Homelander is stripped of his powers through Kimiko’s newly developed laser-blast capability and is killed in the series finale. He offers Butcher anything to stay alive, but Butcher refuses and kills him by prying open his cranium with a crowbar. The finale’s pacing accelerates to reach a tidy ending in which the U.S. government is portrayed as trustworthy again and Hughie and Annie are expecting. Butcher’s supe-killing virus is unleashed quickly, and Hughie kills Butcher to stop him, but both moments are presented as rushed. The ending is described as sentimental and scaled down, leaving Butcher’s character arc and the Butcher–Hughie dynamic under-served compared with the comics.
"After 39 and a half episodes of buildup - and wheel-spinning - The Boys kills off Homelander in series finale "Blood and Bone." Having been sapped of his powers by Kimiko's newly developed laser-blast capability, Homelander goes out a pathetic wannabe, offering longtime enemy Butcher anything to stay alive. Butcher, unswayed, pries Homelander's cranium open with a crowbar, and his brains spill out like so much breastmilk from a knocked-over bottle."
"It's a moment that's a long time coming, the capstone to a performance that Antony Starr really should have an Emmy for by now, and it's arriving at least a half-season too late. It's as if The Boys were so afraid to lose Homelander, and Starr's scary-good performance, that it held onto him for longer than the narrative, and source material, demanded. In doing so, the TV adaptation fumbled the comics' superior final act, turning Butcher's own ignominious death at the hands of Hughie into an ineffective afterthought."
"Butcher's split-second decision to unleash his supe-killing virus in Vought Tower, and Hughie choosing violence by killing Butcher to stop him, is all rushed through to get to a tidy ending where the U.S. government is trustworthy again and Hughie and Annie are expecting. The accelerated pacing and sentimental nature of the finale's closing minutes underserves both Butcher as a character and the dynamic between him and Hughie."
"The Boys was always a little too enamored of heroes, and as a result held back on giving Butcher the genuine villain arc the character needed to finally cap off the simmering enmity between him and Hughie. The series ends with a happy ending for the morally-at-peace Hughie, but its storytelling was so scaled down that this seemingly contradictory ending - Hughie kills the mentor who took him in, but saves a world that's wronged him - was as limp as Deep's corpse, sent to a wate"
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