His younger brother Lenny talked him down, but only because of the impact it would have on their mother. Butcher revealed to Hughie that the "evidence" that he had eaten part of Vogelbaum wasn't gore, but jam.Īs a boy growing up in London's East End, Butcher watched his father physically abuse his mother on a daily basis, developing an overwhelming hatred for the older Butcher and almost leading him to murder. Mallory has put this down to Butcher's ability to hate. #55 showed that he apparently got pleasure from brutally murdering Vogelbaum, possibly even eating part of him.
He seems to get pleasure from killing superheroes the slaughter of 150 East European/Russian supes in issue #14 left him humming Ode to Joy all day in #33 he continued to attack Mind Droid and Soldier Boy when they were trying to flee and in #43 he intended to brutalize the Super Duper team because of an unintended insult from a member of the team who suffered from Tourette's. On another occasion, Butcher told Hughie one reason he recruited him was he'd "always wanted a little brother" (#6), keeping it quiet that he already had one (#55). Mother's Milk has stated that every word Butcher says is calculated to further his own goals an example of this is making director Raynor believe that he is easily led by his desire for sex, while in reality this is just so she underestimates him. He can also be very sociable and charismatic, to the same ends. Physically large and incredibly violent, Butcher is more than happy to blackmail, brutalize, torture, and murder, if it will achieve his goals. At the beginning of the series, he works to reassemble the old team, with Hughie filling in for Mallory, whose leadership position Butcher takes for himself.
It was he that coined the team name "the Boys" because in the East End of London "the boys" were who one would send in to take care of troublemakers. He was the first member of the team recruited by team founder, Greg Mallory, and served as the original group's second-in-command until its disbandment as the result of events depicted in #50. They also became master hand-to-hand combat specialists thanks to Mother's Milk's background as a former boxer.Ī native Englishman and the leader of the current incarnation of the Boys, Butcher is the second most prominent character in the series, aside from Wee Hughie. Thanks to Butcher, Frenchman and Mother's Milk's military backgrounds, the Boys also gained elite military combat and weapons training to make them even deadlier than were before. Though they are not as powerful as the corrupt superheroes they fight, they compensate with their blue-collar grit, their willingness to fight dirty, their access to high military grade weaponry and explosives, and their lack of fear to kill if they deem it necessary. Due to the fact that direct confrontation may be needed, all the members have enhanced strength and durability due to injections of Compound V, and all (with the exception of Hughie) show no restraint when on the attack – although they avoid killing when it complicates matters in most cases. The unit was reformed a few years later – indicated in #1 to be soon after the 2004 Presidential election – and have carried on where they left off. The first iteration of the Boys was decommissioned after a disastrous confrontation with the Seven in 2001 that resulted in civilian casualties. As a result, Mallory feels that the original concept for the team has gone awry, and would never have created the unit as it currently stands. This coincides with Mallory's belief in Issues #54–55 that in spite of the seductiveness of the concept of special forces teams, the application of them can often go wrong as they try to justify their budgets and create their private conflicts. As Mallory notes in #55, 14 people were killed by the Boys from 1987 to 1995 and "nearly three times that number" between 19, when Butcher had gained more influence. Over time, the team's focus changed due to Butcher's increased influence, from one of management and containment to one of direct confrontation.
While this is in part to help protect normal humans from the actions of the largely out of control "supes," this is also to ensure that the company lacks the stability or the platform to push the use of superhumans in national defense. Greg Mallory to manage, police, and sometimes liquidate Vought. The Boys are a CIA black ops team, initially created by Col.