The Boys Season 4 Ending: Homelander’s Presidential Fate Explained

Imagine you wake up one day and Homelander is your President. Exactly!! No one wants to imagine that.

Set against the backdrop of Robert Singer’s election triumph, Homelander and Sister Sage’s initial plot envisioned assassinating the incumbent US president and using the 25th Amendment to replace him with Victoria Neuman. Homelander, wanted Neuman to serve as his puppet in the White House.

This strategy looks to be thwarted when Billy Butcher murders Neuman. Still, Sage wisely does not reveal her plan, and The Boys season 4 concludes with Senator Calhoun gaining an unexpected elevation to President Calhoun.

1. Homelander Is The President In All But Name When The Boys Season 4 Ends

Calhoun had no idea he’d be president by sundown when he awoke on the day of The Boys season 4 finale. More importantly, he pledged his allegiance to Homelander during the meeting in Tek Knight’s house.

Calhoun understands that standing with Homelander will benefit him monetarily while rejecting Homelander will be detrimental to his health, and the combination of these two incentives renders the new president completely obedient to Homelander’s whim.

This is illustrated first when Homelander dismisses Calhoun during his speech and again when Calhoun promptly contacts Homelander about Soldier Boy.

Calhoun is a figurehead president, posing for photos, signing documents, and attending meetings. Homelander is the genuine premier for the United States of America following the conclusion of The Boys season 4, and the super’s political influence is substantially stronger than it would have been if the initial plan to parachute Neuman into the White House had been carried out.

Neuman may have been susceptible to blackmail and threats, but she never worked with Homelander willingly, she was too strong to let him call the shots, and had the intelligence to fight back. Calhoun brings none of those problems.

He is the exact kind of puppet Homelander wanted, but Neuman never would be, held up by strings that are far easier to pull.

Homelander’s feet may not be perched atop the Oval Office’s desk, but his control over the USA is absolute.

2. Will Homelander Become President in Season 5?

Calhoun’s services may not be needed in the long run because he is only a “patsy,” as Sister Sage puts it. Calhoun’s appointment permits Homelander and Sage’s coup to go largely unopposed, and it lends Vought’s new regime an air of legitimacy from the outside.

Homelander could not have taken Robert Singer’s job directly without raising concerns about the appointment’s democratic legitimacy.

However, after Calhoun gives Homelander an official post in the United States government, the transition from President Calhoun to President Homelander is much easier.

The entire facade may be removed during The Boys season 5 or even in the interim between seasons. Homelander is officially, legally, inaugurated as Calhoun’s successor and the next US president. Sage might even mean this when she mentions “phase 2” in The Boys Season 4 finale.

3. How The Boys Season 4 Is Adapting Homelander’s Comic Story?

Homelander’s power grab in The Boys season 4 is not an exact copy of Garth Ennis’ comic plot but matches the original material’s general pattern. In the original version, Homelander gathered an army of superheroes and took over the White House by force, personally slaying then-President Victor Neuman.

Homelander’s army, Neuman’s death, and Homelander staging a coup are all featured in Amazon’s The Boys TV show, but the live-action version is far more subtle. Antony Starr’s character still receives the keys to the United States, but Senator Calhoun and Sister Sage’s master plan makes for a more plausible onscreen takeover.

Intriguingly, The Boys season 5 has no choice but to depart dramatically from the comic story. After killing the president in the comic books, Homelander was forced to confront his clone, Black Noir, and his presidency came to a bloody end.

Amazon’s The Boys story has already progressed to the point where the comic book’s clone twist is inconceivable, implying that season 5 will feature Homelander presiding over his dominion.

4. How does The Boys Season 4 End?

The Boys season 4 finale contains numerous key developments, with the ending considerably raising the stakes for the Amazon series’ fifth and final season. Following the shapeshifter shock in The Boys season 4, episode 7, the squad takes down the Starlight impostor in episode 8.

However, despite their efforts to save Robert Singer’s life, the presidential candidate is defeated in the end. Homelander and Sage’s plan to seize the White House is successful when Singer is caught assassinating Victoria Neuman.

Of course, Singer had no direct involvement in Neuman’s death. A terrible incident with Ryan forces Butcher to select the devil on his shoulder in the finale, allowing his Supe powers to manifest completely.  

The Boys season 4’s ending turns dark as Butcher uses his newfound ability to kill Neuman. This plays directly into Sage and Homelander’s hands, essentially handing them the White House.

5. About The Boys

The Boys is an American satirical superhero streaming television series developed by Eric Kripke for Prime Video. Based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, which was originally published by DC Comics under their Wildstorm imprint before moving to Dynamite Entertainment, it follows the eponymous team of vigilantes as they combat superpowered individuals who abuse their abilities.

The show is a satirical take on the superhero genre and showcases a world where superheroes are corporatized and controlled by companies. What happens when these superheroes step out of line and rub some boys the wrong way, is the story.