"Billy" Butcher is a fictional character and antihero/supervillain appearing in the comic book series The Boys, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.

He is the leader of The Boys, a group of CIA-sponsored black ops agents (consisting of Wee Hughie, Mother's Milk, the Frenchman, and the Female) who observe, record and sometimes eliminate superheroes artificially created by the mega-conglomerate Vought.

After being taken into custody, he read Becky's diary (provided by Mallory) and discovered that his wife had apparently been raped by the world's premier superhero Homelander.

According to #50: At the time of the Boys' original disbanding, taking place some months after the events of 9/11, Butcher had stated that he had been working for Mallory for 15 years.

In #55, Mallory tells Wee Hughie that Butcher recruited Mother's Milk, and subsequently the Frenchman and the Female (most likely for their willingness to commit violent acts).

As time passed, Butcher slowly began to take control of the group, gradually increasing the level of violence the Boys used against Supes, often manipulating events until lethal force was the only option.

Similarly, Mallory sees that what he unintentionally gave Butcher upon his recruitment into the Boys was a never-ending war which would constantly allow him to exercise the violent part of his being.

In The Bloody Doors Off, after Washington, Butcher reveals his plans to use his Compound V to kill all potential superhumans in an act of genocide, numbering billions of people.

In Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker, Butcher's background is explored, as he reminisces on his life whilst attending his father's funeral, talking to his corpse about his time spent serving in the Royal Marines, fighting in the Falklands War, meeting and marrying his wife Becky, and joining the CIA and joining the Supe-focused black ops group The Boys following her death.

Furthermore, when The Boys watch a news article about Compound V being exposed to the public, all the members except Butcher congratulate Hughie.

Becca's assumptions come to light when Butcher admits to calling Ryan a supe freak and says that they should hand him over to Vought so the two of them can escape and living in hiding.

After learning that Termite would not face charges due to a sponsorship deal between Vought and Terminix, Butcher expresses his frustration over being allowed only to apprehend lower-tier Supes for minor offences.

After learning that Soldier Boy supposedly died during a mission in Nicaragua in 1984 supported by the CIA, and that his own mentor Grace Mallory was Payback's case officer, Butcher beats Gunpowder to death.

Mallory reveals that after having to accept the involvement of Payback and Vought in Operation Charly, joint Sandinista and Soviet forces killed Soldier Boy, transporting his body to behind the Iron Curtain.

Butcher resents Mallory's undisclosed knowledge of the existence of a weapon that could kill Homelander, believing that Becca's death could have been avoided.

Butcher strikes a deal with Frenchie's former boss, the dominatrix and gang leader "Little Nina", getting the Boys transport to Russia and the location of B.C.L.

Breaking their respective sobrieties and bonding over their mutual hatred of Homelander, Butcher rants about the corruptibility of Supes and his desire to eliminate them all, and the two have sex.

When Soldier Boy, who smuggled himself into America, is shown on the news to have destroyed a brownstone in a radioactive blast, Butcher, Hughie, and MM team up to track him down.

First going after the TNT Twins, he, Hughie, and Soldier Boy travel to their Montpelier residence during the 70th anniversary of "Herogasm", an orgy attended by lower-tier Supes.

Butcher allows MM to take out his frustration and anger on him without physical injury due to being on V24 and checks that he is still alive after Soldier Boy accidentally destroys the mansion, killing the TNt Twins and many guests, during a PTSD-induced blackout.

Disorientated by an explosion from a trip-wire-triggered grenade, Butcher is subdued by Mindstorm, put into a trance, and forced to relive his worst memories until death by severe dehydration.

After Hughie becomes disillusioned with Soldier Boy, he rescues Mindstorm in order to revive Butcher, in exchange for being teleported to safety.

Moments after emerging from his trance, Butcher briefly confuses Hughie for Lenny and comes to his aid after Soldier Boy punches him in retaliation for rescuing Mindstorm.

Later on while searching for a virus that could kill Supes, Butcher finds a rabbit under V24, which dies from tendrils coming of its stomach, hinting at his powers.

[7][8] In The Boys Presents: Diabolical episode "I'm Your Pusher", set in the same continuity as The Boys comic book series, Butcher (voiced by Jason Isaacs) confronts OD, a drug dealer who deals directly to Vought supes, and blackmails him into giving tainting the Great Wide Wonder's drugs, causing him to crash into Ironcast during a promotional campaign, killing them both.

[13][14] Billy Butcher is a physically fit former British special forces operative later employed by the CIA, possessing no superpowers or extraordinary abilities, unless injected with a shot of the enhancement drug Compound V.[15] Each dosage applied to Billy and other members of The Boys is worth 19 billion dollars, allowing Butcher superhuman levels of strength and durability, allowing him to casually injure and kill regular humans as well as "Supe" superhumans.

[citation needed] In the television series, Butcher, along with the other members of the Boys (apart from Annie / Starlight and Kimiko), is not injected with Compound V and thus does not have superhuman abilities.

Throughout the season, Butcher wrestles with his degrading mental faculties through hallucinations, with clues that his Compound V experiments had an unintended, violent, and powerful side effect.

[16] Billy Butcher was designed as a parody of The Punisher,[17][irrelevant citation] a character that series creator Garth Ennis had written for nine years, prior to creating The Boys.

[18] Following the story arc where the corrupt superhero problems are dealt with and Homelander and the Seven are defeated, Billy betrays and murders the other members of The Boys and has them killed in order to eliminate all Supes in the world, establishing him as the final antagonist of the series.