in the show), Butcher detonates a grenade in MM's face then smothers the last bit of life out of him. Then, he places a time bomb in the Boys' headquarters, blowing up Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and the Female of the Species (named Kimiko and played by Karen Fukuhara on the show).

Season 4 of "The Boys" telegraphed Butcher as the final villain (even if the recently-released season 5 trailer suggests he's working with the Boys again). He and MM spent a lot of that season butting heads, so a brutal and ultimately fatal brawl between them could easily happen. While the show has a soft spot for Kimiko, her being together in death with Frenchie feels plausible too.

"The Boys" has rarely adapted the comic beat-for-beat but if it doesn't pull the trigger on this, then that's a coward's move.

It's hard to rank the most detestable character on "The Boys," but aquatic supe The Deep (Chace Crawford) has to be near the top. In the series' pilot, he delivers an early showing of how depraved the Supes are when he sexually assaulted Starlight. Since then, he's rejected each and every opportunity to grow as a person. He's too cowardly to change, and though he's hung onto Homelander like a remora does to a shark, Homelander has zero respect or regard for him.

While "The Boys" writers have had fun with The Deep since he's the easiest character to humiliate, over and over again, his arc should conclude with a worthy (read: pathetic) death. Erin Moriarty has gone on record that she wants Annie to kill the Deep in season 5, and it's hard to disagree. In this case, the predictable ending would be the right one.

The season 5 trailer gives a glimpse at the Deep's possible fate. He appears naked, covered in mud and panicking, coupled with a shot of beached fish suffocating. Given the nuclear explosion imagery on "The Boys" season 5 poster, maybe he's caught in such a blast while in the middle of the ocean?

Homelander has become the star of "The Boys." Compared to the comic where he was more of an overarching presence, the show has spent a lot of time exploring his traumatic childhood, his psychology, and his twisted view of the world. That greater focus comes down to Antony Starr's terrific and terrifying performance; his Homelander is absolutely the key to what makes "The Boys" tick.

All that said, the central conflict of "The Boys" has always been about killing Homelander. At the end of season 4, he staged a coup in the United States and is literally on top of the world. The worst fears of the Boys have been realized, but as this is the last season, Homelander can only go down from here.

If the series follows the comics, perhaps Homelander dies in episode 6 or 7 of season 5 and then Billy Butcher is the antagonist of the finale. The obvious conclusion is that Butcher and Homelander get their climactic one-on-one battle which the series has been teasing. In the comics, Butcher (who discovered Black Noir was a more evil clone of Homelander) used his crowbar to tear open Noir's skull, rip out his brain, and crush it as Noir watched. While the show isn't adapting this Black Noir twist, it could use the imagery of that death scene, but with the genuine Homelander instead.

The only reason that Homelander isn't no. 1 most likely to die is there's another possible ending for him that makes sense. That is, he loses his powers and is locked up in a tiny cell that reminds him of "the bad room" from his childhood being raised as a lab experiment. That could be an even worse punishment for him than death!

Even taking "The Boys" TV series as its own entity, without the source material, Billy Butcher's death has been teased just as much as his adversary. Butcher wants revenge on Homelander for raping his wife, Becca (Shantel VanSanten). This vengeance quest makes Butcher a tragic antihero in the image of Captain Ahab, and we all know how that story ended. 

Season 4 saw Butcher on death's door from brain cancer, but he also discovered that the Compound V had mutated the tumor inside him into a living being embodying the devil on his shoulder. By accepting the cancer's power (and implicitly, his worst self), Butcher was healed. The ending of season 4, showing Butcher literally driving down a dark path in possession of a supe-killing virus, seemed to telegraph the comic ending; he'd die a villain, ultimately killed by Hughie after he murdered the other Boys.

Now, the season 5 trailer has complicated this. Again, it shows Butcher working alongside the Boys, with no mention of the Compound V-infected brain tumor influencing his actions. So, if he does die, it could be a less bitter ending than the comics. Maybe he and Homelander have an epic, final, "blood and bone" battle that neither one walks away from, and Butcher gets in some touching last words to Becca's son, Ryan (Cameron Crovetti).

Introduced in "The Boys" season 4, Firecracker (Valorie Curry) seems assured to get an ignominious death. She's definitely a second-tier character, and one the show could kill off easily to up the body count and the stakes.

Even Firecracker's actress wants her to die, and frankly I'm almost surprised she made it out of season 4. A right-wing provocateur and conspiracy theorist with some unimpressive powers (she can make small sparks by snapping her fingers), Firecracker is hardly a fan-favorite. There's nothing about her to like! She's contemptible and lacks any other entertaining or pitiable qualities to balance it out. But, hey, that's the point, which'll likely become clear if/when she does die.

Late in season 4 of "The Boys," Firecracker revealed she's taking medication that has the side effect of enlarging her heart. That seems like Chekov's gun planted in plain sight, i.e. that she'll die from heart failure. While she's seduced Homelander, he doesn't care for her in the slightest. If the famously tempestuous Homelander winds up having some hand in her demise, that would be well-earned.

For what it's worth, Firecracker is barely glimpsed in "The Boys" season 5 trailer, which could (though does not confirm) she'll have a small, short-lived role in the season.

"The Boys" season 5 premieres on Prime Video on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.