In this week’s episode of The Boys, “Dirty Business,” A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) finally stands up and does the right thing. But does his heroic moment in this week’s episode mean A-Train is going to die? Fans sure think so.
The moment happens about 40-ish minutes into the episode. After Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) collapses due to a seeming heart attack, Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) tries to convince A-Train to save his life. At first, the reluctant Supe refuses, noting that getting involved in any way, particularly with Homelander (Antony Starr) downstairs in Tek Knight‘s (Derek Wilson) mansion, will lead to him getting killed. But Kimiko appeals to his better nature using a series of book titles (she’s mute otherwise, and dropped the phone she usually types messages on earlier in the episode). The one that clinches it is titled For The Sake Of His Daughter (which is not a real book, by the way), and A-Train sighs, then picks up MM and speeds him to the hospital.
When he gets there, the unmasked Supe drops MM on a stretcher. A kid, credited as Kid (played by Lucien Duncan-Reid) sees him, and smiles, wowed by A-Train doing a heroic thing, as a hero. A-Train smiles back and it’s clear that the warring nature of self-preservation versus doing the right thing is starting to tip in the latter’s direction.
So he’s dead by the end of the season, right?
Why Fans Think A-Train Will Die In The Boys Season 4
Pretty much as soon as this episode dropped, fans of the series started posting screenshots and clips with notes like, “they killing him off, ain’t they?” “he is definitely getting killed off in the next episode,” and even “RIP A-Train.”
And frankly, it does make a lot of sense for A-Train to get eliminated by season’s end. A lot of the plot with The Seven this season has involved trying to figure out the identity of “the leak,” aka the person who has been feeding information to The Boys. Viewers know that mole is A-Train, and even Sage (Susan Heyward) knows it’s A-Train — though why she hasn’t revealed that knowledge yet is TBD. So far, Homelander has lasered the first suspected leaker, Anika (Ana Sani). The second suspect, Cameron Coleman (Matthew Edison), was beaten to death in The Seven conference room. Rule of Threes would almost demand that when A-Train is inevitably revealed as the leak, he’s going to die, as well.
But to spitball a bit here, the reason this scene of a child’s smile touching A-Train’s (transplanted, racist) heart indicates he’s going to die is that’s how redemption arcs work, right? The show began with a drug-addled A-Train running through Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) girlfriend, blowing her to smithereens. Over the course of Season 4, A-Train has slowly come around to helping The Boys. He’s seemingly settled his differences with Hughie. And now he’s finding out what it’s like to be a hero.
His emotional arc and plot arc are completed, or will potentially be complete by the end of the season. So having him explicitly do something heroic and go out in a blaze of glory, redeeming himself of all (or most) of the horrible deeds he did as part of The Seven will bring closure to the character. Right?
Why A-Train Might Not Die In The Boys Season 4
I’ve got one, big counter-point to the “A-Train is going to die” argument… There’s only one more season of the show remaining. A-Train has been there since the opening moments of the series and with Season 5 finishing the run (no pun intended) it makes logical sense to bring Jessie T. Usher to the end, as well. Just the simple logistics of keeping an actor you like around to bring real closure to the series.
With only two episodes of Season 4 remaining, we’ll get our answer sooner, rather than later. However, with the final episode titled “Assassination Run,” and A-Train as the main guy who runs on the show… Yeah, things aren’t looking too great for the Supe.
The Boys Season 4 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The Boys season 4 will officially premiere on Prime Video on Thursday, June 13 at 3 am ET / 12 am PT. The season will be eight episodes long, with three dropping on premiere day.
Here’s the full list of episodes in The Boys Season 4, with expected premiere dates:
- Thursday, June 13, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 1 – “Department of Dirty Tricks”
- Thursday, June 13, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 2 – “Life Among the Septics”
- Thursday, June 13, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 3 – “We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here”
- Thursday, June 20, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 4 – “Wisdom of the Ages”
- Thursday, June 27, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 5 – “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son”
- Thursday, July 4, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 6 – “Dirty Business”
- Thursday, July 11, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 7 – “The Insider”
- Thursday, July 18, 2024: The Boys, Season 4, Episode 8 – “Assassination Run” *Season Finale*
