Homelander

This article is about The Boys comic book character. For the young adult novel series, see Andrew Klavan § The Homelanders series.

Homelander
The Boys character
First appearance	Comic: The Boys #3 (Nov. 2006) Television: The Boys: "The Name of the Game"
Last appearance	The Boys #65 (Apr. 2012)
Created by	Garth Ennis Darick Robertson
Adapted by	Eric Kripke (The Boys)
Portrayed by	Antony Starr
In-universe information
Alias	John The Homelander Vought International Superhero World's Greatest Superhero (self-proclaimed) Television: My Greatest Failure (by Jonah Vogelbaum) Man-child (by Stan Edgar) Cunt (by Billy Butcher) Gramps (by Stormfront)
Gender	Male
Occupation	Superhero Supervillain (reality) Leader of The Seven Comics Vought-American test subject Television: Vought International Superhero
Significant other	Television: Stormfront
Children	Television: Ryan Butcher (son)
Nationality	American

The Homelander is a fictional supervillain in the comic book series The Boys, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. He is the leader of The Seven, a group of superheroes funded by Vought and the archenemy of Billy Butcher. Beneath his public image as a noble and patriotic superhero, he is narcissistic, sadistic, and cares little about the well-being of those he professes to protect.

In the Amazon Prime web television adaptation, Homelander is played by Antony Starr.

Appearances

Comic book series

The Homelander pretends to be a patriotic superhero who leads the superhero team, The Seven, and the most powerful superhuman created by Vought-American. The company's cover story for the Homelander is that he is an alien who landed in the United States as an infant, much like Superman. In reality, he was grown in a secret laboratory, the progeny of genetic material taken from Stormfront, who was injected with Compound V while still a member of the Hitler Youth. Homelander spent most of his young life chained down with a hydrogen bomb strapped to him in case he tried to escape. His mother was a mentally disabled woman who died giving birth to him, similar to how Butcher's wife died giving birth after she was raped.

Homelander remains under the financial thumb of VA, as their money funds the Seven's hedonistic lifestyle. Homelander eventually tries to encourage the other superheroes to do what they want, but relents due to his fear towards his boss James Stillwell.

Until the events of the series' climax, it is implied that Homelander had raped and murdered Billy Butcher's wife, Becca. In Issue #40, the Boys receive a series of incriminating photos seemingly showing Homelander engaging in grisly acts of murder, cannibalism, and necrophilia against men, women, and children. The series eventually reveals that Homelander cannot remember either these incidents or the rape of Billy's wife, and suggests that Homelander has dissociative identity disorder and may have sent the photographs to Billy himself. In private, Homelander shows signs of suffering a mental breakdown, talking to his own reflection in a mirror, and having bouts of nausea. He eventually decides that he is damned anyway for the acts depicted in the photos, and decides to give in to any urge that crosses his mind.

From Herogasm onwards, Homelander resolves to free himself and the superhero community from Vought-American's control. He leads the other superheroes in a coup d'etat against the United States, launching an attack on the White House and killing everyone inside, including the Vice President. During the subsequent confrontation between Homelander and Butcher, Black Noir arrives in the Oval Office and reveals himself to be a clone of Homelander created to kill and replace him if he ever went rogue. Not being allowed to kill Homelander drives Black Noir insane. Noir reveals that he committed the atrocities documented in the photos and had raped Becky to set Butcher and Homelander against one another so that he would be given authorization to fulfill his purpose. Outraged, Homelander attacks Black Noir, who proceeds to tear him apart. Before dying, Homelander manages to seriously injure his former teammate, whom Butcher later finishes off with a crowbar.

Television series

The Boys

In the television adaptation, Antony Starr plays the Homelander. As interpreted within the television series, he is considered by some reviewers to be analogous to DC's Superman. Having been reared in a laboratory environment, Homelander displays many sociopathic tendencies and is openly contemptuous of those he considers lesser beings. He is also possessive, paranoid, vindictive, insensitive, reckless with his powers, and incapable of accepting the possibility of any flaw in his person or decision-making. Unlike in the comic, he is the one that raped Butcher's wife, Becca, but left her alive and, though he was unaware of it until the end of season, pregnant with his child. His discovery of the lies surrounding his child's existence influence his decision to maim the scientist responsible for his upbringing, Jonah Vogelbaum, and murder Madelyn Stillwell. However, his emotional incompetence and sociopathic traits initially alienate him from his son, and the loss of Stillwell's moderating influence on his behavior unbalances him further. He enters a sexual relationship with Stormfront, despite a difficult beginning, and conspires with her to remove his son from Becca's care and turn the public against "supervillains", creating public outcry for the creation of more superheroes. Stormfront is critically injured by Homelander's son Ryan, and Homelander is blackmailed by Maeve into letting the boy go and leaving her alone.

Powers

The Homelander's powers include heat vision, super strength, durability, flight, and enhanced vocal cords. He also ages more slowly than a normal human, due to Compound V. Though it is mentioned that his first name is John, there is no indication that he ever uses an alias or secret identity.

The Homelander's powers and sense of entitlement have led him to exhibit extreme megalomania, causing him to commit crimes against innocent people, including acts of rape and mass murder, out of the idea that he can do anything he wants because of who he is.

Development

The character was designed as an evil version of Captain America and Superman. Homelander's backstory in the original comics is similar to that in the television adaption of The Boys. The character was toned down for television in comparison to his comics counterpart.

Garth Ennis describes Homelander as: "an almost entirely negative character. He is really just a series of unpleasant urges kept in check by his own intelligence, which is enough to understand that he can have anything he wants so long as he doesn't push his luck too far." Also: "It might help to think of the Homelander as having all the self-control of let’s say a fourteen-year-old."

In theory Homelander can be killed. A plot twist which involves the character being killed by his clone Black Noir in the comic book version will not be used in the television adaptation.

Reception

The character and Starr's portrayal in the series have received critical acclaim.

The character has been described as the living personification of how the world sees America. Homelander has been compared to Captain America and Superman.