The 12 Best Billy Butcher Moments On The Boys

Morality is pretty gray in the world of "The Boys," Prime Video's hit superhero show that revels in the darker side of super-powered beings. The "superheroes" kill people fairly regularly, while the common folk out to hold them accountable also toe the line of "justice," believing that the ends justify the means. The titular Boys — the band of vigilantes working to make sure the Supes keep their collateral damage to a minimum — are led by the charismatic rascal Billy Butcher, played by Karl Urban. 

Urban knows all too well that his character walks a pretty difficult line. "In Butcher's case, he is pretty frustrated with the inertia that is going on and he finds a way to level the playing field," Urban said ahead of the Season 3 premiere. "...It comes at a cost." Butcher, though, is a fan favorite character precisely because of how far he's willing to go in order to make sure the Supes stop hurting normal people. Over the course of the show, he's killed a shockingly high number of people, has put his friends in a ludicrous amount of dangerous situations, and has delivered more biting, quotable one-liners than one can hope to remember. These are Billy Butcher's best moments.

Over the first few episodes of "The Boys," we come to know Butcher as a no-nonsense, hard-talking fighter who is singularly focused on taking down the evil organization of superheroes. He's desperate to pull a team together to help him achieve his goal of taking out Homelander, but when it looks like Mother's Milk and Frenchie aren't going to be able to work together, Butcher turns to a surprising metaphor to convince them that they work better as a group.

"Sporty f—ing Spice, what's she up to?" he asks. No one knows. He runs down the list and says Posh is "making clothes for anorexics," Baby is doing "f— all," Scary is "up to her eyeballs in lawsuits and sex tapes," and then he caps it off with the pièce de résistance: "Ginger, on the other hand, has released three albums. 'Passion,' 'Schizophonic,' and 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster.' They'll all make your ears bleed."

Butcher's intensive knowledge of the post-girl group careers of the Spice Girls adds a surprising new wrinkle to a character we thought we were getting a handle on. The moment is made all the more poignant when, several episodes later, we learn that his wife Becca was a big Spice Girls fan. Butcher, it seems, has a heart and is more sentimental than he lets on.

"The Sixth Sense" star Haley Joel Osment has a small arc in the first season of "The Boys" as Mesmer, a superhero who can read the mind of anyone he touches. He's also a former child star, just like the actor who plays him. Before the episodes aired, Karl Urban teased to ET Canada, "I do something to Haley Joel Osment that is gonna go down in the history of television." He's presumably referring to the scene in Episode 7, "The Self-Preservation Society," which sees Butcher furious with Mesmer. The Supe was recruited to assist the Boys in learning more about Kimiko, but Butcher discovers that Mesmer has handed over important information about the team to their number one enemy, Homelander, blowing their cover. 

After cornering the Supe in a bathroom, Butcher calmly puts his hands on Mesmer's temples. The mind-reader looks terrified of whatever Butcher's thinking. It's a thrilling moment, so well-acted by Osment that he makes Urban's Butcher look even scarier. "Please," Mesmer begs. "I have a daughter!" And then Butcher caves his head in, repeatedly smashing his face into a sink. We've come to know Butcher as a character not afraid to crack wise, but here, we learn that he can be just as frightening when he's quiet — and how much he really hates Supes.

Billy Butcher is a resourceful guy, and he sometimes has resources the other Boys don't know about. That's why they're not necessarily surprised when, for example, he has a boat handy for them to escape law enforcement on. Called My Big Wet Dream, Butcher says the boat was borrowed from a friend. Unfortunately for everyone involved, an NYPD helicopter chases them down anyway, and a loudspeaker announcement says the boat has been reported stolen. "A stranger is just a friend you ain't met yet," Butcher quips by way of explanation.

The chopper isn't the only thing following My Big Wet Dream. Aquatic Supe The Deep is hot on their tail, too, riding a whale. The Boys leap into a speedboat and flee the scene — which Karl Urban really drove — and just as they get to shore, Butcher realizes that the only way out is through. Through the whale, that is. He rams the boat into the side of the massive sea creature, killing it and sending everyone sailing through its guts. "F—in' diabolical," he exclaims.

The whale sequence lands on this list because it's one of the show's most audacious, memorable stunts, and of course, Butcher is the one behind it all. Prime Video's on-screen trivia reveals that the filmmakers actually created a whale out of styrofoam built onto a plywood frame, and puppeteers controlled the movement of the whale's internal organs. According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the whole show-stopping sequence took an entire week to film. Diabolical, indeed.

Butcher and Becca's relationship fails to be rekindled because Becca was rightly suspicious of Butcher's claim that he would also help protect her son, Ryan. Butcher, it turns out, hates everything Ryan represents: he's unable to look past the fact that his wife's son is the superpowered offspring of Homelander, Butcher's number-one enemy.

However, everything changes in the Season 2 finale. After Ryan desperately tries to save his mother from the clutches of Stormfront, his laser eyes go awry and he accidentally kills his mom. Butcher has a change of heart in Becca's dying moments amidst her final wishes, and he swears to do everything he can to make sure the kid is kept safe from Homelander's clutches.

In the final minutes of the season, we rejoin a conversation between Butcher and Ryan, already in progress. "Remember what I told you," Butcher prompts. The child dutifully replies, "Don't be a c—." Ah, Butcher. Even if it turns out he's got a heart of gold deep underneath that tough exterior, even if this moment represents a shift from revenge to paternal responsibility as his primary motivation ... he's still the same rascal we know and love. 

As the battle between the Boys and the Supes heats up, the third season of "The Boys" introduces a new plot device that evens the playing field. Queen Maeve informs Butcher of the existence of Temp V, a new drug developed by Vought that's meant to give someone temporary powers. She even slips him a few vials, thinking they might help in the fight against Homelander. A 24-hour chance to access a previously-untapped superpower proves tempting even to Butcher, who has spent the past several seasons working against the idea that any human being should have abilities like these. 

At first, we're not sure he's going to indulge, but then he finds himself in a difficult position. Butcher gets cornered by Gunpowder, a Supe with a love of guns who is not afraid to use them ... on Butcher. Then, the fearless leader of the Boys steps out from behind a pillar and walks straight toward the Supe, bullets bouncing off his chest, and we realize that he's taken the drug. Billy Butcher is now bulletproof.

The show ups the ante seconds later as Butcher's eyes begin to glow, and his lasers slice his enemy in half. It's a thrilling moment as we suddenly realize all the places this season might be headed, all the new and exciting ways the show's heroes can now battle the Supes. It's a dark moment, too, one that may signal temptation and trouble ahead for Butcher. And, to be frank, it just looks badass.

Throughout the third season of "The Boys," Butcher has been singularly-focused on using Soldier Boy, at one point the most powerful hero in the world, to kill Homelander. He is so dead-set on this mission that he continues taking Temp V even after learning that it's going to kill him, so insistent that Homelander must die that he's willing to sacrifice the lives of himself and all of his friends. In the season finale, it all leads up to a climactic showdown at Vought Tower. Soldier Boy and Homelander, finally face-to-face. A superpowered Butcher, juiced up on Temp V to ensure that everything goes according to plan. The rest of the Boys stand by, ready to jump in and make sure Soldier Boy is able to obliterate their biggest rival.

But then, a wrinkle: Homelander has brought Ryan to Vought Tower. Soldier Boy is willing to kill the kid, who happens to be his own grandson, along with Homelander, his son, who he calls a "disappointment." In a surprise move, Butcher rounds on the older Supe in order to save his wife's son. Firing up his laser eyes, he weakens and then shatters Soldier Boy's shield. Sure, he subsequently gets his a– kicked, but it's a shocking moment that reminds us that underneath all the one-liners, underlying all the willingness to kill and behind that maniacal grin, Billy Butcher may just be a big softie and even he is willing to draw some lines.