Billy Butcher is one of The boys‘most unique characters – a deadly brute with a surprising penchant for love. However, when original writer Garth Ennis conceived Butcher, the character was named as an homage to an entirely different franchise that helped inspire the character. However, that wasn’t the only change Ennis made between his initial proposal and the final series – Butcher also started out with superpowers nothing like his eventual TV skills.
In The boys’ busEnnis shares his original pitch to DC Comics, which includes several details that didn’t make it into the final version. Ennis notes that at this point Butcher’s character had a different name originally known as ‘Savage’. Of course, the character’s name was always a reference to his brutal actions towards the rebel Supes, but Ennis also intended the name to pay homage to one of his inspirations.
Billy Butcher’s original name ‘Savage’ was a tribute to 2000 AD comic character Bill Savage, who Ennis describes as, “a psychopathic truck driver turned guerrilla fighter in a future Soviet-occupied Britain.”
Butcher’s original name connects him to a character from 2000 AD
But the biggest difference is that Butcher originally had superpowers
Created by Pat Mills, Bill Savage first appeared in 1977, playing a resistance fighter against a fascist Russian government known as the Volgans. Hailing from East London, Savage is portrayed with the same iconic accent as The boys‘ Butcher, using excessive violence and practical thinking to win the day. A fan of 2000 AD (which actually appears in The boys comics as one of the ways in which Frenchie tries to help the Woman kick her addiction to violence), Ennis writes that he still considers Wild “like Billy Butcher’s great-great-grandfather ten times removed, or something.”
Ennis eventually changed Butcher’s name because he considered the allusion too obvious and wrote that it was for the best as 2000 AD started publishing new Wild stories soon after. However, he also admits that the connection remains and that he is suspicious of other franchises like Avatar Press’ Gravel stellar heroes who are “Savage’s accursed offspring.” Of course, as cool as it is to know Butcher’s lineage as a character, the biggest change revealed by Ennis is that the character originally had superpowers.
Boys Could Originally Disable Superpowers
Ennis calls it “the worst idea in history”
While Butcher gains powers in the Amazon adaptation of The boysEnnis’s original proposal was very different. In its original concept for The boyshe intended for the team to be able to disable the powers of the Supes they hunted, but only when the entire team was in close proximity. Ennis calls it “the worst idea in history“, although he also notes that it is a result of his initial instinct that The boys should be about realistic, gritty violence, “the type of violence that occurs outside bars at 2 am, where the victim is surrounded and oppressed by individuals who seek their destruction”.
Fortunately, Ennis decided that the team would not have a shared superpower before the series actually began, leading to the version of The boys that comic book and TV fans know. And although fans missed Butcher’s name connecting him to 2000 ADEnnis’ admission means that fans of The boys I still know where Billy got his relentless violence from.