R-rated superhero TV shows are not a rarity anymore, but every now and then, a series comes along and delivers a fresh twist on the genre. Prime Video’s smash hit, The Boys, has overturned viewers’ expectations by pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the superhero genre across four seasons. Based on the graphic novels of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys takes aim at some of the most overused tropes that we’ve gotten accustomed to and exposes corruption and carnal desires hidden behind the pristine public personalities of Supes, who are worshiped in its world.
From the pilot episode, the show relished putting its wicked spin on the formula and shocked viewers. We get to see the twisted members of the Seven, led by the charming yet secretly depraved Homelander. The maniacal mayhem that ensues when Billy Butcher reassembles the Boys and toys with superheroes is traumatizing yet spectacular to watch.
The Boys
- Release Date
- July 26, 2019
- Seasons
- 4
Showrunner Eric Kripke has allowed his subversive and unflinching sense of humor to flow through the seasons, turning The Boys into a must-see TV show for fans looking for something far removed from standard superhero fare. In the four seasons streaming so far, The Boys is bursting with moments that could have made the list. But we have narrowed them down to what we think are ten of the most shocking scenes from The Boys.
Presented in no particular order, these moments show why this darkly comedic reinvention of the genre continues to excite and unsettle fans.
10 Homelander’s Mommy Issues
Season 1, Episode 5 - “Good for the Soul”
While they’re evident across all four seasons, we get the first glimpses of Homelander’s mommy issues in the fifth episode of Season 1, titled “Good for the Soul.” The episode is filled with pivotal moments like A-Train looking for Kimiko to prove his worth to Homelander and Mother's Milk and Billy Butcher confronting Ezekiel at the Believe Expo by getting Hughie inside a VIP tent.
The most unsettling of all, however, is when Homelander has a private moment with Madelyn Stillwell, and he is questioning the speech he has been given.
Homelander, the seemingly invincible leader of the Seven, reveals his deeply rooted psychological issues by resting his head on Madelyn’s lap. She strokes his hair and the scene takes a bizarre turn when she begins to treat him like a child and calls him “my good boy.”
While Homelander and Madelyn’s relationship has been far from platonic – we’ve seen him watch her pump breast milk through a wall – this moment is disturbing because it highlights the twisted nature of Homelander’s character. Later in season two, Homelander even uses Doppelganger to restore his fantasies and he’s seen drinking milk every chance he gets.
9 The Deep Forced to Eat Timothy
Season 3, Episode 3 - "Barbary Coast"
Among some of the most disliked characters on The Boys is The Deep, and in Season 3, Episode 3, titled “Barbary Coast,” he faces one of his most grotesque and humiliating moments of all time.
The episode begins with Homelander facing the consequences of his rant to the public, but when Ashley informs him that people think he’s confident and unapologetic, he’s thrilled. At the same time, we’re nearing the finale of American Hero, but because Homelander wants to teach Starlight a lesson, he kills Supersonic, leaving his spot in the Seven empty. Which leads them to reconsider their choices and Homelander votes for The Deep to be brought back on the team.
When The Deep rejoins the Seven, they’re all celebrating with a feast, and he’s forced by Homelander to prove his loyalty by eating Timothy, his beloved pet octopus. The scene is excruciatingly detailed and it shows The Deep’s internal struggle as he reluctantly consumes Timothy alive. While the moment highlights his fall from grace and the extent of Homelander’s cruelty, it also illustrates the toxic environment within the Seven.
8 Termite’s Baffling Sexual Scene
Season 3, Episode 1 - "Payback"
When it comes to superhero deaths, just like each one of them having unique powers granted to them by Compound V, they also have weaknesses that lead to their often much-deserved endings. And The Boys has always been creative with its first and final episodes of a season. The premiere of Season 3, titled “Payback” opens with one of the most jaw-dropping scenes in the series.
Termite, a Supe with the ability to shrink to microscopic sizes, is having fun in a wild party when he suddenly decides to spice things up for the crowd’s entertainment, shrinks down, and enters his partner’s body through his penis to pleasure it from the inside.
However, because he’s high on drugs, Termite ends up sneezing and things take a horrific turn when he reverts back to his normal size while still being inside his partner, resulting in a gruesome explosion. The scene is graphic and shocking and it sets the tone for the season’s approach towards violence and the unpredictable and dark nature of the supes’ powers.
7 Hugh Sr. Going Bonkers at the Hospital
Season 4, Episode 5 - “Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son”
Another cleverly-staged episode of The Boys was in its recently released Season 4. Titled after Lewis Carroll's famous nonsense poem, “Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son” starts off with making jabs at the MCU by introducing Vought’s own version of the cinematic universe at a fan festival.
Meanwhile, Hughie is struggling with his morality and trying to deal with the fact that his mother, Daphne, did inject his father, Hugh Sr. with Compound V despite him changing his mind at the very last minute. Hugh Sr. seems to be in good health and isn’t showing any unusual signs except that he’s beginning to forget little things.
When his powers do activate, it is revealed that Hugh Sr. can teleport and walk through walls. In honest moments of panic and confusion, he ends up killing several innocent people by cruising right through them. Frantic, he even turns on Daphne for leaving him and Hughie all those years ago. When he threatens to kill her, Hughie steps in and tries to calm him down before taking the necessary decision of euthanizing him.
The moment is a critical turning point for the show because it demonstrates the fear and desperation that evokes when a simple man takes Compound V and falls prey to its savage side effects.
6 The Entire Herogasm
Season 3, Episode 6 - “Herogasm”
Fans of the comic book were truly excited to see how The Boys’ television counterpart would translate the eponymous moment on screen. And boy were they delighted.
Titled aptly, “Herogasm” delivered some of the most outrageous moments in the series. The episode centers around a secret annual event where Supes indulge in their most hedonistic desires. Of course, after signing an NDA. The entire scene is a chaotic blend of bestiality and excess, with Supes engaging in all sorts of explicit activities. And the camera does not shy away from the graphic details and the madness in the mansion.
But amidst chaos, some of the key characters end up having unexpected confrontations and alliances. Aside from the highly anticipated fight between Butcher, Soldier Boy, and Homelander, which ends up killing almost all the Supes that attended the “party,” we get insights into the corruption within Vought, A-Train suffers a heart attack, Starlight calls out Homelander’s hypocrisy and reveals the darker aspects of the superhero world, and Mother’s Milk has a chat with Soldier Boy.
5 A-Train Kills Popclaw
Season 1, Episode 5 - “Good for the Soul”
The first season of The Boys focused greatly on an original member of the Seven, and it is none other than A-Train, whose actions in the first episode set the stage for the series. Under the influence of Compound V, which he had been using in secret to enhance his superpowers, A-Train ran right through Hughie’s girlfriend, Robin.
When Hughie decided to get revenge and teamed up with Butcher and the Boys, one of their targets was A-Train’s girlfriend Popclaw, who was also deeply troubled.
After revealing the truth about Compound V to Butcher, she confesses the same to A-Train. He knew she wanted to take their relationship public but was reluctant to get permission from Vought, so A-Train used that desire as leverage and eventually eliminated his own girlfriend by swiftly injecting her with an overdose of heroin. The moment is a defining and haunting one for A-Train as it underscores the moral compromises the Supes are forced to make.
4 Vought on Ice Slaughter Scene
Season 4, Episode 3 - "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here"
Vought International has protected and marketed The Seven for a really long time now thanks to their creative team’s fresh ideas. In Season 4, Episode 3 "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here,” we witness a practice session, where actors dressed as members of the Seven are ice skating in an arena and singing alt-right-themed tunes.
Hughie and M.M. arrive to spy on Homelander and Sister Sage and are surprised to see Neuman arrive with her daughter. Hughie then enters the vents to eavesdrop, and he accidentally sweats on Homelander.
Naturally, Homelander is pissed, and he sets out to kill him, lasering whatever comes in his path. From the vents to the staircases, from the stands to the ice skaters preparing for the Christmas musical, Homelander has simply no control over who or what he shoots. The scene may be unserious in tone but it is truly appalling.
3 Crashing of Flight 37
Season 1, Episode 4 - "The Female of the Species"
In the fourth episode of Season 1, titled “The Female of the Species,” we see a harrowing scene unfold aboard Flight 37, which is hijacked by terrorists. Homelander and Queen Maeve are dispatched to save the plane, and they manage to kill the hijackers and win applause from the passengers.
But the scene takes a sharp turn when one additional hijacker is found in the cockpit. Having already killed the co-pilot, when he sees Homelander and Queen Maeve, he panics and kills the pilot as well. Homelander’s reckless laser shooting leads to the plane’s controls being destroyed, making it impossible to keep the flight in the air.
As the passengers realize their fate, there is commotion and chaos. Maeve makes suggestions and Homelander calls them all unfeasible. He coldly decides to abandon the plane, despite Queen Maeve’s desperate pleas to save at least some of the passengers.
The scene is heart-wrenching, as Maeve tries to comfort a young girl who is crying uncontrollably. The moment arrives early in the series, and it reveals Homelander’s ruthless nature and Maeve’s helplessness. It’s also a moment that profoundly impacts both the character’s arcs in the future.
2 Sister Sage Asking the Deep to Lobotomize Her
Season 4, Episode 4 - "Wisdom of the Ages"
For a show that’s already filled with too much gore and over-the-top violence, it shouldn’t be a surprise when things go too far. Right? Well, not really. Season after season, episode after episode, The Boys manages to find a way to scar its audiences with the most nauseating scene ever. In the fourth episode of Season 4, titled “Wisdom of the Ages,” we see Sister Sage asking The Deep to give her a frontal lobotomy.
Apparently, being the smartest person in the world is exhausting. Sister Sage cannot die even when her brain is injured because it just regenerates in a couple of hours. However, performing an occasional lobotomy actually takes the edge off of her and gives her pleasure because she can feel like a normal person, even if it’s only briefly. In the scene, the camera closely captures every agonizing detail as Sage instructs Deep on how to insert the apparatus into her skull through her eye.
1 The Boys Getting Attacked by Supe Sheep
Season 4, Episode 5 - "Beware the Jabberwock, My Son"
Season 4 of The Boys may have received criticism for its storytelling and pace, but it never held back on delivering some downright bizarre and memorable moments. Somewhere in the middle of the fifth episode, titled “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son,” Butcher reveals that a Supe virus is being created at Godolkin University, but because Neuman already got her hands on it first, they have to strike a deal with Stan Edgar. He agrees, and they end up on an old farm. The Boys discover a lab, but it’s already been cleared out save for the blood splattered everywhere.
Neuman shows up right after and the group starts looking for her husband, Sameer, who was responsible for conducting experiments on farm animals to test the strength of the virus. But a leak caused all the sheep to get dozed up and turned them into murderous flying animals.
Initially, the sheep look totally harmless, but it doesn’t take longer than a minute for things to start getting diabolical as the sheep launch predatory attacks on Neuman’s men and tear their flesh apart, screeching in the process. The scene is intense, surreal, and shocking.
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