Season One (2019)

In season one, Billy is first seen in "The Name of the Game", when he heads to the shop where Hughie Campbell works and (under the guise of being an FBI agent) offers him the opportunity of vengeance on Vought International and their "Supe" superheroes after the former's girlfriend was murdered accidentally by the Supe known as A-Train. Although reluctant at first, Hughie eventually accepts and is taken by Billy into a secret location where Billy tells him about The Boys.

After some convincing, Billy finally manages to get Hughie to join his cause and takes him to the Vought headquarters the following day under the guise of getting an apology out of A-Train when in actuality he was instead placing a listening device into the conference room of Vought's premier superhero team, The Seven.^[2] Unfortunately however, Hughie is caught in the act by the Supe Translucent, who follows him back to the store and attempts to kill him, only for Butcher to save Hughie, and incapacitate and then kidnap Translucent. With nowhere to go, he seeks out the help of old-friend Frenchie. Frenchie is at first angry that Butcher has come to him, however the two reconcile and end up figuring a way to kill Translucent; Hughie is the one who ends up pulling the trigger, however.^[2]

Shortly after Translucent's death, Butcher approaches another old friend, Mother's Milk "MM", asking him to join The Boys again. MM initially refuses, however is convinced by Billy to come back. Not long after, in "The Female of the Species", The Boys find The Female in a basement, having been the subject of Compound V injections for a while. She is ultimately accepted into The Boys despite Butcher believing her to be initially dangerous.

Billy's hate for Supes has been fueled by his personal hate for Homelander, leader of The Seven, following the alleged death of his wife Becca Butcher. Shortly after his wife's disappearance, Grace Mallory approached Butcher, showing him CCTV footage of his wife and Homelander together at Seven Tower. Billy believed that Homelander was the reason she disappeared, presuming that he killed her, fueling a personal vendetta that would last the next eight years.

Unbeknownst to Billy, Becca had been placed into witness protection by Vought International having been pregnant and given birth to Homelander's child — a child with enhanced abilities, including Homelander's heat vision. In "You Found Me", Homelander takes Butcher to see Becca for the first time since her disappearance.

Season Two (2020)

In season two following the events of Butcher, Billy reunites with The Boys. In "Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men", he steals a yacht and makes a deal with Mallory to transport Kenji to a rendezvous point. In return, Grace will give Butcher Becca's location. As the Boys transport Kenji, tension is raw between Butcher and Hughie as Hughie punches Butcher for hitting him last time. Furthermore, when The Boys watch a news article about Compound V being exposed to the public, all the members except Butcher congratulate Hughie. The Boys are intercepted by a police helicopter and are told they are under arrest for stealing the yacht. Kenji breaks free from his restraints and attempts to attack Butcher and MM. Kimiko shoves him, and he instead downs the helicopter with his telekinetic attack. Things escalate when the yacht is attacked by The Deep, forcing The Boys to transport Kenji using a spare speedboat. While they are racing to the shoreline, their path is blocked by a whale, so Butcher rams through it. Determined to stay moving, Butcher commands The Boys to escape through a storm drain. The Seven arrive, and Butcher distracts Homelander long enough for Kenji to bury him in rubble. The Boys fail to recover Kenji and transport him, as Kenji is killed by Stormfront.

Butcher meets Grace at a memorial shrine for the 59 apartment tenants who were killed by Stormfront. She explains to Butcher that she has a reoccurring dream: She is onstage at Carnegie Hall and everyone who got killed by a Supe is in the audience staring at her. She then gives Butcher information on an eyewitness who knows about Liberty and tells him to give it to Mother's Milk. She also gives Butcher Becca's location. Confused, Butcher asks why give it to him if he failed to deliver the terrorist. Mallory apologizes to Butcher, that she's sorry that she was the reason Butcher stopped searching for Becca by replacing it with a vendetta against Homelander. Grace expresses that she would like to have "one less audience member staring at her".

Butcher uses the information to find the facility Becca is living in. The two have sex and catch up after being separated for 8 years. Butcher reasons they have to escape, but Becca is reluctant to leave. She reasons that no matter what happens, Butcher will find some way to get rid of Ryan. Butcher tries to convince her he wants to help raise Ryan, but Becca explains she knows Butcher's true nature, that he was broken before she ever entered his life. Becca's assumptions come to light when Butcher admits to calling Ryan a supe freak and says that they should hand him over to Vought so the two of them can escape and living in hiding. Becca refuses, stating she needs to be there for Ryan, otherwise Vought will only recreate Homelander. Butcher tries to plead with her, but Becca gets into her car. Butcher attempts to stop her, but she activates an alarm and warns him to go. Butcher leaves, disappointed at what his wife has become.

After Starlight^[3] gets her tracker chip removed, she is taken to The Boy's hideout, where she meets up with Butcher.^[4] Annie is still mad at Butcher for shooting her, while Butcher dismisses her anger and focuses on the information at hand. The Boys investigate The Sage Grove Center. Butcher, Hughie, and Starlight wait outside the facility to provide an escape for Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Kimiko while they infiltrate the facility. Starlight makes an entrance while Butcher aims his rifle at her head, debating whether to shoot. He decides not to. When Starlight returns and offers Butcher a hand down, he refuses it. Infuriated by Butcher's distant attitude and repeated rude behavior, Annie confronts him. She incites the argument by comparing Butcher to Homelander. They’re interrupted by the arrival of Stormfront. Once Stormfront leaves, they order the other members to retreat. Unbeknownst to them, the facility has entered lockdown with prisoners escaping. One of the patients meets Butcher and Starlight and begs them not to hurt him. The two try to calm the man, but he releases an EMP shockwave, knocking them back and sending the van with Hughie inside flipping. Butcher kills the patient, and the two check on Hughie, who has shrapnel in his stomach. Billy and Annie leave the facility to seek medical help for him, leaving the others to fend for themselves.

Annie stops a car and begs the driver to help them. The driver notices Butcher's gun and in turn, pulls out a gun and threatens them, believing they're trying to rob him. Annie draws energy from the man's car and hits him with a blast of energy. They leave the man's body and drive off. Annie confesses that she has become desensitized to civilians getting hurt, earning Butcher's silent respect. The two take Hughie to a hospital and watch over him, then bond over how much they know about Hughie, with them both thinking he's too good for them.

Butcher is called by one of the gang members, who informs him they have a visitor. Butcher goes up top to see that Becca has tracked him down. Billy embraces her, and she tells him to help her because Homelander took Ryan. Billy and The Boys plan how they're going to take down each member of The Seven. However, behind Becca's back, Butcher arranges a secret meeting with Stan Edgar.

Butcher meets with Edgar to discuss Ryan. Butcher explains that he knows Ryan is Vought's contingency plan in case Homelander steps out of line and that "plan" will fail if Ryan bonds with Homelander. Butcher then offers his assistance in solving that problem. Edgar asks why Butcher would think he would willfully betray his "friend". Butcher says he knows Edgar is ruthless because he knows Vought turns someone like Stormfront into one of America's most beloved Superheroes. Edgar justifies his actions as business progress because Stormfront helped improve their stock prices. Butcher then reminds Edgar that Stormfront should bother him for obvious reasons, to which Edgar reveals that she does worry him but he chooses not to focus on what he wants. Butcher offers to get Ryan away from Homelander, then he'll call Vought and have them secure Ryan. In return, Vought will do a better job of hiding him. Edgar agrees and promises to relocate Becca and Ryan to a safe place, but Butcher refuses, saying Becca stays with him. Edgar asks about if Becca tries to find her son. Butcher tells him to say to her that it is the only way to keep Ryan safe from Homelander. Butcher holds out his hand and makes a deal, for Vought to tell him where they are and that he'll secure the boy. Edgar agrees.

The moment Homelander leaves the cabin to follow Frenchie's distraction, Billy and Becca move in to secure Ryan. They escort him to the hanger The Boys are hiding at. Billy then changes the plan and orders M.M to escort Becca and Ryan out of the fight before it happens. Becca refuses, asking him why the plan has to change. Billy reveals that he secretly made a deal with Stan Edgar to give up Ryan, and in exchange, he and Becca can live together again. Becca agrees and reluctantly leaves with M.M, but their car is intercepted by the arrival of Stormfront. Billy rushes to the car and helps them out. Billy orders M.M to stay behind with the rest of The Boys and distract Stormfront while he secretly escorts Becca and Ryan.^[5]

Stormfront tracks them down and demands Ryan. Billy refuses, so Stormfront neutralizes him with her plasma lightning. Enraged when Becca stabs her eye, Stormfront holds Becca in a chokehold. Billy recovers and attempts to stop Stormfront by shooting her and hitting her with a crowbar, but it doesn't even faze Stormfront. Ryan freaks out and uses his laser vision. When Butcher wakens from the attack, he notices a maimed Stormfront, Ryan crying while apologizing, and a mortally wounded Becca. Becca demands that he reassure Ryan that this was not his fault and to promise to keep Ryan safe before she dies. When Homelander arrives to take Ryan, Butcher refuses, saying he promised Becca. He keeps Ryan in his protection and gives him to Grace Mallory and the CIA, who will keep him somewhere safe.

Season Three (2022)

In season three, in the year following Becca's death, Butcher has continued to lead the Boys under the sponsorship of the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, albeit without Hughie (now a liaison officer between the Boys and the FBSA) and MM (who wished to spend more time with his daughter, Janine), now headquartered at the Flatiron Building. Butcher has been sober for the past year and has served as a surrogate father figure to Ryan. On one mission, where the size-shifting Supe Termite accidentally killed his boyfriend, Butcher saves Frenchie by trapping Termite in a bag of cocaine and forced him to overdose but decided not to kill him in accordance with Hughie's orders. After learning that Termite would not face charges due to a sponsorship deal between Vought and Terminix, Butcher expresses his frustration over being allowed only to apprehend lower-tier Supes for minor offences.

With Queen Maeve working as an informant for the Boys, she informs him of the existence of a weapon called "B.C.L. Red", which allegedly killed the legendary Supe Soldier Boy in 1984 and could be used to kill Homelander. She provides him with vials of V24, an experimental Compound V variant which grants superpowers for 24 hours. Butcher is visited by Homelander, frustrated with being forced to publicly apologise for his relationship with Stormfront and having to co-captain the Seven with Starlight; begrudgingly empathising with their respective stymied positions, Butcher and Homelander pledge to someday engage in a "scorched earth" fight to the death.

Whilst investigating the former members of Payback, Soldier Boy's team, Butcher approaches Soldier Boy's former sidekick and ward Gunpowder, a gun-toting Supe with expert marksmanship. Attempting to blackmail Gunpowder for information regarding Soldier Boy's death using a copy of a complaint made by him of Soldier Boy's "habitual [physical] abuse" provided by MM, Butcher is wounded and driven off by Gunpowder after a shootout. Hughie informs him that Victoria Neuman, the FBSA director, is the head-popper and Stan Edgar's adopted daughter, that Vought has been controlling opposition to itself via the FBSA, and that to fight Vought they would have to do things "[Butcher's] way". After taking V24, Butcher returns to Gunpowder, beating and interrogating him, demonstrating superpowers including super durability, super strength, and laser vision. After learning that Soldier Boy supposedly died during a mission in Nicaragua in 1984 supported by the CIA, and that his own mentor Grace Mallory was Payback's case officer, Butcher beats Gunpowder to death. Whilst visiting Ryan, Butcher blackmails Mallory into revealing what she knew about Soldier Boy's death. Mallory reveals that after having to accept the involvement of Payback and Vought in Operation Charly, joint Sandinista and Soviet forces killed Soldier Boy, transporting his body to behind the Iron Curtain. Butcher resents Mallory's undisclosed knowledge of the existence of a weapon that could kill Homelander, believing that Becca's death could have been avoided. Mallory defends her actions by saying that either the weapon would not have worked or it would have compelled Butcher to go on a rampage and kill all Supes, and tells him that he is his father's son. When Butcher storms out, Ryan tries to stop him from leaving, saying that he promised to stay with him, with Butcher snapping at him and blaming him for Becca's death.

Butcher strikes a deal with Frenchie's former boss, the dominatrix and gang leader "Little Nina", getting the Boys transport to Russia and the location of B.C.L. Red, in exchange for the assassination of an oligarch, which Butcher forces Kimiko to carry out. Whilst raiding the research lab where B.C.L. Red is allegedly kept, Butcher uses his Temp-V-enabled laser vision to save the Boys from guards and his super strength to open the pod containing B.C.L. Red (who is revealed to be Soldier Boy, now able to emit radioactive blasts following experimentation by the Russians). With the exception of Hughie, who used it without Butcher's approval or knowledge, the Boys disapprove of the use of Temp-V. After Soldier Boy escapes and the Boys return to New York, Butcher relays the events of the failed mission to Maeve. Breaking their respective sobrieties and bonding over their mutual hatred of Homelander, Butcher rants about the corruptibility of Supes and his desire to eliminate them all, and the two have sex. When Soldier Boy, who smuggled himself into America, is shown on the news to have destroyed a brownstone in a radioactive blast, Butcher, Hughie, and MM team up to track him down. After learning from The Legend, the former Vought Vice President of Hero Management and informant and ally of the Boys, that Soldier Boy was planning to hunt down and kill his former team Payback for revenge, Butcher, Hughie, and MM capture Crimson Countess, Soldier Boy's girlfriend and first target. MM, whose grandfather was killed by Soldier Boy, is drugged by Butcher so that he does not interfere with his plan to offer Countess to Soldier Boy as a show of good faith, hoping to team up with him to kill Homelander. This alienates Butcher from MM, who considers him a hypocrite.

Butcher gets Soldier Boy to agree to help him and Hughie kill Homelander by plying him with Vought-a-Burger food, whiskey, and Benzedrine, goading him by referring to Homelander as "the new [Soldier Boy]", and agreeing to help him kill the surviving members of Payback in exchange. First going after the TNT Twins, he, Hughie, and Soldier Boy travel to their Montpelier residence during the 70th anniversary of "Herogasm", an orgy attended by lower-tier Supes. MM, who with Starlight had gone there to warn the Twins, is prevented from fighting Soldier Boy (and vice versa) by Butcher. Butcher allows MM to take out his frustration and anger on him without physical injury due to being on V24 and checks that he is still alive after Soldier Boy accidentally destroys the mansion, killing the TNt Twins and many guests, during a PTSD-induced blackout. After Homelander arrives, Butcher, Soldier Boy, and Hughie briefly subdue him, although Homelander escapes.

Going after Mindstorm, another former Payback member, Butcher supplies Soldier Boy with marijuana to prevent him from experiencing another PTSD blackout. Disorientated by an explosion from a trip-wire-triggered grenade, Butcher is subdued by Mindstorm, put into a trance, and forced to relive his worst memories until death by severe dehydration. Wishing to kill Mindstorm, the only one who could revive Butcher, Soldier Boy leaves Butcher for dead, believing that he would be willing to die if it meant fulfilling his promise of killing Homelander. Butcher witnesses, in third-person, his memories of the abuse he took from his father in order to protect his younger brother Lenny, his assault on a headmaster after being caught selling marijuana and compared to his father, during which he accidentally hit Lenny, and his brother's pleas to not enlist so to not to leave Lenny alone to the full brunt of their father's abuse. After Hughie becomes disillusioned with Soldier Boy, he rescues Mindstorm in order to revive Butcher, in exchange for being teleported to safety. Moments before being revived, Butcher is lambasted by Lenny for getting those closest to him killed, namely him and Becca, and endangering Hughie, and is forced to witness Lenny's suicide. Moments after emerging from his trance, Butcher briefly confuses Hughie for Lenny and comes to his aid after Soldier Boy punches him in retaliation for rescuing Mindstorm. After Annie informs Butcher that V24 will cause brain lesions and death after three to five doses, she demands that he inform Hughie. However, as Butcher is about to tell him, he instead tells him that they need to go to the Flatiron Building to collect more.

On their way back to New York, Butcher, commenting that Hughie is the "spit[ting image] of [his] little brother", knocks Hughie unconscious and abandons him to prevent him from taking more Compound V. After Soldier Boy learnt from Mindstorm that he is Homelander's biological father, Butcher tells him that Homelander is not his "son", saying that "blood don't matter". Soldier Boy goes along with this, and he, Butcher, and Maeve converge on Vought Tower to kill Homelander. When they arrive, they find that he has brought Ryan, with whom Homelander attempts to emotionally manipulate Soldier Boy into siding with him. The attempt fails, and all three superhumans are about to kill Homelander when Ryan attempts to stop them, attacking Soldier Boy. In response, Soldier Boy strikes Ryan; this incurs Butcher's wrath, since he remains intent on honoring his promise to Becca, and he abandons the objective of killing Homelander to attack Soldier Boy instead. They fight until Maeve tackles Soldier Boy, allowing Homelander to escape with Ryan. In the aftermath, Butcher learns that he is terminally ill from his overusage of Compound V.