Death of Tek-Knight in The Boys Season 4: A Major Plot Hole
With Tek-knight's death, The Boys season 4 has included a significant plot hole. His ease of killing simply does not match his already known powers. Although The Boys has had some power-scaling errors, Tek-Knight's are especially startling and disruptive to viewers' suspension of disbelief.
Strength of Tek-Knight: Variable Portrayals
Though not in the first seasons, Tek-knight has been hinted to from the start with subdued references to his aptitudes. We catch hints of Gen V's abilities as well. These cues, though, don't fit his Season 4 portrayal. Let's investigate this inconsistency.
First season of The Boys: A hint of Tek-Knight's strength
In Season 1, a woman attending the Association of Collateral Damage Survivors conference notes Tek-Knight broke her spine unintentionally while saving her. This makes him clearly more powerful than the typical human. This by itself points to a noteworthy degree of power.
Gen V: Verify Tek-Knight's Strength
Dean Shetty remembers in Gen V Tek-Knight killed Ironcast. With almost indestructible metallic skin, Ironcast is a supe whose victory is all the more remarkable. This supports Tek-Knight's extraordinary strength concept.
Fourth Boys: Tek-Knight's Unbelievable Weakness
But Tek-Knight is shown in Season 4 to be rather weak. Despite his prior strength, Starlight and Kimiko readily tie him off with leather straps and chains. He can't break free even as Starlight and the crew begin emptying his bank accounts start This stands quite different from his Gen V series and previous hints' exploits of strength.
The Unbelievable Death of Tek-Knight
Tek-Knight's death marks the pinnacle of this inconsistency. His butler, not a supe, chokes him to death with a leather strap. This apparently simple killing of a supposedly strong supe seems out of line given all the past hints regarding his strength.
The Comic Book Suit of Tek-Knight: a Possible Fix
Some supporters have suggested that Tek-Knight's suit defines his strength, so fixing this plot hole. Given he's a parodies of both Batman and Iron Man, his erratic power level makes sense given Iron Man's suit. There is some validity in this justification.
hints to Tek-Knight's Suit in The Boys
The show has made subdued hints about Tek-Knight's suit. Ryan plays a supe-fighting game in a past season where Tek-Knight sports a blue mechanical suit. The Deep states in a commercial that Tek-Knight's suit is environmentally friendly. These signals the presence of a suit.
Gen V: Uncomplication
One sequence in Gen V, though, throws off this theory. Tek-Knight visits Godolkin University following Golden Boy's death and tells Cate he will break her arm if she tries to employ her "touch" powers on him. Tek-Knight is not wearing his suit as this warning is issued. His seeming unharmed after Kimiko kicks him across a room lends even more evidence of his superhuman strength even without the suit.
Unresolved Mystery
Tek-Knight's power levels are still a mystery ultimately. His weakness in Season 4 could be explained by the suit theory, but the Gen V scenes run against this view. This results in a convoluted story and begs the issue of: just how strong is Tek-Knight?
