Summary
- Sister Sage brings a new level of intelligence and strategy to
The Boys
, potentially changing the game completely. - Homelander’s desperation for relevance leads him to trust Sage, making her a key player in his quest for power.
- Sage’s calculated moves and superior intellect make her a formidable opponent, possibly even more dangerous than Homelander.
The Boys Season 4 has come out of the gate with a bang. Even if the early Rotten Tomatoes scores are lower than usual, it still sits at a solid 84% for the season at the time of this writing. It has been a two-year wait, and now, fans finally get to see where everyone is at. The Boys are working away with the CIA to try and take down rogue Supes. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is not in their good graces, but he’s trying to find meaning in what’s left of his life before the sickness from Temp V24 takes him.
Homelander (Antony Starr) continues to gallivant around with his latest accessory, his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) while dealing with a superhero version of a mid-life crisis. Fueled by his desperation to remain relevant, he seeks help from an unlikely ally. Her introduction could put a wrench in any chance the good guys have of taking down Homelander. And she seemingly doesn’t even possess major physical powers. Her atypical powers far transcend that.
The Boys
- Release Date
- July 26, 2019
- Seasons
- 4
Who Is Sister Sage in The Boys?
Before understanding the role of Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) in the series, it’s first important to understand why she has come to light in the first place. Homelander might be the biggest, most powerful superhero around. But he’s also human, and that means he’s aging. When he discovers a gray hair (actually, many gray hairs that keep popping up), he starts to wonder how much longer he’ll be relevant. What has he done to make his mark and set things up for his son?
At the same time, Vought is going through a portfolio of Supe options to replace Starlight (Erin Moriarty), who has announced her departure from the group. Homelander is initially uninterested in the process, too preoccupied with his own internal struggles to be bothered. But when he learns of one potential candidate named Sister Sage, purportedly the smartest person in the world, a light bulb clicks. Who better to help him achieve his goals than a woman who is literally smarter than everyone else?
Homelander pays Sister Sage a visit to her apartment, which is filled to the brim with books as she soaks up more and more knowledge. He shows up in plain clothes to appeal to her as just a regular guy. Given her tremendous intelligence, Sage instantly senses what’s up with him and what he wants. She’s surprisingly interested in helping, viewing the role as a personal challenge. But she would prefer to do so from behind the scenes. She doesn’t want to be a visible member of The Seven.
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As Sage works from the shadows, antagonizing situations to build up friction between a divisive America that includes Starlight supporters on one side and Homelander ones on the other, The Boys notice Sage’s clandestine meetings and wonder what she could be up to. So, they follow her to TruthCon, a conspiracy theory convention where she’s meeting with a vocal Supe named Firecracker (Valorie Curry), who has a small, seemingly insignificant right-wing podcast, passionate views about plenty of subjects, and a clear hatred for Starlight.
Despite Sage’s insistence that she needs to work behind the scenes, Homelander forces her to don a costume and be a member of The Seven. Sage quickly ousts Ashley (Colby Minifie) as CEO in anything but name (she’s effectively now a mascot) and starts to steer the ship. The first part of her plan is inducting Firecracker as a member, too. Her moves start to take form, and while they might not make sense yet, she promises they will.
Sister Sage Could Make Homelander Even More Dangerous
It’s unclear what Sage’s plan is, but considering she’s a proven genius, it likely involves a long game and many steps to achieve the desired outcome. Is she playing Homelander or really trying to help him? She seems like she genuinely wants him in power, not only because he’s a Supe, but because she knows she can always outsmart or even control him. Plus, what more does a fiercely intelligent person want than to consistently prove how smart they are?
Her early moves start to take shape, including a plot to remove Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) and have Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), Homelander’s ally, become the presidential candidate. Her decision to add Firecracker to The Seven, a relatively powerless Supe who can presumably only make a flicker when she snaps her fingers, proves strategic in nature. Firecracker’s amplified voice and hatred for Starlight (the root of which is eventually revealed) combine to make a powerful force.
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Homelander doesn’t always agree with what Sage is telling him to do or deciding for him, but his desperation means that, for once, he’s taking a backseat and letting someone else take charge. That’s something fans have never seen of Homelander beyond how Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) manipulated him in the first season.
Sage is becoming Homelander’s council, the person in his ear, effectively his campaign manager. He believes she can get him to the position of influence he wants and needs, whatever that might be. If she’s good at her job, and it would seem nonsensical if she wasn’t, she will turn Homelander into an even more tyrannical, power-hungry dictator who is impossible to remove from the sphere of influence.
Why stop at Supe leadership and Vought control, after all? She might be able to get Homelander a more influential position in politics, too. She’d only do it, of course, if she thought it made logical sense. The question is: does the smartest person always do what’s right? Especially when they’re a Supe with a vested interest in protecting those of her kind?
What’s Next for Sister Sage and Homelander?
Sage has the potential to really shake things up, making it even more difficult for The Boys to get to Homelander and enact their plans of taking out Supes. Chances are, whatever they plan to do, Sage will be one step ahead of them. She can anticipate, calculate, analyze different potential outcomes, and make decisions based on the best-case scenario for each. She’s one of the strangest Supes in that she doesn’t appear to have any real physical powers (or chooses not to use them if she does) beyond the powers of her reasoning and intelligence.
It’s difficult to fight against superior intelligence, especially when it is beyond any human sphere. Combined with Homelander’s physical strength, thirst for power, and the resources at her disposal through Vought and The Seven, Sage is the most dangerous new villain of Season 4. If she and Homelander become a new dynamic duo, they would literally be unstoppable.
Perhaps what’s most dangerous about Sage is that she presents as level-headed, witty, sarcastic, and even relatively soft-spoken. But there’s a calculated method behind everything Sage says and does. If Homelander puts his ego aside and sticks with her to the end, The Boys may not stand a chance. Stream the first three episodes of The Boys Season 4 on Prime Video. New episodes are released weekly.
