Seven years after The Boys first premiered, the series is approaching its conclusion in Season 5 — and its original villain is now the key to Homelander and Butcher’s ending. Despite other villains and storylines cropping up throughout the first four seasons of The Boys, the feud between Homelander and Butcher remains the beating heart of the show. It represents two extreme and opposing ideologies, as well as the larger conflict between supes vs. non-supes. And with just a few episodes left to wrap up the story, Season 5 will be tasked with determining who comes out on top, both in the larger war and between Homelander and Butcher. SPOILERS ahead for The Boys Season 5, Episodes 1-3.
Both are resorting to extremes to defeat the other, with Homelander waking Soldier Boy and seeking out V1, while Butcher uses Ryan for his own ends and intends to use the supe virus, whether it kills him and his allies or not. All these factors will likely contribute to The Boys‘ endgame in Season 5. But there’s officially another wild card that could change everything: the show’s original villain, Giancarlo Esposito’s Stan Edgar.
Stan Edgar returns in The Boys Season 5, Episode 3, and the latest installment sets him up to play a major role in the grand finale. After Soldier Boy survives the supe virus, courtesy of the V1 in his bloodstream, The Boys seek out Stan to learn more about the original strain of Compound V. The series uses his meeting with Marie Moreau in Gen V Season 2 to set this up, though the truce between Stan and the show’s anti-heroes doesn’t last long. When the plan to use Translucent’s son, Maverick, against their enemies backfires, Stan quickly turns on them. However, it ends with him being captured by the Deep and taken to Vought. After his reunion with Homelander, Stan has become one of the most important players in the series’ final outing — and it’s hard to say who that will favor.
Considering Stan Edgar’s knowledge of V1, he’s now poised to be the deciding factor of the fight between Homelander and Butcher, but that doesn’t exactly bode well. Stan has no reason to support either of them, as Homelander is the reason he’s no longer at Vought, and Butcher is the one who killed his adopted daughter at the end of The Boys Season 4. From an emotional standpoint, the odds favor Homelander over Butcher. And that’s not to mention that The Boys Season 5, Episode 3 closes with Stan in Homelander’s clutches, giving the supe access to and leverage over him.
If Stan refuses to make V1 for Homelander, or pretends to but then tricks him, he could tilt the odds in The Boys’ favor. It’s a scenario that could favor Stan, as he’d benefit from Homelander’s downfall as much as anyone. But it could also get him killed, and the man isn’t one to choose the greater good over self-preservation. Depending what Homelander offers him, Stan could also gain from helping the supe. His established hatred for Butcher in Episode 3 gives him further incentive to act out of spite, too. It really is a toss-up to leave everything riding on Stan Edgar, which only makes the future of The Boys more exciting.
Stan may decide what happens between Homelander and Butcher, but his conversation with MM in Episode 3 proves there won’t really be a winner in this fight. Both are likely to die by the end of The Boys Season 5, especially if Stan’s actions end up helping the titular team spread the virus. And at the end of the day, whatever decision he makes, Stan is only fighting for himself. MM catches onto this, realizing he still has ambitions to climb to the top of Vought again. Stan readily admits that something else will take the place of supes if they succeed at eliminating them. He’s likely not wrong. While Butcher vs. Homelander must be decided this season, the problems that arise from power and greed will carry on. And regardless of who he helps, Stan remains a villain — one all too happy to continue and capitalize on those very problems.
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