Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy is a fan favorite Supe in the world of The Boys, however, despite playing a huge role in Season 3, he has not yet appeared in Season 4—but is he dead?
The character was first introduced onscreen in Season 3 as the show's riff on Captain America, who became the world’s first superhero and helped Vought spew propaganda during World War II.
Though, like most Compound-V powered individuals, he's a complete ass, so much so that his former team, Payback, sold him out to The Russians to be experimented on for decades.
He was actually last seen in Gen V's first season, though he was just a construct of Cate's imagination as the lead characters traversed their friend's mind.
[ The Boys Season 4 Release Schedule: How Many Episodes Are Left? ]
What Happened to Soldier Boy in The Boys?
While Soldier Boy has not shown up in The Boys Season 4 as of writing, he is not dead.
Currently, he is in a cryogenic slumber in a secret facility after being recovered by Grace Mallory at the end of Season 3.
While most of Season 3 revolved around Hughie and Butcher helping the Supe track down and kill his former teammates, the finale saw Soldier Boy trying to live up to his word to The Boys in return: killing Homelander himself.
And he works to do just that, confronting Homelander at Vought HQ. It almost feels like this could be Homelander’s last day on Earth—that is, until a complication presents itself: Butcher’s stepson Ryan.
In order to protect Ryan from dying in the fallout of Soldier Boy’s battle against Homelander and the Supe’s power-stealing explosion, Butcher and The Boys are forced to work with Homelander to try and stop Jensen Ackles’ character from wiping the floor with everyone there.
While the team does respectable work in trying to hold their own against Soldier Boy, the Supe ends up charging up for one last deadly explosion. Thankfully, Queen Maeve is there to make one final sacrifice.
The hero charges Soldier Boy out of the skyscraper windows into midair, where the explosion goes off—sparing everyone inside. Thankfully, Queen Maeve does survive the blast, powerless but alive.
After the big fight, the wider world, including Homelander, believes both Maeve and Soldier Boy to be dead. However, both are alive and well.
Though, in the case of Jensen Ackles’ dangerous wildcard, well is a relative term, as he’s put on ice, out of sight and out of mind.
Will Soldier Boy Appear in The Boys Season 4?
Given how the plot has been playing out so far in Season 4, fans probably shouldn't expect Soldier Boy to appear in any notable role before the season ends.
Narratively speaking, Victoria Nueman inherited Soldier Boy’s spot as an antagonist for the series, and she’s currently the biggest focus—almost more so than Homelander is.
Introducing Soldier Boy back into the picture at this point could be too much for the show’s plot to juggle and be needlessly distracting.
However, fans should certainly expect the character to appear again at some point before the show ends with Season 5.
In a 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke point-blank admitted he "can't imagine the series ending without Soldier Boy making another appearance:"
"The old TV adage is like, never kill anyone unless you really, really have to. Never close a door, open a window... We'll all have to wait and see, but I can't imagine the series ending without Soldier Boy making another appearance."
In Jensen Ackles' own interview with Entertainment Weekly, which also occurred in 2022, he stated that he knows "there are plans in talks" for his character to return after Season 3 and that "[he'll] come running" whenever they are put into action:
"I know Kripke is very smart about how he sends his characters off because he can always bring them back... So I know there are plans in talks, but I don't know exactly what those are. But I told Krip, 'Look, man, put me in anytime. You tell me when to come running, I'll come running.'"
The actor was previously seen with a The Boys Season 4 production hat, which had many people believing he was due to return at some point in this new episode. Maybe Jensen Ackles did come in for something brief like an after-credits scene to tease the show’s future.
Fans will have to wait and see if that’s the case. But, at the very least, everyone should feel confident the world will be getting more of Ackles’ fan-favorite performance as the not-so-nice Captain America.
The Boys is currently streaming on Amazon Studios' Prime Video.
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