Announced as the final season, The Boys returns to Prime Video with the clear promise of making heads roll. From episode 1, the series keeps its word by executing an emblematic member of the Sevenand not necessarily the one fans imagined.
Broadcast since April 8, 2026, season 5 begins with a double episode which immediately sets the tone: no one is safe anymore. Spoiler alert: we return here in detail to the shock death of the first episode.
The Boys season 5 episode 1: which superhero dies first?
The victim is A-Trainaka Reggie Franklin. The speedster played by Jessie T. Usher, long-time marketing face of Vought Internationalhad left the Seven to join the resistance Starlight in season 4. This betrayal made him the ideal target of Homelander.
In “Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite”, episode 1, Homelander chases him among the civilians. Where he had once struck robinthe girlfriend of Hughie Campbell, A-Train this time chooses to avoid a passer-by, loses his balance, falls, and is grabbed before the Protector breaks his neck.
At the moment of dying, A-Train laughs in the face of Homelander and admits that he no longer understands why he was so afraid of it. According to the showrunner Eric Kripke“Homelander’s burning anger at him was hard to get around”, and the team had decided “that A-Train would probably be the first to go down”, as he explained to IGN.
Why does the death of A-Train complete the arc of The Boys?
For Eric Kripke, A-Train “leave as a hero”. He recalls that “the very first time you see A-Train in the pilot, he passes through a woman without thinking about it”, while his last scene shows him avoiding one, even if it means tripping and dying, a “very beautiful mirror” of a character who has become “more human and more caring”.
What does A-Train’s death change for The Boys season 5?
On a narrative level, the resistance led by Starlight And Hughie loses a powerful ally, capable of striking quickly and attracting the cameras. For Homelanderon the contrary, eliminate a historical traitor himself Seven immediately creates a climate of terror.
From episode 2, the Protector also rebalances the forces by waking up his father Soldier Boya devastating new ally. In front, Billy Butcher is banking on an anti-supe virus in preparation since season 4. The death of A-Train thus appears as the first signal that this final season will not do any favors to its characters, whoever they may be.