One of the key characters in The Boys — and arguably the most crucial character to the war between Homelander (Antony Starr) and Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) — has been Ryan Butcher (Cameron Crovetti). And some big things go down with our fave superhero kid in the series finale, “Blood and Bone.” But there’s one moment that may not have been 100% clear to viewers who have already watched the episode on Prime Video. Spoilers past this point, but did Ryan lose his powers in The Boys?
The short answer? Yes, he did. I mean honestly, why drag this out, yes, Ryan lost his powers in The Boys series finale.
The longer answer? In the finale, Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) has gotten the same Compound V frying powers Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) has, thanks to some experimentation with radiation. With Soldier Boy on ice, it’s up to Kimiko to fry the V1 out of the now immortal Homelander before he can kill most of the American populace for not 100% believing he’s god.
While Kimiko isn’t able to pull it off with the first blast, the second time she gets some couching from Frenchie (Tomer Capone) — or at least her memory of Frenchie, who was killed by Homelander in last week’s episode. Butcher is holding Homelander back from escaping now that he’s realized what Kimiko can do, and Ryan is holding his father’s other arm (that would be Homelander), making sure he’s in the sights of Kimiko’s blast.
What makes this potentially a little unclear is that everything explodes to white, and when we return we get to explicitly see that Homelander can’t use his powers. Butcher (who has tentacle super cancer) and Ryan (who has the same powers as Homelander)? Not so much.
Ryan Gets To Live A Normal Life Without Powers
So how do we know that Butcher and Ryan have been depowered as well? One good indication: they don’t use their powers ever again in the episode. And at least for Butcher, we get to see him shot and killed later by Hughie (Jack Quaid), clearly not using any tentacle powers or showing advanced strength and healing due to the Compound V that was previously coursing through his veins.
We can assume the same of Ryan, who hasn’t wanted to be like his father — either of them — all season long, to the point that he’s been living on his own in a cabin. Pretty much everyone gets their fondest wish by the end of the episode, and for Ryan that’s to live a normal, power-free life.
Specifically, in a bit of a weird twist it looks like he’s now been adopted by Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), who gets remarried to his wife with Ryan as his best man. Ryan was a child born of Homelander raping Becca Butcher (Shantel VanSanten), lived on a compound with only her for most of his life, and then had two dueling father figures who looked to him for their own redemption and/or damnation throughout the series.
When we leave Ryan, he’s not going to become Homelander; and neither is he going to become Butcher, always thinking of the greater good while ignoring other humans. Instead, Ryan has joined the Milk family, becoming, uh, Ryan Milk, maybe. Hey, as noted on our podcast: Homelander was obsessed with mother’s milk, and now Ryan is living with Mother’s Milk. So perhaps they aren’t so far off, after all.
Anyway, no, Ryan doesn’t have his powers, question answered. Thanks!
Oh Wait A Second: Does Ryan Have Compound V In His Blood? So He Does Have His Powers!
As one of our intrepid commenters pointed out, Ryan is a naturally born Supe… He was not injected with Compound V like other superheroes, he was given his powers naturally, the first genetically born Supe in the universe of The Boys. So doesn’t that mean he would be immune from Kimiko frying the V out of his blood because he doesn’t have any?
Look, short of getting a full genetic makeup test from Vought, we don’t know this for sure, but it’s entirely fair to speculate that Ryan still gets his powers because of Compound V; he merely wasn’t injected with it, he was born with it thanks to Homelander’s side of the DNA. So when Kimiko blasts him, it does fry the Compound V out, just the naturally occurring version.
That said, if you want to imagine that Ryan is still secretly a superhero, there’s nothing stopping you from writing fanfic or interpreting things that way. However, the way everything plays out in the finale it seems pretty clear (to me at least) that Ryan is finally a real, normal boy.
The Boys Season 5 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The Boys Season 5 will officially premiere on Prime Video on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. The season will be eight episodes long, with two dropping on premiere day.
Here’s the full list of episodes in The Boys Season 5, with premiere dates:
- Wednesday, April 8, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 1, “Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite”
- Wednesday, April 8, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 2, “Teenage Kix”
- Wednesday, April 15, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 3, “Every One of You Sons of Bitches”
- Wednesday, April 22, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 4, “King of Hell”
- Wednesday, April 29, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 5, “One-Shots”
- Wednesday, May 6, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 6, “Though The Heavens Fall”
- Wednesday, May 13, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 7, “The Frenchman, The Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk”
- Wednesday, May 20, 2026: The Boys Season 5, Episode 8, “Blood and Bone” *Series Finale*
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It’s stated she now has the same ability as soldier boy to fry out the compound V with a radiation blast to de power supes BUT it’s been stated many times in the show Ryan has no compound V in his system. He’s the first person to have superpowers without any compound V so there was nothing for her to fry out ♂️♂️♂️