Why Homelander didn't kill Butcher as The Boys finale makes reference to major fan criticism

Warning: The article from here on in contains spoilers for The Boys series finale.

The Boys has finally come to a close after five seasons, with Homelander's reign of terror coming to a close with a brawl in the White House.

With Antony Starr's compelling villain depowered and subsequently killed by none other than Butcher and his iconic crowbar, a nod to the comic book source material, the gang are now free to live out the rest of their lives – at least until another power-hungry supe takes Homelander's place.

Yesterday's episode, 'Blood and Bone', followed a divisive season, which IMO spent way too much time setting up spin-offs, and meant there was only so much the episode could do to give fans a satisfying conclusion.

There's no doubt the finale had its strong moments; who didn't enjoy watching a bloodied and blubbering Homelander begging for his life, but it also begs the question: how did we get to this point in the first place?

Shouldn't Homelander have just taken out Butcher and his crew before they figured out a way to kill him?

Homelander certainly wasn't short of chances to kill Butcher and his boys (Prime Video)

Why didn't Homelander just kill Butcher in The Boys?

A season three episode 'Payback' revealed through the famous scorched earth speech, Homelander could very easily track down Butcher if he really wanted to, so why doesn't he get it over with?

This is something we asked showrunner Eric Kripke during a previous interview with LADbible, with the Supernatural creator revealing that - aside from the plot reasons - Homelander never bothers to kill Butcher because he doesn't think he needs to.

"I think for [Homelander], it sort of doesn't really matter, because the guy is going to die anyway," Kripke said.

"I think he is savvy enough to know that, that if he just waits it out, the guy's going to be dead."

Unfortunately for Homelander, his hubris is the exact reason he finds himself stripped of his powers and crying on the floor of the Oval Office.

"You owe me. All the times I could've killed you, but didn't. I let you live," Homelander says after receiving a brutal beating by Butcher, before going on to offer to suck his d**k and eat his s**t on live TV.

It was at this point, Homelander realised he'd f***ed up (Prime Video)

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, eh, Homelander.

The humiliating ending for the character is one which Kripke discussed at length with Starr, telling Rolling Stone Brazil that he'd planned for Homelander to become the 'biggest coward in the world' when faced with his own death.

"I spoke to him before the script came out and said, 'Just letting you know, because I know you have strong feelings about how powerful this character is. He's not powerful in his death. He leaves the series in the most pathetic way possible'," Kripke explained.

"And [Starr] replied, 'Of course. It has to be that way. That's the end. He needs to receive punishment proportional to the horror he caused over the last seven years.' So he completely understood. And, in fact, he added the line: 'I'm going to eat your shit live on TV'."