There are some scenes that stick with you for years, and one of those just happens to be a part of The Boys, whose fifth and final season recently finished filming. That series always comes to my mind, not just for being one of the best Amazon Prime shows, but also for being chock-full of NSFW chaos.
The comic-sourced superhero story and characters continue to improve from season to season as well, and even Season 5’s new cast members have me pumped to see how they factor into the new season. With the final batch of eps in the pipeline, I feel I must talk about the bonkers scene from the streaming series that still haunts me, and honestly is a masterful stroke of shock television. (Pun not entirely intended.)
That, Erm, Appendage Scene From Season 3 Is Still The Most Disgusting By Far, And It Haunts Me
I love genre-fueled efforts, and I have no issue with rewatching the best horror movies for fun. I’m the kind of person who cries more over the most heartbreaking The Walking Dead deaths rather than every actually fearing the zombies. But The Boys? It doesn’t need supernatural monsters to ruin me every time. And of course, the mind-damaging scene I’m talking about is Termite’s big appendage-bursting moment in the Season 3 premiere, “Payback.”
To fully spell it all out, I’m talking about when the Supe Termite physically shrinks and travels into the head of a man’s penis (for pleasure, of course), and then sneezes, which instantly makes him grow back to normal human size. Which, obviously, causes everything around Termite — i.e. that one guy’s genitals — to expand and explode.
There’s just blood and…whatever else…everywhere. It’s quite possibly one of the grossest scenes imaginable by anyone, because who thinks like that? How does someone come up with something like this? I could never. The idea of your body imploding simply from a sneeze? That gets me every time.
Even now, years later, that is the one scene that I think about. I think the main reason is that it’s so graphic, but also that it’s mixed with a certain kind of intimacy that I’m not entirely used, to and that in of itself makes it even grosser. Eric Kripke, you’re a special kind of ringleader.
Sure, The Boys Is Full Of Disturbing Moments, But How Do They Compare?
While the Termite scene is top-tier, are there other scenes from The Boys that compares to this? Personally, I don’t think so. The first potential usurper might be the conversation-starting Herogasm episode, but Season 3’s opener topped that event in so many ways, in large part because we don’t see anyone explode in that episode from someone purposefully pushing themselves inside one’s naughty bits.
I could also point out the very first scene of the show, where Hughie’s girlfriend is utterly imploded from the inside out by A-Train running into her. But at the same time, it still doesn’t feel as gross, perhaps because it’s just not as intimate in spacing as the Season 3 episode.
A third I could maybe point to is honestly when everyone’s head explodes in the courtroom, but even THAT can’t surpass this. Those are just heads. Even though there were more of those, “Payback” featured an entire body because of a sneeze in a penis. Don’t get me wrong, The Boys is still one of the best superhero shows. But good lord…I could have gone my whole life without seeing this.
I Can Only Wonder How Season 5 Will Up The Stakes
However, considering this, I do wonder what Season 5 will do. Season 4 had a lot more political takes. Some A-list cameos were hilarious. And of course, the finale set up some pretty drastic stakes. But they can’t leave us with nothing in the final season, right? I’m wondering if we’re going to get even more explosive scenes — or if Termite’s ruined plans were going to always sit at the top of my horrifying list. I don’t know how it can be topped.
The Boys Season 5 is expected to be released in 2026. And until then, I’ll sit in my horror and disgust. God, can someone erase my mind, please?
