History Characters / TheBoys

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:He's a Homelander clone, and behind most of his atrocities, including raping Butcher's wife. Worse: The fact that Homelander thought he was doing those deeds himself and couldn't remember it wreaked such havoc with his brain that he, as Butcher put it, basically turned into "a complete fucking psychopath by accident". Oh, and the entire reason for his existence is that he's the only supe with the power to end The Homelander. Not being permitted to do so whenever he had the opportunity is what made him completely insane.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler:Vought thought that Homelander was too powerful so they created a contingency, but they didn’t consider that creating an even more powerful clone as said contingency might be a stupid way to go. Predictably it made things MUCH MUCH worse.]]

* CorruptedContingency: [[spoiler:Black Noir is a clone of Homelander, created to stop the latter if he were to go rogue. Unfortunately, Black Noir grew bored with waiting for a reason to take Homelander out and decided to engineer the scenario he was designed to prevent by committing a spree of horrible crimes and gaslighting Homelander into thinking he was the one who committed them. This resulted in Homelander further embracing his already cruel and depraved nature, escalating to him leading an attempted coup.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Facing the impending war with The Boys courtesy of the Homelander]] he left The Seven's HQ, saying "I am gonna check into the Mandarin, chill for a couple weeks."

* DatingCatwoman: He establishes at one point to have pursued a relationship with sometimes-enemy/sometimes-ally Talon. A three-way between him, her and his first sidekick Swingwing (specifically, Tek-Knight was recieving a blowjob from Talon while Swingwing penetrated her from the back) is what he blames his habit of forcing himself onto every man, animal and inanimate object he sees on.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Has the ability to be really fat and...bounce.

* KarvokaMan: A ''very'' short, balding and uncouth man who somehow managed to bed [[MsFanservice Queen Maeve.]]

* KarkovaMan: A ''very'' short, balding and uncouth man who somehow managed to bed [[MsFanservice Queen Maeve.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: He belittles and threatens A-Train every chance he gets and makes his contempt for the younger supe very, very clear. Given A-Train's personality, though, it's hard to say he doesn't have it coming.

* AttemptedRape: Tried to get his way with Starlight. Got temporary blinded in one eye for his troubles.
* {{Catchphrase}}: ''"Can't stop the A-Train--!"''
* CorruptTheCutie: "Cutie" may be stretching it to an absurd degree, but through The Boys' bugs we do learn he realized the magnitude of his mistake that led to Robin's death and felt extreme guilt over it. Unfortunately, he took his concerns to the rest of the Seven, who quickly convince him to trivialize the incident, redirect blame, and laugh it off.

* HateSink: He’s more like a childish self serving fratbro in all the worst ways and is never given a sympathetic or endearing moment.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: As he struggles to rape Starlight, he literally shouts out that he's ''above'' consequences on the virtue of being a motherfucking superhero.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Facing the impeding war with The Boys courtesy of the Homelander]] he left The Seven's HQ, saying "I am gonna check into the Mandarin, chill for a couple weeks."

* ThoseTwoGuys: With Jack From Jupiter, who become viewpoint characters during Herogasm.
* UnknownRival: Despite ruining Hughie's life several times over, he doesn't even know who he is. [[spoiler: He ends up learning the hard way right before Hughie kicks his head off his shoulders.]]

* BerserkButton: Is easily angered by people abusing others (after learning the truth about the G Men he's the one to advocate fighting the G Men head on and is willing to take on Malchemical in a battle to the death to protect Superduper from him).

* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: ''Decapitates'' an opponent in the ring when his inborn Compound-V induced SuperStrength kicks in at just the wrong moment.
* GoodIsNotNice: At all. Well, if you're a Super, or his vile estranged wife. Otherwise he's pleasant to be around.

* WeaksauceWeakness: His name? It's because he gets his V-powers from [[spoiler:suckling on his mother's milk.]] And he has to go back periodically or he not only loses them, but starts ''starving.''

* FlippingTheBird: His account of his origins in the 37th issue has him flip off his significant other Marie in retribution to her leaving him for another man.

** Probably to keep blood from blinding him while fighting. Considering the massive amounts of the stuff flying about whenever the Female and him to their thing, he probably learned a while back that he didn't want to waste precious seconds wiping blood from his eyes, when goggles would be much easier.

* AbusiveParents: Or rather, grossly neglectful. Her AsianAirhead mother, working as a secretary at a Japanese Vought-American-like company, was so oblivious to her pre-toddler's existence she didn't even notice when her baby crawled away and accidentally fell into a tub of Compound V waste. The child was then held prisoner by the company to be experimented on (the Female's narration suspects they bought the mother off with a fashion magazine subscription).

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: A flashback shows that Frenchie first bonded with her by simply giving her proper food, clothing and a room and just treating her with basic human decency. As a result, he's the only one who can wake her up without dying horribly.

* CuteAndPsycho: A small and adorable teenager... and a vicious killer known for a predilection to rip off faces.

* PintSizedPowerhouse: She's only a teenager, and diminutive in stature, but lethally strong, fast and bloodthirsty.

* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Said "basic skill" being not having the urge to kill at all times.

* FatalFlaw: His self-righteousness. As Hughie points out at the end of their talk, Mallory [[spoiler:still thinks of himself and everything he did with dignity and honor, never really acknowledging that he's really no different then someone like V.A. in dealing with people or like Butcher in brutality]].

* OlderThanHeLooks: For ninety-one year-old man, he looks to be in his fifties. Thanks to Compound V, of course.

* DatingCatwoman: Had sex and had a son with Queen Maeve. He continues to love her and tried to convince Billy to leave her out of his vendetta against Supes.

* BigFriendlyDog: Towards Butcher, at least. He also loves when The Female rubs his belly.

* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:He actually ends up becoming this, as Black Noir was revealed to be a clone of him and has framed Homelander for the things he did. Black Noir was also created for the purpose of killing Homelander in case he went rogue.]]

* TheDreaded: With the exception of James Stilwell, Billy Butcher, and Black Noir, everyone is terrified of Homelander.

* FlyingBrick: He can fly, has super-strength, is nearly indestructible and shoots laser beams out of his eyes.

* KickTheDog: Ironically enough, he doesn't take this literally, as [[spoiler:he lets Terror get away with urinating on his leg]], but a lot of his interactions with other characters such as Butcher, Starlight, and Queen Maeve all coount.

* SupermanSubstitute: With his power set and status as the leader of a superhero team based on the Justice League, he's essentially Superman with blond hair, a [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead more patriotic]] costume and much, much less scruples.

* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Dresses in a red, white and blue outfit with a Stars-and-Stripes-patterned cape.

* WorldsStrongestMan: By a pretty hefty margin. [[spoiler:In the finale, the military massacres all of the other Supers easily, but Black Noir (his physically-matched clone) is able to take the combined firepower of dozens of aircrafts and Humvees with ease, and only dies because he was already mortally wounded by Homelander. It's stated that even as a child, Vought had to keep a nuclear bomb next to him, as that's the only way they could kill him.]]

* BreastExpansion: According to a look through X-Ray vision in issue 60, she has breast implants.

* TheMole: Is the source of info for The Boys.

* ReallyGetsAround: Aside from the multitude of faceless boy toys she regularly runs through, she's also had carnal relations with The Legend, The Homelander, Stormfront and [[spoiler: unwittingly, Black Noir]].

* WonderWomanWannabe: She is a rather obvious Wonder Woman expy, considering she is the Seven's most prominent female member and wears a costume consisting of a tiara, a pair of metallic bracelets and a low-cut leotard with a crest shaped vaguely like a bird on the chest.

* CorruptedContingency: [[spoiler:Black Noir is a clone of Homelander, created for the purpose of stopping the latter if he were to go rogue. Unfortunately, Black Noir grew bored with waiting for a reason to take Homelander out and decided to engineer the scenario he was designed to prevent by committing a spree of horrible crimes and gaslighting Homelander into thinking he was the one who committed them. This resulted in Homelander further embracing his already cruel and depraved nature, escalating to him leading an attempted coup.]]

* PowerfulButIncompetent: Played with, as he is the most powerful supe on the planet and seemingly too stupid to be taught how to fly a plane but [[spoiler:reveals himself at the end to be the most cunning member of the Seven with his scheme that manipulated both Butcher and the Homelander. He is also even stronger than Homelander, can break his jaw in one punch and kills him, but he has still been visibly mutilated by his inferior prototype after the battle]].
* PerpetualSmiler: He’s shown to sport a near-permanent SlasherSmile under his mask. [[spoiler: It only disappears after Butcher pries his brain pan open with a crowbar and pulls his brain out with his bare hands.]]

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:He's a Homelander clone, and behind most of his atrocities, including raping Butcher's wife. Worse: The fact that Homelander thought he was doing those deeds himself and couldn't remember it wrecked such havoc with his brain that he, as Butcher put it, basically turned into "a complete fucking psychopath by accident". Oh, and the entire reason for his existence is that he's the only supe with the power to end The Homelander. Not being given permission to do so whenever he had the opportunity is what made him completely insane.]]

** [[spoiler:NotSoStoic: However, when he finally reveals himself to Homelander, he just can't contain himself and giggles without end as he describes how he framed Homelander, describing every atrocity he committed with a massive smile across his face. He literally doesn't stop giggling until Homelander's dead, his own body is all but destroyed and when Butcher kills him]].
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:He was created for the sole purpose of terminating Homelander should Homelander ever go rogue. Homelander never fully crossed the line, though, and Black Noir ended up going mad from spending decades pretending to be Homelander's friend while being unable to fulfill his sole objective in life. So, [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming he took it upon himself]] to start gaslighting Homelander to drive him over the edge so that Vought-American would finally give him the go ahead to take Homelander out]].

* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: Similar to Batman, he watches the other heroes for signs of instability and makes contingency plans (including for himself) in case Vought-American needs to dispose one of their useless superheroes. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:being indoctrinated to concentrate on finding corruption in Homelander, and then wasting decades waiting for TheParagon to snap drove him to insanity first, and he ''intentionally'' framed Homelander as a supervillain (and accidentally turned him evil for real) just so he could finally fulfill his purpose]].

* BewareTheSillyOnes: While he may look ridiculous, he is set off by Jack from Jupiter using the N-word in front of him in the "Big Ride" arc and slaps him in the face hard enough to draw blood when Jack proceeded to address him using another racial slur.

* CaptainFishman: Subverted. The Deep is very clearly themed after ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], as he is an aquatic themed super (he wears an old-school diving helmet at all times) with the moniker "King of the Deep". But the work actually shows how most of this is just marketing. In terms of his abilities, while he has SuperStrength and SuperToughness, he never shows any ocean-specific abilities like SuperSwimmingSkills, SuperNotDrowningSkills, or SpeaksFluentAnimal, and he even has the ability of {{Flight}}. This is made even more apparent when [[spoiler:American Consolidated make a new team after the fall of The Seven and he is rebranded into a completely different hero with zero aquatic theming]]. Also, while The Deep is treated by his team as the ButtMonkey and a JokeCharacter, he's actually more of the OnlySaneMan because he's the TokenGoodTeammate (relatively speaking). [[spoiler:That pragmatism is why he ends up being the SoleSurvivor of The Seven.]]

* TheFaceless: His face is almost always covered up by his old timey diving helmet.

* HarmlessVillain: He's never actually shown to do anything particularly villainous, and when [[spoiler:The Homelander puts his EvilPlan into motion]], he decides the best of course of action is to get out and have nothing to do with it. As a result, he's [[spoiler:the only member of the Seven (besides Starlight) who doesn't get killed.]]

* OnlySaneMan: He's a hedonist but a lot more sane then the rest of his teammates. He’s also smart enough to take a copy of his contract and pay attention to his finances, making sure he has either a job or savings to fall back on [[spoiler: when Homelander’s coup inevitably fails]].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: When he's rebranded at the end of the series, his costume resembles a klansmans hood and robes. Since he's African-American, this is likely not of his own volition.

* AchillesHeel: He needs to vocally utter the word, "Carpo", in order to become nigh-invulnerable. By preventing him from speaking, [[spoiler:he can't use his powers as seen when Butcher comes to kill him in retaliation for "[[RiddleForTheAges allegedly]]" killing his dog.]]

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Of ComicBook/MartianManhunter in that he has the appearance of a bald and vaguely humanoid alien and wears little besides a cape, boots and shorts, with one trait of ComicBook/{{Shazam}} (namely, his powers being activated by saying a certain word).

* AssShove: He described the feeling of his powers to getting a 10,000 volt cable up his ass, and [[spoiler:has a fetish of receiving anal sex from pre-op transgender prostitutes.]]
* BaldOfEvil: An arrogant, childish, and utterly loathsome troll of a man without a stand of hair on his head.
* BlessedWithSuck: Becomes effectively invulnerable once he says his magic word, but compares the feeling to getting a 10,000 volt cable up his ass.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: The rest of the Seven, being as selfish as Jack himself, see him as unimportant. Even A-Train, who spends a lot of time with him, has little attachment to him and barely cared when [[spoiler: Butcher killed him]].

* NighInvulnerability: When he says his magic word, becomes completely invulnerable. [[spoiler:So when Billy kills him, he has to choke him with one hand so he's can't talk and stab him with the other.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He uses transphobic slurs in reference to the transgender prostitutes he has penetrate him anally as well as the one he is accused of killing and addresses Shout Out and The Deep using racial slurs during his meltdown at facing expulsion from the Seven in the Big Ride arc.
* PragmaticVillainy: He opposes the antics of A-Train and Lamplighter because they're doing it a way that's stupid and reckless rather than because of a conscience (he tells A-Train he can rape Starlight after she leaves the team).

* SmallNameBigEgo: For all his talk, the higher ups at Vought don't really consider him all that important due to his lack of star appeal and major powers. Hell, they consider '''The Deep''' more valuable then him.

* TransChaser: He is depicted as one of the most hedonistic members of the Seven, is revealed to frequent Dr. Peculiar's [[HighClassCallGirl high-class brothel]] and hire transgender prostitutes. The Boys even discover a video of him shouting transphobic slurs to the prostitutes mid-coitus.

* HellHasNewManagement: Hughie's final verdict of him. And since Hughie's not one for over-or-understatement, [[spoiler:he's pretty much stating that he's 100% sure Butcher has already conquered Hell and is now very happily settled into his new job of torturing rapists and murderers for all eternity.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: As the head of VA's super business, he frequently enables their hedonistic and violent behavior and even arranges the deaths of several people.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Hates not being let in on Vought-Americans bigger plans by Stillwell unless he's personally needed.

* TransgenderFetishization: [[spoiler:He has a thing for receiving anal sex from pre-op transgender prostitutes.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: Not long after [[spoiler:Jack from Jupiter's social death, Terror is found dead in the office. The Boys assume that Jack from Jupiter is responsible for Terror's death but it's never revealed that it was him or a member of The Seven to prevent another situation like The Lamplighter. Also, given Terror's deceased body being seemingly still intact with only blood leaking out of his mouth, it's possible that Terror could've died from an unspecified illness.]]

The World's "greatest heroes" according to the media and Vought-American, composed of the most popular, powerful superhumans. They are the crown jewel of Vought's marketing empire.

* CapeBusters: They are a group of CIA-affiliated Cape Busters. Unlike other groups however, they actually have superpowers (albeit mainly super strength, to be able to fight on par with the resident "[[VillainWithGoodPublicity Superheroes]]").
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Even before they were juiced up with the SuperSerum Compund V, some of them were real bruisers.

The leader of the titular "Boys", an ex-CIA agent with an homicidal hatred for superheroes, especially Homelander, for raping his wife.

* AllAPartOfTheJob: Besides wanting to take out The Homelander, this is the reason he joined, remained with and reformed The Boys. Billy loves nothing more than getting an opportunity to maim or murder a superhero.

* EvilBrit: He's not ''purely'' evil. Though he is violent, unstable, and manipulative, he is very much capable of concern for his fellow man. Though this concern is largely kept to his closest allies. Everyone else means little to him, and he outright ''hates'' supers.

* {{Expy}}: He has a lot in common with ComicBook/ThePunisher, which isn't too suprising given that The Punisher is one of Creator/GarthEnnis' favorite comic characters. Billy Butcher and Frank Castle have similar backstories and motivations for their chosen targets because of their losses, with Butcher wanting to kill all supes after his wife was raped and impregnated with a child she didn't survive being pregnant with being parallel to Frank Castle waging war on crime after criminals killed his family. [[spoiler:It can also be considered a Deconstruction of the character as well considering how messed up in the head you'd have to be to do what they do.]]

** After the G-Men discover that Hughie is a spy for The Boys, almost all their members gear up outside their mansion to kill them. Hughie, Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and the Female all march to what might be their last stand. Billy shakes his head and joins them, smiling and saying there are worst ways to die.

* FateWorseThanDeath: He wants Hughie to give him a MercyKill after he's paralyzed. If he's not dead, then he'll serve the rest of his life behind bars and given all the innocent people he's killed - everyone inside would be brutalizing him every day.

* GenocideFromTheInside: [[spoiler:His ultimate goal is to kill ''everyone'' who has been exposed to Compound V or has it in their system, despite the fact that it would mean killing all his closest friends (and himself) and millions of non-supes as well]].
* GracefulLoser: In spite of his desire to end the Superhuman threat once and for all, he accepts his failure calmly. In fact, he set it up so that Hughie would have at least some chance of stopping him.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]; he admits this about himself in Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker. Billy was well on his way to being a violent sociopath until he met his wife Becky. Once she died, Mallory set him back on the fast-track to this by recruiting him into The Boys. [[spoiler:This is eventually played straight, however, when it's revealed Butcher's planning to enact a FinalSolution to everyone who's got Compound V, to the point where Hughie outright calls him a supervillain.]]

** Early on, Butcher insults the Teenage Kix by noting that they all look alike; however, this criticism applies to the Boys as well since they all wear leather jackets to better identify friend from foe.

* ItRunsInTheFamily: It's all but stated that Billy is a high-functioning psychotic, and that he inherited the trait from his father - the only difference being that Billy could be talked down by someone compassionate enough, while his father simply treated compassion as weakness. When [[BerserkButton intensely stressed]], he literally dissociates from his actions and is incapable of controlling himself;

* ManipulativeBastard: He will say or do anything it takes to to get the results he wants. He does seem to have genuine affection for Hughie, although that doesn't stop him from using him to his own advantage. Perhaps the most triumphant example is when he manipulates Hughie into admitting he's dating a superhero (something Billy already knew), and shows him the video of Starlight's "initiation" to the Seven, claiming he doesn't actually know what's on there.

* NobleBigot: Constantly mocks gay and transgender people, calls Americans "Septics" (Septic Tank = Yank) and (like many Brits) refers to Chinese food as "Chinky", but doesn't actually ''hate'' anyone on the basis of who they are other than supers – after all, he's happy to work with the Japanese Female and African-American Mother's Milk. Despite his sociopathic tendencies, he has an easy charm that allows him to get on well with almost anyone. He actually despises Rayner because he sees ''her'' as racist towards Middle Easterners.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Everytime another character like Hughie or Mallory wants to make a grandstanding speech over the people who killed their loved ones, Butcher lambastes them for wasting their time. [[spoiler: But when the time comes that he gets to kill the one who raped his wife, Black Noir, he admits that despite lecturing others against doing it, he can't help but desire to do it too before finishing the job.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: When Starlight finally calls him out for the CastingCouch stunt he, Noir, and A-Train pulled, he defends himself by asserting that he never actually ''raped'' her (his response to her asking him if he would have is notably, "Christ, no") as she could have simply refused the job and walked away. He also sexually exploited Soldier Boy and did a BedTrick with Queen Maeve [[ForTheLulz because he found it funny]], but despite that, he still maintains he never raped anyone. Apparently, all types of {{jerkass}}ery and sexual crimes are fine, but flat-out forcing himself on someone is a line he won't cross. [[spoiler:Which is why Black Noir making him believe he had raped and murdered countless people essentially broke his mind and drove him insane. Remembering the photos Noir sent him made him nearly go into a panic attack in the middle of said conversation with Starlight.]] He also expresses contempt for the way Vought preys on religious people with their Believe event (a scam expo supposedly for Christian superheroes but really just to fleece religious superhero fans), and his most memorable evil deed is a twisted act of rebellion against being forced to attend and support this event.

* {{Irony}}: He is the only member of the Seven not afraid of Black Noir. [[spoiler:He is the only one who should have been, and he is actually killed by Black Noir.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: After [[spoiler:The Deep punches out the windshield on the plane they're trying to rescue on 9/11,]] he says: "Oh, fucking nigger!" Twice.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Kind of. [[spoiler:His last act is to attack Black Noir. He dies in the process, but Black Noir is left so weakened that he's barely a few steps away from death himself (with his arm ripped off, his gut cut open, and half his head missing). Homelander may have saved thousands of lives by mortally wounding Black Noir as much as he did, possibly even the world. Although, considering that Black Noir was there specifically to kill him, it's more likely [[DeathEqualsRedemption the opposite]].]]

* SupermanSubstitute: With his power set and status as the leader of a superhero team based off the Justice League, he's essentially Superman with blond hair, a [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead more patriotic]] costume and much, much less scruples.
* SuperpowerLottery: Is considered the strongest Supe on the planet, and for good reason.
* {{Ubermensch}}: He really, really ''wants'' to be one, but unfortunately for him his strength is all physical and mentally he's a complete pushover.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Averted, actually. Homelander's quite insane but his godlike powers actually have little to do with it. Instead most of his psychosis comes from his dysfunctional codependency on Vought to give him purpose and [[spoiler:his clone Black Noir making him believe he's committed the most vile acts imaginable]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Ironically enough, may count as of issue 65. [[spoiler:It turns out that he only got to this point because of atrocities he thought he committed, believing that he was far beyond saving. In truth, Black Noir, who turns out to be his clone, committed several of these crimes (including the baby eating) in an attempt to get Homelander to the point where he could perform his purpose: to kill Homelander.]]

* LackofEmpathy: Almost to the point of sociopathy.

* ManipulativeBastard: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. He will say or do anything it takes to to get the results he wants. When it comes to recruiting Wee Hughie he's no different, but he does seem to have genuine affection for him although that doesn't stop him from plotting to use Hughie as a soldier and a way into The Seven via Starlight.

* WolverineWannabe: Popclaw appears to be a {{Gender Flip}}ped version of Wolverine or rather X-23, which is even more prominent in the [[Series/TheBoys TV series]]. She possesses a single retractable claw on each arm.

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:The last moment we see of her in the comic, is realizing how Stillwell played her for a fool and is going to take all the public blame towards the company after Homelander's coup, and all she could do is rip her hair out and scream.]]

* CuteBruiser