The Boys series finale brought significant changes for Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Homelander (Antony Starr). The superhero satire series on Prime Video concluded on May 20, bringing an end to the long-running rivalry between Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and his team, the Boys, and the Vought Supes led by Homelander.
Warning - This article contains spoilers for the series finale of The Boys.
The Boys, Season 5, Episode 8, "Blood and Bone," was a dramatic conclusion to five seasons and featured major revelations for Homelander and Kimiko in particular. After spending much of Season 5 searching for ways to finally end Homelander's reign of terror. In the end, it was Homelander's weakness that was his downfall, and it was Kimiko, with some newfound powers, who delivered the critical hit.
How Kimiko Gains Soldier Boy's Powers - All Her Abilities Explained
After learning about the supe-killing virus that Butcher and his team were planning to release, much of Homelander's journey in the final season was about locating V-One, the enhanced Compound V that made Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and the other original Vought supes immortal.
Homelander finally achieved his goal in Episode 6 and injected himself with V1, making him all-powerful and immortal, even against the supe-killing virus. This forced the Boys to pivot and come up with another plan.
The key lay with Soldier Boy, whose abilities were so great that he could emit a blast that neutralized any other superhero's powers and vaporized the Compound V in their bodies, which gave them those gifts. This was due to his time being experimented upon with radiation during the Cold War.
Soldier Boy made it clear he wasn't going to turn against his son, so trying to use him to neutralize Homelander was out of the question, but giving those powers to someone else was not.
After visiting Fort Harmony and learning how Soldier Boy gained his powers, the Boys set up shop there, and Kimiko, with her regenerative healing abilities, offered to be the guinea pig. Together, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) managed to replicate the process that gave Soldier Boy his depowering ability, which meant Kimiko had to spend several rounds suffering from exposed uranium.
After losing Frenchie to Homelander, Kimiko learned in the series finale that their risk had paid off and that she had gained the depowering blast, in addition to her abilities like healing and strength.
Soldier Boy could activate this power when enraged, and at first, it was similar for Kimiko. She was provoked by Sage to activate the blast, which rendered the rival supe powerless. But in the fight with Homelander, Kimiko realized her powers actually came from a place of love rather than hatred and anger. By drawing on her love for Frenchie, Kimiko activated the depowering blast and finally rendered Homelander completely weak.
Why Homelander Loses His Powers In The Boys Grand Finale Is All Thanks To His Major Weakness
Soldier Boy revealed Homelander's first true physical weakness in Season 5, Episode 4, when the older supe trapped Homelander in the radiation chamber in Fort Harmony and exposed him to enriched uranium, which weakened him significantly. Soldier Boy likened a dose of enriched uranium to a "stomach flu", making supes weak but not powerful enough to kill them.
After Kimiko gained Soldier Boys' nuclear blast through the radiation process, she used it against Homelander in the final fight, rendering him completely powerless for the first time, which then allowed Butcher to deliver the killing blow (in a complete divergence from The Boys comics).
While it wasn't enriched uranium that made Homelander powerless in the moment, the chamber of uranium in Fort Harmony that trapped and weakened him is the same one that gave Kimiko the ability to depower him, so, in a roundabout way, the enriched uranium was still his undoing.
Homelander's second weakness also contributed to his downfall, as his narcissism and ego led him to believe he was almighty and infallible. He climbed his way to the top through intimidation and fear, using his powers to destroy anyone who got in his way. But in the end, Homelander was hiding behind these powers and was nothing without them.
After Kimiko depowered him, Homelander's usual tactics were useless, and his true self was shown to the world. He groveled and begged Butcher not to kill him, but there was nothing he could say or do to undo all his prior evils, and without his powers, there wasn't anything that could save him.
