Photo Credit: Prime Video
Fans of Antony Starr’s Homelander may want to brace themselves for disappointment when it comes to The Boys Season 5 finale.
The first three episodes of The Boys Season 5, which will be the final entry in the Prime Video superhero series, are now available to watch on Prime Video. Developed for television by Eric Kripke, the show is based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.
Why might Homelander fans be disappointed with The Boys Season 5 finale?
To preface, I have neither received nor watched any screeners for The Boys Season 5; I’ve stayed away from spoilers and don’t know anything regarding what’s in the episodes to come. I’m merely writing as a fan of the show and as someone who has read the comics that it is based on.
With that in mind, The Boys comic series has somewhat of a controversial ending that, if adapted into the show, might also prove to be controversial.
Homelander — the superhero villain played by Starr — has served as the main antagonist of The Boys ever since the very first episode; however, he’s not actually part of the last part of the comic series. There’s a big storyline where Homelander takes over the White House before he’s ultimately killed; that all happens in the second-to-last arc, with the finale then being about Butcher (played by Karl Urban in the series) having become so irredeemable that it’s a problem to the point where Hughie (Jack Quaid) has to do something about it. I won’t spoil every last detail about how the comic ends, but Homelander is completely absent from Ennis and Robertson’s last chapter.
Everything about The Boys Season 5 so far suggests this may be the route that the show is taking as well, as the tension between Hughie and Butcher is certainly mounting. Kripke told The Hollywood Reporter he’s “anxious” about how fans will judge the finale as well, which further suggests this might be how the Prime Video show bows out.
This will inevitably upset some fans who want to see The Boys close out with a Homelander battle; yet, Kripke, despite his anxieties, has confidence in how the show ends. He said on Twitter in response to someone saying the ending won’t be satisfying, “I make a rule never to respond but: you want a showrunner who’s anxious & obsessing over every detail cause they want it to be great! A writer who is ‘I nailed that shit’ confident is usually a bad writer. Ok, vanishing back into the hedge Homer style.”
New episodes of The Boys premiere on Wednesday until the finale arrives on May 20, 2026.
