This post contains spoilers for Gen V and previous seasons of The Boys.
Gen V may be done for the season, but The Boys are back to fill the Supe-shaped holes in our hearts with a brand new trailer. During the first season of the college-centric spinoff, showrunners Eric Kripke (The Boys) and Michelle Fazekas (Gen V) made it clear that the two shows would be tightly woven throughout their tenure. At the time, a cynic may have assumed that it would be a one-sided partnership, with Gen V pulling from The Boys universe to entice viewers to check it out. However, The Boys’ first trailer for its upcoming Season 4 makes it apparent that both series are going to make good on the promise of connectivity.
It’s also heavily signaling that Homelander’s gonna die in Season 4. Come with me on a little journey, won’t you, as we explore that theory and a few others that have emerged from the trailer…?
What Will (Now) Vice President Neuman Do With the Virus?
This trailer heavily implies that Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) and Senator Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) have been elected as President and Vice President of the United States of America. Now, thanks to Gen V, we know that Neuman is in possession of a virus that could completely wipe out all Supes. But, given that she’s a Supe herself and her daughter is of her bloodline, we’re not going to see the recently elected Vice President unleash the airborne virus anytime soon. Still, she’s got both one hell of a weapon and one hell of a Homelander problem, so who will Neuman be turning to in order to mutate the virus even further?
There is a slim chance that Neuman has no intention to use the virus at all, and just wanted to ensure it stayed out of the wrong hands. But that’s not really her style, is it?
The now-Vice President deciding not to twist an impressive murder-weapon to her advantage is pretty far-fetched for the character. Almost as far-fetched as the next little theory spiral that I’m about to take you on.
Isn’t Black Noir Dead?
We watched Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) die at the hands of Homelander (Antony Starr) back in Season 3, but the quietest member of The Seven sure does seem to be back up on his feet in this new trailer. Of course, this could be as simple as Vought wanting to be sure that the death of Black Noir doesn’t add to the growing discourse surrounding their super team. No one knows what the Supe looked like, so they could have crammed anyone in the costume.
Or we could be seeing a comic-accurate Black Noir make his way on screen. Previously, the Prime Video series had used the character for the same purpose he had in the comics: ensuring that Homelander didn’t go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and to kill him if he did. However, they elected to have the Supe be his own character rather than the Homelander clone that he was in the comics. But, now that the original man in the mask is dead, it could have just been that they weren’t using the Homelander clone part of his story yet.
Why would they do such a thing? Two key reasons that are actually more tied together than they may seem at first glance: the first being that Black Noir is actually the Big Bad™ in The Boys comics, and the second being that Victoria Neuman has that aforementioned Supe-killing virus.
In the comics, all of the atrocities that we’ve tied to Homelander were Black Noir’s doing. (He also eats some kids. It’s a lot.) Homelander’s still a shit in the source material, make no mistake. But Black Noir masquerading as Homelander was really the comics’ primary antagonist. Now, there’s no rolling back the clock on the Prime Video version of Homelander. That big ol’ deplorable ghoul is going to stay that way until the day he dies.
… But what happens if we end Season 4 with the triumphant belief that the recently inaugurated President and his right-hand woman worked with scientists to formulate a virus to take down the tyrant that had been plaguing America, only then to learn shortly after that there’s another Homelander waiting under Black Noir’s mask, and that this one is way, way worse?
This might seem like an unhinged theory, but I watched a lot of Eric Kripke’s other wildly popular show, Supernatural. He’s got shenanigans in him, that one. And there’s another major hint in this trailer indicating that ol’ Homelander ain’t coming out the other side of this one.
We Should Totally Just Stab Caesar!
“Like Caesar,” says Homelander with excitement, completely forgetting that Caesar was rightfully murdered by his friends. Homelander might not have any friends, but it still seems like we should pick another historical tyrant to tie ourselves to, I don’t know.
Outside of being another signal for the Supe-supremacist at large’s demise, it’s also one of countless indicators that Season 4 of The Boys is gonna be political as hell. Season 3 was already skipping along into that territory of course, with the Singer/Nueman ticket established and Homelander being labeled as a big fat fascist before killing someone in the middle of Main Street.
Thanks to Gen V, we know that Vought was already working towards a Homelander solution. The virus currently in Neuman’s possession was always intended to help neutralize the star-spangled jerk. But, while Vought would never intentionally kill their greatest soldier, the now-dead Dean Shetty (Shelly Conn) had other plans. And, so far as Vought knows, the virus is in the wind. Neuman killed the virus’ creator, Dr. Cordosa (Marco Pigossi), as soon as she had it in her possession, and Shetty met her untimely end at the hands of Cate (Maddie Phillips) and Sam (Asa Germann).
The Radicalization of Gen V
Speaking of Cate and Sam, we will undoubtedly be seeing members of the Gen V cast pop up in Season 4 of The Boys. We end the first season of Gen V with Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and the rest of GodU’s now-defunct Top 5 (plus Lizzie Broadway’s Emma — sorry Emma) trapped in what we can only assume is a Vought facility, but Cate and Sam are currently Homelander’s favorite young Supes after they went on their little human killing-spree at GodU. As a matter of fact, it’s perfectly possible that a misguided Sam is the one currently masquerading as Black Noir (though less fun if they do successfully off the leader of The Seven).
Cate and Sam’s radicalization has already unfolded, as witnessed in the Season 1 finale of Gen V, but Marie, Emma, Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), and Andre (Chance Perdomo) are set to signal that radicalization can be used for both good and evil, following the themes already heavily in play in The Boys’ Season 4 trailer.
Homelander’s skulking about being fasc-y, Annie FKA Starlight (Erin Moriarty) has a scene where she’s literally depicted as a beacon of hope, the humans are divided and ready to rip each other apart, and The Boys are most certainly never going to be considered “cooler heads.” But, Marie and her team have already been firmly centered with strong The Kids Are Alright vibes. Still, they’re trapped in a cell and might not be rescued until the season’s nearly out, and The Boys and Gen V have the tall task of helping viewers understand the differences between political radicalization and violent extremism.
While Sam and Cate are roaming free, they’re at constant risk of falling victim not just to Vought’s manipulation, but Homelander’s. While he’s usually been the type to use brute force to bend people to his will, the trailer hints that we could see the leader of The Seven take a more underhanded approach as things continue to escalate in America.
“All democracies fail, because people are f*cking stupid,” says the voiceover. “But if you crush the masses, who builds your monuments […] The people will tear apart themselves, you just have to nudge ‘em a little. Then you get to swoop in, be the one saving ‘em.”
The trailer centers on Annie and Homelander as the faces of the two sides, but there isn’t one single person who can “save the people” in this level of division. This will, without question, be a strong theme in Season 4.
Oh Yeah, Billy Butcher Is Dying
Billy Butcher will absolutely be making it out of Season 4 alive (unlike Homelander, probably). But he’s gonna have one hell of a time doing so. Thanks to the fact that he couldn’t stop shooting up V24 back in Season 3, Butcher is now terminally ill. Strangely, the trailer doesn’t seem to hit on this too much. But, unless there was a miraculous off-screen cure, you’ll be seeing this adventure unfold in Season 4 while Butcher fights to get his step-son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) out of Homelander’s grasp.
That is, if Ryan isn’t too far gone. At the end of Season 3, the instigating factor for Homelander’s “murder in the middle of Main Street” was someone shoving Ryan. As the person dies, we see Becca Butcher’s (Shantel VanSanten) son smile ominously before it cuts to black. But Butcher made a promise to his dead wife, and he’ll be saving that little boy or die trying.
Regardless of who makes it out of Season 4 alive and who doesn’t, it’s evident that the next season of The Boys is going to be turning things up to 11. Firecracker (Valerie Curry) and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) will be joining the ranks. It hasn’t been confirmed that they’ll be members of The Seven but, given the team’s depleted ranks and their current “branding issues,” it seems pretty likely. Meanwhile, Neuman will continue her puppet act with Singer and the American people. Oh, and the season will be taking place during an election year.
Fun!
Amelia is the entertainment Streaming Editor here at IGN. She's also a film and television critic who spends too much time talking about dinosaurs, superheroes, and folk horror. You can usually find her with her dog, Rogers. There may be cheeseburgers involved. Follow her across social @ThatWitchMia
