Power Shake-Up After The Boys Season 5 Episode 4: Ranking the 5 Strongest Characters Right Now
The Boys Season 5 is past the halfway mark with Homelander still untouchable — and if he gets V1, he may be unkillable. Four episodes remain to find out if anyone can bring him down.
Season 5 of The Boys just hit halftime, and we have four episodes left for someone, anyone, to put Homelander in the ground. Not great odds. He is still the top dog, and if he gets his hands on V1 — the original Compound V formula — that pretty much flips the game board. Think: almost impossible to kill, even more impossible to stop.
Spoilers for Season 5, Episode 4 ahead.
Episode 4 doesn’t really reshuffle the deck. The only new supe we meet is Quinn, and that cameo is blink-and-gone. No big reveals that change where people sit on the power ladder either. So yeah, same ranking as last week. That said, the show keeps teasing a new V1 supe, and there’s a not-so-subtle hint Stormfront might still be breathing. Either of those would scramble things fast. And whenever the Gen V crew finally crosses over in a real way, expect more chaos.
The power board after Episode 4
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5) Billy Butcher
Butcher stays in the top five — for now. If Bombsight keeps rising or Stormfront actually staggers back onto the board, he could get bumped. He’s got more raw juice than he should and enough stubbornness to square up to Soldier Boy and Homelander, but let’s be honest: he’s not built to solo V1-tier supes. He tends to live through those encounters thanks to a scrappy combo of long-range attacks, lucky breaks, and friends with good timing. There’s a reason he wants the supe-killing virus: he can’t finish the job on monsters like Homelander or Soldier Boy by himself.
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4) Marie Moreau
Marie’s hard to slot because she isn’t in Season 5 yet, but on paper she edges Butcher. Blood-bending gives her range, control, and a nasty toolkit in a fight. She’s also, crucially, the only confirmed Project Odessa survivor besides Homelander, and she can heal people — even bring them back. That’s wild. After Gen V Season 2, her power ceiling looks higher than we thought, but we still haven’t seen her mix it up with this show’s heavyweights post-upgrade. If she actually shows up, she could climb. Until then, she stays here, especially with Ryan and Soldier Boy flexing lately.
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3) Ryan Butcher
Ryan’s the first supe born, not made, and his dad is, well, the problem. He’s green compared to the old killers, but he already tried to take a swing at Homelander in Episode 3 and survived a beating that would paste most people into the floor. He’s also one of the extremely few who’s made Homelander bleed. That matters. His heat vision has already melted a V1 supe before (hi, Stormfront), so in a straight duel with Soldier Boy, he might have a path. The caveats: Ryan’s still a kid, he’s not quick to go lethal, and unlike Soldier Boy, he ages and the virus can affect him. If those two ever throw down, I’m still picking grandpa until proven otherwise.
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2) Soldier Boy
Between Ryan, Soldier Boy, and Homelander, you’re splitting hairs — they’re all tanks that hit like freight trains. Soldier Boy’s edge is durability. The V1 in his system keeps him from aging, makes him immune to the supe virus, and turns him into a nightmare to actually kill. If Stormfront really is alive, that would be one more data point backing Soldier Boy’s freakish survivability, which is why he stays ahead of Ryan. He can’t fly and he doesn’t have lasers, but those radiation blasts are the great equalizer. They’re slower to pay off, sure, but they can strip powers, which is bad news for anyone who relies on them. Until we see the exact matchup play out, parking Soldier Boy between Ryan and Homelander is the safe call.
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1) Homelander
There’s a reason every season is basically: can anyone stop this guy? Even without V1, Homelander’s speed, strength, flight, and heat vision make him the final boss. He can vaporize you from across the room or turn you into paste up close, and getting him to bleed is an achievement; killing him is another matter entirely. Outside of the virus, the best shots at taking him down are Ryan and Marie — but both are less ruthless and nowhere near as practiced. Soldier Boy could, in theory, depower him, but he’d have to get close without being turned into a charcoal outline. After Episode 4, the virus is still the only thing we’ve seen that truly checks Homelander. If V1 lands in his veins, good luck to everyone else.
What could still change
Episode 4’s newcomer Quinn didn’t move any needles, but the show keeps dangling two big swing factors: a fresh V1 supe entering the chat and the possibility that Stormfront never actually died. Either development would force a reevaluation on the spot. And whenever Marie and the Gen V mains stop lurking offstage and step into Season 5 proper, this board could get messy.
Quick refresher: V1 and the virus
V1 is basically Compound V’s original recipe. In practical terms, it seems to harden supes against aging and the supe-killing virus — and maybe a lot more. That’s why everyone’s so jumpy about Homelander hunting it. If he secures V1, the window to take him out might slam shut.