‘The Boys’: Soldier Boy’s Powers Might Foreshadow What Happens to Homelander in Season 3
The Boys Season 3 episode “Glorious Five Year Plan” reveals a major secret about Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). The Supe’s new power could impact the entire season’s plot, specifically in regard to Homelander (Antony Starr). Find out what Soldier Boy’s storyline could mean for Homelander’s fate in season 3 of Prime Video‘s The Boys.
‘Soldier Boy’ is still alive in ‘The Boys’ Season 3
Homelander (Antony Starr) is quickly rising to power at Vought, forcing Hughie (Jack Quaid), Butcher (Karl Urban), and the boys realize fighting “the right way” isn’t going to work. After hearing rumblings about the Russian weapon that allegedly killed Soldier Boy — the greatest Supe before Homelander — in a botched operation in Nicaragua, the boys take a trip to Russia to find it. Instead, they find Soldier Boy alive and stronger than ever.
After being kept in a container and attached to various plugs for who knows how long, Soldier Boy walks out of confinement and releases a blast of fiery energy from his torso, a power he didn’t have previously. The blast makes an impact with Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), who is driven through layers of concrete wall and rendered unable to heal. His blast stripped her of her powers — a skill that could prove useful in the battle against Homelander.
‘The Boys’ boss teases Soldier Boy’s impact on Homelander in season 3
Homelander prides himself on being the most significant, strongest Supe in the Seven. However, when he learns Soldier Boy is alive and better than ever, he will not be happy.
“We need [Soldier Boy] to become an existential threat to Homelander,” The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke told Variety. “We said, ‘What would be the scariest thing to Homelander?’ And the scariest thing in the whole world to Homelander is just to be a regular dude.”
Now that Solider Boy has these blasts of “radioactive, walking-Chornobyl power” capable of “frying the Compound V out of Supes’ systems,” he’s going to be “very, very scary” to Homelander, who consistently abuses his powers to get his way. “That was really the goal,” Kripke said.
Could this mean Soldier Boy is the weapon the boys were looking for all along? If he can render Homelander’s powers useless, the boys might be able to stop him once and for all.
Kimiko was just collateral damage. Kripke added: “And then once we had set on that, we said, ‘Oh, wait, Kimiko this whole time is dying to get away from her powers. Let’s have him blast her.'” Before their trip to Russia in “Glorious Five Year Plan,” Kimiko confides in Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), Homelander’s biological son. The two wish they never had powers.
Toxic masculinity continues in ‘The Boys’ Season 3
On top of being the one thing that can scare Homelander into submission in season 3 of The Boys, Soldier Boy represents the toxic masculinity the fictional company Vought embodies. Kripke explained Soldier Boy’s metaphor to Variety.
“He’s like this bottled up toxic masculinity,” Kripke said, elaborating:
“He bottles up all of his pain and he bottles up all of his trauma and then, quote-unquote loses his temper and explodes outward, literally. It’s the pattern of so many macho dudes, they can’t express themselves and so then they explode and in really inappropriate ways. So he literally explodes.”
Eric Kripke, Variety
Homelander embodies toxic masculinity, too. From the beginning, the Supe has abused his power — specifically his ability to shoot laser beams out of his eyes — to get his way with Vought, the Seven, and the public. So far in season 3, Homelander has realized he can use his rage as a manipulative tool, too.
Will Homelander and Soldier Boy get into an all-out bro-brawl this season? Tune in to new episodes of The Boys on Prime Video weekly on Fridays.
