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This Villain was Headlined on June 2022. |
NOTE: This article is only for the original comics version of Homelander. To see the article for the TV show's version of him, go to Homelander (TV Series). |
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“ | Why do you hate me so much? I don't mean your problem with super-people in general, or why your team has the agenda that it does. I mean why do you hate me? I can hear your heartbeat, you know. You can keep your face perfectly still, but can't stop your heart pounding along like that - and I know it's not from fear, I'd be able to smell it. It's anger. | „ |
~ Homelander to Billy Butcher. |
John Gillman, better known as the Homelander, is the secondary antagonist of the highly controversial 2006 comic book series The Boys and the overarching antagonist of "I'm Your Pusher," the third episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical.
He is the leader of a famous superhero group known as The Seven, who often make matters worse rather than improve any situation. Homelander is among the worst of the already sociopathic team, as he believes he can treat others as less than human because he gained such immense power.
As such, Homelander is the sworn enemy of the series' deuteragonist Billy Butcher, serving as the primary target in the latter's revenge campaign, with Butcher mistakenly believing that Homelander had raped Butcher's wife and got her pregnant, which ultimately resulted in her death in the end. 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, while genuinely confused and unsettled by Butcher's hatred of him.
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, deconstructed into a twisted villain protagonist. Indeed, while most superheroes are flawed but ultimately benevolent beings, Homelander is the exact opposite, for he is a powerful entity and highly malicious super-being who will do anything he desires, like being a sexual predator and wanted criminal in the process.
In the animated series The Boys Presents: Diabolical, he is voiced by Antony Starr; who also portrayed the character's live action counterpart.
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 facade when he wishes to be presentable, but he 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 why he does not hesitate to crash a plane, let dozens of people die, and rape women.
Despite his ruthless and psychopathic personality, it is revealed that he is a troubled soul because of how he was raised his entire life as a puppet of Vought-American, who make it clear they hold no respect for him. While he still mocks her for performing oral sex on him, he shows genuine respect to Starlight for standing up to Vought's attempts to further sexualize her. 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 it was Black Noir, not him in the photos, Homelander breaks down, as he believes that had Vought-American and Black Noir not manipulated and controlled him all his life, he could have been a real hero, or at the very least, not committed the heinous crimes he had over the years. Due to the revelations, he loses the last grip on his sanity and outrageously attacks Black Noir, resulting in his death.
Biography[]
Past[]
The public story released by Vought-American is 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 part of a series of twisted experiments to create super soldiers that VA could market as "superheroes" to the public. His mother was a mentally disabled woman who died giving birth to him, and he became one of seven children grown by the company and 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 have caused him to 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 inadvertently causing destruction and death everywhere he went. Homelander and The Seven found themselves protected from the consequences of their actions by Vought-American, 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, becoming the 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 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-American, causing him to run away in fear.
These events destroyed any remaining sanity or morality in 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 and wiping out the entire Secret Service unit, Homelander reveals that he has no memory of raping Becky or murdering the family in Butcher's photographs. The two were then confronted by Black Noir, who revealed to their horror that he was actually Homelander's clone, created by Vought-American to destroy him if he ever went out of line. Unfortunately, Black Noir was even crueler and more vile than Homelander and was actually the one responsible for the atrocities Homelander saw in the photographs. Distraught by the revelation that he hadn't committed any of the crimes in Butcher's photos, he becomes horrified at everything he'd done since the Boys re-launched their secret war against the Seven, as he thinks he'd have never done any of those crimes (such as the taking over of the White House) if he didn't believe he'd done worse. Realizing that he has nothing left to lose, he tries 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 and the US military to kill him, avenging Butcher's wife and ending Black Noir's rampage.
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 that he was unable to carry a 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.
- Nigh-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. In the comics, it is shown that someone of similar strength and durability to him had the power to physically harm him, as Black Noir was capable of fatally wounding him.
- Superhuman Speed: Homelander can move and fly at extremely fast speeds, enough to keep up with Steve's plane so he could destroy it.
- 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 tell when they are excited or anxious, such as when he detected Hughie Campbell's blood pressure to be 150/90.
- Superhuman Smell: Homelander possesses an amazing olfactory sense, well beyond that of a human. For both Hughie and Starlight, he was able to tell they were afraid and nervous by smelling that their adrenaline had increased.
- Sonic Scream: Homelander is capable of producing high-enough volume and intensity of sound from his voice to cause other people's ears to bleed and internal organs to rupture. In the comics, Homelander's yell of annoyance and frustration caused multiple people on the plane he and the Seven were attempting to save to collapse dead.
- Flight: Homelander is able to levitate and propel himself at great speeds, allowing him to cover vast distances in a matter of minutes.
- 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 into 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.
Other Media[]
TV Series[]
- Main article: Homelander (TV Series)
Quotes[]
“ | Welcome to The Seven, Annie. | „ |
~ Homelander welcomes Starlight to The Seven. |
“ | SHUT UP! | „ |
~ Homelander screaming at the 9/11 passengers |
“ | No, this is personal. You know what I'm going to do to you. | „ |
~ Homelander. |
“ | Suck it... | „ |
~ Homelander to making Starlight performing oral sex on him. |
“ | Nothing. Beyond the fact that I want a blowjob and --- incredibly --- seem to be encountering communication difficulties. | „ |
~ Homelander to Starlight. |
“ | It's a metal prop, you stupid whore. | „ |
~ Homelander to Queen Maeve. |
“ | It's all shit, you know. | „ |
~ Homelander while flying a car with a family in it. |
“ | You heard me. Just spread the word. They all know what to do. I'll see you in D.C. Hmh. Tomorrow... The sun rises on a different world. | „ |
~ Homelander preparing his attack on the White House. |
“ | Look at that, he did have brains after all. | „ |
~ Homelander holding the president's head as Billy walks in. |
“ | It was you in those f-cking-- | „ |
~ Homelander when seeing Black Noir reveal himself as his clone. |
“ | YOU F**KING F**KING F**K, YOU F**KED MY LIFE!!! | „ |
~ Homelander's last words and villainous breakdown to Black Noir, furiously reacting to the revelation that he ruined his image by impersonating him before being killed. |
Trivia[]
- Homelander is an obvious villainous parody of Superman. Ironically, Superman is one of the few superheroes the creator of The Boys, Garth Ennis, actually likes.
- Homelander lost against Omni-Man from Invincible in the 160th episode of DEATH BATTLE!
External Links[]
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Villains | ||
Vought-American The Seven Payback G-Men Teenage Kix Children of Stormfront The Boys Other See Also |