Summary
Brought to life by New Zealander Karl Urban with a mesmerizing blend of dark charm and psychotic rage,The Boys’Billy Butcheris one of pop-culture’s most inimitable personalities.“Monsieur Charcuter"is one of the most ruthless characters ever seen on television, utterly inexorable in the pursuit of his ultimate goal: Wiping out every superhuman walking the face of the Earth.
Somewhat unsurprisingly for an individual with such a grim mission statement, Butcher has done some truly diabolical things off the back of hisraison d’être.At this point in the proceedings, he’s justified his status as an antihero and then some. The shocking events of the show’s fourth season have seen the Boys' one-time leader transition from a morally ambiguous character to a burgeoning supervillain.
10Cutting Off Sameer’s Leg
“Now, See? That Is Classic Butcher.”
Butcher’s propensity for depraved behavior decidedly didn’t let up with the debut ofThe Boys’fourth season. “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son” saw Billy carry out one of his more reprehensible actions to date:faking Sameer Shah’s death by cutting off his leg.
Karl Urban’s antihero compounded his appalling actions by holding the scientist captive andforcing him to create a viruscapable of dispatching Homelander and Victoria Neuman. When somebody describes this sort of conduct as “classic Butcher”, that’s a truly concerning state of affairs; even if that “somebody” happens to be a hallucination caused by a malignant brain tumor.
9Blowing Up A Baby
“Now…What Was That Plan Again?”
The Boys’Season 1 finale revealed Butcher’s endgame for Homelander; namely, blowing his nemesis' love interestMadelyn Stillwellto kingdom come before his very eyes. His plans backfired somewhat when Antony Starr’s villain proceeded to save him the trouble, melting a glowing cavern in Stillwell’s face in retribution for her concealing the existence of his son.
Stillwell’s infant child, Teddy, was caught in the crossfire of these explosive developments, and Butcher couldn’t care less. With a wicked grin on his face, the Boys' leader attempted to blow himself sky-high as a petulant middle finger to his archenemy, gleefully disregarding the fact that he was almost certainly killing a child in doing so.
8Abandoning His Little Brother
“Don’t You Listen To Him.”
The original “canary” to Karl Urban’s charge beforeHughie Campbellarrived on scene, Lenny Butcher was the only individual capable of placating the rage-filled monster who exists at the heart of the Boys' leader. Billy’s brother was a calming presence to his murderous tendencies like none other, rendering Butcher’s eventual betrayal of his love all the more appalling.
Butcher abandoned his younger brother, leaving him at the mercy of their abusive father when he joined the Royal Marines. Rubbing salt in the wound, he scolded Lenny in heartbreaking fashion during their final encounter by echoing the abhorrent words of their tormentor. Believing that Billy had abandoned him, Lenny committed suicide soon after.
7Planning A Genocide
“Who Was It Who Said They All Gotta Go?”
It speaks volumes about Butcher’s moral compass that he is willing to perpetrate a literal genocide in pursuit of his goals. Cutting off Sameer Shah’s leg and forcing him to produce a virus capable ofkilling Homelanderwas bad enough, but it pales in comparison to the fact that Billy is legitimately willing to murder every superhero on Earth to finally dispatch his nemesis.
A figment of his Compound V-based brain tumor and the manifestation of the dark side of Butcher’s personality, “Joe Kessler” is literal proof of Billy’s genuine intentions to commit genocide. Visions of his late wife Becca underline the fact that Butcher isn’t all in on his abhorrent mission just yet, but the fact that he’s even considering it highlights his inexorable slide into villainous territory.
6Rejecting Ryan Butcher
“Well, Maybe I Don’t Want To Look At You After What You Done To My Becca.”
Ironically, for the perpetrator of countless acts of horrific physical violence, one of Butcher’s most morally abhorrent moments is arguably his rejection of Ryan Butcher in Season 3. Attempting to drive Becca’s son away from him to protect him from his bloody campaign of retribution against Homelander, Butcher blames the devastated boy for thedeath of his beloved motherin a brutal attempt to cut ties.
There’s callous cruelty, and then there’s this sort of behavior. Regardless of the noble intentions that prompted him to distance himself from Ryan, Butcher’s conduct in this case was irredeemably despicable.
5Using A Supe Baby As A Weapon
“That Was Diabolical!”
If there’s a moral low that Butcher won’t stoop to when trying to wipe out his enemies, it has yet to reveal itself onThe Boysto date; a state of affairs that apparently extends to using infants as weapons. After Butcher and Mother’s Milk are cornered by guards in a hospital laboratory, the Boys' leader uses a superpowered baby to blast his way out of trouble.
Without a care in the world for the automatic weapons aimed in the direction of a literal infant, Butcher uses his new toy as a human shield before unleashing the child’s laser vision on the unfortunate guards; dicing them to bloody smithereens in the blink of an eye. Apparently unsatisfied with his horrific behavior, Butcher warns the baby to keep his nose clean or else, “I’ll come back and stomp ya.”
4Killing Victoria Neuman
“You’re All F****** Welcome.”
The Boyscapped off an explosive fourth seasonwith Butcher fully embracing his dark side. Utilizing a diabolical array of new powers courtesy of his Compound V-based tumor, a newly genocidal Billy steals the virus after dispatching Victoria Neuman in shockingly graphic fashion.
While eliminating Neuman was shocking enough in itself, the savage nature of her death was compounded by the fact that Butcher killed her during a purported truce. To make matters worse, he brutally murdered Victoria before her young daughter’s very eyes, displaying the sort of ruthless nature that is typically only associated with full-on villains.
3Shooting Starlight
“Starlight, Don’t You Just Light Up A Room, Eh?”
While Butcher arguably cares for Hughie Campbell more than any other member of the Boys, this state of affairs does precisely nothing to prevent him from attempting to gun down “Petit Hughie’s"love interest Starlightbefore his very eyes. After Jack Quaid’s protagonist is unmasked as Translucent’s “true” killer, Annie attempts to take him into custody, prompting Butcher to blast the unsuspecting superhero in the chest with a .50 caliber sniper rifle.
While Annie’s superhuman durability saves her from any permanent damage, it’s highly unlikely that Butcher took this fact into consideration when he fired.
2Mocking A Support Group
“Where’s Your F****** Rage?!”
It takes a unqiue brand of cruelty to insult a group of horrifically injured individuals; just ask Billy Butcher. Attempting to warn Hughie of the dangers of associating with superpowered individuals, Butcher takes the Boys' newest recruit to a support group for supe-related collateral damage survivors.
Butcher proceeds to mercilessly taunt the beleaguered group as they deliver their emotional testimonies, capping matters off by dismissing the entire room as nothing more than “a bunch of pathetic Supe-worshipping c****.” Morally speaking, it doesn’t get much more heinous than this.
1Blackmailing Vogelbaum
“Your Whole F****** Family Dies Today.”
Billy Butcher is not a man that one says no to; unless they want a horrific fate visited upon their nearest and dearest. Jonah Vogelbaum finds this out first-hand when he resists Billy’s attempts to coerce him into testifying against Vought, prompting the Boys' leader to produce one of hismost diabolicalmoments.
With an expression that would make a great white shark flinch, Butcher threatens to murder Vogelbaum’s entire family unless he cooperates; starting with his daughter in the very next room. He signs off the unforgettably wicked sequence by slurping a cup of tea in what is arguably the most menacing sip ever seen on television.
