The Boys Season 5 Is Quietly Setting Up Homelander’s Most Dangerous Enemy Yet

Quick heads-up: spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episodes 1 and 2. Alright, let’s talk about how the show is playing its endgame and why the most dangerous piece on the board isn’t even on-screen yet.

Homelander won the White House... and is already buckling

Season 5 picks up right after Homelander’s power grab at the end of Season 4, with Antony Starr’s walking god complex basically running the country. His new setup can stomp out most public pushback, but the guy is unraveling. Every tiny act of defiance hits him like a personal insult. That bottomless need to be adored is still steering his every move, which also paints a bigger, brighter target on his chest. And here’s the kicker: the person most likely to land the shot hasn’t even shown up yet this season.

Starlight is the regime’s megaphone target, but not necessarily the endgame

Vought and the White House are funneling all the blame onto Annie/Starlight and anyone standing with her. To be fair, she’s the loudest voice cutting through their propaganda machine. But as far as who can actually take down the leader of The Seven, there are a few bigger threats on the board. One of them is currently MIA in the first two episodes, which makes his return feel inevitably explosive.

The problem Homelander can’t PR away: Ryan

Homelander is busy obsessing over Starlight and Butcher, but the real danger he’s ignoring is Ryan. After learning the truth about Becca and how monstrous his dad really is back in Season 4, Ryan spiraled, killed Grace, and ditched Butcher. We still don’t know where he went after that. He’s out there, which means Homelander has a very personal reckoning coming.

• Power check: Ryan isn’t stronger than Homelander or Soldier Boy, at least not yet. But he’s from the same supe bloodline and has the same toolkit, so he’s not a non-factor in a fight.
• Emotional shiv: Homelander loses it when he feels rejected. We’ve seen that with Soldier Boy. Ryan can hit him in the one place that breaks his judgment every time.
• Wild card status: no handlers, no team loyalty, no predictable playbook. That’s dangerous in a finale season.

So where is Ryan in Season 5?

He’s nowhere to be seen in Episodes 1 and 2, and the show gives us almost nothing concrete on his whereabouts. The closest we get is a conversation in the premiere between Homelander and Sister Sage. Homelander admits there are whispers that he hurt or even killed the kid, and it’s clearly eating at him. Sage brushes it off and says their cover story is holding up: Ryan is supposedly tucked away at a boarding school overseas. Translation: Vought and Homelander don’t actually know where he is.

Which tracks. If Ryan’s furious with Homelander, he’s not crawling back to Vought. He’s also not exactly lining up to trust Butcher or the resistance after what went down. That makes him the biggest unknown variable heading into the back half of the season.

Why his return matters for the final season

The Season 5 trailer already confirmed Ryan shows up later, and he does not look happy. His relationships with both Butcher and Homelander are more strained than ever, but if there’s any version of a truce in his future, it’s probably with Butcher, not dad. Ryan was already uneasy with Homelander’s behavior in Season 4, and now that he knows the full truth, a reconciliation there feels like a nonstarter.

When he does step back in, Ryan can help take Homelander down physically and psychologically. And if the dust settles without Homelander, Ryan could even become Vought’s new poster boy — not necessarily something he wants, or something the world should want, but it’s on the table. However this ends, I don’t see the series wrapping without father and son colliding in a big, messy way. Ignoring Ryan right now would be a bad bet — for the characters and for us watching him circle back with a score to settle.