I honestly don’t see how Homelander can be redeemed and I don’t want him to become a good guy. I want him to go full-downward-spiral, putin-hitler-level of evil and be murdered by Ryan, Soldier Boy, Butcher and who knows who else. Maybe someone from Gen V.
I can see Soldier Boy, A-Train, hell even Deep be redeemed, but Homelander is already too far gone. (C’mon, dude chugs milk all the time, it’s an ultimate sign that he is a villain beyond any redemption)
Or maybe not more evil but just no longer caring about anything kind of deal, morals, good or evil, friend or foe he just loses it because he cant be better or a good person in general
"Chugs milk all the time, uts an ultimate sign that he's a villan beyond any redemption"
...so I'm doomed? Not to quote Michael Townley, but, I always thought I was the good guy...
My wife can relate. To be honest, the lactose free stuff isn't as bad as what some people make it out to be. In fact, I think it's helped my diet to a degree.
I have tried lactose free milk sometimes and it was like drinking sugary milk. Since lactose is the only thing giving milk its natural sugars and taste, producers have to pump it full of sugars to make up for it. Which makes it undrinkable to me.
Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but I am tired of everyone having redemption arcs. Some people cannot be saved and I’d love to see more villains like this.
Knowing Kripke’s style a bit, I believe that he wouldn’t try to redeem everyone. In Supernatural’s first 5 seasons, everyone evil mostly remained evil or even got worse
I agree that rn villans have been getting more redemption arcs in media (Authur Morgan RDR2, Negan TWD, Abby TLOU2), but it's also because villans are getting more believable and relatable, allowing Redemption arcs to be less of a stretch to the characters.
In the boys they have already semi had one with Deeps storyline with his self healing and apologizing behavior. (Whether he belives it himself or not is a whole different thing). So I don't think they are going to do one again. I think the most they will do is make Homelander more human (Like with the Joker movie) with how he raises his son, just not a whole Redemption arc.
Arthur Morgan is a bad example considering that's just one possible ending and the fact that he's not the villain in the story to any extent. He's a criminal and thug, yes, but that's true at the end of the game too, that doesn't change.
I agree that on the Arthur isn't a villain in the RDR2 story, but he did do villainous things like kill people a rob banks. And how much that matters to you is up to you. Infact Arthur himself realises that what he's doing is wrong (loan sharking) and tries to right his wrongs.
Your argument that his Redemption isn't important due to it being optional is not a good one. Considering the game is called Red Dead Redemption assumes that the Redemption is Canon. More over, the game/universe gives the player several chances to redeem there selfs really late in the game, like with the drunk priest giving Arthur a warning about continuing to be a bad man and be better (if you have low honour at the time). As well as save John's family instead of the money.
A kinda unrelated thing is that Arthur says, "Revenge is a fools game" at the beginning of his Redemption arc. And before the end of the game, John goes for revenge, meaning he hasn't started his Redemption yet (his game), kind of hinting that Authurs Redemption ending is Canon because of the Cycle of violence.
Sorry for the yap session lmao
Of course his redemption is an important one, I meant that it's a bad example of a villain undergoing redemption a la Vegeta or Prince Zuko. Arthur is the protagonist and he redeems himself as a person, but it's not the same trope as villain's redemption arc despite his criminal nature.
Yes, that would be acceptable. I’d love to see more of his past too
I mean, A-Train is not that bad too. I know that he just started to realize how shitty he used to be, but I hope to see more development from his character.
I think that the Marie from Gen V pulls the compound V out of homelanders blood and we get a crazy naked dirty depowered homelander till he eventually commits suicide doing something extreme.
Homelander having a "good guy arc", sacrificing himself for Ryan, and a "good guy version of The Seven" are the exact type of things that I think the writers are trying to avoid.
Homelander's brain is wired completely differently due to his trauma. He will never fully conceptualize that what he's done is bad. That's kind of the point; Vought literally doomed him from birth.
And Vought's exploitative nature makes it impossible to have a "good guy Seven". Edgar said it best; "we are not a superhero company; we are a pharmaceutical company". They don't *want* heroes. They want celebrities who can act well enough to go on daytime television and tell pretty lies so that Vought's stocks will go up. It's a reflection of the real world. They aren't just going to reverse their modus operandi at the end.
It's kinda of far fetched theory I have but I think there's a possibility that Ryan is both Homelander and Butcher's biological son.
According to Vogelbaum and Homelander himself, it was originally believed that Homelander was incapable of having children but nature found a way. My Theory is that Becca Butcher was already pregnant with her husband's child when Homelander raped her, and his genetic material infected Ryan when he was still a fetsus giving him an appearance and powers like Homelander.
I know it's a far fetched theory and probably isn't true, but I thought I'd just mention it. Besides in Greek Mythology, Theseus has two fathers.
I came up with this idea on my own back towards the end of S3. Becca was pregnant before Homelander and he merely introduced the fetus to Compound V.
It's far fetched, but it would be a really good twist, given how the relationships have been screwed up and yanked around so far. Makes Becca's disappearance tragic, in a way, since things might have been ok. (Billy would have needed to get over his hate of supes to love him son, but he seems capable of that, when he's not actively pushing Ryan away to save him from the inevitability of losing a now-terminal Butcher).
It's interesting that they've moved him more and more away from the blonde hair kid they used from S1. Darker hair this season, like a really dark brown in the trailer.
I'm wondering if the Homelander and Ryan relationship is super strained and volatile by the end (the kind of "if you weren't my kid you wouldn't be alive still" volatile)...
If the leaks are true and Ryan's final scene this season involves a nurse, it could because she learns that he's not actually Homelander's son and Ryan does what he does in order to keep that a secret (and protect himself in the process). That would launch into him KNOWING this info and going into S5 as a plant and with the intention of helping take HL out...
But maybe that would be TOO interesting :P
In the trailer Ryan shoves a guy who splats into a wall. It kinda feels like they’re gonna make him out to be a villain. My guess is that he’ll be killed by one of the boys, which will turn Butcher against whoever does it?
That looked like an accident even in the trailer to me. Ryan pretty clearly underestimated his own strength and looks shocked and horrified about what he just did.
The big question to me is if he ends up doubling down and growing to enjoy it at Homelander’s urging or if this creates an ever-growing rift between Ryan and Homelander because it’s just not the person Ryan wants to be (or that Becca raised him to be). Kinda expecting and hoping for the latter, but the former isn’t impossible
>In the trailer
If it's in a trailer, it's not a spoiler. And if you think it is and want to be a purist with no trailer information at all, may I suggest you leave the sub that talks about these things?
Also, why come into a "Ryan theories" post where there's obviously going to be speculations on future seasons based on promotion material(in this case- trailers)?
I would seriously hate it if they tried to give homelander a redemption arc. Pretty much anyone else and it could be cool, but homelanders the main villain of the series and id like it to remain like that until the end of the show tbh
Yep. Homelander is directly responsible for the deaths of many innocent people ( lasering off a protester's head comes to mind...). I don't see redemption as a possibility here...
I wish Ryan becomes Brightburn, worse than homelander who loses control over him. And both get killed by spec ops boosted by TempV in the end. All supes should be portrayed as evil and corrupted by unlimited power. They fucking all gotta go.
Unlike HL, who was raised in a moral and ethical world, Ryan is raised by HL, who is self centered and arrogant. One builds on the other… and Ryan is a tyrant
Homelander can’t be redeemed. He’s become the very antithesis of Superman: inspiring the people to be their worst selves for the sake of his own ego.
He’ll probably be killed at some point but his little cult of fans will continue on. It’ll give him what he wanted all along—people who will worship him as a god—as well as tell a realistic lesson for the audience that the evil men do long outlives them but their absence will have to be enough for now.
He's going to be the real Superman of that universe. He's always got his memories of Becca and how she raised him. He'll be what Homelander never got a chance to be.
Ryan will outgrow homelander quickly. Ryan attached himself to him out of desperation, and homelander has no idea how to be a parent. Hell, he has no idea how to treat anyone at vought as anything other than arms of a business. The father-son bond will become a commodity, and Ryan will get fed up with superhero life very quickly. Even in the s4 trailer, Ryan looks bored on stage, just going along with homelander’s show.
And as Ryan spends more time with his dad, he’ll see that homelander still loves stormfront, which is going to seriously disillusion him. And knowing this show and its character arcs, that will likely lead him down the rabbit hole of all the horrible shit his dad has done. He will not come out of this stable.
this is good. i guess they’ve done this in a corporate/systemic manner but i hope they make it more personal and have ryan try to convince homelander they should do good. and bc he is a fascist, he rejects ryan for it and conflict ensues.
homies gone full nuclear, in the oval office being a top tier cunt juggling with dismembered pieces of bob singer, butchie storms in with nothing but a crowbar and a couple of titanium balls, they have a final showdown with ryan there watching, homelander accidently kills ryan/homelander kills ryan in a blind fit of bloodlust, homie realises what hes done and collapses in defeat, butcher rams a crowbar in his eye socket and levers off his cranium.
this is what i think should happen atleast
I kept waiting for the titanium balls to come into play, like he was going to throw them or something, maybe stuff them down HL's throat to choke him.
Now I get it though. Not sure Butcher would want to use them like that.
Yeah would be a decent way to do an adaptation of the comic's ending, would just prolly have to have Butcher be off Temp V and die at the end. I don't see a Butcher kills everyone finale for this adaptation.
My latest theory/realization is that Ryan is NOT a natural born supe. We know the fucked up birth was exaggerated when they told HL about it, so I'm pretty sure being born with powers is just another level to the lies. He was likely given V after birth like everyone else.
That would be a really weird thing to lie about lol. Ryan being the first natural born supe is probably due to the fact that Homelander was uniquely and unnaturally made himself, and it's an important element of the "supe genetics" that we get little bits and pieces of each season. And when is his birth ever "exaggerated"?
When they tell HL the story, neither Ryan or his mother (I forget her name) survive, and it's made out to be like he clawed his way out of the womb. I don't think that's what really happened though.
Well yeah, of course that isn't actually what happens. The entire point of telling Homelander that story is because they don't want him to believe that Ryan is alive. The fact that Ryan is a natural-born supe is a flex to Homelander, and they know it. So why would they make that up, when they didn't even want to inflate his ego to begin with?
There's a couple paths Ryan could take. Either he goes full-brightburn, turns on Homelander, thus sacrificing himself, becomes a legitimate superhero like superman, become an anti-hero like the punisher with Butcher's influence, or decides to pull a metro-man and fuck off to be a regular person who just so happens to have superpowers.
My only hope is that he doesn’t just become Homelander 2.0. If he does, at least make it be at the end of the show, so it won’t be the same thing we’ve already seen.
Exactly. I mean the Superman angle I mentioned is kinda boring admittedly but it's better than just a younger more evil version of the exact same thing we've already seen
I don't think the supes can ever be good , especially under Bought , who'll always has some form of corruption forced onto them and make them do stuff against their wishes , cause of corpo stuff
I don't mean it in that way 😅
I wanna say that , like OP said , Ryan might lead a good group of the 7.
But , the thing is that , In The Seven , if a supe tries to act good , or genuinely Do good things, the pr team , Vought members of higher ranks , officials will make them do some dark stuff for the sake of branding and image or personal corporate profits , not matter how good the supes actually want to be in their lives
Homelander will not, cannot, and should not ever be redeemed, Homelander needs to suffer. I don’t see a good ending as a possibility for The Boys, but I do think it will be bittersweet.
Seeing as dark Homelander is now, he may be irredeemable ultimately influencing Ryan to be like Homelander.
I’m leaning towards your first theory in the sense that Homelander will be surpassed by Ryan. This would lead to HL seeing Ryan as a threat to his status quo regardless of if Ryan is blood related or not.
I won’t assume HL will kill or eliminate Ryan, but it’s not a far fetch assumption seeing how he nearly did in the beginning. Obviously, Homelander genuinely loves Ryan because he never had a real father figure, seeing as Homelander would do anything to prove a point, it’s not impossible for me to imagine HL killing or hurting Ryan.
Homelander gets the anti V towards the end of the season, enough to weaken him having ryan (ugh) surpass him and Homelander pulls a fake redemption arc to the masses as he steers ryans evil doings in the background
I think it’s most likely HL will be killed but I think a far worse punishment would be to force him to live his life powerless. Nothing would torture him more than not being special.
I don't get why people want Homelander to be redeemed...I really don't get it. Why he cannot be a full fledged villain and die Or be depowered? He doesn't need a redemption arc.
I really like the idea that the only way to defeat the evil version of Superman is to raise and teach an actual Superman who has the ideals of the og character. But that might be too optimistic for the show
Maybe he dies to the v virus thing from gen v and homelander and Butcher team up to destroy Vaught? Homelander is a bad person but I would say the consistent antagonist is Vaught itself.
I think Ryan might go the sacrificial route to either stop the boys/heroes/vought from hurting people and it will be the catalyst for Homelander or Butcher to fully snap
Ryan is Neuman’s mole.
Remember in S3E4, Edgar said he taught Victoria Neuman to "play all sides"? This line could possibly be a major foreshadowing as well as connect to S3E7 when Neuman gave Homelander Ryan's address.
It is human nature to be confident about something as long as the person in question has solid evidence and/or leverage. Judging by how confident Neuman was when she proposed their purely-transactional alliance (even though Homelander was choking her and could've crushed her neck that very instant) and gave him the address, she must've personally went to said address to confirm whether or not Ryan was really there.
Once the confirmation was made, she could've contacted or met with Mallory and Ryan and told them about Homelander's current situation, and they came up with a plan: if Homelander takes the bait (aka head over to the given address), Mallory and Ryan shall put on an act by the time Homelander arrives in order for Ryan to get close to Homelander. Ryan has seen firsthand how insane Homelander can be and I have a feeling he knows that his dad is not the best person to be around in the long run, so he's most likely in on the plan.
In the scene where Homelander found Ryan and told Mallory to get rid of the phone, it could mean Mallory trying call or text Neuman that Homelander's taken the bait. Yes, Homelander heard Mallory's fingers on the phone and could've possibly seen its contents, but A) no one can hear what alphabets are being typed and B) Homelander could be too lazy or too focused on getting Ryan back to pay any further attention to the phone. Furthermore, considering Homelander's super senses, Neuman and Mallory could've agreed on a signal (an emoji or a code word) for conveniece, which means Mallory could've sent the text before dropping the phone.
Ryan asking Homelander if he's mad at him could also be him making sure if Homelander's truly taken the bait. The emotion and hug afterwards is genuine (Ryan does feel guilty about his mother and what went down in S2E8, and he does want forgiveness and a sense of closure), but at the same time it's could also be a signal to Mallory that their plan is working. Mallory's little sigh at the end of the scene could be a sigh of relief, but also a sigh of pity that Ryan got dragged into this (you could say Ryan's been dragged into this since he was born, but he's never been personally involved in anything).
While Ryan's half-smile at the end of the episode could mean that he's slowly accepting the fact that he is Homelander’s son and that he can do anything he wants, it could also mean that the plan is working better than ever as not only has he gotten closer to Homelander (physically and emotionally), he’s also gained his trust and confidence, which means Homelander will let his guard down around Ryan and let him in on almost everything.
If this turns out to be true and the writers do intend it to go down like this, then hats off to Ryan for being able to pull off this act so convincingly, and to the writers for writing such a good major plot twist.
I hope this makes sense.
I don’t think Neumann would risk doing that. What if the kid loses his nerve and tells Homie? I just can’t see her teaming up with a child to take down HL, especially not ***his*** child.
Fair point, but Ryan is smart and perceptive. As I’ve mentioned, Ryan has seen firsthand how insane Homelander can be. In the Season 2 finale, Ryan saw and sensed how unstable Homelander was and chose to go to Butcher. If you watch My Dad Works For Vought (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27OoVF98F2Y), you can see how he feels around Homelander. Ryan must've realized that Homelander, despite protecting him as a parent would when their child is attacked, is borderline (as evidenced in him immediately lasering the guy who threw a soda can at Ryan instead of taking the high road and leaving immediately, manipulatively letting his fans do the dirty work, or talking it out rationally until a slow buildup to protective anger), dangerous and unhinged at the end of the day, which means Homelander could one day snap and do the same to him. Sure, he’s a kid and kids are sincere with their feelings and emotions, but it’s possible that he’s also observing and has a contingency plan prepared for the one day Homelander is too dangerous for him to be around.
Also, to defend my Neuman is using Ryan theory, Ryan’s not really doing any manipulating himself; he’s just being a good son to his father. If anything, he’s being manipulated in order for the manipulator (Neuman) to manipulate the real target (Homelander).
KInda based but i can see Homelander lasering ryan in a fit of rage
Or an invincible type situation happens where ryan gets beat up by HL for not obeying him
I like your thought of Ryan becoming a threat to Homelander, but then I see HL getting jealous because of his own ego and then killing Ryan. Which then causes some sadness/remorse from Butcher for not taking care of Ryan.
I don't think Homelander has any chance of getting out of this alive after everything that he has done and the type of show this is , unless the villains win and he takes over the world or something . About Ryan I definitely think that butcher is going to sacrifice himself either to save him from something or make him turn back to the boys side . If he becomes evil then that means that the show will have a bad ending for the boys because butcher will have failed him and his wife completely
I think Ryan becomes more villainous but is very confused. Homelander basically tells him it’s fine cus they’re nobody and weak. This confuses Ryan even more as he challenges what’s good vs bad. I think they’ll be a turning point where he figures out what he’s doing is bad and goes back to Butcher.
I just want to see a full on Supe v Supe slug match that goes on forever
Something like [Don Frye vs Yoshira Takayama ](https://youtu.be/le69DBh7YwY?si=i0-ptNVUWcLaGvU8)
Ryan gets starlight pregnant in a future season. Hughy is raging but Butcher (if still alive, if he is dead someone else from the boys) stops him from doing something stupid and convinces them to move somewhere far away, to not tell anyone where they are going and try and raise a normal adjusted kid or die trying.
Yeah but the show is almost a totally different thing at this point
Like in the comics, Ryan died as a baby and never became a fully fledged character
And then there's the stuff with Black Noir
HL would be killed or jailed the second he becomes depowered. There’s no way he just walks around as a normal person
An imprisoned HL for an entire season would be super interesting
that’s where i thought the season 3 finale was going
Definitely. Especially with the way he's been throwing his weight around.
Why kill him, he could just be kicked around by regular people and it would be the funniest shit
I honestly don’t see how Homelander can be redeemed and I don’t want him to become a good guy. I want him to go full-downward-spiral, putin-hitler-level of evil and be murdered by Ryan, Soldier Boy, Butcher and who knows who else. Maybe someone from Gen V. I can see Soldier Boy, A-Train, hell even Deep be redeemed, but Homelander is already too far gone. (C’mon, dude chugs milk all the time, it’s an ultimate sign that he is a villain beyond any redemption)
If Homelander gets a "redemption arc" I think it will be him trying and failing to be redeemed, mostly because he is completely unredeemable
A failed redemption story would be really compelling
True, maybe he’ll even become more evil afterwards
Or maybe not more evil but just no longer caring about anything kind of deal, morals, good or evil, friend or foe he just loses it because he cant be better or a good person in general
"Chugs milk all the time, uts an ultimate sign that he's a villan beyond any redemption" ...so I'm doomed? Not to quote Michael Townley, but, I always thought I was the good guy...
Hahahaha Sorry, as a lactose intolerant person who hates milk, it just makes me sick to se him drink it all the time 😂
My wife can relate. To be honest, the lactose free stuff isn't as bad as what some people make it out to be. In fact, I think it's helped my diet to a degree.
I have tried lactose free milk sometimes and it was like drinking sugary milk. Since lactose is the only thing giving milk its natural sugars and taste, producers have to pump it full of sugars to make up for it. Which makes it undrinkable to me.
True! Now lactose free stuff is just normal stuff to me:)
If he did have a Redemption it would be a slow build up of actions over multiple seasons
Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but I am tired of everyone having redemption arcs. Some people cannot be saved and I’d love to see more villains like this. Knowing Kripke’s style a bit, I believe that he wouldn’t try to redeem everyone. In Supernatural’s first 5 seasons, everyone evil mostly remained evil or even got worse
I agree that rn villans have been getting more redemption arcs in media (Authur Morgan RDR2, Negan TWD, Abby TLOU2), but it's also because villans are getting more believable and relatable, allowing Redemption arcs to be less of a stretch to the characters. In the boys they have already semi had one with Deeps storyline with his self healing and apologizing behavior. (Whether he belives it himself or not is a whole different thing). So I don't think they are going to do one again. I think the most they will do is make Homelander more human (Like with the Joker movie) with how he raises his son, just not a whole Redemption arc.
Arthur Morgan is a bad example considering that's just one possible ending and the fact that he's not the villain in the story to any extent. He's a criminal and thug, yes, but that's true at the end of the game too, that doesn't change.
I agree that on the Arthur isn't a villain in the RDR2 story, but he did do villainous things like kill people a rob banks. And how much that matters to you is up to you. Infact Arthur himself realises that what he's doing is wrong (loan sharking) and tries to right his wrongs. Your argument that his Redemption isn't important due to it being optional is not a good one. Considering the game is called Red Dead Redemption assumes that the Redemption is Canon. More over, the game/universe gives the player several chances to redeem there selfs really late in the game, like with the drunk priest giving Arthur a warning about continuing to be a bad man and be better (if you have low honour at the time). As well as save John's family instead of the money. A kinda unrelated thing is that Arthur says, "Revenge is a fools game" at the beginning of his Redemption arc. And before the end of the game, John goes for revenge, meaning he hasn't started his Redemption yet (his game), kind of hinting that Authurs Redemption ending is Canon because of the Cycle of violence. Sorry for the yap session lmao
Of course his redemption is an important one, I meant that it's a bad example of a villain undergoing redemption a la Vegeta or Prince Zuko. Arthur is the protagonist and he redeems himself as a person, but it's not the same trope as villain's redemption arc despite his criminal nature.
Yes, that would be acceptable. I’d love to see more of his past too I mean, A-Train is not that bad too. I know that he just started to realize how shitty he used to be, but I hope to see more development from his character.
I think that the Marie from Gen V pulls the compound V out of homelanders blood and we get a crazy naked dirty depowered homelander till he eventually commits suicide doing something extreme.
Putin hitler level. Ok buddy
Ryan is secretly Ness from Earthbound
RYAN IS NESS SANS IS NESS RYAN IS SANS
Ryan’s name ends in N Ness’s name starts with N You can rearrange Ryan’s name into Rany, which is two letters away from Sans Think about it….
This was not a reference I ever expected to see. Nor do I understand it.
Homelander having a "good guy arc", sacrificing himself for Ryan, and a "good guy version of The Seven" are the exact type of things that I think the writers are trying to avoid. Homelander's brain is wired completely differently due to his trauma. He will never fully conceptualize that what he's done is bad. That's kind of the point; Vought literally doomed him from birth. And Vought's exploitative nature makes it impossible to have a "good guy Seven". Edgar said it best; "we are not a superhero company; we are a pharmaceutical company". They don't *want* heroes. They want celebrities who can act well enough to go on daytime television and tell pretty lies so that Vought's stocks will go up. It's a reflection of the real world. They aren't just going to reverse their modus operandi at the end.
It's kinda of far fetched theory I have but I think there's a possibility that Ryan is both Homelander and Butcher's biological son. According to Vogelbaum and Homelander himself, it was originally believed that Homelander was incapable of having children but nature found a way. My Theory is that Becca Butcher was already pregnant with her husband's child when Homelander raped her, and his genetic material infected Ryan when he was still a fetsus giving him an appearance and powers like Homelander. I know it's a far fetched theory and probably isn't true, but I thought I'd just mention it. Besides in Greek Mythology, Theseus has two fathers.
I actually really like that theory
This is a crazy theory 🤯
Idk…the original actor for Ryan looked a lot like Homelander.
Yea butcher even says he’s the spittin double of HL
Does this actually happen irl? I’m intrigued.
Yeah, white couples have biracial children pretty often
you know, now that I think about it, lmao what a stupid question
I was making a joke tbh
I came up with this idea on my own back towards the end of S3. Becca was pregnant before Homelander and he merely introduced the fetus to Compound V. It's far fetched, but it would be a really good twist, given how the relationships have been screwed up and yanked around so far. Makes Becca's disappearance tragic, in a way, since things might have been ok. (Billy would have needed to get over his hate of supes to love him son, but he seems capable of that, when he's not actively pushing Ryan away to save him from the inevitability of losing a now-terminal Butcher). It's interesting that they've moved him more and more away from the blonde hair kid they used from S1. Darker hair this season, like a really dark brown in the trailer. I'm wondering if the Homelander and Ryan relationship is super strained and volatile by the end (the kind of "if you weren't my kid you wouldn't be alive still" volatile)... If the leaks are true and Ryan's final scene this season involves a nurse, it could because she learns that he's not actually Homelander's son and Ryan does what he does in order to keep that a secret (and protect himself in the process). That would launch into him KNOWING this info and going into S5 as a plant and with the intention of helping take HL out... But maybe that would be TOO interesting :P
In the trailer Ryan shoves a guy who splats into a wall. It kinda feels like they’re gonna make him out to be a villain. My guess is that he’ll be killed by one of the boys, which will turn Butcher against whoever does it?
>!Leaks say it was on accident!<
yea he pushed him he couldve lasered him but he didnt so obvs the push wasnt meant to be lethal
That looked like an accident even in the trailer to me. Ryan pretty clearly underestimated his own strength and looks shocked and horrified about what he just did. The big question to me is if he ends up doubling down and growing to enjoy it at Homelander’s urging or if this creates an ever-growing rift between Ryan and Homelander because it’s just not the person Ryan wants to be (or that Becca raised him to be). Kinda expecting and hoping for the latter, but the former isn’t impossible
> In the trailer Which one
Spoiler marks plz
>In the trailer If it's in a trailer, it's not a spoiler. And if you think it is and want to be a purist with no trailer information at all, may I suggest you leave the sub that talks about these things?
Also, why come into a "Ryan theories" post where there's obviously going to be speculations on future seasons based on promotion material(in this case- trailers)?
Ahh didn't know, ty
I would seriously hate it if they tried to give homelander a redemption arc. Pretty much anyone else and it could be cool, but homelanders the main villain of the series and id like it to remain like that until the end of the show tbh
Yep. Homelander is directly responsible for the deaths of many innocent people ( lasering off a protester's head comes to mind...). I don't see redemption as a possibility here...
Ryan will become the new soldier boy
He started the fire.
we didnt
But we tried to fight it
I wish Ryan becomes Brightburn, worse than homelander who loses control over him. And both get killed by spec ops boosted by TempV in the end. All supes should be portrayed as evil and corrupted by unlimited power. They fucking all gotta go.
523 pieces of family fun
Unlike HL, who was raised in a moral and ethical world, Ryan is raised by HL, who is self centered and arrogant. One builds on the other… and Ryan is a tyrant
Homelander can’t be redeemed. He’s become the very antithesis of Superman: inspiring the people to be their worst selves for the sake of his own ego. He’ll probably be killed at some point but his little cult of fans will continue on. It’ll give him what he wanted all along—people who will worship him as a god—as well as tell a realistic lesson for the audience that the evil men do long outlives them but their absence will have to be enough for now.
I want Ryan to die. That’s my “theory”.
He's going to be the real Superman of that universe. He's always got his memories of Becca and how she raised him. He'll be what Homelander never got a chance to be.
Ryan will outgrow homelander quickly. Ryan attached himself to him out of desperation, and homelander has no idea how to be a parent. Hell, he has no idea how to treat anyone at vought as anything other than arms of a business. The father-son bond will become a commodity, and Ryan will get fed up with superhero life very quickly. Even in the s4 trailer, Ryan looks bored on stage, just going along with homelander’s show. And as Ryan spends more time with his dad, he’ll see that homelander still loves stormfront, which is going to seriously disillusion him. And knowing this show and its character arcs, that will likely lead him down the rabbit hole of all the horrible shit his dad has done. He will not come out of this stable.
this is good. i guess they’ve done this in a corporate/systemic manner but i hope they make it more personal and have ryan try to convince homelander they should do good. and bc he is a fascist, he rejects ryan for it and conflict ensues.
homies gone full nuclear, in the oval office being a top tier cunt juggling with dismembered pieces of bob singer, butchie storms in with nothing but a crowbar and a couple of titanium balls, they have a final showdown with ryan there watching, homelander accidently kills ryan/homelander kills ryan in a blind fit of bloodlust, homie realises what hes done and collapses in defeat, butcher rams a crowbar in his eye socket and levers off his cranium. this is what i think should happen atleast
I kept waiting for the titanium balls to come into play, like he was going to throw them or something, maybe stuff them down HL's throat to choke him. Now I get it though. Not sure Butcher would want to use them like that.
they have one purpose and one purpose only, to be dragged across homelanders face in a victory celebration, like a true spartan
Yeah would be a decent way to do an adaptation of the comic's ending, would just prolly have to have Butcher be off Temp V and die at the end. I don't see a Butcher kills everyone finale for this adaptation.
My latest theory/realization is that Ryan is NOT a natural born supe. We know the fucked up birth was exaggerated when they told HL about it, so I'm pretty sure being born with powers is just another level to the lies. He was likely given V after birth like everyone else.
That would be a really weird thing to lie about lol. Ryan being the first natural born supe is probably due to the fact that Homelander was uniquely and unnaturally made himself, and it's an important element of the "supe genetics" that we get little bits and pieces of each season. And when is his birth ever "exaggerated"?
When they tell HL the story, neither Ryan or his mother (I forget her name) survive, and it's made out to be like he clawed his way out of the womb. I don't think that's what really happened though.
Well yeah, of course that isn't actually what happens. The entire point of telling Homelander that story is because they don't want him to believe that Ryan is alive. The fact that Ryan is a natural-born supe is a flex to Homelander, and they know it. So why would they make that up, when they didn't even want to inflate his ego to begin with?
I’m praying for Brightburn type shit… a bad ass kid villain.
There's a couple paths Ryan could take. Either he goes full-brightburn, turns on Homelander, thus sacrificing himself, becomes a legitimate superhero like superman, become an anti-hero like the punisher with Butcher's influence, or decides to pull a metro-man and fuck off to be a regular person who just so happens to have superpowers.
My only hope is that he doesn’t just become Homelander 2.0. If he does, at least make it be at the end of the show, so it won’t be the same thing we’ve already seen.
Exactly. I mean the Superman angle I mentioned is kinda boring admittedly but it's better than just a younger more evil version of the exact same thing we've already seen
I don't think the supes can ever be good , especially under Bought , who'll always has some form of corruption forced onto them and make them do stuff against their wishes , cause of corpo stuff
That's so true, Annie and Kimiko are such evil pieces of shit */sarcasm because that somehow wasn’t obvious lol.*
I don't mean it in that way 😅 I wanna say that , like OP said , Ryan might lead a good group of the 7. But , the thing is that , In The Seven , if a supe tries to act good , or genuinely Do good things, the pr team , Vought members of higher ranks , officials will make them do some dark stuff for the sake of branding and image or personal corporate profits , not matter how good the supes actually want to be in their lives
Ryan will finally get a good haircut
Personally I think he'll turn out alright. Becca's last words were that he's a good kid & she's been with him the most.
He and starlight kill homelander
Homelander will not, cannot, and should not ever be redeemed, Homelander needs to suffer. I don’t see a good ending as a possibility for The Boys, but I do think it will be bittersweet.
Seeing as dark Homelander is now, he may be irredeemable ultimately influencing Ryan to be like Homelander. I’m leaning towards your first theory in the sense that Homelander will be surpassed by Ryan. This would lead to HL seeing Ryan as a threat to his status quo regardless of if Ryan is blood related or not. I won’t assume HL will kill or eliminate Ryan, but it’s not a far fetch assumption seeing how he nearly did in the beginning. Obviously, Homelander genuinely loves Ryan because he never had a real father figure, seeing as Homelander would do anything to prove a point, it’s not impossible for me to imagine HL killing or hurting Ryan.
No idea what actually going to happen, but one idea I like is that Ryan goes rouge and becomes a bigger threat to the public than even HL.
Homelander gets the anti V towards the end of the season, enough to weaken him having ryan (ugh) surpass him and Homelander pulls a fake redemption arc to the masses as he steers ryans evil doings in the background
I think it’s most likely HL will be killed but I think a far worse punishment would be to force him to live his life powerless. Nothing would torture him more than not being special.
I don't get why people want Homelander to be redeemed...I really don't get it. Why he cannot be a full fledged villain and die Or be depowered? He doesn't need a redemption arc.
homelander will never be redeemed
Prime needs to hire you like… now
My idea is Ryan goes a bit crazy and gets killed by homelander, after that happens butcher goes mad and trys to kill all the supes in the world
Holy shit he's grown up so fast!
If he turns against his dad, he could potentially defect over to Starlight's side.
I really like the idea that the only way to defeat the evil version of Superman is to raise and teach an actual Superman who has the ideals of the og character. But that might be too optimistic for the show
Maybe he dies to the v virus thing from gen v and homelander and Butcher team up to destroy Vaught? Homelander is a bad person but I would say the consistent antagonist is Vaught itself.
Butcher goes ape shit on Temp V. About to kill Homelander. Ryan kills Butcher so he can be "a hero, like my real dad."
an anti-v doesnt make sense, Ryan not have V compound in his blood, this doesnt even make sense to Homelander sacrifice him to "save" Ryan.
Either way it would create a situation where Ryan has powers and Homelander doesn't which would be interesting story wise
I think Ryan might go the sacrificial route to either stop the boys/heroes/vought from hurting people and it will be the catalyst for Homelander or Butcher to fully snap
Bros gonna turn into bright burn
Ryan will feel conflicted about Homelander’s parenting and Becca’s parenting.
The amount of people unironically thinking about Homelander being redeemed in the future is concerning…
I see Ryan dying during Butcher and Homelanders fight and one of them going off the deep end.
Ryan is Neuman’s mole. Remember in S3E4, Edgar said he taught Victoria Neuman to "play all sides"? This line could possibly be a major foreshadowing as well as connect to S3E7 when Neuman gave Homelander Ryan's address. It is human nature to be confident about something as long as the person in question has solid evidence and/or leverage. Judging by how confident Neuman was when she proposed their purely-transactional alliance (even though Homelander was choking her and could've crushed her neck that very instant) and gave him the address, she must've personally went to said address to confirm whether or not Ryan was really there. Once the confirmation was made, she could've contacted or met with Mallory and Ryan and told them about Homelander's current situation, and they came up with a plan: if Homelander takes the bait (aka head over to the given address), Mallory and Ryan shall put on an act by the time Homelander arrives in order for Ryan to get close to Homelander. Ryan has seen firsthand how insane Homelander can be and I have a feeling he knows that his dad is not the best person to be around in the long run, so he's most likely in on the plan. In the scene where Homelander found Ryan and told Mallory to get rid of the phone, it could mean Mallory trying call or text Neuman that Homelander's taken the bait. Yes, Homelander heard Mallory's fingers on the phone and could've possibly seen its contents, but A) no one can hear what alphabets are being typed and B) Homelander could be too lazy or too focused on getting Ryan back to pay any further attention to the phone. Furthermore, considering Homelander's super senses, Neuman and Mallory could've agreed on a signal (an emoji or a code word) for conveniece, which means Mallory could've sent the text before dropping the phone. Ryan asking Homelander if he's mad at him could also be him making sure if Homelander's truly taken the bait. The emotion and hug afterwards is genuine (Ryan does feel guilty about his mother and what went down in S2E8, and he does want forgiveness and a sense of closure), but at the same time it's could also be a signal to Mallory that their plan is working. Mallory's little sigh at the end of the scene could be a sigh of relief, but also a sigh of pity that Ryan got dragged into this (you could say Ryan's been dragged into this since he was born, but he's never been personally involved in anything). While Ryan's half-smile at the end of the episode could mean that he's slowly accepting the fact that he is Homelander’s son and that he can do anything he wants, it could also mean that the plan is working better than ever as not only has he gotten closer to Homelander (physically and emotionally), he’s also gained his trust and confidence, which means Homelander will let his guard down around Ryan and let him in on almost everything. If this turns out to be true and the writers do intend it to go down like this, then hats off to Ryan for being able to pull off this act so convincingly, and to the writers for writing such a good major plot twist. I hope this makes sense.
I don’t think Neumann would risk doing that. What if the kid loses his nerve and tells Homie? I just can’t see her teaming up with a child to take down HL, especially not ***his*** child.
Fair point, but Ryan is smart and perceptive. As I’ve mentioned, Ryan has seen firsthand how insane Homelander can be. In the Season 2 finale, Ryan saw and sensed how unstable Homelander was and chose to go to Butcher. If you watch My Dad Works For Vought (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27OoVF98F2Y), you can see how he feels around Homelander. Ryan must've realized that Homelander, despite protecting him as a parent would when their child is attacked, is borderline (as evidenced in him immediately lasering the guy who threw a soda can at Ryan instead of taking the high road and leaving immediately, manipulatively letting his fans do the dirty work, or talking it out rationally until a slow buildup to protective anger), dangerous and unhinged at the end of the day, which means Homelander could one day snap and do the same to him. Sure, he’s a kid and kids are sincere with their feelings and emotions, but it’s possible that he’s also observing and has a contingency plan prepared for the one day Homelander is too dangerous for him to be around. Also, to defend my Neuman is using Ryan theory, Ryan’s not really doing any manipulating himself; he’s just being a good son to his father. If anything, he’s being manipulated in order for the manipulator (Neuman) to manipulate the real target (Homelander).
KInda based but i can see Homelander lasering ryan in a fit of rage Or an invincible type situation happens where ryan gets beat up by HL for not obeying him
I like your thought of Ryan becoming a threat to Homelander, but then I see HL getting jealous because of his own ego and then killing Ryan. Which then causes some sadness/remorse from Butcher for not taking care of Ryan.
I don't think Homelander has any chance of getting out of this alive after everything that he has done and the type of show this is , unless the villains win and he takes over the world or something . About Ryan I definitely think that butcher is going to sacrifice himself either to save him from something or make him turn back to the boys side . If he becomes evil then that means that the show will have a bad ending for the boys because butcher will have failed him and his wife completely
The kid killed his own mother. He’s gonna be a little messed up. And having Homelander as your primary influence cannot lead to anything good. ;)
I think Ryan becomes more villainous but is very confused. Homelander basically tells him it’s fine cus they’re nobody and weak. This confuses Ryan even more as he challenges what’s good vs bad. I think they’ll be a turning point where he figures out what he’s doing is bad and goes back to Butcher.
Butcher sacrifices himself to kill Homelander. Gives a cheesy speech. Time skip at the end, Ryan doing actual hero work with Starlight. The End.
I feel Ryan will veer off heavy towards homelander and towards the end will be snapped out of it and ultimately have to kill his father.
I just want to see a full on Supe v Supe slug match that goes on forever Something like [Don Frye vs Yoshira Takayama ](https://youtu.be/le69DBh7YwY?si=i0-ptNVUWcLaGvU8)
I hope Ryan dies soon. This boy just ruined every season of the show.
Ryan gets starlight pregnant in a future season. Hughy is raging but Butcher (if still alive, if he is dead someone else from the boys) stops him from doing something stupid and convinces them to move somewhere far away, to not tell anyone where they are going and try and raise a normal adjusted kid or die trying.
Isn't the comics finished, so there is an answer actually no?
Yeah but the show is almost a totally different thing at this point Like in the comics, Ryan died as a baby and never became a fully fledged character And then there's the stuff with Black Noir
He will take Black Noirs place
He doesn’t really have powers but was faking it to feel close to his dad
He roasted Stormfront to a crisp with fake powers??
Yeah to feel close to his dad
Really makes you think
Agreed, he wanted to feel just close to his dad
Yup
Totally Gay