This week, the latest season of Prime Video’s superhero satire The Boys ended. This one had its share of fans, critics, and controversies as it did with the previous season. While the attention on the season finale focused on the unfortunate timing of its airing, there were other major reveals. One of the biggest reveals was that Soldier Boy, a fan-favorite hero, would return.
To anyone following the show and its fandom, the cause for celebration will be obvious. Here is a breakdown of why this is such tremendous news. Also, of course, make room for spoilers.
The Return of Soldier Boy
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The season four finale of The Boys overturned many pieces of the show’s status quo. However, one of the biggest reveals was found during the post-credits scene of the episode. Homelander follows the new president, Calhoun, to a hidden government bunker. Below, he finds a familiar face on ice: his father, Soldier Boy. This all but confirms his return for the next and final season.
At the end of the previous season of The Boys, Soldier Boy was in an epic battle against Homelander and later Butcher, Ryan, and the rest of his team. Ultimately, Queen Maeve took a blast from him and incapacitated him. Maeve went into hiding while Soldier Boy was put on ice. His latest ‘appearance’ was a hallucination cameo experienced during the spinoff Gen V episode.
Who Was Soldier Boy
Of every character in The Boys, few achieved the same meteoric success as Solider Boy himself. The character was intended as a dark parody of Marvel’s Captain America, this time satirizing the more unsavory traits of the nation and outdated period. Part of the appeal of the series as a whole is showing how these character concepts would hilariously backfire in the real world.
While the character was intended as a villain, there was some commentary on toxic masculinity. Fans had other thoughts. The fans absolutely lauded the character’s casual badassery, charisma, and ability to go toe-to-toe with Homie himself. Not helping matters was the bombastic portrayal by living legend, Jensen Ackles. Ackles was a veteran of showrunner Eric Kripke’s previous series, Supernatural, where he starred as lead Dean Winchester.
These traits combine to create a walking fountain of memes, who could do this all day. Given the morally ambiguous nature of the show’s universe, his popularity is far from surprising.
The Current State of The Boys
While the return of Soldier Boy would inevitably have the fandom celebrating, his return couldn’t come fast enough. The series has always been controversial, given its subject matter, this season thoroughly divided the fanbase. The once clever political commentary had become blunt and obnoxiously straightforward. Additionally, fans criticized the tasteless handling of a serious subject matter in Hughie’s arc during the season.
Furthermore, many of the series’ running jokes, such as The Deep’s exploits, had gone stale and lost their shock value. Characters such as Kimiko and Frenchie’s arcs stagnated, while newcomers such as Firecracker and Sister Sage did not add much new to the series. Furthermore, the poor timing of the finale’s release overshadowed it for many.
The end of the Amazon Prime season gave many cliffhangers atop one another, with Homelander essentially creating a ‘supe-ocracy.’ Through all this, Soldier Boy’s return would be a ray of hope in the wake of seasonal rot. With all of the show’s disparate plotlines, Soldier Boy’s return will hopefully give The Boys the diabolical finale it deserves.
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