The Only Man in the Sky

**“The Only Man in the Sky**" is the second episode of the third season of *The Boys*. It was released on June 3, 2022 on Amazon Prime. It is the eighteenth episode overall.

## Summary

Homelander. America’s greatest Superhero. Defending our shores from sea to shining sea. Today, America honors him on his birthday. And the Vought Shopping Network is celebrating by offering the exclusive Homelander Limited Birthday Edition Gold Coin for only $99.95 (plus tax and shipping) while supplies last. Vought Gold Commemorative Coins: An investment that lasts a lifetime.

## Plot

The commercial for a V-TV original movie, *Not Without My Dolphin*, starring The Deep airs. In the movie, The Deep faces off with the leader of the Church of the Collective.

Butcher has a nightmare about whether or not he should inject V24 into his veins. He wakes up and Ryan calls him on video chat. Ryan asks if he watched the movie clip, called “Running Late”, that Ryan sent him and Butcher says no he hasn’t yet.

It’s Homelander’s birthday and he goes to visit Stormfront, who can seemingly barely breathe or talk. He asks her to wish him a happy birthday but she doesn’t.

Hughie and Starlight start to research Victoria Neuman and her past as “Nadia”.

Annie and Homelander go in to shoot a few clips for an upcoming live Vought T.V. special. Homelander shakes Supersonic’s hand, telling him they might be teammates soon, especially since he used to sleep with Starlight.

Butcher visits MM at his home to talk about Soldier Boy. He tells him about the secret weapon that might be able to actually kill Homelander. Butcher offers MM the chance to close the chapter with Soldier Boy once and for all, for his father. MM tells him that he’s not going to ignore his child to go hunt Soldier Boy and sends Butcher away. He does give him a file that might be able to help him. Later on, alone at home, MM pulls out several newspaper clippings of Soldier Boys’ violence.

Frenchie and Kimiko Miyashiro go to a Vought theme park and Kimiko asks to go on a ride. Frenchie agrees but tells her work first - then pleasure. They go see a film about Soldier Boy’s life and death. The Crimson Countess sings a tribute to Soldier Boy before going backstage and doing a line of coke. Frenchie and Kimiko go to speak to her in her dressing room. Kimiko pins her against the wall to ask about the truth about what happened to Soldier Boy. She tells them he died a hero and pushes her way outside where she accidentally kills a bystander - sending the park visitors screaming.

Starlight and Homelander continue practicing for the Vought special, airing in honor of Homelander’s birthday. Starlight is told that she has to sing Happy Birthday to Homelander, with backup dancers and all. Starlight tells Homelander it’s demeaning to have her sing like a “sex doll” and it’s a ploy by Homelander to make her look weaker. Stan tells Homelander that if she doesn’t want to sing she doesn’t have to.

A-Train goes to visit Ashley Barrett about a potential rebranding to appeal to the black audience. He and Seth propose a Docuseries called “A-Train to Africa”, along with a few other projects. Ashley does not seem to be thrilled about the rebrand but tells A-Train she’ll talk to the team about it. They leave and Seth tells A-Train she didn’t buy it because it’s bullshit - because A-Train doesn’t give a damn about his African roots.

Hughie goes to visit Red River, a home for the super abled. Teddy Stillwell teleports over to Hughie but an aide brings him back. The woman recognizes Hughie as Starlight’s boyfriend and tells him it’s inappropriate he’s there because he works at the Bureau. He lies and says that Starlight sent him because he’s sterile and they want to adopt. She eagerly shows him the database of children they have at the center that they could adopt. Hughie secretly plugs in a USB port to the computer to download the center’s file database.

When he leaves, he plugs in the USB into his computer to look up Nadia’s file, which has a lot of photos of people’s heads blown up. He finds a video of Stan Edgar talking to Nadia as a child, offering to take care of her.

Victoria is at home and sees Stan read to her daughter. They talk about Tony and how the scene was cleaned up entirely. Stan assures Victoria that he’s always taken care of her and will continue to do so.

Butcher goes to a gun show. He speaks to a Supe, Gunpowder, who is one of the speakers at the show. Butcher complements his gun line and then asks him about his Payback days, as Soldier Boy’s sidekick. Butcher confronts him about being abused by Soldier Boy but Gunpowder assures him he was a great man and those were only rumors. Butcher pulls out an official complaint made by Gunpowder that would prove the abuse rumors. Butcher tells him he’ll keep the complaint a secret unless Gunpowder tells him how Soldier Boy really died. Gunpowder tells Butcher that he was never sexually abused by Soldier Boy and he walks away.

In the parking lot, Gunpowder shoots at Butcher. Butcher ducks and shoots back. Butcher gets hit in the leg and grazed on his cheek but he manages to get away alive.

A girl, Chelsea, stands on a rooftop, planning to kill herself by jumping. Homelander flies up to talk her out of killing herself. Ashley Barrett instructs the camera crew to get the shot of him saving the day. On a nearby building, a news clip airs announcing that Stormfront died by suicide. Homelander sees and is shocked that she’d do that on his birthday. He rants to Chelsea about how he doesn’t have a real birthday because he was made from a test tube. He tells Chelsea that maybe she should jump after all but Chelsea tells him she doesn’t want to anymore. He tells her to jump and shines his laser eyes at her. She falls off the building and dies.

Hughie goes into the office and Victoria asks him where he’s been. She also asked him who Nadia was because she heard some guy at the office was asking for her. Hughie explains it was probably some guy off his meds and Victoria seemed to sense that Hughie was getting jumpy, but Annie walked up to imply that the jumpiness was because they’ve been having some relationship issues.

Later, in the car, Hughie shows Annie the files on Nadia aka Victoria. He explains that he went to Red River by himself. Hughie breaks down because he thought Victoria was his friend and he thought things were finally going his way. Annie consoles him and Hughie admits that he might have accidentally signed them up to adopt a child.

MM drops Janine off at Monique’s house and he asks to talk to her. He admits he’s tried to stay away from Butcher and the Supes but now that the Soldier Boy thing came up, he’s having ticks, compulsions, and bad thoughts again. Monique tells him to go back to Butcher because she hates that he’s making himself sick over it.

Butcher finally watches the movie clip that Ryan sent. Becca’s voice is the voiceover for the clip.

Butcher calls Hughie and apologizes. Hughie admits that Victoria is a Supe and the past year of his life was a waste and it’s all rigged. Hughie tells Butcher they have to do it his way.

Homelander lays down next to the blood splatter where Stormfront’s body used to be.

Butcher goes to confront Gunpowder about why he’s protecting Soldier Boy. Gunpowder shoots Butcher to the ground. Butcher gets back up, seemingly unharmed. He took the V-24. Butcher breaks Gunpowder’s gun and knocks him to the ground. Gunpowder admits that Soldier Boy used to haze him and that he didn’t die in an accident. Gunpowder tells him he doesn’t know what actually killed him but they were in Nicaragua in 1984 and that he didn’t see shit- he was just a kid. He tells Butcher that they were working with the CIA and that Grace Mallory was his case officer. Butcher beats Gunpowder and uses laser eyes to kill him.

On ‘’American Hero’’, A-Train shows up in his rebranded costume (which wasn’t approved by Ashley). He introduces Homelander and Starlight, who wishes him a happy birthday. Starlight also talks about the Starlight House, a project to help homeless youth. A man in the audience screams, “Homelander, your Nazi died!” He gets escorted out. Starlight tells the audience that everyone deserves a second chance, including Homelander. She tells the audience that Homelander is going to donate 10 million dollars to the Starlight house but he emphatically says that he is not.

Homelander tells the audience that he doesn’t make mistakes- but that he is better than everyone in the audience. He goes on a long rant about how the audience needs him - needs him to save them. Stan Edgar sits in the audience, fuming.

## Cast

* Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell
* Antony Starr as Homelander
* Erin Moriarty as Starlight
* Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve (credit only)
* Jessie T. Usher as A-Train
* Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk
* Chace Crawford as The Deep
* Tomer Capone as Frenchie
* Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro
* Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir (credit only)
* Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett
* Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman
* Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy (video)

* Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar

Guest Starring* Billy Zane as Alastair Adana in "Not Without My Dolphin"
* Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher
* Laurie Holden as Crimson Countess
* Sean Patrick Flanery as Gunpowder
* Miles Gaston Villanueva as Supersonic
* Frances Turner as Monique Milk
* Malcolm Barrett as Seth Reed

### Co-Starring

* Elisa Paszt as Young Nadia
* Liyou Abere as Janine
* Sabrina Saudin as Also Ashley
* Olivia Morandin as Zoe Neuman
* Alex Castillo as Vanessa
* Dale Samms as Roger
* Nia Roam as Chelsea
* Indy Saluja as Stage Manager
* Melissa Paulson as Stressed Teacher
* Jack Fulton as Teen

* Caitlin Pasquet as Cassandra in "Not Without My Dolphin"
* Frank DeLuca as Heckler
* Tyson Coady as Security Guard
* Marlaina Andre as Vought Psychologist
* Jayd Deroche as Little Boy
* Delia Lisette Chambers as Little Girl
* Oliver Kirton as Wall Climbing Kid
* Kloe Allwood as Levitating Kid

## Appearances

### Locations

* New York City, New York
	+ Billy Bucher's Apartment
	+ Vought Tower
	+ Voughtland
	+ Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs Headquarters
* New Jersey
* South Philadelphia (picture)
* Germany (footage)
* Queensbury, New York (mentioned)
	+ Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor (mentioned)
* Nicaragua (mentioned)

### Events

* Murder of Gunpowder
* Attack on Congress (mentioned)
* World War II (footage)

### Items

* *Not Without My Dolphin*
* *Homelander's Annual Birthday Spectacular*
* V24
* *American Hero* (mentioned)
* Vought Seven Tower Play Set
* *Terminal Beauty III* (clothing)
* *Dawn of the Seven*
* *A-Train to Africa*
* *The Middle Passage*
* *Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day*
* VR-15

### Organizations

* Vought International
	+ Vought Studios
	+ VTV Television for Women
	+ Lean Lady Frozen Dinners (mentioned)
	+ VBS (mentioned)
	+ VNN (mentioned)
	+ Payback (mentioned)
	+ Vought Soul
	+ Voughtemundo! (mentioned)
	+ Red River Institute
	+ The Seven
	+ Starlight House
	+ Vought Rifle Association
	+ Vought Sonic
	+ Vought Special Services (mentioned)
	+ GalGear
	+ Vought News Network
* Church of the Collective (mentioned)
* Skype
* Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs
* *The New York Times* (mentioned)
* Super-Sweet (mentioned)
* LOL TV
* Giambi American Tactical
* Rosetto
* Panera Bread (mentioned)
* Stormchasers
* CIA (mentioned)
* Nazi Party (mentioned)

### Mentioned

* Alastair Adana
* Cassandra Schwartz
* Black Noir (picture)
* Madelyn Stillwell
* Susan Raynor
* Soldier Boy (picture)
* Louis Milk
* Walter Milk
* Lucy Milk
* Marvin T. Milk's Father
* Queen Maeve (picture)
* Kenji Miyashiro
* Translucent (poster)
* Chelsey W. (picture)
* Jason B. (picture)
* Paul M. (picture)
* Marie M. (picture)
* William R. (picture)
* Tony
* Robert Singer
* Joelle Clark (poster)
* Grace Mallory
* Emeril Lagasse
* Rascal Flatts
* *Riverdale*
* Judi Dench
* George Washington (portrait)
* Jesus Christ
* Huey P. Newton (poster)
* Ronald Reagan (picture)
* Charlton Heston (picture)
* Hugh Hefner (picture)
* Diana, Princess of Wales (picture)
* John F. Kennedy
* Marilyn Monroe
* *Roots*
* George Soros
* Roger Deakins
* *Million Dollar Baby*
* *The Untouchables*

## Quotes

―Homelander

―Victoria Neuman

## Trivia

* The title of the episode is a reference to Homelander in the comics saying the same quote before he kills an innocent family.
* The suicidal jumper intervention scene was interpretated by many fans as a dark parody of a famous, similar sequence in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's 2005 mini series *All-Star Superman*, where Superman saves a young woman from jumping off a high-rise building by reminding the strength she has inside herself and to not give up on life. It was widely praised as an anti-suicide PSA and many readers with past struggles with suicide have written how the scene impacted their lives.

## Media

### Photos

A-TrainThe Deep and AlastairAshleyGunpowderButcherSupersonic, Starlight, and HomelanderHughie
### Videos

1. ↑ https://www.cbr.com/the-boys-superman-heroic-moment-tragedy-prime-video/