THE BOYS Season 3 ENDING EXPLAINED + Season 4 Theories

Wow. That was an incredible ending to season 3 of the Boys. Homelander [SPOILERS]. a guy in broad daylight, and the people love him for it. In the final moments Ryan smiles....like he's proud of his dad, and wants to be more like him. We explain what this means for season 4, and what this means for the future of The Boys

The Boys Season 3 ended on a mind blowing cliffhanger, Homelander lazers a guy in front of a crowd of people. And this time it wasn’t all in his head, it happened for real.
But in a shocking twist, the fans begin to cheer him - ignoring the fact that Homelander just murder a man right in front of their eyes.

There’s so much to upack about the ending scene, like why is Ryan smiling at the end? But there’s also so much to say about this final episode. What’s Victoria Neuman up to, what’s happened to Soldier Boy. And how is the world going to react to what Homelander just did. And we got to talk about how the ending of season 3 sets up the story for season 4, and probably the rest of the show.

At the start of the season, Homelander told the Deep that [clip]. But This is the actual first time the public saw who Homelander really is - A murdering psychopath. And they love him for that.

Homelander and Vought are masters of manipulation, rebranding lies as the truth.
Just another product that is sold by their own media companies to the public, who are nothing more than consumers.

The truth is just disingenuous posturing, rebranded, repackaged and sold as validation to a target audience. Pandering to extreme ideology and opinions.
That’s the product the people want, they don’t want to hear anything that challenges their beliefs. Nope, they want to hear their opinions echoed by people with authority.
That’s why Homelander is so appealing to certain groups in America.

Ironically, this idea is represented visually - the dead guy wears a “Belive Stormlight” shirt. Homelander kills him in front of a group of fanatic fans. Killing the truth in broad-daylight.
Just like all the lies, the people swallow the murder, adjusting it into their own wrapped word-view.

Todd - MM’s ex-wife’s husband, who’s soon to be MM’s ex-wife’s ex-husband - breaks the silence by cheering Homelander.

And then on cue, the others join Todd. Almost like they just needed validation from one person to cheer, that it’s ok to celebrate murder because that guy did it first. The crowd is a validation slut, just like Homelander.

They don’t cheer Homlander out of fear, they do it because they want to believe in him. In their minds, he stood up for himself and them.
That guy is a Starlight supporter, and he is the enemy.

In his interviews with Cameron Coleman, Homelander created the narrative of us vs them. Putting himself on the same team as the people, while creating those shadowy figures called the “they”.

The “they” are an abstract, they can be anyone who’s against the “us”. They are the “lame-stram media”, the rich and powerful, politicians, and anyone else. Anyone who Homelander choses as an enemy.

History is filled with people who used the “us vs them” propaganda.
This is how fanatic leaders weaponizing words, creating propaganda, to convice their followrs to execute genocides and holocusts.
How civilians decide to ignore the horrific crimes of their leaders, lying to themselves that it’s necessary for their protection and freedom.

So the Homelander’s fanatical fans cheer him for killing the enemy.
And this gives Homelander the toxic validation he so desperately craves.

This outburst is the first time people see the real Homelander.
Not the pendering lie, not the god-chosen idol Vaguht created.
No this is the Homelander that only a few has ever seen.

For so long he was afraid of how people would react to his true self, and to his complete disbelief, the people cheer him, they still love him, even when they see the murdering deranged monster he truly is.

[phifan-mia]

What's wild to me is that Soldier Boy was actually loyal to the deal with Butcher. To take down homelander then they all turned on him. Say what you want about SB but he's a true solider and loyal. He could've easily turned and went to homelander but he made a deal

[sonofhorus]

Anthony Starr needs an Emmy. As great as EVERYONE is in this show, he has been absolutely amazing this season.

[aduckwithayoutubechannel]

Personally, I don’t want them to just kill off Homelander. I’d love to see him de-powered. He’s spent his entire life as a god, it’d be wild to see how he reacts to being a normal human.

[chetjump]

Ryan has almost dead eyes when he smiles at the end there.. that kid is actually a pretty great actor being so young, he really feels like homelanders son, very conflicted with what he’s left with..

[tusharsaxena]

There’s no way they kill Noir after introducing those cartoons in his head. That was so cute ngl, made me root for him

[alexanderdumas-]

Ryan smiles because he realizes in that moment killing someone isn’t something to be ashamed of. Desensitizing his value of life is another way of absolving himself of taking his mothers

[nicholasgarrick]

The fact that Homelander actually cared for someone is shocking to say the least.

[eaglesphan]

I hate what they did with Noir. Ryan and Newman’s daughter are around the same age. I’m looking out for that.

[meesironman]

I really really want to see Edgar come back. He was an absolute badass

[Tomppanen]

I really hope that instead of Butcher going on a suicide mission they instead give him the actual blue V as a last ditch effort. It happened in the comics and it would save our favorite character.

[nicholasgarrick]

Tbh this whole episode makes me root for soldier boy instead of butcher, and homelander.

[beegee]

Antony Starr is one of very few people who can pull off the look where his eyes are both completely dead inside and fkn CRAZY simultaneously. He is just so spectacular in this role.

[theshiddler]

My theory is that Gecko (who Vought used in regenerative experiments in season 2) will be used in some capacity to piece together Noir with parts of Stormfront, to create a silver bullet against Homelander.

[dejossa]

i love the parallel to the season 3 ending with ryan walking away with homeland the same way he did with butcher, both standing in shock covered in blood

[DoomVonVictor]

I love how soldier boy can't die but is put back into stasis like weapon x because he can't be controlled Jensen killed this season with his limited showings and I didn't see Homelander disemboweling noir coming or Ryan siding with him. They messed up their mission so bad. They ended up losing their only weapon and creating a second super monster 😂

[realpeter]

I’ve literally had nothing to do in my life but watch this show, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself for another year

[Damian_]

Well if butcher only got like a year or so to live then this has to be the final season unless he takes permanent V and survives lol Also, I don't get why he was worried about Ryan getting blasted by soldier boy, he would've survived like Homelander would and just not have powers then they could kill homelander with no Ryan interference then finish off soldier boy. Happy ending sort of lol

[tiandi]

I wish they used Soldier Boy a lot more this season. I'm hoping he comes back because Jensen Ackles deserves more screentime.

[PupiNoriega]

I felt some "Midsommar" ending vibes with Ryan smiling with the music and embracing the madness.

[Jr-bnkc]

It doesn’t make sense for Ryan to just trust the man that abused his mother so quick writers were pushing for this ending too much