The boys Has many storylines to decide in season 5, including whether Ryan will ultimately be a hero or a villain. Even before he was born, others tried to manipulate Ryan, with Vogt already scheming how best to control and influence Homelander’s biological son. Ryan lived a sheltered life while being raised by Becca Butcher in an artificial community overseen by Vogt, and with Ryan’s existence hidden from the rest of the world, and even from Homelander.
After Homelander learned he had a son, Ryan’s world was forever upended as Homelander and Becca fought to control Ryan’s future. The fight dragged on after Beka’s death, with Ryan is caught in the middle of Homelander and Billy Butcher’s conflictAs Homelander tries to shape his son in his own image and Butcher struggles to keep the promise he made to Becca. The boys The story of the 5th season will likely culminate in Ryan’s decision to be a hero or a villain.
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Hero: Ryan chooses to go with Butcher instead of Homelander in the season 2 finale
Ryan used his agency well
After Becca’s death in The boys Season 2 finale, Ryan is given the choice to go with Homelander or Butcher. Becca loved Ryan, but she kept his life sheltered and didn’t give him much agency to keep his existence a secret from Homelander, according to the deal she made with Vogt. The choice between Homelander and Butcher was one of the first cases in Ryan’s life where he had agencyAnd he chose to go with Butcher.
One of Ryan’s biggest challenges is that he still hasn’t been able to exercise much free will, as he spent most of season 3 hiding away with Grace Mallory and in season 4 Spent most of his time restricted to Vought Tower. When Ryan had agency, he made the right decision in choosing Butcher over Homelander. This is an important reminder for season 5 that Ryan can make the right choice if it is truly left to him and not manipulated or decided by others.
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Villain: Ryan accidentally killed his mother
He can’t control his powers
While Ryan never intended to hurt Becca and was trying to save her from Stormfront, his powers still ended up being the cause of her death. Good intentions cannot undo the damage of deadly results, and This is not the first time that Ryan has hurt his loved ones Because of his inability to fully control his emotions or his powers. While Homelander tried to teach Ryan how to use his powers for selfish purposes, no one taught Ryan how to master his powers for good.
Season 5 could see him pushed beyond his breaking point, leaving him no choice but to become the villain because, regardless of his intentions, he cannot master the storm of emotion and deadly power within him.
Ryan’s immense power and his struggles to control his abilities and his emotions may cause him to continue hurting the people who care about him. He has already been through more tragedy and deception than anyone his age should have to experience. Season 5 could see him pushed beyond his breaking point, leaving him no choice but to become the villain because, regardless of his intentions, he cannot master the storm of emotion and deadly power within him.
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Hero: Ryan feels guilty about killing Koi
He does not see human life as meaningless
In season 4, Homelander tried to get Ryan to see himself as superior to everyone else, and to see all humans as beneath him. Despite this, Ryan felt a great deal of guilt after accidentally killing Coy, the Vought stunt actor who helped Ryan perform his first TV superhero rescue. Coy said Ryan could throw him, and he could take it, but Ryan threw Coy with too much force and sent the stunt actor hurtling into a building, causing him to die instantly and violently on impact.
Unlike Homelander, who never feels any remorse for hurting others, Ryan was devastated, sobbing, and consumed by guilt after the incident occurred. A hero is not only someone who is strong, but is someone who can be empathetic to others, and who wants to grow from their mistakes. Ryan demonstrated all these traits in his reaction to Koi’s death, proving that he is not Homelander, and does not want to use his powers to harm others.
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Villain: He smiled when Homelander killed a protester
It was a disturbing response to his father’s actions
When Homelander killed a protester in broad daylight during The boys Season 3 ending, and the surrounding crowd erupted in cheers, Ryan started to smile too. shouted the protester, “F*** you, fascist!” and threw a plastic bottle, which hit Ryan, but he was not hurt, and the protester had the upper half of his head removed. Homelander later lied and told Ryan that the protester was a pedophile to make it seem more justified that he killed a civilian.
Before the lie, a part of Ryan not only accepted what his father had done, but a part of him approved of it, as evidenced by his smile. Ryan got a glimpse of how he can use his power in any way that he wantsEven in destructive and violent ways, and learned that such behavior can be rewarded by the public. This sets a dangerous precedent for Ryan’s future, as well as the lack of legal consequences that followed Homelander after killing the protester.
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Hero: Ryan says he wants to help people
His intentions are pure
When Homelander asked Ryan in season 4 about what he wanted to do with his life, Ryan shyly admitted that he wanted to help people. He was also disappointed earlier in the season when he learned that most superhero TV saves are staged and don’t involve people actually helping. While Homelander weapons Ryan’s admirable aspirations against him, Ryan’s eagerness to help others is promising for his hopefully heroic future.
Homelander never cared about helping others and only saw such actions as a way to help himself. Even with Homelander’s deep negative influence, Ryan still really wants to help people, and not because of his father’s selfish reasons. Ryan has never had a chance to follow his dreams, but he will finally have the chance to do so in season 4, as the entire world is threatened by Homelander and his super army, making it more imperative than ever for Ryan to step up. Up like a hero.
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Villain: Ryan enjoyed punishing Adam Bourke
When Ryan tells Homelander in season 4 that he wants to help people, Homelander immediately weapons this by Ryan “helping” Bonnie. Instead of focusing on helping Bonnie, Homelander manipulated the situation so it became more about Ryan punishing Adam Bourke. Ryan’s smiles and satisfied tone made it clear that he enjoyed Adam doing as he was toldIncluding getting on his knees and repeatedly slapped by Bonnie.
It was a clever way for Homelander to make Ryan feel that helping people means asserting his power over others and enjoying it. This is the start of a potentially slippery slope of Ryan commanding and hurting others beyond what is needed, simply because he is enjoying how powerful such a dynamic makes him feel. It’s an unfortunate result of Homelander twisting Ryan’s best wishes in the worst possible ways.
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Hero: Ryan maintains a relationship with Butcher
This keeps Beca’s memory alive
Especially after Homelander took Ryan, it would have been easy for Ryan to turn his back on Butcher and never see him again. Homelander has made it clear that he does not want Ryan to have a relationship with Butcher, with Homelander wanting his son to focus solely on his father. Regardless, Ryan made an effort to maintain a relationship with Butcher, even sneaking in and visiting him Without Homelander knowing about it until later.
Ryan knows his mother loved Butcher, and he cares for Butcher too. He makes an effort to honor his mother’s memory, while also taking steps to have a relationship that is important to him and his ability to feel good. It may seem like a small thing, but Ryan’s ability to defy Homelander, honor his mother’s memory, and connect with a person who isn’t easy to be with is an accomplishment, and teases Ryan’s potential to be heroic in much greater ways. About.
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Villain: Ryan does not have a positive mentor to guide him
A hero needs a good mentor
Many heroes are guided by wise mentors who teach them how to control and use their powers for good. Ryan does not have such a figure in his life, as Homelander pushes Ryan to be destructive and merciless. Butcher has given in to the dark side And his newfound tentacle power to kill others, just like he did to Victoria Newman after she just wanted help getting away from Homelander. Grace Mallory is dead and can’t help Ryan anymore.
Without a positive mentor left to guide him in the right direction, Ryan is more likely to make the wrong choices. He wrestles with difficult emotions, the traumatic loss of his mother, and being manipulated by those he loves, all of which often manifest in violent results. If no one can help Ryan and look out for him like Becca, he can lose himself in the path of villainy, especially if Homelander becomes a prominent figure in his life again in season 5.
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Hero: Ryan’s Outburst on Live TV
Ryan does not fall for Vogt’s propaganda
While filming a Voughts Christmas special on live TV, Ryan interrupted it and went off script to confirm that the problematic messages in the special were false. Homelander previously told Ryan that he had no choice but to participate in the special. Nevertheless, Ryan stopped the special as it aired and used his platform to explain why Vought’s messaging about families and education was wrong, even though he knew it would make his father angry.
Ryan proved that he is not willing to follow others when he disagrees with their morals. He stood up to Humlander and the Vogt and did what he believed in.Although he knew that there would be repercussions for his actions. Butcher proudly watched this unfold, with the incident serving as a reminder of what he still believes in Ryan, which could pay off in season 5 with Ryan making a brave choice even as Butcher continues to go down a darker path.
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Villain: Ryan killed Grace Mallory
He is still killing his loved ones
When Ryan realized that Grace Mallory had driven him to an instruction where she wanted to turn him into a weapon against Homelander, an overwhelmed Ryan threw himself out. He sent Grace flying into a wall, which caused her neck to snap, thereby killing her. This was shocking for many reasons, one of which was that Grace was the one who looked after Ryan and helped raise him in season 3 after Becca’s death and while Butcher was working with the boys.
Although Grace loved Ryan, and they were like family to each other, he lost control and killed her, a resourceful and influential CIA agent. Agent who was part of the fight against Sues before Ryan was even born. This was worse than when Ryan killed BeccaAt least in that case, he tried to save her. If Ryan is able to kill someone as close to him as Grace, he has the potential to kill anyone who upsets him or gets in his way in The boys Season 5.