Since The Boys started back in 2019, the Prime Video series has been thundering toward one main outcome. However, the season 5 trailer just teased a potential alternative. From a certain point of view, it would be a far less acceptable end to the story. On the other hand, the upcoming batch of episodes will feel incomplete if this possibility doesn't become canon.
Although The Boys season 5 will end the show, the franchise at large is primed to continue. New spinoffs in the vein of Gen V and prequels like the upcoming Vought Rising will flesh out the gory superhero universe for years to come. So, how The Boys season 5 concludes will inevitably have a trickle-down effect on what happens afterward. The imminent finale is largely expected to end one way and one way only, although that doesn't mean it all needs to be smooth sailing.
TRIGGER WARNING: This article mentions suicide.
The Boys season 5 must pay off the trailer's Homelander V1 tease
Homelander (Anthony Starr) is one of the most powerful characters in The Boys, in every sense of the word. Not only does he head into season 5 with his elite superpowers, but his political influence has never been stronger. Still, that doesn't seem to be enough for him. As revealed in season 4, Homelander is still fearsome, but he's aging as any ordinary human would. For a character who pretty much sees himself as a god, this simply won't do.
The recent trailer explains that Homelander will be on the hunt for V1 in The Boys season 5. As the first iteration of Compound V, the substance that gives Supes their powers, V1 is the purest and most potent form of Vought's most revered invention. While it's tricky to see how Homelander could become more powerful than he already is, V1 would render him functionally immortal. So, the stranglehold he has on the world suddenly looks to be without end.
Now, Karl Urban's Billy Butcher has been trying to kill Homelander since The Boys began, and that desire hasn't yet been fulfilled. So, if conventional storytelling is adhered to, the show won't end until Homelander, Butcher, or both are dead. If Homelander finds and uses the V1, it becomes less clear how Butcher will take down his nemesis. The most obvious solution to this would be to prevent Homelander from injecting himself with V1 in the first place, but to have him come very close to doing so.
But that would be....disappointing. Although Homelander is the show's biggest villain, there's always been a dark intrigue when it comes to witnessing what he can achieve and how powerful he can become. To deprive the audience of the chance of seeing Starr's character as the demigod he seeks to be feels like it could break The Boys' streak of granting the audience's string of similar unspoken requests. We want V1 Homelander, and we want him now!
How Homelander can still lose in The Boys season 5 (even with V1)
Homelander wouldn't be the first V1 Supe in The Boys canon. The earliest superpowered beings created by Vought came about via V1, and then the compound was intentionally weakened over time. Characters like Soldier Boy (Jesen Ackles) and Stormfront (Aya Cash) received V1. They're at least equal to Homelander in power, only they don't age. This means that they could live forever, given the right conditions.
However, The Boys season 3 proved that Stormfront could still be grievously injured, to the point that normal humans, or even other Supes, would be dead. Stormfront lived, though, and only died when she took her own life. She seemed to lack the ability to restore herself to her pre-injured state. So, it stands to reason that V1 would interact similarly with Homelander.
Starr's character is too arrogant to ever assume he'll lose in the long run. I'm pretty certain the only reason he wants V1 is to make sure his current reign becomes particularly unshakeable. What he isn't entertaining is the possibility of becoming irreversibly injured like Stormfront, being unable to recover from or die due to said injuries. In short, just because dying becomes even more difficult for Homelander with V1, that doesn't mean The Boys season 5 can't end with an even more brutal, almost eternal form of defeat for Starr's character.
The Boys season 5's double-episode premiere will be on Prime Video on April 8, 2026.