Season 3 ofPrime Video'sThe Boysis streaming now, dropping a new episode weekly on Friday. The subversive superhero show explores what would happen if the world's greatest superheroes were secretly corrupt and controlled by a money-making juggernaut.
Sound familiar? They Boys is also a no-holds-barred satire of Marvel and DC, depicting basically everything the kid-friendly blockbusters are forbidden to. The first two seasons are on Prime Video now. A lot happened. Before you watch season 3, here's a recap of the gleefully gory action.
Read more: The Best Sci-Fi TV Shows on Prime Video
Stormfront is alive but not well
The main antagonist of season 2 survives the final episode's events, butreportedlywon't be appearing in season 3.
We learned that Stormfront, who becomes a member of Justice League-esque superhero team the Seven, is really Klara Risinger, born in Berlin, Germany, over 100 years ago. Thanks to her plasma-based abilities, regenerative healing factor and longevity, she looks much younger. She was the first successful Compound V subject, receiving an injection from her husband, Frederick Vought, a late geneticist for the Nazis who created Compound V.
In the season 2 finale, Butcher's wife, Becca, stabs Stormfront in the eye. As Stormfront chokes her, Ryan (aka Becca and Homelander's son) uses his laser eyes for the first time, amputating Stormfront's limbs and burning her face off (unintentionally killing Becca in the process). Stormfront's injuries leave her in a dazed state on the ground, muttering in German. Homelander later announces in a press conference that she's been incarcerated. So Stormfront is apparently still alive, but it seems she won't be involved in season 3.
Compound V is being used for more nefarious purposes
All the way back in season 1, it was revealed that superheroes, or Supes, aren't born with their powers. Instead, as babies, they're injected with a drug called Compound V, created in a lab by Vought International. Homelander secretly uses this drug to turn terrorists into supervillains -- his way of helping Vought when they try to have their Supes militarized.
In season 2, the Boys learn that Vought is now attempting to stabilize Compound V so that they can inject it into adults. Vought CEO Stan Edgar had plans to sell Compound V, but presses the pause button when Stormfront's Nazi past is leaked.
The Church of the Collective
This extremely weird, Fresca-obsessed religious group is introduced in season 2. Stormfront was once a member of the Collective when they were "pure" and didn't admit people of color. Importantly, the Collective archives information about its members, including a folder with documents detailing Stormfront's true evil identity.
The Collective also sorts out arranged marriages, finding the Deep a wife, although it doesn't sort out what he really wants: to be reinstated into the Seven. In the final moments of season 2, leader of the Collective Alastair Adana is killed, which could mean reduced involvement from the group in season 3.
Maeve's helping hand
Queen Maeve has always been conflicted over her involvement with Homelander and Vought and gradually finds the courage to do the right thing. Aside from helping Starlight on several occasions, in the final episode of season 2 she triumphantly stands up to Homelander to save Butcher and Ryan.
This involves blackmailing Homelander with footage of the airplane passengers he forces Maeve to abandon in season 1. When attempting to save the hijacked plane, Homelander accidentally destroys the control panel. Deciding the passengers are lost causes, Homelander demands Maeve leave with him. When Butcher tries to take Ryan back from Homelander at the end of season 2, Maeve forces Homelander to let them go by threatening to expose footage of Homelander abandoning the passengers in the plane.
Sadly, Maeve's involvement with what happened on the airline sees her girlfriend Elena break up with her.
Butcher's new beginnings
Despite the accidental killing of Becca, Butcher forgives Ryan because Ryan takes Butcher's side over Homelander's. When Grace Mallory's people take Ryan away, Butcher finds a potential new purpose in working for the government. Mallory (who once worked as the deputy director of the CIA and later founded The Boys) informs him that not only is he a free man, but also the White House is opening an office of Supe affairs, led by Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, who's sneaking Mallory off-the-books funding for a team that can keep tabs on the Supes. Butcher doesn't explicitly say yes to the new gig, but the option is there.
An assassin revealed
In one of the last moments, we discover the culprit behind some of most explosive and shocking deaths across season 2. None other than Neuman used her secret Supe powers to dispose of CIA agent Susan Raynor, scientist Jonah Vogelbaum, A-Train's rival Shockwave and Alastair Adana, the leader of the Church of the Collective. Why? She vocally opposes Vought and yet explodes many people's heads during the hearing against them. Maybe her beef with Vought doesn't involve tearing the company to the ground.
Hughie in politics
After properly getting back together with Starlight, Hughie decides he needs to leave the Boys for a while and stand on his own two feet. He says he wants to fight Vought in the "right way," which to him means less blood and guts and more paperwork. He asks for a job with Neuman's office and Neuman obliges, after making sure the Boys aren't aware he's doing so.
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