Homelander

"You guys...are the real heroes."

- Homelander

"I'm the Homelander. I can do whatever the f*** I want."

- Homelander

Homelander is a powerful entity and the secondary antagonist of the highly controversial adult comic-book series The Boys and the main antagonist of its 2019 Amazon Prime TV adaptation.

Like most of the superheroes in his universe he is a dark-as-mud parody of more popular superheroes such as Superman and Captain America but deconstructed into a twisted protagonist villain.

Indeed while most superheroes are flawed but ultimately benevolent beings Homelander is the exact opposite - a highly malicious super-being who will do anything he desires, being a sexual predator and wanton criminal.

Homelander is the leader of the famous group known as the Seven, who often make matters worse rather than improve any situation and Homelander is among the worst of the already sociopathic team, believing he can treat others as less than human because he gained such immense power.

He was portrayed by Antony Starr in the TV Series.

Origins
The public story released by Vought-America is that that the Homelander is an alien who dropped down to earth as a baby and was raised by parents in a small town. In reality, Homelander was a part of a series of twisted experiments to create super soldiers that VA could market as "superheroes" to the public. He was one of seven children given copious amounts of Compound V while in the womb.

Compound V was a powerful chemical developed by Nazi scientists to give humans (and other beings) incredible superpowers, but with a litany of side-effects depending on the physiological makeup of the person and the amount used. As a result, Homelander gained incredible power, but his sociopathic upbringing in a paramilitary science lab and exposure to experimental drugs, The Homelander grew up with low moral standards and little sanity.

Superhero Career
As the Homelander began his superhero career with the rest of The Seven (a superhero team meant to parody the Justice League) it became clear that their extreme power and lack of morals would often make disasters worse. Despite starting out optimistic and genuinely want to do good, Homelander found himself causing destruction and death everywhere he went. Homelander and The Seven found themselves protected from the consequences of their actions by Vought America, who used their lucrative government connections, expensive legal teams, and powerful PR firms to cover-up or sanitize their actions.

Immune to all forms of damage, Homelander also grew immune to his own humanity, and helping people was no longer a priority. He now became obsessed with hedonism and destruction. He became a living antithesis of what a superhero should be, and his actions grew more depraved, violent and cruel by the day.

Descent Into Madness
The Homelander was terrified to find an anonymous source began blackmailing him with photos of various horrific acts he apparently took part in. He was especially distraught to realize he had no memory of committing any of these atrocities. This even made him even crueler, and slowly but surely the Homelander went from a selfish hedonist to a full-blown violent murderer and torturer.

The Homelander, emboldened by his growing insanity and sadism, began toying with the idea of a "superhero uprising" where he and his fellow false heroes could rise up and destroy all the world governments, effectively taking over the world. He attempted to spread this message at a Superhero award show, only to be intimidated by one of the corporate elites from Vought America, causing him to run away in fear.

These events destroyed any remaining sanity or morality in The Homelander.

The Revelation
The Homelander would eventually put his dreams of an uprising into action, and he and his fellow false heroes would launch a full-scale attack on the white house, killing any other heroes who refused to join them. They were eventually all slaughtered or otherwise defeated.

During a confrontation with Billy Butcher after murdering the president, Homelander was horrified when his teammate Black Noir was actually his clone, created by Vought-America to destroy him if he ever went out of line. Unfortunately, Black Noir was even crueler and viler than Homelander, and was actually the one responsible for the atrocities Homelander saw in the photographs. Distraught by this revelation and the fact that he could have been a real hero all this time if everyone around him didn't constantly manipulate him, Homelander attempted to kill Black Noir, only to die himself. Billy Butcher would ultimately be the one to kill Black Noir, avenging his wife and child and ending his rampage.

TV Series
Homelander is the main antagonist of the television series, subordinate to fellow antagonist Madelyn Stillwell but far more powerful. Like the comics, he is leader of The Seven and is an arrogant, violent "hero" who cares more about his public image than saving others.

Trivia

 * He suffers from an Oedipus Complex, being very close to Madelyn Stillwell, who is close to mother he had.
 * He's an obvious villainous parody to Superman. It is quite plausible that he is far weaker than the Man of Steel as he cannot lift the plane to save the passengers which is why he let them die.

Ojczynosław Homelander