The Boys Season 5 Episode 7 Power Shake-Up: The 5 Strongest Characters, Ranked

After weeks of treading water, The Boys finally shakes the board in Season 5, Episode 7. Yes, spoilers. Homelander juiced himself with V1 at the end of last week, and while he does not level cities the way you might expect, this hour makes it very clear he is faster and stronger than he was. The team is forced to rethink the plan on the fly. Also: Marie Moreau finally shows up, which is both overdue and oddly muted, but her arrival points at a very specific endgame. And one more thing before we dive in: a new supe slips into the top five, which bumps Butcher off the list. Barely, but still.

Where the power stands heading into the finale

1. Kimiko

   Kimiko spends the episode trying to recreate the same experiment that turned Soldier Boy into a walking nuke. It is Kimiko, Frenchie, and Sister Sage running point, and by the end, the signs scream: it worked. Kimiko survives obscene levels of radiation, and Frenchie tells Homelander point-blank that their little science project did what it was supposed to do.

   We do not get the big showcase because the final minutes are swallowed by Frenchie’s death, but the implication is loud: if the process mirrored Soldier Boy’s, Kimiko may now be able to strip other supes of their powers. Combine that with her usual near-instant healing, and she can theoretically get in close, eat the damage, and still turn off the lights on stronger opponents. Pure muscle-wise, she is middle of the pack, so I am not vaulting her over Ryan, Marie, or Soldier Boy yet. But the likely new ability gives her a clear edge over Butcher, which is why he drops off the board.

2. Ryan Butcher

   Ryan has been MIA for a few episodes, so this is a tentative downgrade. He and Marie have been neck-and-neck all season because we simply have not seen enough to lock their ceilings. Neither has the seasoning or raw stopping power of Soldier Boy or the V1 version of Homelander right now, but both could get there someday. The difference at this exact moment: Ryan already proved he cannot take his dad in a straight fight. Marie, for better or worse, has not been tested there yet, and Episode 7 positions her as the more immediate problem for Homelander.

   There is a messy beat where Starlight says Marie cannot control her powers — which is weird if you watched Gen V Season 2 — but then Mother ’s Milk drops this line:

   "She’s got Homelander-level strength or some s***."

   Maybe that is greatly exaggerated. Still, Starlight literally asks Marie (and Jordan) for help at the end of the hour. Given Homelander has V1 in his veins and the supe virus no longer touches him, Marie’s toolkit reads like a direct counter. Which nudges her ahead of Ryan, for now.

3. Marie Moreau

   After six episodes without a single Gen V face, Marie finally pops in. It is a low-key entrance — especially awkward considering Gen V’s recent cancellation — but the episode quietly sets her up for a larger swing in the finale. Starlight weirdly undersells Marie’s control earlier, then turns around and recruits her and Jordan for the plan. We are not told what that plan is, but we can guess: Marie manipulates blood. Homelander’s virus immunity makes biology a dead end for everyone else, and V1 makes a fair fight basically impossible. Marie is the one person who might be able to go internal and make him bleed where nothing else can.

4. Soldier Boy

   On paper, Soldier Boy is still a top-tier monster. In practice, he is out of play. Homelander stuffs him back into his cryo chamber this week, and the ease of it says a lot. Pre-V1, Soldier Boy and Homelander were close enough in raw power (minus flight and heat vision). Post-V1, Homelander chokes him out like it is nothing. Nobody else on this list is walking through Soldier Boy casually, but it does not matter if he is on ice when the finale kicks off.

5. Homelander

   If there was any doubt that the V1 jab locked Homelander at the top, this episode clears it. We already saw the heat-vision glow-up the moment he dosed. Now we see the rest: he blitzes Frenchie like a bullet and manhandles Soldier Boy without breaking a sweat. And while we are talking about power, his cult of personality spikes too. He kills President Steven Calhoun and then tells Oh-Father to wipe out anyone who does not believe he is God. Physically and politically, he looks untouchable right now. If he falls next week, it will be because a whole lot of people hit him at once — which, honestly, just underscores how good a villain he is.

One last note on expectations: Homelander does not paint the town red this week the way you might have braced for, but the speed and strength upgrade is undeniable. Meanwhile, Marie’s cameo is a strange mix of undersold and essential — muddled in the moment, but clearly pointing at something specific in the finale.

So, who actually stands the best chance of cracking Homelander 2.0: Kimiko with the Soldier Boy hack, Marie with the blood key, or a full-team dogpile? Place your bets.