How Old The Boys Cast Really Is
As a superhero satire that takes itself quite seriously, The Boys raises a lot of interesting questions about a lot of interesting topics. What would the world be like if superheroes were backed by a mega-sized corporation? Would hero worship be treated as a part of everyday life, or be seen as creepy? Would the heroes themselves follow their superiors' orders like good little soldiers, or act of their own accord whenever they saw fit?
The list goes on, but Redditor u/illfightyrdad asks a more down-to-earth question that somehow manages to be quite difficult to answer: "How old is Hughie supposed to be?" The character seems old enough to be called a man, yet the other members of the Boys constantly refer to him as a kid. He's obviously on the younger side, but how young is he, exactly? And how old are the rest of the Boys, anyway?
Most members of the Seven have officially listed ages, which makes sense since they're public figures. As members of a group out to kill Supes for the pain and suffering they've caused, the Boys are anything but public figures. They live off the grid to whatever extent they can, so it makes an equal amount of sense that information on them is scarce. Ball-parking their ages is a matter of combining their respective actors' ages with some educated guessing. So, let's do just that.
Jack Quaid's age gives us a good idea of how old Hughie Campbell is
Let's start with Hughie Campbell, since the whole idea began with him.
The actor who plays Hughie is Jack Quaid, who's 28 years old as of November 2020. The son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, Jack Quaid was born on April 24, 1992. Tall and lanky with no grown-out facial hair, Hughie looks about Quaid's age in real life.
Something about Hughie's appearance and his attitude makes him seem a bit younger than Quaid on The Boys, though. Viewers first meet Hughie when he's living with his dad and working a dead-end job; the naïveté that stems from such a life is the reason the Boys call him a kid. Placing Hughie in his mid-20s seems the safest bet — 25 or 26, maybe.
Estimating Billy Butcher's age based on Karl Urban's age
Next up is Billy Butcher, the de facto leader of the Boys. Karl Urban, the man behind Billy Butcher on The Boys, has 20 years on Quaid, making him 48 years old. Unsurprisingly, Urban's character shares none of Quaid's on-screen naïveté. Butcher is hardened, darkly sarcastic, and lives up to his surname thanks to extensive combat training and a willingness to do what needs to be done — in other words, he's been around a while.
Butcher's seen a lot, done a lot, and grown a lot — and that includes a thick beard and mustache. Even lacking facial hair in flashback scenes eight years earlier, Butcher still seems to be closing in on middle age. Anywhere from 45 years old to Urban's real age of 48 works for his Boys character.
How old is The Boys' Mother's Milk?
Marvin T. Milk — better known as Mother's Milk, or M.M. for short — is next. Like Urban, the actor who plays Mother's Milk, Laz Alonso, is in his 40s. Alonso's just two years younger than Urban — 46 years old as of this writing.
M.M. has the most "normal" life outside the Boys: a wife and kid, a steady (if unconventional) job, and a house. He also gives something of a timeframe for his life: His father died at the age of 55, 16 years before the events of the show. M.M. was living with his father at the time, meaning he could've been around Hughie's age.
All things considered, that puts M.M. somewhere in his early 40s; anything above 44 years old seems unlikely.
Frenchie is likely the middle child of the Boys team
Everyone but Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) calls Serge by his nickname "Frenchie." Tomer Kapon, who plays Frenchie on The Boys, looks and is younger than Urban and Alonso — by quite a few years. Born on July 15, 1985, Kapon is 35 years old as of November 2020.
Frenchie's brashness compared to M.M.'s need for organization gives him the aura of a younger man, whereas his vast skill set and well-kept facial hair are signs of maturity over Hughie's (initial) lack thereof. That he's been through a lot shines clearly because of his empathetic nature, but Frenchie's temperament can still get the best of him.
Overall, the cocktail of youth and maturity he mixes says that Frenchie is about 33 or 34 years old at the youngest, 37 at the oldest.
Kimiko could be the youngest of the group
Last up is Kimiko Miyashiro, AKA the Female of the Species, AKA the only girl in the Boys. Kimiko's actress Karen Fukuhara is a mere two months older than Quaid, making her 28 years old. Their characters also appear to be around the same age, but Kimiko has lived a much less average life than Hughie. Captured by the Shining Light Liberation Army, experimented on with Compound V, living on the run — it's been rough for Kimiko. Yet she exudes a certain youthfulness, a different sort of naïveté than Hughie.
All in all, any age between 24 and 27 could work for Kimiko.