Butcher's Reason for Recruiting Hughie Sets Up The Boys' Final Twist
Warning! Spoilers for The Boys comic book and television series below
At first glance, Hughie makes for an odd member of Billy Butcher's Supe-hunting team on The Boys, but a twist in the final issue of the comic book series revealed why he kept a spot on the squad throughout the series. In The Boys #71, Butcher tells Hughie he wanted someone good on the team to stop him from turning into the monster he knew he would become.
Throughout the comic book series, The Boys work with the CIA to monitor Vought-American and Supes as the team is filled with characters who are part of the squad for a good reason. Mother's Milk is incredibly organized and methodical, as his family has been deeply impacted by the effects of Compound V. The Frenchman is uber-violent and paired alongside The Female, the pair are incredibly effective killers. Meanwhile, Butcher isn't afraid to do pretty much anything from intimidation to torture to get to Homelander, who was responsible for killing his wife. However, «Wee Hughie» doesn't have any special skills or violent tendencies, as he's often the butt of the jokes on the team. But Butcher recruited him for a particular reason after A-Train killed his girlfriend in a bloody freak accident.
Related: The Boys: One Image Captures Each Member's Different Attitude to Violence
In The Boys #2 by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Tony Avina, and Greg Thompson, Billy Butcher reveals to Hughie that he's putting The Boys back together and wants him to join. His rationale for Hughie joining is he's seen what Supes and the Seven are capable of, and after his girlfriend was killed, he wasn't looking for a payout. Butcher believed that Hughie's quest for justice (and not money) made him empathetic as he isn't looking
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