There are two sides to Homelander, the unstoppable superhero in The Boys. One is the beloved public persona, with thumbs up and pats on the back while smiling and smarming to camera, and the other is a monstrous, conniving force who can melt people with lasers from his eyes.
A character like Homelander asks the very simple question of “What would it be like if Superman was evil?”
Looking past the red, white, and blue cape, the blond hair and the perfect sound bites, Homelander (played by Antony Starr) is a murderer with the power to do anything he wants. The source material of Garth Ennis’ comics even introduced Homelander from the off as the one to force himself upon a new addition to the team, Starlight, in a full page panel standing over the girl, trousers already down and buttocks out, bloated and expectant (the series would switch it up and opt for fellow member The Deep instead).
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Homelander: American Made
Homelander, artificially created in a laboratory by the shady Vaught company and their “Compound V” is every facet of an American Dream success story. Birthed via an American company on US soil, he sports the star-spangled banner as a cape and actively dislikes migrants and people of color. As a “person,” he has risen to the top through dominating others, if not simply killing them, all while portraying a character that the general public can just eat up.
The Hot List
His fraught relationships throughout the series, with Queen Maeve then Stormfront, are treated by news outlets like additions to the Who’s Hot/Who’s Not list. Behind the scenes, Homelander doesn’t merely want to experience love, but he wants to be adored by the public at all times. His image and ego physically require it.
Continuing the Superman analogy, a fluctuating adoration from the world is his kryptonite. In the few moments of apparent weakness for the invincible powerhouse, the only way he can be controlled is by blackmailing, one-upping, and shifty quid pro quos - before finding yet another switcheroo to change the tides in his favor. Homelander’s ego and his desire to be adored is the only item stopping him from destroying all life as we know it.
Worse yet, inside The Seven’s headquarters and despite only having been insulted and threatened by Homelander, those that aren’t plotting to find a way to somehow kill him are vying for what crumbs of affection they can get.
In the background to all the action, this season sees former PA, Ashley (a superb Colby Minifie) promoted to Director of Vaught Industries following Edgar’s stepping down - and yet she can only act as a Yes Man to Homelander, barely staying in control, in a trance to please him and tearing clumps of red hair from her skull to cope. Through fear and bullying, Homelander has risen to the top of his peers, with both fellow superheroes A-Train and The Deep vying for his approval, scraping and clawing at one another to be his Number 2.
Real World Politics Vs Comic Violence in The Boys
This third season tackles more of post-Trump politics and the concept of Fake News both through Homelander’s character, and deviously depicts the lies he will spin in order to detract from anything untoward he may do.
It’s an honestly scary take on our current day setup. These personalities who can do and say whatever the hell they want and seemingly just… get away with it. Donald Trump could actively make up statistics as the most powerful man in the world, and it would be presented as truths. His sway could incite violent incidents, like the attempted insurrection of the Jan. 6th Capital riots, and subsequently get innocent people killed, and Homelander is a fictionalized cape-wearing version of that equipped with the exact same amount of narcissism.
Finally losing it on live television, Homelander (not Trump this time) calls out the people who watch as being lesser than him - and is still rewarded in the next scene by being deemed as “honest” and “saying it as it is.” Then, in an attempt to oust the only man to have power over him, Director of Vaught Stan Edgar (now obligatory TV baddie Giancarlo Esposito), the super human is dubbed as some brave whistleblower. On top of Superman’s powers, Homelander is also Lois Lane with no moral compass.
Eric Kripke, The Boys’ showrunner, said to Rolling Stone earlier this month:
The World Now Seems to Court Homelander Style Evil
Homelander’s powers don’t merely stop at the physical, but include being a master manipulator. His sway of television and media feels like an octopus wrapping every tentacle around each autocue. Take the time when Homelander discovers that Queen Maeve has a girlfriend that she has been keeping secret from the world. The villain recognizes a possible weakness and outs her on live television, to humiliate her firstly and then to show that he holds the cards. To show that nothing can slip by him, and that, no, her partner is no longer safe.
“[…] All he ever wants is to be the most powerful person he can be, even though he’s completely inadequate in his abilities to handle it. So it’s white-male victimization and unchecked ambition. And those issues just happened to reflect the guy who, it’s just still surreal to say it, was f*cking president of the United States. And it’s a bigger issue than just Trump. The more awful public figures act, the more fans they seem to be getting. That’s a phenomenon that we wanted to explore, that Homelander is realizing that he can actually show them who he really is and they’ll love him for it.”
And that’s it, without consequence. Homelander is distinctly evil, but being outwardly evil is normalized in our current-day world where cruelty feels like the norm. Beyond his mugging to camera, he has no alter ego. There is no Clark Kent for the character to return to. He is constantly “on” as a villainous character; driven and fueled by bubbling rage, solely there for power and himself.
It’s telling that Homelander doesn’t have any other clothes than his super suit - he doesn’t need them. This is who he is. Anything else would be something weaker. The movies and the advertisements that he takes place in (playfully spoofing and parodying the reality of their Marvel and DC movie cousins) are him, Homelander, but the squeaky clean version the public wants to believe in.
That’s his Clark Kent. A smiling facade in high definition 16:9 with no need for glasses - his eyes are already the perfect shade of blue.
