Homelander

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Homelander is the central 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 - He is a powerful entity and highly malicious super-being who will do anything he desires, being a sexual predator and wanted 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 is portrayed by Antony Starr in the TV series.

Biography

Comics

In the comic series, Homelander is the leader of the Seven and one of the most powerful superheroes of Vought America (International in the series), displaying powers very similar to those of Superman, an iconic DC Comics character.

Homelander is the target of Billy Butcher's revenge for raping his wife and got her pregnant, ultimately resulting in her death. Throughout most of the series, Homelander and the Seven have few interactions with the Boys due to a tenuous truce held between the two groups to keep things from escalating. 

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 upbringing in a paramilitary science lab (such as being tied to a nuclear bomb to keep his aggressiveness under control) and exposure to experimental drugs, has him grow up with low moral standards and little sanity. It's later revealed that Homelander was created from the DNA of Stormfront (another corrupt "supe", whereas many others were created by reusing old DNA from older supes to create new and improved versions of the source material), making Homelander a partial clone of Stormfront (whose past as a Nazi Officer might contribute to Homelander's disturbing nature.) In addition to being a partial clone unbeknownst to Homelander, his DNA was used to create a stronger, more powerful, and even more disturbing clone to watch over him and take him out if he were to ever go off the rails.

Superhero career

As the Homelander began his superhero career with the rest of The Seven (a superhero team meant to parody the Justice League), in New York City, it became clear that their extreme power and lack of morals would often make disasters worse. Despite starting out optimistic and genuinely wanting 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 and tried to kill Black Noir, only for the latter to kill him instead. Before dying Homelander managed to severely injure Black Noir weakening him enough for Billy Butcher to kill him, avenging his wife and child and ending his rampage.

TV Series

Homelander is the main antagonist of the television series, initially loyal 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.

Personality

On the surface, Homelander presents himself as a charismatic superhero, warm, altruistic and revolted by any form of injustice. He often encourages his allies by telling them "that they are the real heroes". This only serves as a façade for when he wishes to be presentable however, and is quick to show his true side when necessary.

In reality, he is an apathetic, uncaring, merciless, sadistic, troubled, cold, horrible, hypocritical, arrogant, and above all ruthless and horrid psychopath. Because of his immense power, he believes that he is superior to the whole of humanity; that is how he does not hesitate to crash a plane, let dozens of people die and rape women.

His manipulative and devious side is also demonstrated when he pursues his own plans behind Madelyn Stillwell's back, creating super-terrorists with the complicity of A-Train.

Despite his ruthless and psychopathic personality, it is revealed that he is a troubled soul with how he raised. He was also horrified by the atrocities Black Noir committed under his appearance, proving that he does have some kind of morality deep within. Upon realizing that he could have been a real hero had he not been manipulated and raised the way he was, he outrageously attacked Black Noir.

Powers and Abilities

• Superhuman Strength: One of Homelander's primary abilities is his tremendous superhuman strength. He possesses the greatest level of strength ever seen, allowing him to effortlessly overpower any opponent. After he and Queen Maeve intercepted a robbery, he threw the first thief far away and high into the air. He also embedded his fist in a shooter's torso. In "The Female of the Species" Homelander stated was unable to carry the hijacked plane to safety, suggesting that he is unable to use his full strength in flight, requiring a solid surface to take full advantage of his power. He was later able to throw a baseball from New York to Boston.
• Invulnerability: Homelander seems to be immune to all forms of physical harm and is thereby the most resilient of the Seven, and possibly of all Supes. As such, he is not only completely bulletproof but is also unfazed by explosions, such as when Billy blew up the Stillwell residence with him inside it.
• Superhuman Speed: Homelander can fly at extremely fast speeds, enough to keep up with Steve's plane so he could destroy it.
• Heat Vision: Homelander is able to generate powerful red beams of energy from his eyes with a variable degree of intensity. These blasts of energy are so powerful that they appear to be able to cut through anything, such as Steve's plane. He also used his heat vision to melt a thief's gun to the latter's hand. However, Homelander is most notable for using his optical beams on people, melting flesh and bone with ease and causing people to burst into gore.
• X-Ray Vision: Homelander's vision allows him to see through any solid object or surface, with the exception of objects and surfaces that are lined with zinc.
• Superhuman Hearing: Homelander possesses tremendous auditory awareness, allowing him to detect sounds from miles away. He can also use this power to detect a person's heartbeat, and can tell when they are excited or anxious, such as when he detected Hughie Campbell's blood pressure to be 150/90.
• Flight: Homelander is able to levitate and propel himself at great speeds, allowing him to cover vast distances in a matter of minutes.

Quotes

Comics

TV Series

Trivia

• He suffers from an Oedipus Complex, being very close to Madelyn Stillwell, who is the closest to a mother he had.
• He has some similarities with Brightburn from Brightburn, as they have a concept of an evil Superman. They both have destroyed a plane in the sky, both have killed people with heat vision through their heads. Both also have ties to evil organizations and civilizations, (Nazi's and Vought for Homelander and his people for Brightburn). However, Homelander is not hegemonic like Brightburn. Also, Homelander lacks emotions due to being raised in a lab instead of a home while Brightburn was raised in a home so Brightburn is much more evil while Homelander was possibly just corrupted.
• 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. Furthermore, he also doesn't have experience in fighting super-powered like Superman. 
  • The only difference is that Superman is on the good side who fights over bad, while Homelander is on the bad side fighting against good.

Navigation

Villains

Vought-American James Stillwell | Madelyn Stillwell | Stan Edgar | Vought-American Troops The Seven Black Noir | Homelander | Queen Maeve | The Deep | Jack from Jupiter | Lamplighter | Mister Marathon | A-Train | Translucent | Stormfront Payback Tek Knight | Stormfront G-Men John Godolkin | Five-Oh | Critter Teenage Kix Big Game | Blarney Cock | Shout Out | Whack Job | Pop Claw Other Billy Butcher | Frenchie | Doppelgänger | Naqib | Ezekiel | Mesmer | Malchemical | Alistair Adana