No, that wasn't actually Karl Urban's butthole in The Boys season 4 premiere

Right now, Prime Video is airing the fourth season of The Boys, its subversive superhero show based on the comic by Garth Ennis. The Boys is a gory, edgy, often hilarious show that loves to poke fun at current events and the cultural zeitgeist, but even by its own high standards season 4 feels incredibly fresh and fun. Homelander (Antony Starr) may be only a few steps away from having influence over the Oval Office, but that's not going to stop Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and his gang of misfit supe hunters from taking him down and having a few laughs along the way.

The Boys has a reputation for putting gross stuff onscreen; in the season 3 premiere we saw an Ant-Man-esque supe shrink down and explode a guy's penis from the inside. Season 4 has plenty of similar gags, and it's a riot.

Take, for instance, Billy Butcher's prank on politician and secret supe Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit). In the season premiere, Butcher considers a deal with the devil: in exchange for Victoria's help in taking down Homelander, he agrees to hand over some damaging files about her that Hughie (Jack Quaid) was planning on sending to the press which reveal her origins. Instead of following through, Butcher has a change of heart and sends Victoria a text with an attachment...that turns out to be a picture of his butthole.

"This was Claudia's real reaction at seeing the picture for the first time. All authentic," showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed on Twitter/X. However, there is one part of the scene that wasn't what it seemed: the butthole itself. After being barraged with fan questions about it, Kripke also confirmed that while this is, in fact, someone's real butthole, it is not actor Karl Urban's.

"Because hundreds of you asked: the butthole from [The Boys Episode 401] is NOT Butcher's (or Karl's). We hired a model (I don't know his name)," Kripke wrote. "I chose the pic, based on about 20 different butthole shots. Yep, Hollywood is a glamorous TV dream factory."

You have to admire The Boys' commitment to its jokes. Who knows what other absurdities lie ahead in the coming weeks? How lucky we are that Eric Kripke and the rest of his team are willing to do the hard work of sifting through explicit photos and dreaming up insanely gnarly scenes for us all to laugh about from the comfort of our couch? Keep it coming!

The first three episodes of The Boys season 4 are available now on Prime Video. New episodes drop on Tuesdays, up until the season finale on July 18.

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