Spoilers for episode 2

The Boys season 5 is wasting no time getting messy. After a premiere episode that delivered a major, full-circle death, episode 2 turns its attention to the thing Butcher and company are banking on to bring Homelander down: the Supe Virus.

And then it promptly complicates that plan.

Soldier Boy appears to die in the episode, his skin blistering as he struggles to breathe and collapses to the ground. Naturally, The Boys treat this as proof that they now have a reliable Supe-killing weapon. For a show built on people being spectacularly wrong at the worst possible time, that confidence feels almost charming.

After fleeing the scene, The Deep and Homelander arrive to take stock of the carnage. Homelander puts on a show of grief over his father’s apparent death as Soldier Boy is loaded into an ambulance in a body bag. Then, just as Homelander turns away, Soldier Boy suddenly sits up. Alive. The credits roll, because of course they do.

What Soldier Boy’s survival suggests

The most obvious read is that the Supe Virus did not hit Soldier Boy with full force. There are two possible explanations:

  • The batch of the virus created by Sameer and Frenchie may have lost some potency
  • More likely, Soldier Boy is one of the few living Supes who originally took Compound V, also known as V-One, which may make the virus less effective on him and on others with the same history

The first theory has a problem. Rock Hard and Jetstreak both seem to dissolve into puddles almost immediately, which does not exactly scream "weakened contagion." So the cleaner answer is that Soldier Boy’s old-school V-One status may be shielding him in a way newer Supes do not enjoy.

That matters because it gives Homelander a very practical reason to pay attention. If the virus is more dangerous to newer Supes than to original V-One subjects, then his survival plan could be as simple as leveling up in the most terrifying way possible and taking V-One himself. That would, in theory, help him neutralize the Boys’ not-so-secret weapon before it becomes a real problem.

Other ways Homelander could still be stopped

Of course, Homelander has more than one possible nightmare waiting for him in the final season.

  • Soldier Boy is still around, and he is one of the few Supes capable of burning Compound V out of a person’s blood
  • Marie Moreau, another Project Odessa survivor and a blood bender, is one of the rare Supes powerful enough to pop Homelander’s head, although a passing line in episode 1 suggests she is currently sidelined in Pittsburgh
  • Ryan Butcher remains the most painfully personal threat of all, with a son-shaped path to some very poetic patricide

So yes, Homelander may have just found a way around the virus problem. He may also be standing in front of three different exits, each of them worse than the last.

Either way, season 5 is already setting up a final run that looks as chaotic as expected, which is to say deeply inconvenient for everyone involved.

The Boys season 5 episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now on Prime Video.