The Boys: Butcher's Final Scene Is A Throwback To Hughie's Introduction To The Team

Contains spoilers for "The Boys" Season 5, Episode 8 — "Blood and Bone"

There's always been an inherent darkness within Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). He may be trying to take out the bad guys, but he's not exactly a hero himself. And the series finale, "Blood and Bone," gives him a truncated yet satisfying villain arc. Upon killing Homelander (Antony Starr) and seeing his precious pup Terror dead, Butcher sets out on one final mission — kill all supes.

It leads to a final confrontation in Vought Tower between Butcher and Hughie (Jack Quaid) that's reminiscent of the very first episodes of "The Boys." Butcher's plan is to press a button that will release the supe-killing virus throughout Vought Tower. Within a matter of days, the virus will have spread across the globe, killing anyone altered by Compound V. 

Butcher's choice of having a detonator release the virus calls back to the first supe Hughie killed, Translucent (Alex Hassell), who wasn't even in the comics. Frenchie (Tomer Capone) sticks an explosive suppository inside Translucent, and ultimately, Hughie presses the button, causing Translucent to explode. When in doubt, stick with the classics, and Butcher's final plan is still technically his first one. But there's an even deeper meaning to this final confrontation. 

There's plenty you might not have noticed in the first episode of "The Boys," but the catalyst of the entire series is when Hughie's girlfriend, Robin (Jess Salgueiro), is killed by A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) when he runs full force into her. Hughie gets recruited by Butcher in his mission to kill all supes, which starts with Translucent. Back then, Hughie probably would have agreed with Butcher in the finale that they all have to die. But a lot has changed since those first few episodes.

Obviously, Hughie's in a relationship with Starlight (Erin Moriarty), so for no other reason, he doesn't want the virus released because it'll kill her. But Hughie has clearly learned that violence only begets more violence. Earlier in Season 5, Hughie meets Translucent's son, Maverick (Nicholas Hamilton), and apologizes to him for killing his father, saying that it wasn't the answer to his anger. 

Some supes, like Homelander, are so villainous that there's no choice but to kill them, and there's been ample bloodshed throughout Season 5. But it seems Hughie wants to pursue a better path in living with superpowered individuals that goes against Butcher's genocide. In that moment, Butcher's no better than Homelander in wanting everyone different than him dead — so Hughie kills him. 

Bad supes will undoubtedly still be out there, but luckily, heroes like Starlight are around to combat them. The finale brings Hughie's arc full circle, from being totally driven by vengeance to seeking a way to work and live alongside supes. And if you go back and rewatch the entire series, there may be a lot more callbacks and foreshadowing that you notice.