The Boys Season 4 Episode 6 May Be The Beginning Of The End For A Main Character

Contains spoilers for "The Boys" Season 4, Episode 6 – "Dirty Business"

The signs were all there, from covert conversations with no one else present to quizzical looks from people who were. Just like Becca (Shantel VanSanten) had appeared in tortured visions to our boy Butcher (Karl Urban), so too has his old CIA buddy, Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The huge but disappointing twist that felt noticeable since Episode 1 was finally confirmed in Episode 6, "Dirty Business," revealing that the new suit who's been by our hero's side this whole season was never there to begin with and is a figment of his imagination. Where you stand on its execution isn't really important, but what it does suggest is that Butcher might finally be at the end of his battered and bloodied rope and on the cusp of doing the unthinkable — going bad on "The Boys."

After being given the option that a pandemic-like virus would need to be unleashed to take down Homelander (Antony Starr), and that other supes would suffer in the process, our fearless floral-shirt-wearing leader stands at a crossroads. Is Butcher going to listen to what remains of his moral compass with Becca and refrain from wiping out thousands, or could he do the unthinkable to take down his sworn enemy for good? Well, as much as the show might have deviated from the original comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, "The Boys" might be going back to its roots and making Butcher the final problem to overcome for our titular team.

As it stands now, there's no confirmation which side of Butcher's mental state he'll succumb to just yet. The hope is that he'll listen to his heart and refrain from an action that would put supes like Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) in danger. Unfortunately, though, that would be a massive deviation from how "The Boys" comic ends that would ultimately undo where the show has taken us so far. As much of a leader as Butcher might've been up until now, he's always been an outsider and far from the team player that all of his other colleagues have been since the beginning. Here is where he could cut himself off permanently from Hughie (Jack Quaid) and the group for good.

In the comics, Homelander doesn't survive this epic story after Butcher completes his mission. With that conflict done and dusted, he sees the only sensible option being to put a stop to supes for good, even turning on and eliminating most of The Boys in the process. It's this huge turn of events that feels like the only route left to take and could be what's waiting around the corner next season. How this will impact the rest of the team has yet to be seen, but it'll certainly make for interesting viewing whenever we're reunited with Butcher and his diabolical solo mission of self-destruction in what could be the final chapter of "The Boys."