The Boys: Kimiko Powers & Origins Explained (2024)

What's Kimiko's backstory in The Boys, and how did she gain her superhuman abilities? In Garth Ennis' comic book The Boys, the fifth member of the group is known only as The Female - but viewers of the show know her as Kimiko. Mysterious, violent, and not much of a talker, Kimiko is arguably the biggest change Eric Kripke makes to the foundation of The Boys, altering not just the character's name, but also her origin story and fighting abilities. Although Butcher was initially distrustful towards Kimiko, Frenchie persisted in championing the girl's good heart, empathizing with her desire to go home.

In The Boys, Kimiko is eventually accepted by Butcher as a full member of the group because of her sheer tenacity and loyalty. Kimiko even takes on Soldier Boy in The Boys season 3 and loses her powers, but regains them later. Played by Karen f*ckuhara, Kimiko is not only markedly different from her comic book counterpart, but her origin is also more expansive in live-action, and she's a much more complex character than her relatively straightforward powers let on. Here's everything The Boys has revealed about Kimiko's origins and her powers.

Kimiko Is Named "The Female Of The Species" In The Comics

The Boys Season 1's Episode 4 Is Also Titled After Her Comic Name

One of the biggest differences with Kimiko is her name, which was entirely invented for TV. In Ennis' version of The Boys, the character is simply known as The Female or The Female of the Species. Another major alteration is Kimiko's superpowers since the rules surrounding Compound V are somewhat different between the two mediums. Notably, the Billy Butcher of the printed world pumps himself and his fellow Boys with diluted Compound V to compete with supes on an even level. Meanwhile, though Compound V also created Supes in the show, Butcher and Hughie use Temp V instead to gain powerful but temporary abilities.

In the comics, The Female's backstory takes place in her native Japan. The daughter of a negligent employee at a Japanese company similar to Vought, Kimiko one day falls into a vat of Compound V. Having been completely immersed in the blue super-juice as an infant, The Female was granted enhanced strength, agility, and resistance, but at the cost of an insatiable bloodlust. Following her incident, The Female was used as a guinea pig by Japanese scientists looking to recreate Vought's superhero success, until she was rescued from captivity by The Boys.

Despite these changes, Kimiko and The Female do share many traits. Both are mute, and share a strong, oft-misunderstood bond with Frenchie above all the other Boys. Just like f*ckuhara's character, the original iteration of The Female was prone to outbursts and mercilessly violent. Unlike the TV series, however, The Female is a loyal and trusted member of The Boys from her very first chapter, and was part of the initial group started by Mallory, whereas Kimiko's rescue didn't take place until after Hughie came on board in Amazon's The Boys.

Kimiko's Background & Origins Explained

Kimiko Endured Many Tragedies & Immense Pain Before Becoming A Supe

Kimiko's tragic origin follows the comic story of The Boys in broad strokes but makes a litany of changes along the way. Hailing from Japan, a young Kimiko lived happily with her brother, Kenji, and their parents in a quiet village by the sea. One night, the Shining Light Liberation Army attacked the village and forcibly recruited Kimiko and Kenji as child soldiers for their cause after killing their parents — the trauma from this is the reason why Kimiko can't speak in The Boys. Kimiko remained close to her brother during their Shining Light enslavement, with the pair desperately helping each other to stay alive.

With the traumatic events rendering Kimiko mute, she and Kenji devised their own bespoke form of sign language in order to communicate between themselves. Kimiko was eventually taken away from her beloved brother and trafficked to a nail salon owner into the United States, falling into the possession of the Triad which was involved in Homelander's conspiracy to create supervillains. In The Boys' season 1 finale, Homelander explains how he hatched a plan to smuggle Compound V to terrorists, thereby forcing the U.S. government to accept superheroes into their armed forces.

Powered-up terrorists are now littered across the globe, but Homelander reveals that experimenting with Compound V on adults was a messy endeavor, yielding only a select few success stories — The Boys' Kimiko was evidently among them. Drugged full of Compound V while held captive by Chinese Triad members, Kimiko developed the abilities of a supe and was kept caged by the gang underneath a grocery store. In The Boys season 2, Kenji reveals that since Kimiko proved to be a viable recipient of Compound V, he too was experimented on and gained powers, albeit different ones to his sister.

Kimiko's Powers Explained

From Superhuman Healing To Impressive Hand-To-Hand Combat Skills, She Has It All

• Superhuman Strength
• Short Bursts Of Speed
• Regenerative Healing
• Superhuman Hearing
• Superhuman Durability
• Close-Range Hand-To-Hand Fighting Skills

As mentioned previously, The Female's superpowers in the comic telling of The Boys are entirely accidental — the result of poor parenting and terrible security. She's certainly not a "supe" in the traditional sense, but she does possess inhuman strength, enhanced toughness, and improved agility and speed, and these abilities are permanent, rather than when her colleagues in The Boys take a hit of Compound V for a temporary boost. But on-screen, Kimiko is the only member of the Boys with Compound V, not just Temp V, coursing through her veins.

The effects of Compound V on Kimiko have been demonstrated extensively throughout The Boys. Kimiko breaks A-Train's leg, fights competitively with Black Noir, and effortlessly crushes Mesmer's hand, demonstrating her superhuman strength. The Female is also seen recovering from several grievous attacks — having her head rammed into a wall at super-speed, being viciously stabbed by Black Noir, and fighting toe-to-toe against Stormfront in season 2.

This demonstrates some level of increased resistance and regenerative ability. Furthermore, when protecting Frenchie from Black Noir, she charges the silent superhero at great speed. Kimiko never uses this power when running away from pursuers, which would suggest her speed is limited to a general quickness of movement, rather than the kind A-Train or Shockwave possesses.

Most of the supes in The Boys, particularly Homelander and The Seven, were imbued with Compound V during their early childhood. However, Kimiko was experimented on as an adult. Usually, this is a risky process that doesn't result in success, but Kimiko was a rare exception who was able to walk away with superpowers.

Kimiko has been repeatedly abused in her life, firstly by the Shining Light Liberation Army who killed her parents, then indirectly by Homelander's super-terrorist plot, and then by the Triad who kept her captive to carry out potentially fatal experiments. Meeting The Boys finally breaks Kimiko away from that hardship, and gives her a semblance of something resembling friendship. That said, Kimiko's tenure as one of the Boys under Butcher's iron fist isn't exactly free from abuse.

Why Kimiko Chose To Restore Her Powers In The Boys Season 3

Kimiko Wanted To Protect Frenchie

Kimiko initially feels happy about losing her powers. But, in hindsight, she starts seeing the benefits of being a supe when she struggles to overpower Little Nina and her henchmen. Realizing that she needs her powers not only to protect herself but Frenchies as well, she decides to restore her supe abilities. Frenchie, too, is initially hesitant about her regaining her powers. However, he eventually sees eye to eye with her and supports her when she injects the compound V she got access to from Starlight.

How Powerful Kimiko's Regenerative Healing Is

Kimiko Has Survived Many A Fatal Blow

Kimiko's regenerative powers in The Boys seem far superior to most other supes. She has recovered from several grave injuries throughout the series, including fatal gunshots to the head. In one of the early seasons of The Boys, Black Noir even slaughtered and disemboweled her using his knives. Still, she managed to recover from the fight, though it took her a while to completely retain her health. Stormfront had even broken her neck, which would have killed a lot of other supes. However, Kimiko survives this as well.

Although The Boys has not yet explored the full extent of her restorative abilities, it seems likely Kimiko can also generate full-fledged limbs if they get chopped off. Apart from having incredible regenerative healing, Kimiko also has high pain tolerance. During combat, she rarely reacts to getting stabbed or even shot, always continuing to fight relentlessly till she is unconscious. Although her powers disappear after she gets beamed by Soldier Boy in The Boys season 3, the fact that she even survives shows her body's extraordinary resilience.

How Powerful Kimiko Is Compared To Other The Boys Supes

She Isn't As Powerful As The Top Supes But Ranks Above The Average Ones

Although the power scales in The Boys have always been inconsistent and confusing, Kimiko seems fairly powerful compared to most other supes in the series. Her durability is perhaps her biggest strength in combat, given how she even survives after getting her head bashed against a wall by A-Train and electrocuted by Stormfront. Even in close-ranged combat, only a few supes come close to being as agile and aggressive as her. However, since she usually channels her anger during fights, her aggression becomes her weakness when she faces more skilled fighters like Black Noir.

Kimiko's backstory reveals that she was once a soldier for the Shining Light Liberation Army, which helped her hone her gun-handling skills. She may not be as flawless of a marksman as Gunpowder in The Boys, but still has above-average precision shooting skills. All in all, Kimiko might not rank among the best supes if a power tier list were to be made. However, considering her regenerative abilities, close-range combat skills, and sheer resilience during showdowns, she could have landed a spot in the Seven if she was not on Billy Butcher's team in The Boys.

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The Boys is a superhero/dark comedy satire series created by Eric Kripke based on the comic series of the same name. Set in a "what-if" world that reveres superheroes as celebrities and gods who experience minimal repercussions for their actions. However, one group of vigilantes headed by a vengeance-obsessed man named Billy Butcher will fight back against these super-charged "heroes" to expose them for what they are.

Cast

Karl Urban , Jack Quaid , Antony Starr , Erin Moriarty , Jessie T. Usher , Laz Alonso , Chace Crawford , Tomer Capone , Karen f*ckuhara

Release Date

July 26, 2019

Seasons

4

Streaming Service(s)

Amazon Prime Video

Franchise(s)

The Boys

Writers

Eric Kripke

Directors

Erin Moriarty , Karen f*ckuhara , Karl Urban , Jack Quaid , Eric Kripke

Showrunner

Eric Kripke