The Boys Season 5's Supernatural Reunion Episode Includes Major Hollywood Cameos

Spoilers follow for "The Boys" Season 5, Episode 5, "One-Shots."

Years before "The Boys," series creator Eric Kripke created "Supernatural," a long-running show about brothers Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) driving across America hunting monsters. The angel Castiel (Misha Collins), introduced in "Supernatural" Season 4, soon became the show's third wheel.

Kripke left "Supernatural" after season 5, which completed the story arc he envisioned, but the show ran for another ten seasons without him. Still, Kripke remains on good terms with the Winchesters. Back in Season 3 of "The Boys," Ackles joined the cast as the Captain America parody Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy is a gruff man of action like Dean, but without any of the heart. In the ongoing fifth and final season of "The Boys," Kripke fulfilled his wish for a "Supernatural" reunion.

In "One-Shots," Soldier Boy and his son (by genetics only) Homelander (Antony Starr) are looking for V-One, a chemical formula that brings ageless immortality. So, they fly out to Los Angeles to meet a former member of the Seven, Mr. Marathon (Padalecki), whose collection of historical Vought corporate memorabilia may hold some clues. 

Collins plays Malchemical, a supe with poison gas powers and one of Marathon's poker buddies. Who else is at Marathon's mansion? Seth Rogen (who's a producer on "The Boys" and has cameoed before), Kumail Nanjiani, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Robinson, and Will Forte, all playing themselves. Padalecki and Collins' cameos were no surprise, as is the fact their scenes put them together with their old co-star Ackles. (/Film called Padalecki playing Mr. Marathon back in 2024, too.) 

The other Hollywood cameos had not been announced in advance, though. They all converge into a bloodbath of the kind that "The Boys" is reputed for.

Before Homelander and Soldier Boy walk in, Malchemical and the comedians are discussing ways they can protest Homelander's authoritarian regime without being sent to internment camps the way other outspoken celebrities have. They settle on getting Lena Dunham to write an op-ed for The Atlantic, a self-deprecating shot at how performative Hollywood liberals (like the people who make "The Boys") can be. 

Soldier Boy fits right in among these Hollywood big shots. The show banks on Ackles and Padalecki's built-in chemistry (they did play brothers for 15 years, after all). Soldier Boy and Mr. Marathon hit it right off, snorting coke and cracking jokes together about how weird and asexual Homelander is. 

Those qualities, mixed with how terrified everyone (minus Soldier Boy) is of him, mean Homelander does not fit in. As he goes to leave, he warns the actors that he heard their "treasonous" plotting and he's got nasty plans ahead for them. Then, Malchemical knocks Homelander out with his poison breath. 

Marathon and co. plead with Soldier Boy to help them. They want him to use his nuclear abilities to depower Homelander, and then they can kill him. Unsurprisingly, hedonistic rich men used to getting away with anything don't enjoy living under religious fascism. Homelander wants to completely ban abortion, which takes the consequence-free out of consequence-free sex. 

Soldier Boy is tempted, but appears put off by the underhanded plan. So, he decides: "No-one f**ks my son but me ... That came out wrong." He kills Malchemical, tricks Marathon into killing all of the comedians by running into them with his super speed, and then breaks Marathon's legs before Homelander stomps his head in. Thus, the heartwarming "Supernatural" reunion ends with Ackles brutally murdering his former co-stars.

The central parody target of "The Boys" is superhero movies, and "One-Shots" has plenty of that. As the episode exposits, Mr. Marathon was the speedster on the Seven before A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), but after he lost a race, Homelander booted him. (Mr. Marathon has been mentioned before, but never appeared, so this catches up viewers who don't recognize the name.) Even though he's no longer on the Seven, Mr. Marathon has kept making movies... at Sony, which aren't allowed to connect to the licensed Vought movies.

That's a reference to the woebegotten Sony Spider-Man Universe, which was not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's also pretty tame and on-the-nose satire, but the episode has meaner stuff in store for tinseltown. All of the real actors who cameo are shown in extremely unflattering lights and get brutally murdered onscreen. The show also condemns them even in their opposition to Homelander, which is all about self-preservation, not morality. Mr. Marathon and Malchemical are concerned that Homelander is ruining how "awesome" things were for them by imprisoning sex workers and drug dealers, outlawing pornography, etc. If the celebrities espouse any progressive principles, it's only to make themselves feel like better people.

More generally, the establishing shots of Los Angeles in this episode have homeless people and/or tents they live in inside the frame. The wealth and glamor of Hollywood hides sharp social disparity. To set the mood, the show needle drops 1937 song "Hooray for Hollywood," which sounds celebratory but, if you listen to the lyrics, is actually a sharp critique. On "The Boys," you don't even have to pay that close attention to notice when the show has got it out for Hollywood.

"The Boys" is streaming on Prime Video.