How does The Deep die in The Boys? In the comics he never does

The Deep dies on a beach — and then in the water. Starlight flies him out of the White House during the final assault, they crash-land, they trade blows, and she blasts him into the sea. That's where the killing actually happens, and it isn't her doing it.

What the ocean had against him

Season 5 set this up two episodes earlier. The Deep fronted a public service announcement endorsing an underwater oil pipeline, Black Noir II sabotaged it, and the resulting spill killed billions of sea creatures. In the penultimate episode, Xander — the hammerhead shark voiced by Samuel L. Jackson — delivered the terms: stay out of the water, or the water kills you.

So when Starlight puts him in it:

• The circle — sea creatures surround him instead of scattering.
• The kill — a tentacle goes through his head from behind. Viewers have spent months arguing about the precise route it took to get there.
• The witness — Starlight, who fully expected to finish the job herself, just watches.

Crawford had flagged the direction of travel before the finale aired.

"It's time to pay the piper, you know?" he told Forbes ahead of season 5.

In the comics he survives

Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's 72-issue run, which wrapped in 2012, gives him a different exit: none. In the comic finale, Homelander raises a supe army to storm the White House, the Deep gets cold feet, and he hides until the shooting stops. He's the only original member of the Seven left standing, and he later joins a new team called True.

He also outlives most of the cast on the page. Butcher kills Soldier Boy in issue #34. Homelander kills Queen Maeve in issue #63, while she's defending Starlight.

Who else dies in "Blood and Bone"

Plenty. Butcher beats Homelander to death with a crowbar in the Oval Office, then goes to release the supe-killing virus anyway, and Hughie shoots him to stop it. Oh Father (Daveed Diggs) is killed with a ball gag jammed over his mouth mid-scream. Terror the dog dies of old age two episodes earlier. Ashley delivers a presidential address protesting her innocence and is impeached shortly after.

Hughie and Annie get the soft landing — the final scene reveals she's pregnant, and the baby will be called Robin.

For the record: both of the Deep's celebrity animal cameos, Jackson as Xander and Tilda Swinton as the octopus Ambrosius, existed to set up the same death.