The Boys fans share wild Billy Butcher theory after season 4 episode 5 takes a dark turn

*Warning - The following article contains spoilers from The Boys season 4, episode 5.*

The latest instalment of The Boys season 4 left some fans speculating about Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) following a rather gruesome reveal. Episode 5 of the Amazon Prime series, entitled Beware The Jabberwock, My Son, saw Butcher and the other boys attempt to get their hands on a Supe-killing virus.

Knowing that the virus would be a game changer in their fight against Vought and its psycho creation Homelander, the team liberate former Vought boss Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) so that he can help them find Victoria Neuman's (Claudia Doumit) secret laboratory.

There they discover Sameer Shah (Omid Abtahi), the lab tech who has helped develop the virus and who is also the father of Neuman's daughter Zoe Neuman (Olivia Morandin).

However, things quickly go south on their trip to the farmland where animals are being tested, as they realise compound V has leaked into the water system, creating a race of suped-up chickens with tentacles and blood-thirsty flying sheep.

What follows is a hilarious and gory high-speed chase through the farm as the gang attempts to escape carnivorous air-born barnyard animals.

Eventually, the surviving group is forced to use the last remaining vial of the virus to take the animals down and secure their safety.

Neuman is then devastated to learn that Shah seemingly died in the attack, as she is shown his severed leg at the scene.

However, in a shocking twist, it is later revealed that Butcher hacked off the leg himself.

He then explains to a chained-up Shah, who is now missing a leg, that he plans to force him to re-create the Supe-killing virus so he can use it to finish Homelander once and for all.

Butcher reveals his dark plans and shows his prisoner Shah to his CIA pal Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who appears to have been encouraging him to take drastic measures for some time.

However, some fans noticed that Shah didn’t seem to acknowledge Kessler alongside Butcher and are now convinced that the character may not even be real.

Other fans have also argued that, as Butcher’s late wife Becca Butcher (Shantel VanSanten) often appears to him in visions, the same could be true of Kessler.

It comes after Butcher injected himself with too much of the unstable ‘temp V’ substance - as opposed to compound V that permanently transforms people into Supes - last season and learned that he has only a few months to live.

Later we learn Butcher has also injected himself with compound V in a bid to reverse the effects, but instead, there appears to be something sinister living under his skin, which is potentially the reason behind his blackouts and hallucinations.

Taking to Reddit, Lots_Sword wrote: “With the ending of Episode 5, a Butcher theory starts to make a ton of sense.

“There was a theory I saw that Becca and [Kessler] are two sides of a coin. With Butcher having visions of Becca with the Compound V, i think that character is also a vision for butcher.

“How becca has shown to be putting him on the right path throughout this season, [Kessler] has been a round him when he’s in bad spots, egging him on to do bad things.

“With him cutting [Sameer’s] leg off so he can remake the virus for them, and [Kessler] being the only other one there, I think the idea that they are both Compound V visions, pushing him to the edges of his humanity, both on the moral and immoral side. Kinda like how in cartoons when characters have an angel and a devil on their shoulders.” (sic)

While another fan RAB1002 speculated: “So as we saw in episode 5, that rabbit was having temp v pumped into its body. There was also compound v being used in that lab.

“So my guess is that the mixture of what's in temp v along with what's in compound v, creates whatever those worm things that were in the rabbits body.

“And we've seen that billy has something slithering under his skin, so he must have the same worm parasite, just much much bigger cause he's a full grown man and not a rabbit.

“He most likely had left over traces of temp v inside his body, then injecting himself with compound v must've created the parasite.

“Side note but it's also pretty certain now that kessler is a hallucination since [Sameer] was confused when billy said ‘we’. My theory is that kessler is the psychological manifestation of this parasite in Billy's mind, trying to control him.

“And the becca hallucination is the good part of Billy's mind trying to keep him on the good path. Just a theory, if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong.” (sic)

In the episode discussion thread, newbiegainz00 agreed: “yeah this guy is def in butchers head we haven’t seen him talk to a single other person.” (sic)

While _Roark concurred: “it's basically confirmed what with the weird look the scientist guy gives butcher when he says we and looks back.” (sic)

SmileyDayToYou added: “Sameer looked very confused by Butcher referring to another person in the room. I’m thinking he has to be a figment of Butcher’s imagination, but there’s always the potential for something even wilder.” (sic)

The Boys Season 4, episode 6 entitled Dirty Business will air Thursday, July 4, 2024 on Amazon Prime Video.