WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Boys Season 2, Episode 8, "What I Know," available now on Amazon Prime Video.
Surnames in fiction are seldom a coincidence, and with no character is that clearer than with The Boys' Billy Butcher. The leader of the titular group's brutal violence puts him at odds with his friends every bit as much as his enemies, but in the end, it always seems like he has a heart of gold that pulls him back when he's about to go too far. However, while the show seems to build up his concern for his family and friends as his greatest weakness, if the comics are any indication, that might not be true. In reality, he could actually be more brutal and villainous than the Amazon Prime series has led on, and his real weakness could be that he's a completionist.
Everything about Butcher builds him up as a typical gruff man with a soft side for those around him. For instance, Butcher's relationship with Hughie emphasizes how the leader always tries to keep himself at arm's length from the more emotional and less experienced younger member of the team, although Butcher always relents and does what he needs to try to save Hughie. For the most part, Butcher's characterization in the show matches his comic counterpart, which could indicate a disturbing direction for the series.
The show and comic have several notable changes, and there are some secrets where it's still ambiguous whether or not the two versions of Butcher will follow the same path. But if the show continues its trajectory of fidelity to Butcher's character, then that would mean the real final villain will not be The Seven -- it will be Butcher himself, bound and determined to wipe out every single Supe on the planet as a final coup de grace following Becca's death.
While much of the dramatic arc to the story revolves around Butcher resolving his vengeance and hatred toward the sociopathic Homelander, the real finale turns out to be his plan to release a deadly weapon across the globe that specifically targets everyone with Compound V in their system to fatal effect. The plan would destroy even those with trace amounts of the compound indiscriminately, and in pursuit of it, Butcher proves wholly willing to kill any of his fellow teammates who stand in his way. Mother's Milk, Frenchie and Kimiko all ultimately see their end at Butcher's hand, with there being no extent he's not willing to resort to.
At the end of the comic, it's up to Hughie to stop Butcher as the two get into a violent clash that finally sees Butcher executed with a lead pipe. It's an extremely depressing note to end the story on, undercutting much of the connection built between Butcher and the rest of the cast. While it's clear in both versions of the story paint Vought as the real villain all along, it seems like such dramatic gestures as Butcher's final plan could be the only real means to stop the mega-corporation. On the other hand, the show has had a far greater tendency to lighten up and make its characters less atrociously inhumane.
And yet, Butcher's apprehension in the show to save Ryan because of the superpowers he was born with stands out as a chilling similarity. The antihero was nearly willing to sacrifice the child's life and freedom so that he could live peacefully with his wife, and although he reversed that decision in the Season 2 finale, Becca's death could quash what little sense of sympathy he started to build for Ryan. In fact, Butcher could be well on his way to becoming a villain, and it's hard not to see the signs.
In the morally grey world of The Boys, heroes and villains are not so easy to pick out, so the situation will doubtless be far more complicated than it currently is. With the priorities where they are, the Boys still need to find a way to beat Homelander if they ever hope to prevail in the end, and the unknown threat of Victoria Neuman still lurks with a hidden agenda. It will be a while before the series cuts through its antagonists enough to get to the true final boss but don't be surprised if it all comes down to an East Ender with a crowbar and an expletive at the ready.
Amazon Studios' The Boys stars Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as the Female, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Chace Crawford as the Deep, Antony Starr as Homelander, Aya Cash as Stormfront and Simon Pegg as Hughie's dad. Season 2 is available on Prime Video now.