Billy Butcher (comics)

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Evil-doer
Full Name	William Butcher
Alias	Billy Butcher The Butcher Billy
Origin	The Boys
Occupation	CIA Operative (formerly) Vigilante Leader of The Boys
Powers / Skills	Genius level intellect Charisma Fabrication Manipulation Persuasion Interrogation abilities Excellent fighting skills Weapon building Strategy Compound V: Superhuman strength Superhuman durability
Hobby	Fighting with Supes.
Goals	Comics: Kill Homelander (indirectly succeeded). Kill Black Noir (succeeded). Exterminate all supes (failed). TV Series: Get revenge on Homelander for killing his wife (indirectly succeeded).
Crimes	Vigilantism Murder Cannibalism Abusing Stalking Mutilation Kidnapping Conspiracy Theft Torture Sabotage Blackmail Usurpation Hate crimes Psychological abuse
Type of Villain	Rogue Vigilante

“	You know... I'm always tellin' people not to make a song an' dance at times like this. But here we are after all these f-ckin' years. The way I see it, there might be enough of this shit still workin' that you're holdin' onto one or two memories. And if I'm lucky, this bit... This bit right f-ckng here... This is the night you done what you done to my Becky.	„
	~ Billy killing Black Noir for what he did to Becky.

“	See, people love that cozy feeling Supes give them. Some golden c-nt to swoop out of the sky and save the day so you don't got to do it yourself. But if you knew half the shit they get up to? Ooh... f-ckin' diabolical. But then... that's where I come in.	„
	~ Billy to Hughie in the TV series.

William "Billy" Butcher is the deuteragonist (and later final antagonist) in the controversial comic book series The Boys and the main protagonist of its 2019 Amazon Prime TV adaptation. He is the snarky and charismatic leader of The Boys and the archenemy of Homelander.

He is portrayed by Karl Urban, who also played William Cooper in Red, Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy, Black Hat in Priest, Skurge in Thor Ragnarok and Julius Caesar in Xena: Warrrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

Biography

Comics

Billy Butcher was a ruthless CIA agent. Since the death of his wife, he has a strong hatred for superheroes. One of them raped her, and months later the fetus tore her belly. He attacked the Butcher, leaving a permanent scar on his shoulder through a laser. With no other choice, Billy beat him to death with a candlestick.

Because of this horrible event, the Butcher created a group called The Boys to control superheroes by blackmailing or beating them. For their last formation, Butcher recruited Wee Hughie after his girlfriend died of hurried injuries by A-Train.

After the dissolution of the Seven and the death of Homelander, Billy continued to kill supes (including his friends who took Compound V).

When his teammate Mother's Milk found out about this, he fought him, trying to stop him. The Butcher finally ended the fight, putting a grenade in his mouth. Because of his powers, he survived the explosion but was seriously wounded. Then he finished him, covering his mouth and nose, choking him.

Then Billy planted a bomb in their base. When the Frenchman and The Female discovered the bomb, it was too late to defuse it, and then the bomb exploded, killing them both.

After killing his friends, Billy fought his last surviving team member, Wee Hughie, at the top of the Empire State Building. During the fight they fell to a lower platform; The butcher broke his neck and was paralyzed by falling. Instead of being imprisoned as a paraplegic, he persuaded Hughie to finish him off, falsely claiming that he had already killed his family. Enraged, Hughie drove a metal spike into his chest, killing him.

TV Series

Butcher is a former Federal agent. He was present at Gitmo, where he had to waterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times over six months to get him to talk just once.

Butcher's initial goal is to gather up The Boys and go after Vought International — most specifically, take down Homelander, whom he is under the impression killed his wife. In The Name of the Game, Butcher approaches Hughie Campbell after the death of his girlfriend Robin Ward at the hands of A-Train. Billy asks for his help in securing a bug in Seven Tower, to which he obliges.

After Translucent finds the bug and attacks Hughie, Butcher saves Hughie and kidnaps Translucent. With nowhere to go, he seeks out the help of old-friend Frenchie. Frenchie is at first angry that Butcher has come to him, however the two reconcile and end up figuring a way to kill Translucent; Hughie is the one who ends up pulling the trigger, however.

Shortly after Translucent's death, Butcher approaches another old friend, Mother's Milk, asking him to join The Boys again. Mother's Milk initially refuses, however is convinced by Billy to come back. Not long after, in The Female of the Species, The Boys find The Female in a basement, having been the subject of Compound V injections for a while. She is ultimately accepted into The Boys despite Butcher believing her to be initially dangerous.

Billy's hate for Supes has been fueled by his personal hate for Homelander, leader of The Seven, following the alleged death of his wife Becca Butcher. Shortly after his wife's disappearance, Grace Mallory approached Butcher, showing him CCTV footage of his wife and Homelander together at Seven Tower. Billy believed that Homelander was the reason she disappeared, presuming that he killed her, fueling a personal vendetta that would last the next eight years.

Unbeknownst to Billy, Becca had been placed into witness protection by Vought International having been pregnant and given birth to Homelander's child — a child with enhanced abilities, including Homelander's heat vision. In You Found Me, Homelander takes Butcher to see Becca for the first time since her disappearance.

Appearance

Billy is a rather gruff, striking and charming man of tall stature and toned physique who also looks rather unkempt. His hair is that of a thick, black greasy tuft on his head and he also has a prominent beard. Billy is usually seen wearing a dusty and battered black trenchcoat usually paired with some kind of patterned shirt. He also wears dark trousers and shoes and is often depicted carrying weapons such as crowbars and baseball bats.

Personality

Billy is a fairly stoic, calm but also arrogant and ruthless man who is easily characterized by his immensely charismatic and persuasive nature. He is reasonably friendly to those around him especially with Hughie who he treats as a younger brother figure of sorts, however he does often push his allies to their boiling points however due to his sheer determination and eagerness to achieve whatever goal he sets out to perform.

Gallery

Comics

Billy and Homelander.

Billy sees Homelander and Black Noir fight.

Billy cracks Black Noir's skull.

Billy kills Black Noir, getting his revenge for Becky.

Butcher being beaten by Wee Hughie

Billy's death

Billy's corpse

TV Series

Billy witnesses Homelander kill Stillwell.

A bloodied Butcher.

Billy upon the reveal.

Butcher learns that Becca is alive, and that her child is Homelander's.

Trivia

• Billy and the characters from The Boys had their first volume be part of DC Comics until the rights were reverted.