The conclusion of The Boys season 3 reveals that using Temp V provides Butcher and Hughie the advantage they need to defeat Homelander, but doing so ultimately harms them. Butcher has a little over a year to live going into season 4, having taken it one too many times. Even though Butcher’s passing would be a devastating turn of events for the Amazon series, it’s likely that The Boys season 4 may avoid it. A notion suggests a way for the program to prevent Butcher’s demise, and it would also bring him closer to his comic counterpart.

The Boys Season 4 Theory Reveals How Butcher Can Prevent His Death

Taking Compound V Could Help Him

The Boys season 3 concludes with Butcher seemingly accepting his fate, but it’s hard to imagine the Amazon series killing him off in season 4. With Gen V season 2 and The Boys season 5 likely to follow the coming outing, there’s no way The Boys can kill off such a major character — especially if Homelander and Ryan are still out there. It seems more likely that the series will find a way around Butcher’s looming death. And one theory about The Boys season 4 reveals the means through which this can happen.

This theory posits that Butcher can heal from the detrimental effects Temp V by taking real Compound V instead. The Boys shows numerous characters taking Vought’s substance throughout its run. Not all humans who take Compound V live to tell the tale, but Butcher doesn’t have much to lose. And Compound V would give him the ability to take on Supes in a more permanent sense. It could also help him avoid his projected death, even if it’s at the cost of everything he believes. Of course, he already compromised on his morals in The Boys season 3, so it’s not hard to see him pushing this a little further.

How Taking Compound V Could Solve Butcher’s Temp V Problem

New Powers Could Grant Him The Ability To Heal

Compound V wouldn’t automatically negate Butcher’s terminal illness, but it could grant him a superpower that allows him to recover. The abilities that Supes are granted after taking Compound V seem to develop at random, but Butcher’s experience with Temp V might offer insight into how his experience would go. Temp V gives Butcher abilities similar to Homelander’s, and Homelander is nearly invincible — hence why he’s so difficult to defeat. If Compound V were to give Butcher stronger and more permanent abilities like Homelander’s, his body might heal naturally from the damage Temp V did to it.

Similarly, Butcher could receive new powers upon taking Compound V, including an ability to regenerate. This would heal his body and allow it to overcome the problems caused by Temp V, even if it made him more like Homelander in the process. And such a turn of events would bring Butcher closer to his comic counterpart, so it wouldn’t be too unbelievable for The Boys to go this route.

This Theory Would Bring Butcher Closer To His Comic Character In The Boys Season 4

Butcher Might Be The Show’s Final Villain Too

The Boys TV show goes off script from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic series in several ways, but having Butcher take Compound V would bring his character arc closer to its comic roots. Temp V doesn’t exist in The Boys comics, but Butcher winds up taking Compound V in the source material. This grants him permanent powers, and his storyline eventually sees him becoming the very thing he hates. Butcher becomes a villain by the end of the comics’ run, destroying his team and harming those he cares most about all for the sake of revenge.

Karl Urban’s iteration of Billy Butcher is much less villainous, but that doesn’t mean he won’t take a turn for the worst in later seasons of The Boys. Having him take Compound V in season 4 would bring him one step closer to that end. It would connect his page and screen iterations and allow him to remain well beyond The Boys season 4. Only time will tell if the show goes in that direction, though.