The Boys Season 4 opens six months after the events of Season 3, and a lot has changed in the world and in the Boys’ team leadership.

Butcher is no longer the leader of the Boys — the role has been taken over by MM. Butcher is about to die because of his use of Temp V. Victoria Neuman is one head pop away from becoming president, and Homelander is on trial for 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing a Starlight fan. With all this chaos, the show barely has enough time to explain Butcher’s state of mind, let alone whether he will survive this season.

Viewers are introduced to Butcher’s friend from his past, Kessler, but fans notice with each of his appearances that he might not be real. Butcher is already seeing visions of Becca, so Kessler is more likely another hallucination to help him cope with his impending death and his inability to save Ryan from Homelander like he promised. Kessler is egging Butcher on to give in to his worst impulses. Butcher never had a strong moral code; it all seems so close to home that fans theorize Kessler is Butcher’s inner voice manifesting with a familiar face.

Billy Butcher’s Actions Come Back to Haunt Him

In The Boys Season 3, Butcher and Hughie take Temp V to give them the powers they need to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Homelander. That plan didn’t work, and it only served to ‘𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁’ Queen Maeve, incapacitate Soldier Boy, and anger Homelander. Now, in The Boys Season 4, Butcher is suffering the consequences of prolonged use of Temp V and the symptoms of a brain tumor. With less than six months to live, Butcher reveals to Hughie that he stole Compound V from Frenchie’s desk to help cure his cancer. However, with the ever-worsening symptoms like hallucinations and blackouts, it doesn’t seem like it worked as well as he hoped.

In The Boys Season 4, Episode 1, Butcher starts seeing hallucinations of Becca, likely because of the tumor and the V in his system. Butcher feels guilty that he couldn’t fulfill his late wife’s dying wish to protect Ryan. Being unable to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 the leader of the Seven could have led to these hallucinations, with Becca egging him on to fight to save Ryan. Showrunner Erick Kripke, when asked about Becca’s return, said:

” He’s only got six months to live. He needs to decide if he is going to fulfill his promise to Becca or if he is going to give in to all of his worst impulses. So we thought to dramatize that promise that he made, to bring her back as sort of the angel on his shoulder that he’s conflicted with but, was a good way to show his inner turmoil.”

To make matters worse, Hughie gave Compound V to his father, who was brain-dead in the hospital after suffering a stroke, and the results were deadly. Hughie Sr. was not only brought back to life but became a Supe as well. When he wakes up, he has memory loss and can faze through solid objects, allowing him to rip hearts out like Klaus from The Originals. He doesn’t have a thirst for blood, but he isn’t human either. Hughie’s father is now a Supe like all other individuals injected with Compound V. Hughie had an idea of the dangers of adults taking Compound V, but now he is certain of the horrible side effects of the power-giving drug.

In The Boys Season 4, Episode 4, “Wisdom of the Ages”, it’s all but confirmed that Butcher is a supe like Hughie Sr. During a mission, Butcher rescues Frenchie when Ezekiel finds him rampaging through Firecracker’s (Valorie Curry) trailer. Ezekiel is a Supe with the power of elasticity, and with his superhuman strength, he could easily 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 a human like Butcher. When they fight, it seems like Butcher is going to die, but instead, he sees Becca, who encourages him to fight on, and then he blacks out. When he comes to, Ezekiel is dead. The thing is, Ezekiel isn’t just lying on the floor with a broken kneck; his body is in pieces, and there’s blood splattered all over the trailer. Even Starlight and MM can’t understand how he made it out alive.

Fans Believe Butcher is Hallucinating His Conversations with Kessler

There is a very high possibility that Kessler is just a figment of Butcher’s hallucinations because he is also talking to his late wife, Becca, who died in The Boys Season 2. Fans meet Joe Kessler in The Boys Season 4’s premiere episode when Butcher and MM meet Grace Mallory and President-elect Robert Singer at the CIA. Because of his bad rapport, Butcher isn’t allowed in the room and wanders outside, where he meets Kessler. In the series, Kessler is a CIA operative who has a history with Butcher. From their conversations, they were likely friends and went on missions together back when Butcher worked closely with Mallory and the CIA.

Fans’ Theory About Kessler Could Be True

There is no shortage of surprises in The Boys, and that’s one of the many reasons fans love watching this Prime Video series. Butcher is suffering from the effects of Temp and Compound V; its clear there are repercussions for playing God with substances he doesn’t understand. Fans believe that one of the major side effects of the V in his system, aside from whatever is slithering in his brain, is his visions of Becca and Kessler, like the angel and devil influencing him to do good and bad things. Even Supes like Black Noir saw cartoon hallucinations to help them deal with their stressful environment, so Butcher could just be suffering from a known side effect of Compound V. The fact that Kessler doesn’t talk to anyone else is the most glaring confirmation that he is just a figment of Butcher’s imagination.