Yes, “The Boys” took inspiration from “Diabolical” for that Butcher finale twist

Showrunner Eric Kripke talks about that one story from the animated anthology that inspired the current state of Butcher.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Boys season 4 finale, "Assassination Run."

"You're all f---ing welcome."

Karl Urban's Billy Butcher left The Boys viewers with that chilling line in the season 4 finale after yet another twist of fate left Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) dead and the remaining members of the core crew with their jaws on the floor. (Figuratively!)

Hughie (Jack Quaid) convinces his teammates to help Neuman and her daughter Zoe (Malia Singh) go into hiding as Homelander (Antony Starr) prepares to completely take over the U.S. government, but there's one key problem: Butcher. The most problematic member of the Boys just witnessed Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) accidentally kill Mallory (Laila Robbins) and flee into the wind, which seems to be a turning point for the supe hater.

Related: The Boys season 4 finale post-credits scene brings back major character ahead of final season

Butcher shows up in the group's safe house as they are laying plans for Neuman and, to everyone's shock and horror, his Temp V-enhanced tumor has evolved so much that he can now command cancerous super-powered tendrils that shoot out from his chest. He uses his newfound ability to incapacitate Zoe before ripping Neuman's body in half and making off with the last remaining dose of the supe-killing virus.

Guess we know how Billy was able to butcher Ezekiel (Shaun Benson) episodes earlier!

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Showrunner Eric Kripke was not available for interviews timed to The Boys season 4 finale, but Entertainment Weekly spoke with him about this latest story twist in an interview in late May. He confirmed suspicions that they indeed got the idea from their animated anthology spinoff series.

"I thought that was such a cool notion of, in effect, V-ed up cancer," he says.

The Boys Presents: Diabolical, which ran for one season in 2022, consisted of eight standalone stories told through different animation styles but all set within the universe of The Boys. Some were considered canon to the main series. Some were not. One that was was "John and Sun-Hee."

The story followed an elderly janitor who worked at Vought headquarters named John. His wife, Sun-Hee, was in the hospital dying of cancer. In a desperate play to save her life, he breaks into a restricted section at work to steal vials of Compound V. The supe-created drug does indeed save her life, but it also supercharges her cancer, which explodes out of her to protect in times of great stress in the form glowing blue tendrils.

On creating their version of this power on The Boys, Kripke explains, "I kept giving the note, 'It should be like Cronenberg. It shouldn't be blue lights and ethereal. It should be horrific, pulsing tumors.' So when I had my own crack at it, I was like, 'I'm going to do the Cronenberg version.' I think I commented at one point that I considered that ["John and Sun-Hee"] episode canon, and that was because, already, I was thinking in the back of my head that cancer can become supe-ified or supercharged, which I think is a really scary idea. So, yeah, it's another version of that. I like that the shows are all kind of inspiring each other."

Related: Black Noir speaks! The Boys star Nathan Mitchell on 'New Noir' and almost going 'down with the character'

And in case anyone is wondering, no, there are no more seasons of Diabolical in the works at present.

"We have asked Amazon to give us the money for it many times. Beyond that, you'd have to have a letter writing campaign to Amazon," Kripke jokes. "We would love to do more, and we've specifically asked if we could, but I'm not sure if that's in the cards or not. But with this online campaign that everyone is going to mount after this article, we're going to push 'em over the top."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.