The Only Recap You Need Before The Boys Season 4

As "The Boys" season 4 approaches, it's worth remembering the events of season 3 (some are pretty hard to forget) and where the characters' arcs left off. Most of us know the gist of things: Homelander (Antony Starr) is still at large, and Butcher (Karl Urban) is still with the Boys trying to take him down. But there's about a dozen other storylines going at any given point, and even the Homelander v. Butcher thread was complicated massively in the season 3 finale. 

So, two years after the last season aired, here's your guide to everything you need to remember about your favorite characters like Maeve, Annie, Hughie, Frenchie, A-Train and The Deep. We'll also go into the recent spin-off "Gen V," whose characters appear in the trailer for "The Boys" season 4 trailer, pointing to further overlapping of storylines. We know you might not have the time to do a full rewatch, so here's the next best thing. Let's start off with the deaths...

Spoilers for "The Boys" season 3 below.

It's often been speculated that the silent, ominous Black Noir is actually a clone of Homelander, designed by Vought to put him down if he ever fully goes off the rails. This is what happened in the comics, after all; despite how much the show has switched things up from the source material over the years, for the first two seasons this one plot point was still on the table.

But season 3 established that Black Noir is not a Homelander clone, but a guy named Earving who suffered brain damage and severe facial injuries in a beating from Soldier Boy in the '80s. Audiences have always been fond of Noir, a no-drama character who's nice to kids and charmingly allergic to almonds, but season 3 turned him into a fan favorite by establishing that he's got the mind of a child. He imagines the world through an old cartoon filter, and those charming animated characters comfort him as he dies in the season 3 finale.

How does he die? Well, Homelander finds out that Noir already knew that Soldier Boy was Homelander's father, and never told him. It's simply too big of a betrayal for Homelander to handle, so he rips Black Noir's heart straight out of his chest. Rest in peace, Earving. You may have lost your heart, but you'll always have a place in ours. 

The good news is that Noir is (sort of) coming back for season 4 anyway. Because his death would be bad press for Vought, they've hired another supe to don the mask and pretend to be the same person. What is this new Noir like? We'll just have to wait and see. 

After a full season of teasing the death of Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), "The Boys" season 3 seemingly fulfilled this promise by having Maeve heroically tackle Soldier Boy out of a building right as he's unleashing his lethal, supe-depowering blast. Unlike Noir, she is indeed reported dead by the press, and honored as the "proud lesbian" the public knew her to be. 

Immediately afterward, however, Maeve is revealed to have survived. Missing an eye and no longer possessing superpowers, Maeve nevertheless seems happy to escape her miserable life in the Seven and enjoy a happy ending with her long-time love Elena. Will Maeve return for season 4? It's not clear. But considering she's no longer a threat to anyone, it doesn't seem like she'll be super relevant to the show again any time soon. It's sad to see her go, but it's nice to see her get that rare happy ending. 

One thing worth noting is that Vought CEO Ashley (and her cyber analyst Annika) found video footage proving that Maeve's still alive. In one of Ashley's only kind moments on the show, she deletes the video instead of telling anyone about it. Maeve's secret is safe for now, but can we trust Ashley and Annika to protect this information forever? Speaking of Ashley...

As of the season 3 finale, the seemingly indestructible group of heroes called The Seven is in absolute shambles. With Maeve presumed dead, Noir actually dead, and Annie having given up on the Starlight role once and for all (more on her later), there's basically only three supes left. This is shown most clearly in that disturbing scene in the finale where Homelander terrorizes the Deep, A-Train, and Ashley. Homelander is now surrounded by supes who bend entirely to his will, and a CEO who is so stressed she's literally ripped her hair out piece by piece.

It's a shame too, because although our heroes on the show are also trekking through dangerous situations, the rest of the Seven don't even have the comfort of knowing they're suffering for a worthy cause. In the finale alone, the Deep is told to murder a vice presidential candidate so Victoria Neuman can take his place, and A-Train is scolded for killing the racist cop supe Blue Hawk, a.k.a. the only cool thing A-Train's ever done. They might think sticking with Homelander is their best chance at survival, but it's also the clearest route towards losing whatever's left of their souls.

All three of them toyed around with redemption at some point — Ashley when she protects Maeve, A-Train showing signs of guilt, the Deep trying to save his fish friends — but it doesn't seem like any of them will have the courage to redeem themselves for real any time soon. 

When Butcher and Hughie get their hands on Temp V, a chemical that temporarily turns them into fellow supes who can hold their own against Homelander, it leads to some of the coolest action scenes the show's ever given us. We get to watch as Butcher and naked Hughie held their own against Homelander for the first time in the series; they don't seal the deal, sure, but at least we get to see Homelander sweat for once. 

Unfortunately, no good thing comes without a price, and for Temp V it's a steep one: the wonder drug is basically pure poison, guaranteeing terminal cancer after just a couple of uses. Butcher's nice enough to spare Hughie from taking it again, but he himself uses it one more time in the season 3 finale, with devastating results. He's now got about a year to live, which means we can expect a more desperate and existential version of Butcher than ever before. 

As for Hughie, it seems he's totally fine. That one missed dose in the finale must make a huge difference, because Hughie doesn't even bother going to a doctor afterward and checking out the damage. Does it make a ton of sense that Hughie doesn't have any lingering health problems? Not really, but we're fine with the slight gap in logic here. One terminally ill Boy is sad enough; two of them would just be overkill. 

Annie and Hughie's season 3 arcs basically revolved around two big questions: 1) Can you fix the system from inside? and 2) What does it mean to be a strong man?

The first question was answered pretty quickly, as Homelander makes Annie's attempts at activism from within the Seven a living hell, and Hughie discovers that the progressive "incremental change" politician he's been following is a murderer supe working on Vought's behalf. It's not long before Annie's abandoned her Starlight persona altogether, and Hughie's returned to the Boys as someone taking down supes from the outside. 

The other big question was a little more complicated. Hughie's Temp V addiction is intended as a commentary on toxic masculinity, with Hughie presented as being insecure and selfish with his desire to not be constantly in need of protection. Does the storyline work? Well, kind of, providing you ignore how non-supes are so fragile in this universe that they can be casually killed even by supes who don't mean them harm. In a world where Hughie can be exploded just from taking one step off the curb, it seems weird to turn his love for Temp V into a story about men needing to learn to be vulnerable. 

Still, Hughie gets a happy ending, rejecting Temp V in the finale and choosing to support his girlfriend in a non-supe role instead. Hughie and Annie are now fully back on good terms; with both of them on the Boys' team again, they're closer than ever going into season 4. 

"The Boys" is playing the long game with Victoria Neuman, a young New York congresswomen who presents herself as a progressive, honest politician who wants to hold supes like Homelander accountable for their crimes. Of course, we should've guessed that a cynical show like "The Boys" would never give us a character with motivations so pure and straightforward; the season 2 finale revealed that Neuman is the mysterious head-popper. She's working for Vought, and quickly working her way up the political ladder to achieve her own mischievous ends.  

"The Boys" season 3 (and "Gen V," for that matter) established that although Neuman can be ruthless, she's not quite the "love to hate" type of villain that Homelander or Stormfront are. She's someone who mostly seems to like Hughie and Annie on a personal level, and who generally doesn't kill unless there's a clear gain from it. Unfortunately she's also in cahoots with Homelander by this point, and she did personally murder a whole bunch of people, so Butcher probably has a point in the season 3 finale when he says that she needs to be taken down. 

After two seasons of Neuman lurking in the shadows, it looks like she could be the main antagonist of "The Boys" season 4. Hopefully she doesn't take up too much focus of course, because the Boys still have another supervillain nemesis they haven't defeated yet. 

Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) was the Boys' clearest bet to take down Homelander so far, but alas, it was not to be. Butcher ends up turning on Soldier Boy to protect his son, Ryan. When Soldier Boy is about to give off that sonic blast that would depower all the supes in the room, Maeve chooses to tackle him out of the building to save everyone's lives, even Homelander's. The last time we see Soldier Boy, he's being put back into hibernation in the same sort of cryogenic chamber the Boys found him in. Soldier Boy is probably coming back eventually — given his parental relationship to Homelander, it seems insane to end his story here — but for now he's left the chat. 

Meanwhile, Homelander basically wins the season 3 finale. He reconnects with his son, solidifies an alliance with Neuman, and watches as his enemies basically collapse in on themselves for reasons that barely have anything to do with him. With Temp V no longer an option for the Boys and Soldier Boy out of commission, Homelander's now as dangerous and unchecked as he's ever been.

Even more ominous is his closing scene where he rashly kills a man in broad daylight, surrounded by fans and news reporters. It initially seems like the secret's out — that now everybody has seen through the mask to the monster Homelander truly is. But no: turns out, Homelander's fans actually like this. They cheer him on, as a stunned Homelander slowly starts to smile. Beside him, his supe son Ryan starts to smile as well. Uh oh! Somebody needs to move the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight, because this isn't looking good. 

In "The Boys" season 3 Frenchie has a violent run-in with his former boss, Little Nina, and just barely escapes thanks to some help from Kimiko. Meanwhile, Mother's Milk struggles with the Boys' alliance with Soldier Boy, as Soldier Boy's the guy who killed his family. MM also struggles to make peace with how his ex-wife Monique is now dating Todd, an insufferable Homelander supporter. MM manages to make peace with both Todd and Monique in the finale, but it's still not ideal. 

Kimiko temporarily loses her powers in season 3, and spends a few episodes wondering if perhaps this is her chance to be a good person. In the finale she decides that the best way to be a good person is to take Compound V again and use her powers to help her friends out. She also gleefully (and brutally) murders a bunch of goons at the end, but she looks cool doing it, so we can't hold it against her. 

The other big loose end is Ryan, the young boy whom Butcher was supposed to take care of and teach to be a good man. After Butcher basically abandons him early into season 3, Homelander swoops by in the finale to almost effortlessly win Ryan back over. Does it make sense that Ryan's so quick to forgive his biological father's many, many flaws? Sort of — kids do tend to forgive quickly — but it does feel a little rushed. It might seem like Ryan's done a quick 180 towards the dark side, but here's hoping he pulls back from it in season 4. 

The first season of the show's spinoff, "Gen V," introduced the idea of a deadly virus that only affects supes. The villain's plan was to release it on all the supes in the world, but she was thwarted and the virus ended up in Neuman's hands. What's Neuman's plan for the virus, exactly? We don't know. She might use it as a bargaining chip with the Boys, a trump card against Homelander, or maybe she'll give it to Vought to help them keep the bad supes in line. 

We also know, thanks to that closing scene in the "Gen V" finale and the implication of that one scene with Grace Mallory, that Butcher has also been made aware of the virus. We don't know what Butcher will do with this information, but given his terminal illness, it's likely he'll be even bolder with it than he would've been throughout the first three seasons. 

There's also the lingering thread of the young supes (Marie, Jordan, Emma and Andre) being trapped in a windowless prison, as well as the morally dubious Cate and Sam being praised by Homelander as supe heroes. It's unlikely these characters will have too big of an effect on the plot of "The Boys," but we're sure they'll at least get a scene or two in the season to come.