Chapter Summaries

Ashley dealt with the fallout from videos portraying Homelander as a murderer and Soldier Boy as responsible for major damage to New York City. After hearing Ashley’s report, Soldier Boy asked who had posted the park footage, while Ashley admitted she was afraid to tell Homelander.

• Ashley watched an edited surveillance video that appeared to show Homelander killing a bald man, and saw that the footage had sparked protests and a collapse in his approval rating.
• Ashley mobilized Vought staff to manage the crisis, but learned that the town’s looping surveillance system had erased the complete footage.
• Ashley went to Soldier Boy after deciding she needed protection from Homelander, and met a city representative demanding that Vought pay billions for the damage Soldier Boy caused.
• The representative left after Ashley told him to collect the money from Soldier Boy, and paid internet trolls began attacking Vought online.
• Ashley told Soldier Boy that she had offered Middleton two stationed superheroes and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, then explained that the town had leaked the basement footage.
• Soldier Boy asked who had posted the park video, and Ashley said Vought was still investigating and that she feared Homelander would lose control when told.

Soldier Boy learned that Ryan had awakened powerful Heat Vision, while Butcher’s attack on Homelander’s reputation left Homelander shaken by public condemnation. Homelander ended the chapter questioning whether he should keep trying to be a real superhero when his sincere efforts earned no approval.

• Ashley feared Homelander’s reaction, but Soldier Boy reassured her and let her go tell him about the incident.
• Soldier Boy learned that Ryan had awakened Level 6 Heat Vision after killing two Compound V-enhanced beasts and setting part of the rainforest on fire.
• Butcher called Soldier Boy and traded insults with him before contacting Homelander to threaten him and point him toward the news.
• Homelander found that an edited video had sparked widespread condemnation, despite Vought’s efforts to defend him, and saw his approval rating fall by ten points.
• Homelander felt devastated that people had rejected his genuine effort to do good and wondered whether there was any reason to continue.

Homelander struggled with public condemnation until he intervened in a robbery and saved a young woman, but a livestream exposed him to another wave of hostile comments. He ended the chapter fixated on the criticism flooding the screen.

• Homelander brooded over the accusations against him and questioned whether he should have handled his earlier actions differently.
• Homelander spotted two robbers threatening a young woman, hesitated, then melted their gun and hurled them into the sky.
• The young woman thanked Homelander, and arriving police officers mistook him for a threat until she identified him.
• A trainee officer fired at Homelander, but the bullet bounced off his back; Homelander then explained the situation to the older officer.
• A passerby livestreamed Homelander, whose appearance drew a flood of abusive comments, and he snatched the phone while trying to explain what had happened.
• Homelander kept reading the hostile comments as they overwhelmed the more supportive voices.

Homelander struggled with the public's abuse until Soldier Boy urged him to save people for his own reasons, not approval. When Klee was targeted after defending him online, Homelander flew to help her, while Soldier Boy prepared to retaliate against online harassers; Klee and her mother remained trapped inside their surrounded home.

• Homelander broke a passerby's phone and flew away in tears after being cursed despite saving someone.
• Soldier Boy found Homelander sitting all night in The Seven's Meeting Room and encouraged him to keep saving people for himself.
• Ashley told Homelander that Klee's online defense had brought more abuse and exposed her home address, prompting him to fly to her.
• Soldier Boy ordered Ashley to investigate Butcher's role in the surveillance footage and help identify online harassers he planned to torture.
• A mob gathered outside Klee's home in Aesel Small Town, while Klee's mother held her and tried to comfort her.

A mob gathered outside Klee’s home, turning her family into targets amid rumors about Homelander and Vought. When the crowd broke a window and Klee defended Homelander, the mob’s attention shifted to her, while a few onlookers realized they had become part of the violence but could not escape.

• Federal police arrived but failed to control the growing crowd as rumors and hostility spread through town.
• Klee asked her mother what the crowd’s insults meant, and her mother comforted her without explaining the slur.
• Klee’s father rushed in with a knife after a brick smashed through the window and shouted at the crowd to leave his home.
• Klee ran to the window and called the people outside idiots, insisting that Homelander was a good person.
• Some members of the crowd recognized that their behavior had gone too far, but they were trapped among nearly a thousand people.

Butcher’s attempt to pressure Homelander spiraled into a violent mob attacking Klee’s family, leaving her father injured and the ambulance unable to reach them. Homelander arrived and silenced the crowd, while Butcher slipped away.

• A rock thrown by someone in the crowd struck Klee’s father in the head, and he collapsed as Klee and her mother called for help.
• Butcher watched from a villa and regretted paying people to stir up trouble after the crowd turned violent.
• Federal police and paramedics struggled to control the mob and reach Klee’s injured father, while Klee pleaded with people to make way.
• Homelander watched from the sky, felt guilty about Klee’s predicament, and questioned whether he had to be the crowd’s superhero.
• Butcher spotted Homelander approaching, recognized him by his Stars and Stripes cape, and left the area.
• Homelander landed in the middle of the crowd, and his imposing presence silenced everyone.

Homelander arrived at Klee’s home as her father lay injured, but the hostile crowd ignored his pleas to make way for medical help and threw objects at him. After spotting the young Black man who had thrown the brick, Homelander caught him as he tried to hide inside the courtyard.

• Homelander arrived to find Klee’s father unconscious and bleeding while the crowd surrounded the family.
• Homelander warned the crowd that Klee’s father had a fractured skull and needed a hospital, but people jeered and blocked the way.
• Homelander rose above the crowd as people threw objects at him, restraining himself from attacking them.
• The young Black man who had thrown the brick panicked and climbed over the courtyard wall to hide.
• After a bottle of Coke splashed onto his cape, Homelander flew to the courtyard and seized the young Black man by the collar.

Homelander killed the Black Youth in public, but the frightened crowd soon applauded him and praised him as a hero. After the video spread online, Homelander reflected on his excessive punishment before visiting Klee at the hospital and reassuring her that her father would recover.

• Homelander threw the Black Youth into the air and killed him with his heat vision in front of the crowd.
• A Federal Police officer backed down, and the crowd began applauding Homelander and calling him a hero.
• Homelander left as the crowd dispersed, while the video of the killing quickly went viral and Ashley shrieked in her office.
• Homelander reflected on whether he should be his true self and questioned whether a hero should magnify another person's wrongdoing out of anger.
• Homelander went to the hospital, told Klee that her father was all right, and comforted her as she cried.

Homelander regained confidence after Klee thanked him for saving her, then told Soldier Boy about losing control and killing the man who injured Klee’s father. Soldier Boy began explaining that real superheroes could have human emotions, leaving Homelander to ask why he himself should not do whatever he wanted.

• Klee thanked Homelander with half a piece of chocolate, and her gratitude eased his doubts about saving her.
• Homelander spoke with Klee’s mother, offered Vought’s help, and gave Klee his contact information so she could visit Ryan.
• Soldier Boy appeared outside the hospital and teased Homelander about keeping milk in his fridge for Ryan.
• Homelander confessed that he had killed the young man who injured Klee’s father, even though he could have arrested him.
• Soldier Boy said superheroes were human and criticized Vought’s flawless screen image as fake and shallow.
• Homelander asked Soldier Boy why he did not simply do whatever he wanted.

Soldier Boy helped Homelander reflect on restraint, conscience, and why he wanted to be a superhero. Homelander felt newly free to protect people and punish wrongdoers, then took time to appreciate the world around him.

• Soldier Boy explained that he believed people should restrain themselves and protect ordinary people's happiness, naming Homelander among those who needed limits.
• Homelander reconsidered his reasons for becoming a superhero and questioned whether killing Black Youth had crossed a line.
• Soldier Boy reassured Homelander that reflecting on harmful impulses and keeping a clear conscience mattered, and Homelander felt relieved.
• Homelander shared his chocolate with Soldier Boy, who left to confront Ethan over online insults and maliciously edited pictures.
• Homelander flew to the seaside, set aside his Vought work, and enjoyed the breeze and view for the first time.

Soldier Boy learned from Black Noir that Ryan had awakened powerful Heat Vision and ended the Amazon training early, planning to collect him with Homelander. The chapter left Soldier Boy and Homelander having breakfast, with Homelander wary of the soy milk Soldier Boy offered him.

• Soldier Boy celebrated beating up sixteen online haters and called Black Noir to ask about Ryan.
• Black Noir reported that Ryan had awakened Heat Vision, wounded him while detecting his hiding place, and had grown dangerous enough to kill him in a direct fight.
• Soldier Boy ordered Black Noir to stop training Ryan and said he and Homelander would pick Ryan up the next day.
• Black Noir told Soldier Boy that Ryan only ate poisonous food and rejected normal fruit, and Soldier Boy revealed that this was part of his training plan.
• Soldier Boy and Homelander went to breakfast at a new Chinese restaurant, where Soldier Boy offered Homelander soy milk and challenged his suspicion.

Ashley reported that the full surveillance footage of the Small-Town Park incident had improved Homelander’s approval rating, while protests over his actions continued. After learning Butcher had released the edited footage and making Ashley drink the soy milk he feared, Homelander agreed with Soldier Boy to bring Ryan home from the Amazon Rainforest.

• Ashley told Homelander that the Hero Slayer had posted the complete Small-Town Park footage, police records supported the victim’s account, and Homelander’s approval rating had risen by four percent.
• Ashley said the woman imprisoned in the basement was receiving counseling and a Vought job, and that Butcher had uploaded the maliciously edited footage but remained unlocated.
• Homelander gave Ashley his soy milk, which she enjoyed, while Soldier Boy silently recognized that Homelander had used her to test it.
• Soldier Boy told Homelander that Ryan had stopped progressing in the Amazon Rainforest and proposed bringing him home.
• Homelander agreed, eager to teach Ryan how to control his sensory powers.

Ryan waited in the Amazon rainforest for his ordeal to end, and Black Noir arrived to tell him Homelander and Soldier Boy were coming. Black Noir learned that Ryan had survived by following a dangerously misleading survival guide, then gave him back the book and watched over him.

• Ryan tried to catch a giant centipede for breakfast but accidentally burned most of it with his Heat Vision.
• Black Noir revealed himself and told Ryan that Homelander and Soldier Boy would soon pick him up.
• Ryan explained that he planned to eat the centipede because his survival guide said it was edible.
• Black Noir read the guide’s absurd and dangerous advice, realized Soldier Boy had set Ryan up, and kept the truth from him.
• Ryan complained that the guide was pirated because he had encountered large cats and a huge snake, then demanded that Soldier Boy punish its publisher.
• Black Noir returned the guide to Ryan and took two stuffed toys from his pocket.

Homelander and Soldier Boy reunited with Ryan in the rainforest, where he showed off his new powers and shared fruit before they took a keepsake photo. Back at Vought International, Soldier Boy tried to catch the invisible Translucent, and Ryan decided to share more fruit with the staff.

• Black Noir entertained Ryan with a puppet show, then Homelander and Soldier Boy arrived and greeted him warmly.
• Ryan demonstrated his Heat Vision and super speed, then gathered fruit for Homelander, Soldier Boy, and Black Noir.
• Soldier Boy took a group photograph of Ryan, Homelander, Black Noir, and himself before they left the rainforest.
• Black Noir hurried away with a stomachache after eating the fruit, while Little Beaver gloated that he had warned him not to eat it.
• At Vought International, Homelander spotted the invisible Translucent and directed Soldier Boy to punch him, but Translucent escaped.
• Soldier Boy claimed Ashley's camera, and Ryan gave Ashley a piece of fruit, saying he had more to share with others.

Ryan shared the fruit he had brought back from the Amazon Rainforest with Vought employees, with Maeve helping him prepare and deliver it. Meanwhile, Homelander and Soldier Boy went with Ashley to discuss the final details of Hughie's New York governor campaign plan.

• Maeve told Homelander and Soldier Boy that she had beaten up Translucent in a restroom stall and gotten his bodily fluids on her hands.
• Ashley reported that Sage had news from Hughie and that the New York governor campaign plan had reached its final stage, so Homelander and Soldier Boy went to meet with her.
• Maeve listened as Ryan described his Amazon trip, then helped him cut up the fruit he had brought back.
• Ryan and Maeve delivered pieces of the fruit to Vought employees, including Starlight and Stormfront, who accepted the gifts gratefully.

Soldier Boy ordered Vought to invest heavily in AI and named its planned system Old Popsicle. A sudden wave of illness overwhelmed Vought Tower, prompting Homelander and Soldier Boy to rush back and search for Ryan.

• Soldier Boy told Ashley to direct substantial resources into AI research and named Vought's proposed system Old Popsicle.
• Ashley left the meeting with Ryan's fruit, then collapsed and vomited blood in the corridor.
• Private Angel suspected poisoning and sensed that people throughout Vought Tower were becoming gravely ill.
• A-Train arrived with severe stomach trouble, and Private Angel urged Ashley to call Soldier Boy and Homelander.
• Homelander and Soldier Boy returned to find ambulances evacuating employees, and Homelander searched for Ryan with his vision powers.

A mysterious wave of illness struck Vought Tower, overwhelming its staff and medical teams while Private Angel raced to save the most critical casualties. Homelander found Ryan safe in the Information Security Department, but his search for the cause revealed no suspicious people before dizziness interrupted him.

• Homelander surveyed Vought Tower and saw employees collapsing across nearly every floor as the medical teams struggled to cope.
• Private Angel revived a convulsing man on the fifty-sixth floor, then hurried upstairs to treat more people in immediate danger.
• Ryan helped distribute fruit while Anika coordinated ambulances and the Information Security Department searched for clues.
• Homelander broke through a window to reach Ryan, checked him for symptoms, and ordered him to stay close; Soldier Boy arrived soon after.
• Anika told Homelander that more than 120 people had fallen ill in about twenty minutes and that surveillance showed no obvious attacker.
• Homelander used his senses to search Vought Tower but found no suspicious people before a sudden wave of dizziness stopped him.

Homelander and Soldier Boy struggled to identify the cause of the poisoning at Vought Tower until Black Noir recognized the fruit Ryan had brought back as poisonous. They realized Ryan had accidentally poisoned everyone after following a survival guide in the rainforest.

• Homelander became dizzy after using four active abilities at once, then failed to find any sign of the attacker in Vought Tower.
• Black Noir arrived at Vought Tower and overheard employees discussing fruit Ryan had given them.
• Black Noir recognized the fruit as the poisonous kind that had made him sick in the rainforest and crushed a piece underfoot.
• Black Noir told Soldier Boy and Homelander that Ryan's fruit contained a potent hallucinogenic toxin.
• Black Noir explained that Ryan had eaten the poisonous fruit while following a pirated copy of Guide to Wild Survival, and Soldier Boy and Homelander realized Ryan was responsible.

Ryan learned that the fruit he brought back from the Amazon Rainforest had poisoned Vought employees, while Homelander comforted him and blamed the survival guide. Soldier Boy heard that no one had died and ordered Vought to compensate the hospitalized workers.

• Soldier Boy and Homelander realized Ryan had accidentally poisoned Vought with the fruit he brought back from the Amazon Rainforest.
• Ryan insisted the fruit was safe until he saw ambulances and patients below, then accepted that it was poisonous.
• Homelander reassured Ryan that he had meant to help people, and Soldier Boy agreed that the survival guide was to blame.
• Ryan complained to Soldier Boy about the guide's inaccuracies and asked him to punish its publisher, leaving Soldier Boy embarrassed.
• Ashley reported that ninety-eight Vought employees had been hospitalized, twenty-two were unconscious, and several Supes had diarrhea.
• Soldier Boy learned that no one had died and ordered Vought to cover medical expenses, pay triple wages during recovery, and provide two weeks of paid leave.

Homelander learned from Soldier Boy to take responsibility and compensated Ashley, while Ryan asked to bake cakes for everyone and returned home to Becca. After leaving them to reunite, Homelander set off to talk to Butcher.

• Homelander compensated Ashley with three months' salary, and Soldier Boy praised him for acting like a leader.
• Ryan said he wanted to take responsibility by baking cakes, then asked Homelander to take him home to Becca.
• Anika warned her coworkers not to eat Ryan's cakes without first seeing what happened to others.
• Butcher regretted releasing the complete Park surveillance footage and resolved to wait for Homelander to pursue the secret of Compound V.
• Homelander and Ryan reunited with Becca, who embraced her son and was astonished to learn he could fly.
• Homelander left Becca and Ryan together and flew off to talk to Butcher.