The Boys season 4 is finally here, and here are the 15 best Easter eggs and references so far. Much like the previous seasons of The Boys, season 4 manages to sneak in a bunch of jokes and nods towards the broader The Boys universe, So, here are all of the ones that can be found in The Boys season 4’s three-episode premiere.
The Boys season 4 is the highly anticipated continuation of Amazon Prime Video’s beloved superhero series, with the series now released on the streaming service. The Boys season 4 made its debut with a whopping three-episode premiere, and all three of these episodes are full of Easter eggs and references.
15The Boys’ Mister Marathon Van
Episode 1
The Boys season 4 opens with an epic mission which involves the Boys attempting to infiltrate one of Victoria Neuman’s campaign events. Disguised in suits, the team enters the building as they are guided by MM, who is sitting in the Boys’ secret van. Interestingly, the side of the Boys’ van contains a secret reference to another popular The Boys character.
As it turns out, the van that the Boys’ are using is decorated with the branding of a company called Mr. Marathon Catering, complete with an image of a running man. This is a clear reference to Mister Marathon, a character from The Boys comics. In the comics, Mister Marathon was the original speedster member of The Seven, with him preceding A-Train as a member of Vought’s premiere superhero team. However, he still hasn’t appeared in the show, although he has been mentioned.
14The Seven’s Potential Hero List
Episode 1
One of the biggest storylines in The Boys season 4 has to do with filling out the ranks of The Seven. Both Starlight and Queen Maeve left the team at the end of The Boys season 3, meaning that The Seven only has five members. The Boys season 4, episode 1 features a meeting in which Ashley presents a list of 25 potential supes to the team, with them having to decide on who to recruit.
The 25 supes on the list are Talon, Europo, Hyperion, The Standard, Lady Arklite, Dogknott, Malchemical, Big Game, Tek Knight, Sister Stage, The Devine, Incineron, Dr. Peculiar, Shout Out, Stacker, Airburst, Luckless, Jetstreak, Pit Stop, Black Helmet, Holy Mary, Lord Horus, Wrangler, Pinwheel, Groundhawk, Invisi-Lass, and Jimmy the One. Most of these are references to real heroes from The Boys comics, and the addition of Tek Knight after his Gen V debut is one of the more interesting picks.
13The Stormchasers
Episode 1
By the time of the events of The Boys season 4, the general public has been split up into a lot of factions, with Homelander’s followers and the Starlighters being the two biggest. However, these aren’t the only ones, as another one is mentioned in The Boys season 4, episode 1. During one of the news reports, the ticker at the bottom of the screen mentions the Stormchasers, an even more dangerous group of individuals.
As the name implies, the Stormchasers are followers of Stormfront, the antagonist supe from season 2. Stormfront was a literal Nazi, meaning that her followers are most likely even more radicalized than the followers of Homelander. This could tease that the Stormchasers may play a bigger role in the future of The Boys, which is a terrifying possibility after Stormfront’s The Boys death.
12The Video Store’s Decorations
Episode 1
In The Boys season 4, episode 1, Billy Butcher has a secret meeting with Victoria Neuman. For the meeting location, the duo needed a secluded place, meaning that they picked the perfect location: a video rental store. Butcher and Neuman meet up in an abandoned building named Vought Video, with the inside being full of DVDs and other movie merchandise.
There are two notable Easter eggs inside of Vought Video. The first of these is the Polarity standee, with this clearly referencing the magnetic character who was first introduced in Gen V. The second is the Soldier Boy poster, which shows off the character’s classic design and references one of the movies that made the supe popular before this disappearance in The Boys universe. This is a nice bit of worldbuilding, showing what Vought branding was like decades ago.
11Vought Video Is Next To A Church Of The Collective Center
Episode 1
The references to Polarity and Soldier Boy aren’t the only Easter eggs that can be found during the meeting between Billy Butcher and Victoria Neuman, as the establishing shot of Vought Video features another one. As it turns out, this Vought Video location can be found directly next door to a building that is labeled Church of the Collective Reading Room, although it too seems to be abandoned.
The Church of the Collective is a fictional church in The Boys universe, with it being a cult that markets itself to celebrities and other notable figures. The Church of the Collective played a major role in The Boys season 2, with The Deep attending the Church as part of his path towards reconciliation. In the universe of The Boys, the Church of the Collective is a parody of Scientology, with this being just another campus.
10The Contents Of Homelander’s Box
Episode 1
Before Homelander goes to meet with Sister Sage about joining The Seven, a short sequence in which Homelander gets ready is played. During this scene, which takes place in Homelander’s apartment, Homelander opens up a secret box that contains several items. Although these are mostly Easter eggs, they do have some implications on the show’s story.
The first item that is seen is a framed picture of Stormfront at her first wedding, with her being seen in front of a Nazi flag. The box also contains a baby bottle, with this being a clear reference to Homelander’s weird breast milk obsession, with him having drunk Stillwell’s milk from this bottle. The final significant item that is seen is Black Noir’s sword, with him potentially putting it in the box after killing the original Noir in The Boys season 3.
9Dawn Of The Seven Merch
Episode 1
One of the most horrifying moments in The Boys season 4, episode 1 is when Homelander, Sister Sage, The Deep, A-Train, and Black Noir lure three of Homelander’s followers into a Vought restaurant. In the scene, they beat the three men with baseball bats, with A-Train then carrying their corpses to the Starlighters’ protest in order to frame them for killing the men.
Interestingly, the restaurant in which the three men are killed contains a reference to one of The Boys‘ biggest in-universe movies. Merchandise for the fictional film Dawn of the Seven can be seen in the building, with this referencing the major superhero team-up movie that was made in previous seasons of The Boys. The film was meant to be an in-universe origin story for The Seven, with it being followed up by a massive campaign for a director’s cut.
8The Vought Restaurant’s Comic Book References
Episode 1
The references to Dawn of the Seven aren’t the only Easter eggs that can be found in the Vought restaurant in The Boys season 4, episode 1, as the room actually contains references to the original comics. On the walls of the restaurant, art from the original The Boys comics can be seen, with these images coming from real issues of the source material.
Interestingly, this art contains a reference to a character named Cold Snap, who is a real character from The Boys comics. This is an odd detail, as he doesn’t seem like nearly big enough of a hero to warrant an appearance at the restaurant. In the TV show’s continuity, Cold Snap is a minor character who was last seen at Herogasm, with him also having a domestic battery charge that would most likely cause Vought to want to distance themselves from the hero.
7The Blue Hawk Protest Sign
Episode 1
At the end of The Boys season 4, episode 1, a massive protest occurs, with it being full of Starlighters protesting Homelander’s trial and Homelander supporters celebrating his acquittal. Due to the nature of the protest, all kinds of signs can be seen, with many of them referencing superheroes from The Boys universe as well as parodying many real-world political slogans.
However, one interesting sign says RIP Blue Hawk. While this doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the protest, it is a major callback to a The Boys season 3 storyline. In season 3, Blue Hawk was a racist supe who is murdered by A-Train at Herogasm, with Vought presumably covering up his death. This sign means that Blue Hawk’s death is public knowledge, which is an interesting addition to the lore of The Boys.
6TruthCon’s Soldier Boy Sign
Episode 2
In The Boys season 4, episode 2, the titular team goes to TruthCon, a massive convention that is full of people promoting and discussing far-right conspiracy theories. While TruthCon contains references to tons of real-world theories, it also features some in-universe ones, with these targeting stories that Vought has covered up throughout the show’s run.
One sign at TruthCon reads that Soldier Boy is being kept by the CIA. While this theory may sound ridiculous to most in-universe The Boys characters, the ending of The Boys season 3 reveals that this is actually true. After Solider Boy explodes while falling out of Vought Tower, Grace Mallory is seen putting Soldier Boy’s unconscious body back into containment, meaning that the supe is literally being held by the CIA, something that could change in the future of The Boys.
5TruthCon’s Liberty Sign
Episode 2
Another conspiracy theory sign at TruthCon references the supe Liberty, a character who hasn’t been around for a while. The sign proposes that Soldier Boy and Liberty had a secret romance back in the day, and as was the case with the other Soldier Boy sign, this theory also turns out to be true.
In the world of The Boys, Liberty is the alter-ego of Stormfront, with her taking up the name after the end of World War II in order to disguise her connections to the Nazi Party. During this time, Liberty started a relationship with Soldier Boy, with the duo even being founding members of Herogasm. Soldier Boy mentions the relationship between the two in The Boys season 3, proving that this TruthCon theory is true in the world of The Boys season 4.
4TruthCon’s Stormfront Sign
Episode 2
The third Easter egg that can be found on a sign at TruthCon in The Boys season 4, episode 2 has to do with Stormfront proper, deviating from the other theory that uses her Liberty name. This time, the TruthCon sign proposes the wild conspiracy theory that Stormfront is alive, something that may be held by a large number of Stormfront’s supporters in the universe of The Boys season 4.
Unlike the other aforementioned theories at TruthCon, this theory is untrue. Stormfront actually died in The Boys season 3 by biting her tongue off, unable to live with the pain that she suffered in The Boys season 2. So, unless The Boys makes some major retcons, Stormfront is officially dead and there is no indication that she will be returning to the show anytime soon.
3The Marvelous Miss Rachel
Episode 2
As per usual with the Boys, a fight breaks out between the team and some supes while at TruthCon, one that leads to a lot of destruction. After being tackled through a wall, it is revealed that TruthCon shares a building with some sort of party, one that seems to be celebrating the release of an in-universe TV show titled The Marvelous Miss Rachel.
The Boys‘ The Marvelous Miss Rachel gag is clearly referencing Amazon Prime Video’s real hit series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which is one of the streaming service’s most popular shows. While the Easter egg seems to just be there for fun, it is a clear instance of brand synergy, as both The Boys and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are Amazon shows, explaining the connection between the two Amazon Prime Video series.
2The V52 Conference
Episode 3
The Boys season 4, episode 3 reveals that Vought International holds a conference known as V52, which may seem like an odd name to viewers of the show. Episode 3 kicks off with a scene set at V52, in which the current members of The Seven reveal the two new members who are joining the team, making it clear that the V52 conference is an outlet for the company to make major announcements for their fans.
Due to this being the reason for V52, it is clear that the V52 conference is a parody of Disney’s D23 Expo. D23 is a conference that Disney holds biannually that is full of announcements from all of the company’s divisions, with most of the major movie, TV, theme park, and video game announcements to come out of Disney being made at D23.
1Ryan’s Vought Mortal Kombat Game
Episode 3
In The Boys season 4, episode 3, Billy Butcher has to figure out a way to contact Ryan, causing him to use something that most kids love: video games. One scene shows Ryan playing a parody of Mortal Kombat that features some of Vought’s biggest supes, with Butcher joining an online game and talking to Ryan through voice chat.
The game features an interesting roster, including several members of The Seven as well as more obscure characters like Crimson Countess, Termite, Tek Knight, and more. However, the game also features Webweaver as a playable character, a supe from The Boys comics who isn’t in the show yet. Webweaver is The Boys‘ parody of Spider-Man, with him being an interesting potential addition to the Amazon Prime Video series if he is ever added to it.
