Power Ranking The Boys’ 5 Strongest Characters After Season 5, Episode 7

After many episodes of stagnancy, The Boys Season 5, Episode 7 alters the list of strongest characters in the series, if only slightly. SPOILERS ahead for The Boys Season 5, Episode 7. On the heels of Homelander getting V1 at the end of The Boys Season 5, Episode 6, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk” offers clarity about how powerful he is now. Although Homelander doesn’t spread the wide-scale destruction many expected, several moments from this week’s episode highlight how much faster and stronger he’s become.

His upgrade forces The Boys to consider new ways of defeating him, which leads to another supe breaking into the top five over Butcher…well, we think so anyway. And Marie Moreau’s long-awaited appearance in The Boys Season 5 raises questions about her own place on the list. Episode 7 paints a perplexing picture of her power level, sending mixed signals. After everything that happens during its runtime, here’s how we’re ranking The Boys‘ strongest characters heading into the series finale.

5) Kimiko

Kimiko spends The Boys Season 5, Episode 7 attempting to recreate the experiment that gave Soldier Boy his nuclear blasts — and by the end of this week’s chapter, it seems she, Frenchie, and Sister Sage are successful. With Frenchie’s death dominating the last few minutes of the episode, we don’t get a proper demonstration of her power. However, she survives extreme levels of radiation, and Frenchie tells Homelander their experiment worked. If he’s right, Kimiko is now powerful enough to remove other supes’ abilities. She continues to be capable of healing from grievous injuries as well. Theoretically, this means she can get close to stronger opponents, then strip them of their powers, even if she has to regenerate after. In terms of raw physical strength, Kimiko is average. Until we see more, I’m not confident in putting her ahead of supes like Ryan, Marie, and Soldier Boy. However, her likely new powers give her an edge over Butcher, booting him from the list.

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4) Ryan Butcher

Despite Ryan not appearing in the last few episodes of The Boys, we’re moving him down a level…tentatively. He and Marie Moreau have remained neck and neck in our weekly rankings, mostly because we haven’t seen enough of them to properly gauge where they land compared to one another. Neither has the experience or strength of Soldier Boy and Homelander currently. However, they both have the potential to get there.

But while Ryan proves he’s incapable of defeating his father in Season 5, Marie remains untested in that regard. And The Boys Season 5, Episode 7 sets her up as a more likely contender to defeat him, or at least to help the others do so. Despite Starlight’s perplexing comment that she can’t control her powers — doesn’t Gen V Season 2 cover that? — M.M. says she has “Homelander-level strength or some s***.” Even if that is, indeed, “greatly exaggerated,” Starlight does ask for her help at the end of the episode. Marie’s still being set up as a threat to Homelander, and she likely can do something about the V1 in his veins. For that reason, we’re putting her ahead of Ryan.

3) Marie Moreau

Following the absence of Gen V‘s characters for the first six episodes of Season 5, Marie Moreau finally makes an appearance in The Boys‘ final season. It’s fairly underwhelming, especially considering Gen V‘s recent cancellation. However, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk” lays the groundwork for her to play a larger role in the series finale. Despite Starlight inexplicably diminishing her powers earlier, the episode ends with her asking for Marie and Jordan’s help. We don’t know the details of what she’s planning, but Marie is capable of manipulating blood. As such, we can make an educated guess. The supe virus no longer works on Homelander, and V1 makes him unbeatable in combat. Marie might be able to take care of the latter, using he unique blood-manipulation powers to weaken or kill him.

2) Soldier Boy

After The Boys Season 5, Episode 7, Soldier Boy remains near the top of our power ranking…but it doesn’t really matter, as we’ve seen the last of Jensen Ackles’ supe in the main series. Homelander puts him back in his cryo chamber this week — and if nothing else, it demonstrates just how much more powerful Antony Starr’s villain is now. Looking at raw strength, he and Soldier Boy were somewhat even before, even if Soldier Boy lacked flight and heat vision. Now, Homelander is capable of choking him out easily. It’s doubtful anyone else on the list could one-up him, and it doesn’t look like they’ll get the chance. Soldier Boy continues to be one of the strongest supes in the series, but that won’t factor into the outcome of the final episode.

1) Homelander

If there was any doubt that Homelander taking V1 secured his top spot on this ranking, it’s gone after this week’s episode of The Boys. Homelander reveals how much more powerful his heat vision is immediately after taking the serum, but The Boys‘ penultimate episode shows how else he’s changed. His encounter with Frenchie highlights how much faster he is, and his face-off with Soldier Boy proves he’s physically stronger than before. On top of that, his power over the masses is growing. He kills President Steven Calhoun and orders Oh-Father to eliminate anyone who doesn’t believe he’s God. Physically and influence-wise, Homelander currently seems unbeatable. It’s hard to say how The Boys and their allies will topple him, but it will probably require a group effort. On the bright side, that just proves what an effective villain he is.

Who do you think is the most likely to defeat Homelander in The Boys’ series finale? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!