Episode 6 of The Boys Season 5 doesn’t just move the goalposts — it picks them up, chucks them into space, and says good luck. If you’re not caught up through Episode 6, consider this your spoiler siren.
Where we are when the dust settles
Season 5 has already been a wrecking ball: A-Train got taken off the board in the premiere, Firecracker got vaporized by Homelander at the end of Episode 5, and everyone’s scrambling for a miracle drug called V-One (or V1) that can push Supes beyond the limits — immortality being the headline feature.
Episode 6, 'Though the Heavens Fall,' is basically a heist movie for that serum. The target: Bombsight, one of Vought’s earliest successful lab projects, developed around the same time as Soldier Boy. Thanks to Sister Sage flipping on Homelander, the Boys finally track Bombsight down. With Soldier Boy seemingly done with his son after, you know, that whole virus-you-to-death situation, it looks like Butcher’s crew is about to score V-One and maybe save humanity.
And then the door slams. In the last seconds, Soldier Boy decides blood is thicker than apocalypse. He hands Homelander the serum, Homelander jabs it into his own arm on the spot, and just like that, the most dangerous man on Earth becomes immortal. Cool cool cool.
Why would Soldier Boy hand his son god-mode? The Stormfront of it all
Soldier Boy’s back-and-forth with Homelander has been one of the season’s messiest threads. Homelander basically sent him to die. Soldier Boy shrugged and forgave him. When Malchemical (yep, that’s Misha Collins) put a golden opportunity on a platter, Soldier Boy still wouldn’t finish the job. In Episode 6, Sister Sage tries to break the spell with a video of Homelander and Stormfront, and for a minute it works… until it doesn’t.
Stormfront — real name Clara Vought — is the missing piece. Soldier Boy hates Homelander, but he loved her. The upcoming prequel Vought Rising is set to dig into that, with Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash both back. Through that lens, Soldier Boy’s choice clicks into place: giving Homelander V-One aligns with what Stormfront always wanted — a supreme, unstoppable leader to rule over everyone. The irony, of course, is that Homelander once balked at her Nazi agenda. He sure doesn’t seem to be balking now.
The long-shot theory that actually explains everything
There’s a fan theory that’s been hanging around for years: Stormfront might be Homelander’s biological mother. The story goes that while he was born via surrogate, the eggs came from Stormfront. It tracks with how Vought operates — if you’re trying to build the ultimate Supe, you stack the deck with your most powerful DNA, not just Soldier Boy’s. And in the comics, Stormfront is male and his DNA gets used to create Homelander, so the show flipping that idea would fit its playbook.
If that theory is true — and, crucially, if Soldier Boy knows it — then his heel-turn makes even more sense. He’s not protecting his son. He’s protecting her son. Does it also make the Homelander/Stormfront relationship even more messed up than it already was? Absolutely. But this is The Boys. That’s kind of the point.
So… can Homelander actually be stopped now?
Short answer: maybe. He’s immortal now, which is a new problem on top of the old problem where he laser-eyes through everything. The show ending with Homelander on the throne would be a bold swing, but I don’t see it. Which means someone — or a few someones — have to find a crack.
- Ryan Butcher: The poetic pick. He already made Homelander bleed a few episodes back, and he nearly killed Stormfront at the end of Season 2 — and she had V-One in her system. The catch: Stormfront wasn’t on Homelander’s level, and Ryan got absolutely wrecked by his dad. He might not be ready.
- Sister Sage: She claims she can’t make V-One. But she’s also the smartest person alive. If anyone can math their way into a counter-serum or a loophole, it’s her. She needs a redemption arc, and this would qualify.
- Marie Moreau (Gen V): Like Homelander, she’s a successful product of Project Odessa. Her whole thing is blood manipulation, and we’re still waiting for the Gen V crew to fold into this season. If anyone can make Homelander’s own biology betray him, it’s Marie.
- Soldier Boy (again): Yes, after that stunt, it sounds ridiculous. But his blast can strip powers — Episode 6 reminds us of that with the Bombsight beat. If he flips one more time and pulls the trigger, Homelander could be de-fanged.
- Not happening: Black Noir 2. He’s dead — The Deep took him out. In the comics, Noir (a Homelander clone) kills Homelander, but the show ditched the clone angle long ago, and this Noir is out of the game for good.
Two episodes left. The Boys either pull off a miracle or they get steamrolled by an immortal fascist demigod. New episodes drop Wednesdays on Prime Video. Place your bets.