The Boys is coming to an end. Amazon Prime Video's R-rated superhero satire returns for its fifth and final season on April 8, and showrunner Eric Kripke promised a conclusion worthy of everything that came before it. The season picks up in the wake of Season 4's apocalyptic finale, with star Karl Urban teasing that no character will be safe.
Much of the returning cast boasts deep Marvel roots. Across the MCU's films, Disney+ series, and animated projects, several core members of The Boys have already left their mark on the Marvel universe, making Season 5 something of a low-key Marvel reunion.
Marvel Actors Featuring in the Boys Season Finale
Karl Urban
Karl Urban plays Billy Butcher, the foul-mouthed, Cockney-accented leader of the Boys whose mission to take down Vought International and its superhumans drove the series from the very start. In Season 5, Butcher faces the show's final reckoning. His rivalry with Homelander is expected to hit its peak.
Before landing in the Boys' universe, Urban crossed into Marvel territory with his role in Thor: Ragnarok. He played Skurge, a self-serving Asgardian warrior appointed as guardian of the Bifrost Bridge by Loki after the real gatekeeper, Heimdall, was exiled. Skurge spent much of Ragnarok as a reluctant servant to Hela, but redeemed himself in spectacular fashion, going out in a blaze of glory, holding off Hela's undead army with a pair of Colt Model 604 assault rifles he'd smuggled from Earth, named Des and Troy.
Erin Moriarty
Erin Moriarty plays Annie January, better known as the superhero Starlight, one of the show's moral compasses in a world drowning in corruption. In Season 5, Starlight leads an underground resistance that grows to include characters from the Boys' spinoff Gen V, putting her at the center of the season's larger rebellion storyline.
Moriarty's Marvel credit comes from the other side of Amazon's wall. She appeared in Marvel's Jessica Jones as Hope Shlottman, a college student whose life is destroyed when the mind-controlling villain Kilgrave forces her to murder her parents. Hope's tragic arc, spanning the first season of that show, was one of the more emotionally devastating storylines in the Netflix Marvel era, and it gave Moriarty a showcase before she ever set foot on The Boys. She and Colby Minifie, her co-star on The Boys, were both part of the Jessica Jones cast.
Jack Quaid
Jack Quaid plays Hughie Campbell, one of the most emotionally moving characters of The Boys. Hughie started the series as an ordinary guy whose girlfriend was accidentally killed by a supe, and over five seasons, grew into a key member of the Boys' fight against Vought. Season 5 brings his journey full circle, with fans left to wonder if he'll survive the brutal finale.
Quaid's Marvel moment came in Sony's animated blockbuster Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He voiced the Earth-65 variant of Peter Parker in Gwen Stacy's world, whose crime-fighting career led to a tragic event. In Gwen's universe, her best friend Peter desperately wanted to be special due to Spider-Woman's influence. He deeply admired her and wanted super-powers of his own. Constantly being bullied at school also fueled this resolve.
He developed a serum that transformed him into the Lizard, and Gwen fought the creature without knowing it was him. He died in her arms when the transformation reversed itself, and that tragedy defines who Gwen becomes. Quaid's role is brief but important, and he even announced the cameo himself on social media after the film's release, writing that he was "technically IN Spider-Verse (for like a second)."
Colby Minifie
Colby Minifie plays Ashley Barrett, Vought International's perpetually terrified head of PR. Somewhere between a corporate fixer and a hostage, Ashley spent four seasons walking on eggshells around Homelander, rising up the ranks and trying to make herself as indispensable as possible. Minifie turned what started as a background role into one of the show's most consistently compelling supporting performances.
Like Moriarty, Minifie also appeared in Marvel's Jessica Jones before The Boys. She played Robyn, the sharp-tongued upstairs neighbor of Jessica Jones, who lost her twin brother Ruben to Kilgrave's mind control and spent the rest of the season blaming Jessica for it. She, however, came to terms with the truth later and eventually moved out of the apartment. The role gave Minifie her breakout superhero television credit.
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Esposito played Stan Edgar, Vought's cold, meticulous CEO, in the first three seasons of The Boys before being forced out by Homelander. Edgar was one of the few people who didn’t fear Homelander, and his power-broker calm made him one of the series' most menacing presences before his exit from the company.
Esposito made his MCU debut in Captain America: Brave New World, playing Seth Voelker, a.k.a. Sidewinder, the calculating leader of the Serpent Society. He was added to the film during reshoots, and his character quickly became a key piece of the Leader's plan to destabilize the United States through the country's adamantium treaty. Sidewinder gest incaerrated and promises to escape, leaving the door open for future MCU appearances.
Daveed Diggs
Daveed Diggs joins The Boys for its final season as a series regular, making him the one true newcomer among this group. The exact nature of his character remains undisclosed, the show's social media accounts confirmed his casting in September 2024 with a simple post reading "He'll be playing a character in the show. That's all ya get for now." His character can be seen performing on stage in an all-white outfit in Season 5's trailer.
Diggs already had a Marvel entry on his resume before stepping into the world of The Boys. He voiced the Rat King in Marvel's animated series Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, which ran on Disney Channel and Disney+ from 2023 to 2025. His Rat King is a mutant rat villain who rules a subterranean kingdom beneath New York City and commands an army of rodents through the city's sewer system. A lover of food, the character tries to run a pizza heist but sees his plans thwarted by Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Daveed Diggs voiced the character extremely well and even performed an original song in the role, produced by Grammy-winning musician Raphael Saadiq.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
