The Big Billy Butcher Moment We Probably Won't See In Amazon's The Boys
It's a delicate balance, adapting a comic book for television. Doing a one-to-one, page-to-screen retelling of a popular franchise might seem like the way to go, but then you start trying to read Thor's dialogue boxes from the '60s out loud and realize that even Morgan Freeman couldn't inject the gravitas necessary to make that stuff accessible.
The same goes for the hyper violence of the original comic series The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the inspiration for the Amazon Prime series of the same name. Changes had to be made to bring the series up to contemporary expectations. After all, the original comics came out way back in 2006 — that was nearly three popes ago.
With that in mind, the showrunners made some alterations to the lineup. Characters like Ezekiel, Mesmer, and Translucent were created for the sake of the show. Others were gender swapped from their comic counterparts, while a few were cut all together. Surprising though it may seem, some of the rough edges were sanded off of the story (for example, the first season's airplane disaster was originally tied to 9/11). Generally, these moves have been welcomed by viewers.
One big change, however, has fans scratching their heads about how the show will bring a major plot point to life. It all surrounds a dog, a mental break, and a character named Jack From Jupiter.
Billy Butcher goes full John Wick in the comics
In the comics, Jack From Jupiter is a member of the Seven, serving as a Martian Manhunter analogue with some Shazam sprinkled in for good measure. Whether he's as bad as his colleagues is a matter of conjecture, but he's definitely shown to be dismissive of their violent tendencies and down with a bacchanalian lifestyle.
Jack's life doesn't factor into the story half as much as his death. Upset at having been blackmailed, the supe blames Billy Butcher, before Homelander determines that Butcher had nothing to do with the extortion. Enraged, Jack flies off into the night. Later that evening, Butcher returns home to find that his bulldog, Terror, has been killed.
This represents a turning point for Butcher, who beelines for Jack's place. Cornering the supe, Butcher holds him by the throat, stopping him from utilizing his voice-activated invulnerability. Butcher then stabs Jack in the stomach again and again, repeatedly asking "Why'd you kill me dog, Jack?" It goes on for several pages, well after Jack has died from his wounds. Critically, it's never explained in the issue whether or not Jack actually murdered Terror — the dog dies off-panel, and Jack never gets the chance to speak up for himself.
Shortly after this point in the comic, Butcher really starts living up to his name, becoming the primary antagonist of the series. How, or if, the show will get to this point without Jack From Jupiter remains a mystery. We'll just have to wait for season 3 of The Boys to find out.