Warning - contains major spoilers for The Boys season 4 episode 6.
Advertisement
As we head towards the end of The Boys season 4, the series has just dropped a major revelation surrounding one of its major new characters, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Joe Kessler.
Throughout the season Joe, who was introduced as an old army friend of Butcher's in episode 1, has been working alongside Karl Urban's character in his mission to bring down Homelander, and has shown an even more extreme stance on supes than Billy.
In this week's episode 6, he was seen helping Butcher as he forced a chained-up and mutilated Sameer to work on the supe virus. However, when it became clear that any virus strong enough to kill Homelander would be airborne, highly contagious and would act as a genocidal supe pandemic, even Butcher seemed horrified.
Joe on the other hand relished the opportunity to kill them all. As Butcher's vision of Becca, which he's been having all season because of the effects of Temp V on his brain, tried to appeal to his good nature, Joe shouted at her to shut up - confirming that he has been in Butcher's head all along too.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Karl Urban in The Boys. Prime Video
The imaginary Joe then revealed that the real Joe died some time ago – Butcher never saved him as he had believed, but instead left him to die.
As we saw flashbacks showing Butcher had been talking to himself all season, Joe also revealed that it was Butcher who killed Ezekiel in episode 4, but he had forgotten as the Joe side of his personality had taken over his mind.
Going forward, it seems there will be a battle for control going on in Butcher's mind, with Becca guiding him towards the light and towards saving Annie, Kimiko and Ryan, and Joe pushing him to commit genocide and wipe out all supes on Earth.
There are just two more episodes of The Boys season 4 left to air, but fans shouldn't be worried – not only has a fifth and final season already been confirmed, but spin-off Gen V will also be returning for a second season.
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
