What happened to Ashley Barrett in The Boys season 4 finale? Explained

The Boys season 4 finale aired on July 18, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video. The show heading toward its final season seems to be setting up many interesting yet bizarre things for not only the main cast but also the supporting cast.

The Boys integral supporting cast Ashley Barrett, played by Colby Minifie, is an integral part of Vought International.

Her promotion from being Madelyn Stillwell’s Director of Talent Relations in season one to being named the CEO of Vought International in season 3 is a writing marvel achieved by showrunner Eric Kripke. In The Boys season 4 finale, Ashley Barrett injects herself with Compound-V.

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Ashley the scapegoat in The Boys Season 4

A still of Ashley from The Boys season 4 (Image by Prime Video)

After Madelyn Stillwell’s death in season one of The Boys, Ashley took over her position as the Senior VP of hero management, though having no authority over The Seven.

After Stan Edgar in season three was asked to step down from the position of CEO at Vought International, Homelander commanded Ashley to take his place and be the face of his decisions to the board and the company.

Ashley’s take on the CEO role, within Vought has always been laughable as the entire company knew how Homelander appointed her to fix the public or the company backlash after his actions.

As The Boys season four progressed, things took a turn for the worse. Victoria Neuman getting killed, a new President stepping up and most of The Boys being captured by the Vought’s private security proves all loose ends need to be tied up within the company as explained by Neuman to Homelander in the beginning of the finale.

This essentially makes Ashley Vought’s private enemy number one, since she knows more about the inner workings of The Seven and Vought better than anyone.

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Ashley’s Gamble with the Compound V

After The Boys season 4 episode 7, when Homelander is about to find out that A-Train is the mole from the Deep and Black Noir, A-Train asks Ashley to run away with him to Florence where they could live in hiding from Homelander.

In The Boys season 4 finale, Homelander asks Ashley to make a list of all the people who know or have any dirt on either Vought or The Seven. After Ashley delivers the list, Homelander throws her out of the meeting room.

Homelander asks The Deep and Black Noir to get rid of everybody on that list by the end of that business day. The Deep added that Ashley should also be on the list, to which Homelander complied.

The next scene soon shows Ashley eavesdropping on this conversation and she runs to Homelander’s private room and injects herself with Compound-V, while The Deep and Black Noir start the killing according to the list.

The show has made it clear multiple times throughout different seasons that Compound-V for adults is always a huge gamble and it was shown in season four episode five of The Boys, with Hughie Sr.

We see that after she takes the V, she starts screaming in pain as her wig falls off and her bald head starts to swell, while we hear her bones crushing. The last shot of Ashley shown in season 4, is of her screaming as the Compound-V runs through her body.

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Speculations on Ashley’s Superhero Powers

A still from The Boys season 4 (Image by Prime Video)

The Boys doesn’t shy away from taking shots at superheroes or villains from either Marvel or DC. Ashley’s head swelling up after taking the Compound-V can be a reference to Marvel's Villain, The Leader ~ who is also making an appearance on the big screen in Captain America: The Brave New World next year.

The other thing that we can also speculate as Eric Kripke clarified back in 2022 that three episodes from The Boys Presents: Diabolical are now canon to the show. This could mean that we can also expect to see Ashley with the powers of Super Brain from Diabolical like telekinesis and manipulation of electricity.

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The Boys season 4 is now streaming on Prime Video.