WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Boys Season 3, Episode 2, “The Only Man in the Sky,” which aired June 3 on Amazon Prime Video. The first episode of The Boys Season 3, “Payback,” revealed just what happened following the events of Season 2, while teasing Homelander’s increasing instability as Annie January/Starlight takes a bigger role on The Seven. The explosive episode ended with Billy Butcher looking for a weapon that might be able to destroy Homelander and Hughie Campbell discovering congresswoman Victoria Neuman was, in fact, a supe. Here’s a spoiler-filled recap of The Boys Season 3, Episode 2, “The Only Man in the Sky,” which deals with the fallout from the premiere.
The Boys Look Into Payback
“The Only Man in the Sky” kicks off with the announcement of a movie about The Deep’s experiences with the Church of the Collective before cutting to an ad for Homelander’s upcoming birthday special. Homelander starts talking to Butcher directly and challenges him to use the temporary Compound V that Queen Maeve gave him last episode. He eventually acquiesces, but the entire sequence turns out to be a dream. After he wakes up, Butcher talks to Ryan via video chat. Ryan reveals he’s made a video for him, but Butcher doesn’t watch it right then.
Instead, Butcher goes to visit Marvin/Mother’s Milk, who is definitely unhappy to see him. Still, Butcher pressures Marvin for information on Soldier Boy, and The Boys teases a connection between his family and the supe. Marvin believes that continuing to obsess over Soldier Boy and Payback will result in him essentially abandoning his daughter, repeating his own feelings of abandonment by his father. Still, Marvin ends up giving Butcher a folder on Gunpowder, Soldier Boy’s sidekick. The Boys then shows a bunch of newspaper clippings emphasizing Soldier Boy’s brutality.
Later, Marvin nearly burns down his apartment due to his obsession with Payback and his files. He tells Monique about what happened and reveals the struggles he’s been having since Butcher brought up Payback, as it’s very personal for him. Monique soon advises Marvin to go back to helping Butcher and to work against supes.
As Butcher looks more into Gunpowder, Frenchie and Kimiko go to Vought’s version of Disneyland, where they attend a musical about Soldier Boy and Payback. Soldier Boy’s ex-girlfriend, Crimson Countess, sings a tribute to Soldier Boy on stage, and Kimiko and Frenchie go backstage to talk to her after. At first, the two members of The Boys are kind, but they soon restrain and begin interrogating Crimson Countess. The supe escapes, and a fight break out between the two that results in a man in a Homelander being killed in front of a bunch of onlookers, including children. Kimiko and Frenchie flee the scene of the crime.
Butcher goes to a firearm convention, where he finds Gunpowder ranting about how “Dakota Bob Singer,” also known as presidential candidate Robert Singer, will take away their guns. He parrots a number of conspiracy theories. After the speech, Butcher talks to Gunpowder in the bathroom and begins antagonizing him, bringing up abuse he suffered at the hands of Soldier Boy. Gunpowder brushes him off, but later, in the parking lot, tries to kill Butcher. Gunpowder successfully shoots Butcher in the leg, but the leader of The Boys escapes.
When they return to The Boys’ office, Frenchie invites Kimiko to Six Flags to make up for what happened earlier in the day. However, Kimiko reveals she wasn’t that interested in amusement parks and that desire stemmed from having not had a real childhood. Although Frenchie tries to comfort her, Kimiko claims she’ll never be a normal person and is broken, as evidenced by how the confrontation at Vought’s amusement park affected people around them.
Hughie Figures Out Neuman’s Big Secret on The Boys Season 3
During the confrontation between Tony and Neuman last episode, Hughie heard the phrase “Red River,” and Starlight is able to get some information on the place. It’s a group home. Starlight advises Hughie to talk to Butcher, but he refuses. Starlight then advises Hughie to wait for her. However, after being unable to get in contact with Starlight directly, he goes to Red River alone.
Hughie heads to the Red River Institute, which is home to a bunch of orphans with superpowers. He eventually gets recognized by the staff, but he covers, saying he and Starlight are looking to adopt a child. The staff member shows Hughie some potential adoptees, and he uses the opportunity to steal data from the computer. Later, he finds images of the people Neuman kill with her powers and a video of Vought International CEO Stan Edgar recruiting her. The episode then reveals Edgar at Neuman’s house. They talk, and The Boys reveals he helped raise her and will protect her from dangers like Tony in the future.
When Hughie later returns ot work, he bumps into Neuman, who asks about Tony and him saying the name “Nadia.” Hughie brushes it off, but Neuman is clearly suspicious. Luckily, Starlight appears and covers for him, saying they got into a fight. They then get into a faux-serious fight and Neuman leaves. The two head out ot the car and Hughie tells Starlight what happened at the Red River Institute.
At his apartment, Butcher wraps up his leg and watches the video Ryan made, which features audio from Becca Butcher animated to LEGO. Butcher then calls Hughie to tell him he was right about leaving well enough alone before he messes things up. Hughie then reveals everything about Neuman and says they need to do things Butcher’s way. This prompts Butcher to once again confront Gunpowder. This time, though, he’s taken temporary Compound V. The concoction gives him a number of abilities, including the ability to withstand Gunpowder’s bullets, enhanced strength and laser eyes, like Homelander’s. After a brutal interrogation, Gunpowder confirms Soldier Boy didn’t die in a nuclear accident. Instead, he was involved in a mission in Nicaragua in the ’80s under none other than Grace Mallory, one of Butcher’s oldest allies. Butcher then kills Gunpowder.
The Boys Season 3 Pushes Homelander to an Even Darker Place
At Homelander’s apartment, the supe talks to Stormfront about his birthday. However, she refuses to address him. At the practice for Homelander’s birthday special, Starlight again encounters Supersonic, and they talk a little. Starlight asks to do a run of her segment sooner rather than later, but Homelander then comes in. He reveals he’s tweaked her speech and tried to force her into singing happy birthday from him à la Marilyn Monroe and President John F. Kennedy. Starlight expresses her discomfort with what’s happening and calls Homelander out for trying to punish her for becoming co-captain. Vought International CEO Stan Edgar backs Starlight, saying she doesn’t have to sing if she doesn’t want to.
At Vought Tower, A-Train talks with Ashley Barrett at a potential re-brand emphasizing him as a Black man. The plan includes a show centered on A-Train’s experiences in Africa and a video game about the slave trade. Ashley rejects A-Train’s attempt to re-brand.
While taking a break from work on his birthday special, Homelander goes to stop a young woman from taking her own life as part of a press event. Initially, the scene greatly resembles one from All-Star Superman involving the Man of Steel and a girl named Regan. However, while they’re on the roof, Homelander learns Stormfront has taken her own life by biting her tongue off. The leader of The Seven starts coming unhinged and even compares himself to Jesus. The girl reveals she no longer wants to jump, but Homelander forces her to, saying, “No God. The only man in the sky is me.” She soon falls to her death.
When Homelander’s birthday celebration finally kicks off, things go wrong. A-Train starts his rebranding by showing off a new costume, but that’s the least of anyone’s worries.
At Homelander’s birthday celebration, A-Train takes the stage in his new costume. Homelander and Starlight soon come out on stage, and someone shouts at the former about his Nazi lover having died. Starlight tries to cover for Homelander, saying he deserves a second change and has pledged a ton of money to her charity. However, Homelander stops her. He begins ranting about how he’s better than everyone else and doesn’t make mistakes. Homelander accuses everyone of being controlled by corporations and, as the episode ends, he says, “I’m the real hero.” So as “The Only Man in the Sky ends,” Homelander has made his dark, supremacist views clear to the world.
New episodes of The Boys Season 3 are available to stream Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.