TV news: Amazon Prime Video teases Billy Butcher vs Homelander epic showdown in final season of ‘The Boys’
Amazon Prime Video has dropped its initial teaser posters for the long-awaited return of superhero-hit sensation, The Boys, season five.
The posters feature both Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher and Antony Starr’s Homelander in an explosive, war-like atmosphere - with this season a certainty to be the ultimate showdown between two of the series’ linchpins.
With season five confirmed to be the conclusive season of the superhero epic, Film News Blitz’s Aidan Leo unpacks what can be taken away from the posters and some other news surrounding the final season for you to look forward to.
Ominous aura, suspense seeping in
Prime Video unveiled the posters on Instagram, with the caption “Scorched earth. The Boys final season arrives 2026.”
And another that read “Scorched earth. Shock and awe. Blood and bone.”
If the posters are anything to go by, there will certainly be plenty of shock factor, moments of true awe, and quite possibly, tragic deaths of a few main cast characters.
“I think we throw you in the deep end, but in a good way, because the stakes are as high as they can possibly be,” Urban said at the San Francisco Fan Expo.
“I think the real thing to look out for in season five on an emotional level, as far as the characters go, and your attachments to characters, there's going to be some big hits early on in the very first episode.
“That's probably what is going to make you realise, 'Oh, this sh*t is for real.' The stakes couldn't be higher, and anybody's fair game,” Urban continued.
There’s no doubt to be tears and heartbreak for fans come the conclusion of episode one, let alone the diabolical plans Homelander and Butcher have in store for one another come the later episodes.
What do the posters tell us?
Regarding the Billy Butcher poster, it seems he is getting what he has always wanted, that being the fall of Vought (the series’ powerful, corrupt superhero organisation).
But at what cost?
What surrounds him and the falling Vought structure is the destruction of parts of New York City that encompasses the building.
This evidently illustrates Butcher’s final hail mary play, to do whatever it takes to take down Homelander and Vought as an enterprise in its entirety.
Butcher’s demeanor and methods were already on a fast path to ‘destruction at all costs’ at season four’s conclusion, therefore, this would just be a continuation of that, potentially taking himself out in the process.
Additionally, this adds an even more menacing feel to the Homelander poster, who watches on from the atmosphere over a scorched New York City and potentially… the Earth itself.
“I think then I’ll just wipe New York off the f**king map… I prefer to be loved, but if you take that away from me, being feared is a-one okey doke by me,” Homelander said threateningly to Starlight back in season three.
This season looks to be a fitting conclusion to a much beloved, but equally as chaotic series since its premiere back in 2019.
Madness. Bloodshed. And a few endearing moments. The Boys.
Billy Butcher vs Homelander. How it started. How it ends.
