Is Soldier Boy dead? 'The Boys' Season 5 Episode 2 reveals fate of Jensen Ackles' character
Contains spoilers for 'The Boys' Season 5 Episode 2, 'Teenage Kix'
Soldier Boy's return in 'The Boys' Season 5 was imminent. It was only a matter of time before Jensen Ackles' character stepped back into his role as one of the long-surviving supes. The latest season had a string of new developments, including Ackles' return and a supe-killing virus. It also introduced the 'Teenage Kix' — the next-gen breed of supes developed by Vought. Soldier Boy is woken up from cryosleep in the new season after he was last seen at the end of Season 3, and Homelander (Antony Starr) tasks him with tracking the Boys. After a brief comedic interaction, a fight ensues between the supe and the Boys, during which he is infected with the virus, seemingly killing him.
The final minute of Episode 2 sees Soldier Boy wake up despite being initially shown to have kicked the bucket. After being mourned by Homelander, the veteran supe, placed in a body bag, rises as the screen cuts to black. This shows that the virus the Boys created didn't kill Soldier Boy, giving the supes an upper hand. While the virus did kill Rock Hard and Jetstreak, Soldier Boy survives, raising questions about a potential antidote to the supe-killing virus. The storyline effectively negates all the advantages the Boys had in killing Homelander and the rest of Vought. It is safe to speculate that his survival and immunity against the virus will add to the drama in the upcoming episodes.
The chapter also continues to delve into Homelander's psyche, as he constantly craves approval from his father after being seen as a worthless supe. The end of the episode also sees him come close to killing The Deep (Chace Crawford) after the latter praises him for playing "3D Chess" by using Soldier Boy as the scapegoat to test the effectiveness of the virus. In related news, showrunner Eric Kripke previously shed light on bringing Soldier Boy back in the final season. "You know, what we realized was we really hadn’t explored the father-son relationship much between Homelander and Soldier Boy," he told GamesRadar+. "There’s a lot of material there, how Soldier Boy feels about Homelander, how Homelander feels about his dad, and so we really wanted to dig into that relationship." As Episode 3 airs on Wednesday (April 15) on Prime Video, all eyes will be on how Soldier Boy survived.
