Name: William "Billy" Butcher
Door: Door Pass

Canon: The Boys
Canon Point: End of season 2.

Age: 47
Appearance: Here

History: Wiki
CR AU (Optional): Butcher spent over two years living in the Penance community with the promise of redemption through punishment. It's basically a Hell dimension led by a version of Lucifer wishing to prove that humanity is, in fact, salvageable to a God that disbelieves. Joke's on them though, because Billy Butcher isn't delusional enough to think of himself as redeemable. He didn't bother chasing it and embraced the darker parts of himself almost as if it gave a middle finger to God himself.

Who cares if it was just punishing himself along with it?

Billy has always had a terrible relationship with any sort of God figure. Grade A Cunt, as he likes to call him. Spiting himself to thumb his nose at God seemed like a no brainer, really.

He has a right to be bitter after all. His welcome to Hell was via torture from his nemesis, Homelander, and ended with HL scrawled on his skin after a lengthy session with knives.

Maybe that's what started the twisted relationship with Homelander. It started off with Billy intent on ruining his life in Hell, wanting to warn everyone just what a fake sociopath he truly is underneath all the glitz and glamor. Somewhere along the way, it got complicated with aphrodisiacs and bad decisions, ending in the two developing a sort of co-dependent relationship with each other. It helps that they both had a common enemy in Lucifer to rebel against.

And maybe just because he started to see the person Homelander was underneath it all, which in turn made him realize the disturbing similarities between them.

During his time in Penance, Butcher also developed other meaningful relationships and revealed parts of himself he wouldn't have otherwise. With Wynonna Earp, he had to face his abusive childhood with his father during a punishment. She became something of a close friend to him, someone with an understanding of just how childhoods can mess you up.

He also developed a bit of a rivalry with Tim Drake, who thought him dangerous and unstable. Of course Tim wasn't wrong, but Butcher ended up taking quite a bit of joy in taunting him about it.

When he wasn't developing unhealthy relationships, he was losing himself to vice. For all the promises of redemption, Hell makes it rather easy to indulge in sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and all manner of sin. Butcher seemed to embrace his life philosophy of 'straight to Hell' whole-heartedly in Penance.

On top of it, it's made him more paranoid and less certain of what's real or not, thanks to all the consistent mind warping he endured during punishments. He's less trusting and somehow even more guarded around others and those in authority. Lucifer wasn't exactly a shining example of authority figures after all.

Updated 05/16/23:

After arriving in Duplicity, Butcher was almost certain it was just one of Hell's old jokes and he'd wake up back in the pit, one way or another. But then he met Hope Mikaelson, who seemed to have a surprising soft spot for him and realized that maybe, just maybe, this was a whole other world. He'd learn that there was another Billy Butcher here who left an impression others, for better or worse.

Homelander had apparently arrived just before him and retained his memories, so at least there was the solace in knowing it's still them against the world, right?

It was still a struggle for him to get going in the city where he's seen as inferior, made for subservience, but he's been managing as well as he can. He's got plenty to fight for with more familiar faces showing up all the time in the way of Frenchie and Kimiko.

He's been a bit shaken lately, with the tease of being sent back home and realizing that he could lose all his memories so easily. He's come to realize that maybe he doesn't want to give up his ties here so easily, or his memories of Hell. They've all shaped him, and his future doesn't look all that bright back home.

Personality:
Positive Trait: Determination



Billy Butcher is many terrible things, but one of his biggest positive traits is determination. Once he has a plan of action, he is a man who sticks to it, pursuing his goals relentlessly and with enthusiasm. When he decided to find out what Compound V is? He utilized any tireless method to do it. When he decided Homelander needed to be brought down? He didn't hesitate to dedicate his life to the goal.

When Becca disappeared? Likewise, he relentlessly pursued any means to find out details about what might have happened to her.

The relentless determination may just be a result of his military training and discipline, or it might be ingrained in him from his childhood, where he often felt the need to push himself in order to get his father off his back from making his life a living hell.

Negative Trait: Rage



Even in his more jovial days, back when he was married and thought he had the whole world at his fingertips, his wife told him she knew he was always one bad day away from beating someone to death in the parking lot.

Billy Butcher, at his core, is an angry man. First, he was angry at his abusive father, then he was angry at himself for his brother's suicide, then he was angry at Homelander for wrecking his life. Now? Now he's just angry at the world. He seems to relish in it, using it as fuel to keep meeting each day and strive towards the future.

During a help group for those injured by supes, Billy gets frustrated and demands to know "Where's your fucking rage?!"

After all, in Billy's opinion, he'd be a hollow shell without it.

A lot of it comes from his childhood. He grew up with an abusive father who routinely beat him and belittled him to make him into a tough man. A real man. While Billy recognizes these tendencies and despises them in himself, they do come in handy in his life.

This anger also damages his close relationships though, as shown throughout the series where people go from affection or admiration to seeing through to the monster underneath the cleverness and the quips. Some of them have violence turned towards them, others endure cutting remarks. One thing is for certain, all this anger means Billy never really pulls punches in any aspect of his life. He will say what's on his mind, feelings be damned.

Negative Trait: Deception



Upon meeting Hugh Campbell, Billy casually informs him that he's an FBI agent. Later on, he lies to Mother's Milk about working with Frenchie again to get him to join the cause to make all supes pay, knowing full and well that was an utter lie. He'd been working with Frenchie without hesitation and he didn't really care if there was bad blood between all of them or not. It's about getting the job done after all!

Billy is a smooth liar and seemingly holds little guilt about it. He's charming when he needs to be, and knows what to offer people to get what he wants, when he wants it, whether or not he can actually deliver on his end of the bargain or not.

Further proof is in how he lies to Becca's face after he finds her, swearing that he will keep the child Homelander fathered safe if she'll just trust him and come with him. While he swore to her face that he'd accept them both, he secretly made a deal with Vought to hand over the child so he could have Becca back, all to himself. While a crisis of conscience does have him eventually owning up to the truth, it won't be the first, nor the last time Butcher has lied to get what he wants.

Negative Trait: Obsession



Billy held his wife, Becca, up as his saving grace. She was his whole life, the one person who had saved him from himself. His love went beyond simple affection or devotion to one's partner to utter obsession. When she was gone? His entire life became about that loss. He couldn't simply move on or make peace with it. He had to have revenge.

That's what started his obsession with Homelander. He eats, breathes, and thinks about how to get his revenge on Homelander 24/7. Not only that, but he's also absolutely willing to let his life fall into shambles while doing it, ignoring anything else that might need his attention. He's willing to damn himself to any level of Hell to do it. He's willing to die for it. His life is consumed with this obsessive need to hurt Homelander.

Then he finds out, technically, it wasn't even Homelander who ruined his life by taking away Becca. No, that was all on Vought mostly

It doesn't change much though. He's still dead set on ruining Homelander, with a little side of making Vought pay for its crimes. One could even say his obsession bleeds into something even beyond mere hate. He's found a twisted sort of understanding in Homelander that Billy seems to feel the need to both snuff out by killing him, and embrace.

Update 05/16/23

His tendency towards obsession has scarcely died down. If anything, after the threat of being sent home with no memories, it's only growing steadily more severe. Homelander is his and he doesn't especially want to let him go. And Hope is also a lass he doesn't especially want to be rid of any time soon. Protecting his small group, sticking it to Duplicity in some way, consequences be damned... those are all things he feels strongly. Too strongly to just give up on for sure.

Powers and Abilities: Billy Butcher is a normal human, but he is a highly trained individual His skills include:

Expert marksman.

Hand-to-Hand combat.

Strategist

Inventory: Terror - his dog that he was awarded in Penance.
Power nullifying bracelet - a gift he was given while in Penance that can temporarily subdue super powers.
Super Cunt Bear - a stuffed teddy bear with the words 'Super Cunt' written on his chest

Samples: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

05/16/23
1 | 2 | 3 | 4