Jack Quaid’s Hilarious Late-Night Reenactment of ‘The Boys’ Season 5 Invisible Fight Is the Sendoff Hughie Deserves
Few actors close out a beloved series with as much charm and self-awareness as Jack Quaid, and his recent appearance on late-night television proved exactly that. Quaid stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on June 11, promoting the upcoming new season of his animated series ‘My Adventures with Superman’ while also reflecting on the recently concluded final chapter of ‘The Boys’. The appearance quickly turned into a celebration of one of the most physically demanding and narratively loaded sequences from the show’s farewell run, and the result was impossible not to watch.
‘The Boys’ concluded its fifth and final season on Amazon Prime Video, having premiered on April 8 and releasing new episodes weekly through May 20. The season followed the Boys and Billy Butcher, who possesses a virus capable of killing all Supes, joining forces one last time to take down Homelander, who threatens to become immortal by obtaining V1, the original and most potent version of Compound V. The final stretch pushed nearly every character to their limits, but it was Hughie Campbell who arguably carried some of the season’s most layered emotional storytelling.
That weight came into sharp focus during the third episode, which featured Jack Quaid’s brutal fight scene with his invisible adversary, a sequence critics called a masterstroke, with Quaid especially praised across all the scenes exploring Hughie’s guilt over killing the original Translucent back in Season 1. The episode introduced Maverick, the son of Translucent, the first Supe the Boys ever killed, who initially believed Homelander was responsible for his father’s death. Once Maverick learns the truth, a super-powered skirmish erupts, placing Hughie directly in the path of an invisible opponent he cannot see or anticipate. It was an inventive and emotionally resonant piece of action storytelling, and the kind of scene that sticks with audiences long after the credits roll.
What made Quaid’s Kimmel appearance so entertaining is that the actor turned the invisible fight into live performance art. Quaid himself has long appreciated the absurdity of fighting an unseen opponent, having noted earlier in the show’s run that Karl Urban bore the heavier physical burden during similar sequences, saying Urban had to take wild swings at the air convincingly enough to sell the illusion entirely. Reenacting that same physical comedy on a late-night stage, with no special effects to mask the silliness, took real commitment and a genuine sense of humor about the craft.
The Kimmel appearance had Quaid formally saying goodbye to his vigilante role in ‘The Boys’, bookending a run that transformed him into one of the most recognizable faces in prestige genre television. The actor has been candid about how deeply the show shaped his career and his life, and he has expressed that being known as Hughie for a very long time is something he is completely at peace with. Meanwhile, ‘My Adventures with Superman’ returns to Adult Swim for its third season on June 13, with Quaid continuing to voice Clark Kent as the younger animated series takes on new threats and expands its cast of DC characters.
The clip, shared by @TheBoysOOCC, already racked up over 641,000 views, which tells you everything about how affectionately fans still feel about Hughie and the man who brought him to life. If you watched Quaid fight thin air at Kimmel’s desk, do you think the invisible fight in Season 5 was one of ‘The Boys” greatest physical comedy moments, or does another Hughie scene own that title for you?
