The Boys (TV series)

The Boys is an American superhero television series developed by Eric Kripke for Amazon Prime Video. Based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, it follows the eponymous team of vigilantes as they combat superpowered individuals who abuse their abilities.

Season 1

The Name of the Game [1.1]

Hughie: Okay! Uh, what, exactly, can I do for you?

Billy Butcher: No, you got it all wrong, Hughie. It's what I can do for you. See, you ain't alone, son; happens a lot more than you think. Supes lose hundreds of people each year to collateral damage.

Hughie: No! C'mon, that would be all over the news! People would be screaming bloody murder.

Butcher: Yeah, look, there might be the odd mention of it every now and again, like with Robin, but there's a shit sight more that happens that just gets swept right under the rug.

Hughie: ...why?

Butcher: Ain't it obvious? Movie tickets, merchandising, theme parks, video games. A multi-billion dollar global industry supported by corporate lobbyists and politicians on both sides. But the main reason that you won't hear about it... is because the public don't wanna know about it. See, people love that cozy feeling that supes give 'em. Some golden cunts swoop out the sky and save the day, so you don't go and do it yourself. But if you knew half the shit they get up to... [tsks] Fucking diabolical. But that... is where I come in.

Hughie: Come in to... to do what?

Butcher: Spank the bastards when they get out of line.

Season 3

The Only Man in the Sky [3.2]

[Homelander is talking to Chelsea, a suicidal person.]

Homelander: You probably don't know this because, y'know-- Jew. Jesus wasn't born on the 25th of December; that was piggybacked off a Pagan festival, and guess what? Today's not my birthday either. Nope. Don't know when it is, but sure as hell ain't today. This was just chosen for me by a marketing department. I mean, I can't even have a birthday at all. I wasn't born. I was just poured out of a fuckin' test tube. Immaculate conception. I know exactly how he must have felt. Jesus... You give and you gi-- Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You give. Your whole. Fucking life! And what happens? People just tear you down. Why do people destroy their gods? How-- Ho-- How is it fair that you get saved while a beautiful, perfect god gets killed? You know what, Chelsea? I think you should jump.

Chelsea: I-- I don't think I want to.

Homelander: You don't want to? Why don't you show a little follow-through, Chelsea? Jump.

Chelsea: Please, I-- I just wanna get down.

Homelander: I'm not suggesting anymore. Jump.

Chelsea: No... Please! Oh God, oh God! I--

Homelander: No, no, no, no. No God. The only man in the sky... is me.

---

Homelander: Starlight lied to you just now. She did. I don't make mistakes. I'm not just like the rest of you. I'm stronger, I'm smarter... I'm better! I am better! I'm not some weak-kneed fuckin' crybaby that goes around, fucking apologizing all the time! And why the fuck would you want me to be?!

Ashley Barrett: Go to fucking commercial, Roger. Go to fucking commerc--!

Homelander: Don't you DARE stop rolling, Roger. All my life, people have tried to control me. My whole life... Rich people, powerful people, have tried to muzzle me. Cancel me. Keep me impotent and-- and obedient, like I'm a fucking puppet! And you know what? It worked. Because I allowed it to work. And guess what? If they can control me, then you can bet your ass they can control you. They already do, you just don't realize it. I'm done. I am done apologizing. I am done being persecuted for my strength. You people should be thanking Christ that I am who and what I am, because ya need me! You need me to save you! You do! I am the only one who possibly can. You’re not the real heroes. I'm the real hero. I'm the real hero.

Barbary Coast [3.3]

Starlight: Do I need to remind you of the Flight 37 video?

Homelander: Go ahead. Release it. Let's light this candle, huh? I mean, sure, I'll lose everything, but then... I'll have nothing to lose. First, I'll take out the nerve centers -- White House, the Pentagon. Then any domestic defense capabilities, and then critical infrastructure -- like cellular, Internet, that kind of thing. And then... well, I think then. I'll just wipe New York off the fuckin' map. For fun. I'll even throw in Des Moines and that little cousin-fucker hick town that Maeve's from, 'cause why not? See, Starlight... I'd prefer to be loved. I would, but if you take that away from me, well, being feared is A-one okey-doke by me. So. Go ahead, partner. Do it. No? You don't want to do it? Well, then, I would have to say that you have absolutely no fucking leverage because I. Am. The Homelander. And I really can do whatever the fuck I want.

Herogasm [3.6]

Mirror Homelander: Why the long face, tiger?

Homelander: What if I can't handle him? I mean... If Noir ran--

Mirror Homelander: Oh, you can handle him! You're the top of the food chain. Hey, hey... When we were kids, alone in the Bad Room, I got us through it, right? Don't I always?

Homelander: Always.

Mirror Homelander: No matter.

Homelander: No matter what.

Mirror Homelander: And now? I'll get us through this, just as long as you and me stick together.

Homelander: What if Edgar's right? What if it was a-- a mistake to take over Vought? And-- And... I am just talent, and they all know I'm a fraud.

Mirror Homelander: Now, what do you care what a bunch of mud people think? C'mon. Tell me the real reason, I wanna hear you say it. SAY IT!

Homelander: I want them to... love me.

Mirror Homelander: Yahtzee! And it never seems to work out, does it? Madeline, Maeve, Stormfront, even your own son... So why do you keep running headfirst into the same brick wall?

Homelander: I don't know.

Mirror Homelander: Pants on fire! You know. It's because, deep down, there's a part of you that is still... human.

Homelander: No...

Mirror Homelander: Mm-hm, part of you is. A dirty, shriveled, anemic little part of you that still mewls for approval and love and a mommy and a daddy and oh, boo-hoo-hoo! Look at me, tiger. Look at me. We gotta cut that part of you out like a cancer. And then? Well then, my boy, you can finally be who you were always meant to be. Pure. Clean. Like marble.

The Instant White-Hot Wild [3.8]

Soldier Boy: It's a shame that I've missed so much. I wish I could've raised you and taught you, father to son. Maybe if I'd raised you, I could've made you better. And not some weak, sniveling pussy, starved for attention. But there's no fixing that now.

Homelander: Weak? I'm you.

Soldier Boy: I know. You're a fucking disappointment.

Season 4

Butcher: What was he like?

Voglebaum: Who?

Butcher: Homelander, growing up as a lad, what was he like?

Voglebaum: I'm sure you don't wanna talk about this--

Butcher: Oh, there is nothing I wanna talk about more. And who knows better than you?

Voglebaum: When he was a little boy, five or six, he was quite sweet. He'd cuddle up to me. He loved stories about Davey Crockett, Teddy Roosevelt, loved the idea of the woods, the forest. Manifest destiny. But, you know, I needed him to be the strongest man in the world. So I went to work on him. He didn't even want it. It was for me.

Butcher: Hmm. And that wasn't your only sin, was it? It weren't Homelander who hid my wife away all them years. It ever occur to you, the pain you cause sorry bastards like me?

Voglebaum: At the time, it was barely a blip on my radar.

Butcher: Tell me, Doctor... What's your radar telling you now?