It’s entirely possible that Homelander (Anthony Starr) is the best/worst villain in television and film history. The character has no boundaries, and ever since he forced Maeve (Dominique McElligott) to watch a plane filled with passengers crossing the Atlantic drop out of the sky, viewers have known that he was capable of anything. But Season 3 of The Boys has illuminated just how sadistic and chaotic the test-tube superhero really is.
Parading around New York like a god, Homelander has gleefully fried other supes, raped and assaulted women, forced teenage girls to commit suicide, committed countless murders and acts of terrorism, and fed colleagues their pets. This guy is twisted, and unfortunately, his particular brand of villainy is all too familiar to those living in the real world.
Everyone Knows a Homelander
Everyone has known at least one Homelander. Selfish, self-preserving, cocky, over-confident, childish, spoiled, egotistical, epically narcissistic, and flat-out delusional. Only, in the real world, Homelander-types usually aren’t indestructible and unimpeachable in the court of public opinion.
After murdering the only mother he ever had, a woman who breast-fed him well into his adult years, the spoiled supe came to feel entitled to his celebrity and the benefits and respect that came with it.
This entitlement influenced his world view moving forward. Homelander came to believe that he’s a god amongst men, irreplaceable and invincible. He’s come to believe that he’s the hero that the world deserves, that the world can’t function without him.
As such, Homelander takes the same view of the concept of the “Ãœbermensch” as real-life villains Leopold and Loeb did, which is to say that he believes that his status as a god amongst men is justification for committing atrocities against men.
To Homelander, the weight of the world is literally on his shoulders, and he is the sole being that can protect humanity from itself. As the savior of civilization, any action he deems necessary for the “greater good” should be accepted and lauded by the public, no matter how atrocious the act itself is.
In Homelander’s very skewed perspective, it is acceptable to betray, rape, mutilate, torture, and murder a lowly few if it means that he as god-on-earth is able to maintain the safety of everyone else.
He makes his opinion of himself very clear when he asserts, “Don’t look up there, there is no god, it’s just me flying in the sky.”
The truth is, however, that he’s a spoiled child with powers so extraordinary that nobody is strong enough to put his worst childish impulses in check.
Compensating For Something?
At the root of much of Homelander’s worst behavior is his deep-rooted insecurity. Despite his physical superiority to nearly every other being, Homelander is obsessed with public opinion, desperately seeking the approval of others, while at the same time despising the very beings from whom he seeks the approval.
He wants to be revered as a savior and a god, but cares very little about saving anybody or living by any set of standards that would make him “role-model” material. In short, he wants to be the subject of adulation and praise, without ever achieving anything worthy of those things.
This speaks to the selfishness of his character, that he requires unquestioned loyalty and adulation from others but feels it is his right to treat others however he sees fit. And what he “sees fit” often includes committing unspeakable atrocities.
Homelander: A Super Sociopath
According to the DSM, sociopathy disorder is a “mental disorder in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others.”
Homelander clearly fits this bill. His personality disorder manifests itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. He has no regard for the feelings, emotions, or rights of others. And though he expects love and seeks it, he also despises this part of his personality, and hates that he even has to pretend to care what others think.
Homelander is wrapped up so deeply in his own mythos that he likely doesn’t even know what would come next if he were to achieve god-status in the public eye, which probably explains a recent conversation the character had with Butcher, a conversation in which he fantasizes about their final showdown.
In Homelander’s fantasy world where he has vanquished his enemies, the villain can vividly picture his own glory, but nothing beyond that moment. How things go for the average citizen in the aftermath of his victory is of no concern to this “hero.” Only that the victory itself occurs.
What comes next is inconsequential, because this sociopath has never once considered how his victory will affect the lives of the individuals who will fall under his rule. Does this sound familiar?
Homelander Embraces MAGA and It’s MEGA Scary
Despite his clear sociopathic tendencies and known cruelties and atrocities, citizens inside The Boys universe as well as our own are buying what Homelander is selling. The super villain definitely has some real-life fans rooting for him and his version of god-like authoritarianism.
And as a piece from Rolling Stone pointed out, the citizenry of the show have inexplicably rallied behind their “fearless” leader. “In 2022, [The Boys] near-nihilist depiction of a deluded public rooting for an all-powerful class of elites who couldn’t care less about them almost feels like a documentary, albeit with superpowers, eviscerations, and really weird sex stuff thrown in.”
Show runner Eric Kripke stated flat out that Homelander “has always been a Trump analogue.”
Given that, why are individuals factual and fictional on Team Homelander?
One has to choose to believe that much of the allegory and subtext of The Boys is lost on the show’s MAGA viewers, but for everyone else, the message Kripke et al are sending is clear: This is what Trump would look like with unlimited power, it’s what anyone could turn into if they had god-like abilities.
For superheroes with unmatched physical abilities in the fictional world, for heirs of real estate empires in the real world, for anyone, the same maxim holds true: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And Homelander is absolutely corrupted. He’s a perfect storm of insecurity, entitlement, and narcissism + super powers that has spawned a destructive evil upon the world, a single man that wields more power than he is capable of managing.
Homelander is the best/worst villain of all time because he’s a man that functions as a tornado of sadism, left to act as he sees fit with no checks and balances, a force that nobody on earth can stop. Or can they?
The finale of Season 3 of The Boys drops on Prime Video on Friday, July 8th.
Related: The Boys: Is Soldier Boy the Supe-Killing Secret Weapon?