The Boys' Jensen Ackles has shed more light on Soldier Boy's surprising turn in Season 5, Episode 5. The Supernatural star plays one of Vought's original superheroes, who is later revealed to be Homelander's (Antony Starr) biological father. After being put on ice in Season 3 of The Boys, Ackles is back playing Soldier Boy in the fifth and final season, but the two supes haven't been seeing eye to eye.
Soldier Boy and Homelander have always had an unusual dynamic, with their egos and values often conflicting, yet also hiding a secret admiration and envy for one another. After Homelander sent Soldier Boy into the lion's den in Episode 2, where he was exposed to the supe-killing virus, the elder supe wanted nothing to do with his son, only tolerating him after he was sworn in as a member of The Seven. In Episode 4, Soldier Boy turned the tables on Homelander by locking him into a nuclear-powered room in Fort Harmony and leaving him to figure his way out.
The duo's push-pull dynamic has left it unclear whose side Soldier Boy is really on, but Episode 5 of Season 5 confirmed that the two Supes are turning a corner. After the father and son visited LA to try to track down V1 at Mister Marathon's (Jared Padalecki) house, Soldier Boy was given the opportunity to end Homelander, after Marathon and his companion, Malchemical (Misha Collins), gassed Homelander and left him exposed. Marathon begged Soldier Boy to kill Homelander and put an end to his tirade, but instead, Soldier Boy turned on them.
Mister Marathon: Just finish him now. Take away his powers, so we can curb stomp him while we have the chance.
Soldier Boy: He is a f*cking asexual weirdo... but as much as it pains me to say this, he's my f*cking asexual weirdo.
After Homelander awakens and Mister Marathon and his companions are dead, Soldier Boy reveals to Homelander that Bombsight has the V1 and admits that he's been sleeping with Firecracker, but won't do it anymore out of respect for Homelander. This change of heart in Soldier Boy suggests a new alignment between him and his son, and star Jensen Ackles explained the motivation behind it to Deadline.
Ackles revealed to the outlet that Soldier Boy hasn't completely changed his tune on Homelander, but is "questioning" whether "there is something salvageable about this relationship."
"I believe it shifted something in Soldier Boy a little bit of like, 'OK, maybe he’s not a complete waste of space, and maybe there is something salvageable about this relationship.' I don’t think he’s convinced that there is. I think he’s questioning it now, whereas before he was like, 'F*ck this guy. I don’t care if he lives or dies. In fact, I hope he dies cause he’s … a disappointment.' "
The star said that he feels Soldier Boy despises Homelander "because he's a reflection of himself", adding that this would be addressed in the spin-off series Vought Rising.
Ackles said that the ending of Episode 4 was a turning point in Homelander and Soldier Boy's relationship, after Homelander chose not to kill his father for locking him up in Fort Harmony and leaving him to rot. While Soldier Boy isn't completely Team Homelander yet, Ackles said this decision gives him "some motivation for sticking with it a little longer and kind of seeing where this goes:"
"I think that stress against that relationship was softened a bit in the final scene in episode four, when we kind of see Homelander walk away from what could have been the end of Soldier Boy. I mean, it was funny as I asked Kripke, I was like, 'Would the lasers actually kill Soldier Boy? Would that be something that could happen?' And I never got a full answer on that, but we assume in that moment that Soldier Boy’s like, 'Just end it, take me out, I’m done. I’m done with this whole thing.'
And the fact that Homelander couldn’t or wouldn’t, I think might have shifted something in his view of their relationship, to give him maybe some motivation of sticking with it a little longer and kind of seeing where this goes."
The Boys has three more episodes until it reaches its climactic series finale, and in a season that has proven no one is safe, alliances like those between Homelander and Soldier Boy have the chance to dramatically change the game.
Whose Side Is Soldier Boy Really on in The Boys?
After half a season's worth of tension between Soldier Boy and Homelander, Episode 5 finally saw the original Vought supe come around to his son's point of view.
The relationship between the two has always been tenuous because Soldier Boy is one of the few supes powerful enough to actually render Homelander powerless (and therefore killable), and thanks to the V1 in his blood, he is also basically immortal. Meanwhile, Homelander has immense power of his own as well as the backing of the US government and the majority of the country, making the two pretty evenly matched.
Still, Soldier Boy is one of the few supes that Homelander has had to tread carefully around, and finally having him on his side is a huge gain for his plans. And for Soldier Boy, Homelander is one of the only personal connections he still has after being frozen in time for so long, and there's a sense he may be finally coming around to his role as a father.
However, Ackles has pointed out that Soldier Boy still isn't entirely sold on Homelander and is instead just looking to see where things go. This makes him a wild card in this scenario, and there could definitely still be an instance of Soldier Boy changing sides again before the series is out.
