Through three seasons, Amazon's The Boys has been highly regarded by superhero enthusiasts and television fans alike as not only a great comic book show, but a great show, period. It has brought fun, dynamic, flawed, interesting characters to the screen. Even with the show deviating heavily from the source material, especially in the most recent season, it remains captivatingly original.
Of course, the comic and the show are known for their intense and gory violence. All characters, from Supes that are members of The Seven, or side characters with no powers at all, are subject to being killed off in this show. Some totally deserved it; others are just unfortunate collateral damage.
This article contains spoilers for The Boys. This article also contains references to sexual assault, racism, and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
10) Robin's Death Sets Hughie on His Path
Still one of the most gruesome deaths, poor Robin (Jess Salgueiro) didn't even see it coming. A-Train (Jesse Usher), all hopped up on Compound V, runs straight through Robin, leaving Hughie (Jack Quaid) holding on to her dismembered hands as her blood flies across his face.
Everyone unfamiliar with the source material probably had their jaw hit the floor his the brutality of the first death. This death leads Hughie down his path with Butcher, joining The Boys and eventually becoming more and more like Butcher than he'd care to admit.
9) Butcher Had to Deal With Becca's Death Twice
Butcher's (Karl Urban) drive for revenge against all Supes was crystal clear. Homelander (Antony Starr) raped and killed his wife, so he needed to die. However, it was revealed at the end of season 1 that she was alive, living in a safe house and raising her son, Ryan, whose father was Homelander.
It's a shock to Butcher, but he is relieved she is alive, regardless of the circumstances. Then at the end of season 2, Ryan's heat vision activates and nearly kills Stormfront (Aya Cash) but catches Becca (Shantel VanSanten) in the neck by accident. Butcher and Ryan have to watch as Becca dies, and Butcher has to deal with that pain all over again.
8) Supersonic's Short-Lived Run in The Seven
A new addition to The Boys roster looked like he would be a great fit in season 3. A hometown friend and former boyfriend of Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Supersonic (Miles Gaston Villanueva), won a Bachelor x American Idol type of game show to be the newest member of The Seven (even though it was rigged).
Starlight tried to get him to go home several times out of fear he would get hurt, but he refused and vowed to back her up. After telling A-Train they were plotting against Homelander, A-Trian snitched, and Homelander brutally killed Supersonic off-screen, revealing his mutilated body on a rooftop to Starlight afterward.
7) The Courtroom Explosion(s)
It felt like Homelander and Vought were going to lose. As everyone gathered around their television to watch the courtroom hearings, Dr. Vogelbaum (John Doman) and several members of Congress's heads started to pop like balloons. The scene is entirely out of left field; it's bloody, and you keep wondering the entire time, "how many more?"
Knowing that Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), someone thought to be aligned with The Boys, was behind it also comes as a shock. It is a shift from ally to enemy in just a few minutes. The fact that the ending of season 3 sets her up as season 4's main antagonist makes the shift even better.
6) Alastair Adana's Cult Comes to an End
The Fresca king and Scientology-like leader were far from the worst of the bunch to meet their ends on the show, but by no means was he a "good guy." He easily manipulated The Deep (Chace Crawford) to further his agenda and later tried the same thing with A-Trian.
Alastair (Goran Višnjić) was a late victim of The Head Popper Supe, which after his death, was revealed to be Victoria Neuman. It's hard to hate Alastair flat-out, he was an interesting secondary character, and The Deep's storyline with him was certainly comedic, but he got a little too ambitious.
5) Payback Gets Taken Out by Soldier Boy
Payback was the group of Supes led by Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) when they all decided to betray him and hand him over to the Russians so that Homelander could become the new face of Vought. After Butcher frees Soldier Boy, he makes a deal with them to take out each member one by one (sans Gunpowder, who Butcher already killed).
Crimson Countess (Laurie Holden) is first, who gets disintegrated by Soldier Boy's radiation blast; then the TNT Twins (Jack Doolan and Kristin Booth), who were hosting the annual Herogasm party, and also died from his radiation blast; finally, Soldier Boy went after Mindstorm (Ryan Blakely), who had become a hermit and put up the best fight.
4) Homelander Kills Arguably His Only Friend, Black Noir
Maybe the most emotional death in the show, and one that was pretty unexpected. Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) has shown to be the only person Homelander truly seems to trust in The Seven. But when Noir hears Soldier Boy is back, he rips out his tracker and hightails it out of Vought tower. Afterwards, it's the first the audience gets a view of Noir's past with Payback.
When Noir finally musters up the courage to go back to Vought and tell Homelander they need to team up to kill Soldier Boy, it's too late. Soldier Boy already told Homelander about how he is his biological father, which Noir knew. Upset Noir didn't tell him, he brutally punched him through the stomach, leaving him to die.
3) Madelyn Stillwell's Death Lets Homelander Off the Leash
Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) was a major antagonist in season one of The Boys, so her death came as quite the twist. Homelander and Stillwell had this very creepy, very inappropriate relationship, but she seemed to be the one (aside from Stan Edgar) who was able to control Homelander.
However, when Homelander finds out that Stillwell has kept his child a secret from him, she gets the same treatment as anyone else (like Black Noir in season 3), and he melts her face in with his heat vision. It's brutal, slow, and really personal. This was the first step of Homelander becoming completely unhinged.
2) A-Train Takes Blue Hawk for a Run
Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler) was part of A-Train's "redemption arc" in season 3. He is a white superhero accused of over-patroling, injuring, and killing Black people in A-Train's old neighborhood. A-Train finally gets Vought to make Blue Hawk, in a televised event, give a pre-written, half-hearted apology at a rec center, which pleases approximately no one. When the audience confronts him over his misdeeds, Blue Hawk flies into a fit of rage and assaults several unarmed people.
After paralyzing A-Trains brother, he finds Blue Hawk outside Herogasm and demands retribution. A-Train tosses Blue Hawk to the ground and takes off running, dragging him on the asphalt and killing him. A-Train nearly dies because of his heart condition, but with some poetic irony, it turns out he got Blue Hawks' heart and will be able to run again.
1) Stormfront
Stormfront, who previously went by Liberty, was Dr. Vought's wife and a literal Nazi. Stormfront was very strong and the main antagonist of season 2, even getting Homelander to side with her and use him to her agenda. Their relationship was dangerous, and when Stormfronts past was revealed, Homelander's reputation was seriously hit.
At the end of season 2, Ryan used his heat vision to stop Stormfront from killing his mom, Becca. Unfortunately, Becca got caught in the attack as well and died. It was believed Stormfront died from her injuries from Ryan, but she actually lived. She was briefly shown in a wholly debilitated state in season 3; on Homelander's birthday, she bites her tongue off and chokes herself to death. Not a pleasant way to go, but she definitely deserved it.