Major blood-soaked spoilers below for the latest episode of The Boys, so wade carefully if you haven’t yet watched via Amazon Prime subscription.
Ho-leeee. Mo-leeee. Fri-joleeees. The Boys has once again topped itself with the episode “One-Shots,” which shockingly killed off a major Supe, set up an until-death rivalry between two others, and delivered a celebrity cameo-filled sequence that went far beyond the highly anticipated Supernatural reunion for Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins. This will no doubt go down as one of the most fun and bloodiest hours in all of 2026 TV.
So let’s put our viscera-proof swimming caps on and dive into this muck to celebrate all the larger-than-usual number of wild and gory deaths, as well as series executive producer Seth Rogen heading up a murderer’s row (and eventually murdered row) of comedy stars, including Kumail Nanjiani, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Will Forte and Craig Robinson. All in a day’s work for the Supes that populate The Boys, amirite?
Jensen Ackles Got To Brutally Kill Off His Supernatural Co-Stars
The very first look at Misha Collins on The Boys surprisingly foreshadowed his death in the episode, with Soldier Boy holding his character Malchemical by the throat just before snapping the Supe's neck. I thought the show might buck that expectation somehow, but no.
From a plot perspective, Malchemical's death is pretty tragic by way of Butcher & Co.'s grand plan to kill off Homelander, since he could emit fumes noxious enough to knock the Seven's leader unconscious. Unfortunately, none of The Boys are likely aware Malcehmical exists, and thus likely won't be able to reverse-engineer his knockout gas. (That said, I'm holding out hope for Misha Collins-as-a-corpse to reappear in Episode 506 for Frenchie to extract DNA from.)
Jared Padalecki's speedster Mister Marathon was also an important introduction for the overall plot, as he confirmed where perhaps the last remaining vials of the V1 serum are. But his death was most much elaborate, utilizing some of the gnarliest practical effects I've ever seen in this show. (But only after fans got to see a hilarious assortment of Sony Pictures-produced VCU offshoot movies with Padalecki's character front and center.)
In a sequence straight out of a Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon, Marathon runs arouns his mansion chasing Soldier Boy, who amusingly puts the various celebs in his pursuer's path, causing each of them to full-on explode the way Hughie's girlfriend did when A-Train zipped through her. I guess Rogen didn't get fully 'sploded, but more on that below.
I Absolutely Loved The Dorky Nods To Superbad And Saturday Night Live
If you're looking for an SNL vet to play the weirdest dude in your movie, you're probably gonna go with Kyle Mooney. But if we're talking the second-weirdest character, that's the realm ruled over by talents like Will Forte and Bill Hader. Only, the latter isn't around anymore in The Boys' timeline, as he was outed (correctly or otherwise) as being a Starlighter, and Forte was only too happy to take advantage. As he put it:
Look, best day of my life is when they executed Hader. More offer-onlys for The Forte.
Will Forte
I think hearing him refer to himself as "The Forte" could grow on me. But probably not for a while.
Elsewhere, when everyone is reacting in a panic to Homelander getting knocked out, Mister Marathon makes it clear that one of Forte's most memorable characters does indeed exist in this universe.
- WILL FORTE: Can we f--k off, please?!?
- MISTER MARATHON: Chill out, MacGruber! Everything is cool.
Forte's body does end up looking like the wrong end of a MacGruber mission, as he's the first celeb Soldier Boy sacrifices while running away.
But let's jump back a bit to before things getting so bloody. Seeing Seth Rogen and Christopher Mitz-Plasse together at the card table immediately sparked memories of Superbad, given that was the movie that put Mintz-Plasse on the map. So it's only fitting that he hilariously threw co-star Michael Cera under the bus as a possible traitor.
- CHRIS MINTZ-PLASSE: Hey, do we think Michael Cera's a Starlighter? 'Cause we're up for the same part right now, and it'd be pret-ty good if he got vanished.
- SETH ROGEN: You've been friends with him for 20 years, Chris.
- CHRIS: Yeah, but I really need this part, man.
A couple of minutes later, Homelander's ire has everyone on edge, and Mintz-Plasse once again draws attention to the Arrested Development vet, saying:
We really should round up Michael Cera.
Chris Mintz-Plasse
Technically, the Bill Hader comment could also count as a Superbad reference, since he and Rogen played the bumbling cops in that. Fans may recall that Craig Robinson played a drug dealer in 2007 comedy and its "Cop Car Confessions" extras. Well, he also showed up for an extremely brief cameo to gripe about Danny Trejo's tacos before Mister Marathon turned him into human salsa.
Seth Rogen Joked About Hating Weed And Then Got Half His Body Blown Off
Amidst all of the stressful happenings, Mintz-Plasse sparks up a joint and offers it to Rogen, who turns it down with the following reasoning:
Oh, no. I actually hate weed. I just pretend to like it for my brand so I can sell ashtrays to suckers.
It's high-ly ridiculous for this scene to imply that Mintz-Plasse wouldn't already be aware of Rogen's disinterest in the devil's lettuce after so many years. But still a funny joke, since there's a less than 0% chance that Rogen wasn't stoned while filming that very scene.
Firecracker's Fuse Was Permanently Snuffed
After all the earlier events of the episode, including Sister Sage laying out her mega-plan to eradicate humanity and catch up on reading, Homelander punctuated the episode off with another shocking death. After Firecracker pulled off arguably her most deplorable and sickening act by falsely accusing her hometown pastor and his church of being in cahoots with Starlighter, so soon after sitting with him and knowing that wasn't the case at all.
Against her better wishes, Firecracker remained loyal to Homelander's "I'm God now" turn to a fault, and likely would have continued to do his bidding for years on end. Which could have happened just so if Homelander never learned that she bagged his old man. He should have directed his anger at Soldier Boy, who knew that Homelander didn't rise to the occasion with her, but instead took it out on the one who actually had his back.
It's not quite as divisive as A-Train death scene in the premiere, since there wasn't anything redeemable happening with Firecracker. But still gave an equally cruel example of how little Homelander cares about anything or anyone around him. He's even getting breast milk from rando churchgoers now? For shame.
Find out who'll be the next to die when The Boys drops the rest of Season 5's episodes on Prime Video every Wednesday.
