Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s ‘The Boys’ is one of the most shocking, subversive, and brilliant comic series ever created. It rips apart the glossy, heroic image of superheroes and replaces it with something raw, violent, and horrifyingly human.
Within this world of corporate-controlled supes and morally broken vigilantes, a handful of characters stand out. And it’s not because they’re good people, but because they’re unforgettable. Here’s a look at the 10 best characters from ‘The Boys’ comics, ranked for their depth, impact, and the unforgettable mark they left on readers.
10. A-Train
A-Train is the poster child for everything wrong with Vought’s superheroes. He’s reckless, addicted to Compound V, and completely drunk on fame. His need to stay relevant and fast drives him to commit horrifying acts. This includes the death of Hughie’s girlfriend in the very first issue. In the comics, A-Train’s story is a brutal spiral of self-destruction. He starts as a cocky celebrity and ends as a broken, washed-up addict.
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It’s a warning about the cost of chasing power and status. He’s not purely evil, though. There’s a sense of tragedy in his downfall. It’s a reminder that beneath the ego and cruelty, he’s still human. A-Train represents how heroes become brands, and brands eventually destroy the people behind them.
9. Soldier Boy
Soldier Boy in the comics is not the noble war hero his image suggests. He’s a parody of Captain America, cowardly, naive, and desperate for approval. A member of Payback (a parody of the Avengers), he’s constantly humiliated and manipulated by Homelander. He’s also one of the darkest and most darkly comedic characters in the series. His eagerness to please and utter lack of backbone make him both pathetic and fascinating.
Through Soldier Boy, the show mocks the sanitized patriotism of traditional superhero archetypes. However, behind the humor lies something deeper, a biting critique of how propaganda creates false heroes. Soldier Boy wants to be good, but in the Boys universe, goodness doesn’t stand a chance.
8. The Frenchman
If ‘The Boys’ had a heart with a warped sense of humor, it would be The Frenchman. Wild, eccentric, and deeply loyal, he’s the team’s resident madman. He kills without hesitation, often with a twisted smile, yet there’s something oddly endearing about him. Frenchie is a contradiction. He is a killer with a poet’s soul. He adores The Female, treats her with tenderness, and shows flashes of wisdom amid his chaos.
His unpredictable nature often lightens the comic’s darkest moments. However, make no mistake: when provoked, he’s deadly. He represents The Boys’ chaotic spirit. He is an agent of both love and destruction. His relationship with The Female gives the story emotional texture. It showcased that even in a world built on violence, compassion can survive in the strangest forms.
7. The Female
The Female is both terrifying and tragic. She rarely speaks, but every move she makes leaves a bloody mark. Enhanced by Compound V, she’s a feral, almost animalistic force of nature, capable of tearing through supes with horrifying ease. Yet beneath that savagery lies a lot of pain. The comics gradually reveal her backstory and how she was experimented on and turned into a living weapon.
The trauma robbed her of her humanity, leaving her isolated and misunderstood. Her bond with Frenchie is one of the most unexpectedly beautiful relationships in the series. He sees the person behind the monster, and through him, we see her humanity too. The Female’s arc captures one of The Boys’ key ideas: that sometimes, monsters are made, not born. Her violence is her survival mechanism.
6. Mother’s Milk
Among The Boys, Mother’s Milk (or M.M.) is the most grounded and human. A disciplined, methodical man with a tragic past, M.M. is the team’s moral compass. He’s driven not by vengeance but by a sense of duty and justice. Unlike Butcher, he genuinely cares about people, and that makes his presence essential. He’s the steady hand that keeps the team from going completely off the rails.
His nickname, bizarrely, comes from his origin: he was born with a dependency on his mother’s Compound V, tainted milk, which he must still consume to survive. It’s strange. However, it perfectly fits within the twisted world. Beneath that bizarre detail lies a man of immense integrity. He is a soldier, a father, and a loyal friend. M.M.’s relationship with Hughie shows his softer side, while his growing disillusionment with Butcher exposes the cracks in their mission. By the end, he’s one of the few who tries to prevent the inevitable bloodbath between Butcher and everyone else.
5. Black Noir
Black Noir is arguably the most shocking character in The Boys comics, especially once the truth about him is revealed. At first, he’s mysterious: a silent, lethal member of The Seven who never speaks and is always hidden behind a mask. He’s terrifying in his unpredictability, often lingering in the background like a shadow. And then comes the twist.
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In the comics, Black Noir is revealed to be a clone of Homelander, created as a contingency plan to kill him if he ever went rogue. However, Noir’s identity crisis and isolation drive him insane. He commits horrific acts just to justify his own existence and eventual confrontation. That revelation redefines the entire story. It’s one of the most jaw-dropping twists in comic history. The idea that Noir, not Homelander, is responsible for the story’s darkest events is a perfect example of The Boys’ brutal storytelling genius.
4. Queen Maeve
There was a time when Queen Maeve was a true hero. She believed in justice, compassion, and saving people. However, years of lies, corruption, and exploitation by Vought turned her into a broken, cynical shell of her former self. In the comics, Maeve is both tragic and empowering. She’s part of The Seven, forced to play the role of the strong female icon, while inside, she’s drowning in alcohol and despair. She knows the system is rotten but feels powerless to fight it.
What makes Maeve stand out is her quiet resilience. Despite being broken, she’s not entirely lost. Her moments of defiance, especially when she protects Starlight or stands up to Homelander, remind readers that heroism is about choice, not power. Queen Maeve is proof that even the strongest heroes can break, but also that redemption is never entirely out of reach.
3. Hughie Campbell (Were Hughie)
Amid the carnage and cynicism of ‘The Boys’, Hughie Campbell, nicknamed “Wee Hughie”, is the one thing that feels real. When we first meet him, he’s an innocent young man whose girlfriend is gruesomely killed by a supe (in one of the most shocking openings in comic history). That tragedy pulls him into Butcher’s world. Unsurprisingly, from there on, Hughie’s journey becomes the emotional backbone of the series. He’s the reader’s window into this insane universe.
His reactions mirror what any of us might feel if dropped into this violent moral wasteland. But Hughie isn’t just a bystander; he evolves. As he’s forced to do terrible things in the name of “justice,” he begins to question everything. This includes the mission, Butcher, and even himself. By the end, Hughie becomes a symbol of the series. He gives us fans a faint glimmer of hope that maybe empathy can survive in a world built on corruption.
2. Homelander
Homelander is what happens when Superman loses his humanity. The golden boy of The Seven and America’s greatest hero is adored by the world. However, as we all know, he is the greatest supervillain of all time. In the comics, Homelander is the embodiment of unchecked power. He’s narcissistic, violent, and disturbingly unhinged. The terrifying part isn’t just his strength or his powers; it’s his complete lack of empathy.
Related: Antony Starr Shares Emotional Farewell For Homelander As ‘The Boys’ Wraps Final Season
Beneath that perfect smile and patriotic costume lies a sociopath who plays god because he truly believes he is one. His descent into madness throughout the series is chilling. We see glimpses of self-doubt, even confusion, but it never makes him sympathetic; it makes him scarier. His relationship with Butcher defines the series: two men driven by hatred, both thinking they’re saving humanity while dragging it deeper into the abyss. Moreover, he represents the series’s central theme perfectly.
1. Billy Butcher
If ‘The Boys‘ had a soul, it would be Billy Butcher. Charismatic, manipulative, and brutally intelligent, Butcher is the leader of The Boys, a group formed to keep superheroes in check. However, what really drives him isn’t justice, it’s vengeance. After losing his wife to a horrifying act involving Homelander, Butcher’s hatred becomes the fuel for his entire existence.
He doesn’t just want to punish supes; he wants to erase them from existence. What makes Butcher such a fascinating character isn’t just his ruthlessness but the way he blurs the line between hero and villain. You find yourself rooting for him when he takes down corrupt superheroes. However, it’s still horrifying to see how far he’s willing to go. Additionally, by the end of the series, Butcher becomes the very thing he swore to destroy, a monster in human skin. And that’s what makes him such a masterpiece of character writing.
