The Boys confirms a theory fans have had in Season 4

Since the introduction of Joe Kessler in The Boys Season 4, there’s been one theory. Could this character be a hallucination of Butcher’s? We finally got our answer.

Caution: This post contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 6.

Eric Kripke did talk about a potential spin-off with Kessler, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan said that he was in. However, this spin-off would depend on the storyline available. Well, it looks like there is one, but it’s not in the current time period.

You see, it turns out that Kessler is already dead. He’s been a hallucination all this time, just as many fans suspected. Butcher left him to die.

Joe Kessler talked to Becca Butcher in The Boys

Butcher figured out the truth when Joe started talking to Becca. As Samir explained the only way to make the virus strong enough to kill Homelander would be to make it airborne, Butcher realized that it meant all Supes would die. Anyone with Compound-V would die, and Samir wasn’t going to create something that would kill Victoria and his daughter, Zoey.

Joe told Butcher then needed to do it. It would make the world a safer place without any Supes. Becca kept reminding Butcher that he couldn’t go through with this. At no point was genocide on the table.

As Becca pleaded with Butcher to think about things, Joe told Becca to shut up. It was the first time the two had interacted. Now, Butcher knew that Becca was a hallucination. Seeing Joe interact with her told him that Joe was too. That’s when Joe made it clear that he is a part of Butcher who will do whatever it takes to get rid of Homelander, even if it means killing them all. He then reminded Butcher that Butcher never saved his life. The real Joe is dead.

What will this mean for Butcher now? It’s clear that Becca is the good cop and Joe is the bad cop when it comes to Butcher’s conscience. Will both of them stick around for the rest of the season, or will Butcher be able to push them out of his thoughts as he figures out what to do with the virus that Samir could recreate?