Few moments were more violent and darker in The Boys television series than when Victoria Neuman used her powers to violently explode people’s heads during a congressional hearing exposing Vought-American, but in the comics, Billy Butcher’s version of the scene was even deadlier. In The Boys #14, Butcher activates a frequency that kills hundreds of Supes at once in his biggest massacre of the series.
Billy Butcher’s kill count in The Boys comic book is incredibly high, as he kills many Supes throughout the series. From Butcher making his name literal while killing Soldier Boy to finishing off Black Noir with a crowbar, the leader of The Boys got great satisfaction in taking Supes off the board in his effort to get revenge for the loss of his wife. However, one of Butcher’s deadliest moments was changed in a significant way during The Boys television series, as Victoria Neuman using her powers to explode heads during a congressional hearing actually happened much differently in the comics.
In The Boys #14 by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Peter Snejbjerg, Simon Bowland, and Tony Avina from Dynamite Comics, the Supe-hunting team goes to Russia, where they learn that the Little Nina, who recently appeared in The Boys TV series, has been hiding 150 Supes for Vought-American. Billy Butcher confronts the Supes in a warehouse, showing little fear against the superpowered army. After calling them an expletive, Butcher pulls out a switch, and when he presses it, it explodes the heads of all the Supes in the room with a special frequency, in one of his most violent moments in the series.
Butcher’s deadliest Supe moment would get adapted in The Boys television series but under much different circumstances. In the TV show, it’s Victoria Neuman who ends up exploding the heads of anyone who stands in her way, with her attack on Congress being one of the darkest moments of the live-action series. Instead of channeling a frequency, Neuman’s powers are responsible for the massacre at Congress.
The change in The Boys TV series added an extra layer of intrigue to the original mystery of the exploding heads at Congress and set up Victoria Neuman as a deadly secret Supe who would cause major problems going forwards. However, in the comics, Billy Butcher’s attack killing 150 Supes at once by popping their heads like balloons remains one of his deadliest single actions, as it’s his biggest single takedown of Supes in The Boys. The two scenes might have played out quite differently, but the explosive moment was much darker in the comics.