Warning! Spoilers for The Boys comic series ahead!
Among the most controversial aspects ofThe Boysis not something that happens on-screen, but rather involves the reaction to central antagonistHomelander, as the Amazon superhero series has unintentionally turned him into a fan-favorite character. While the comic source material for the show explicitly made Homelander a villain, Antony Starr’s portrayal of a complex emotional figure, vile as he can be, has left some audience members rooting for him.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Starr once again spoke about the unexpected problem the production has encountered, as a segment ofTheBoys’new fandom has embraced Homelander,whom the actor portraying him emphatically reminded everyone “is not the hero of any story.”
Instead, Homelander is meant to be a study of how people in positions to be heroes often fail to do so, and the almost perverse way in which they are often still lionized and lauded as heroes. This is a heavy theme, but it is essential to a reading ofThe Boys, either the comic or the series.
Homelander Actor Antony Starr Repudiates Homelander Fans; The Show’s Source Material Shows He’s Right
“They were really glorifying him, they loved him. Which is surreal,” Antony Starr said of the reaction to Homelander from a segment of the fan population, which has continued to grow asThe Boyshas progressed, becoming one of Amazon’s biggest shows of the last several years. In author Garth Ennis’s groundbreaking comic book series of the same name, where the character originated,Homelander was unequivocally a bad guy; in fact, it was part of the satirical premise of the entire series.
That is,The Boysis fundamentally about superpowered characters who the majority of the world’s population are misled to believe are heroes, but who, in fact, use this as cover to engage in all sorts of depraved behavior, from debauched and gratuitous sexual acts, to straight up murder, sexual assault, and more. The TV adaptation ostensibly carries over this theme, butthere is something about it that is lost in translation between page and screen, and one of the side effects is fans rooting for Homelander.
Humanizing Homelander Was Necessary For The Boys' Adaptation, But It Made Him Easier To Root For
The Side Effect Of Three Dimensional Characters
As noted by EW, it was always Antony Starr’s goal to bring a more human dimension to Homelander; that is, of course, one of the virtues of taking a character from the printed page andembodying them in a living actor in live action. However,humanizing a character has certain unintended consequences in the case of a character that was designed to be an inhuman caricature.As Starr said:
What I didn’t expect was that people would be so conflicted around it and, you know, finding themselves finding empathy for this monster.
Of course, empathy is not exactly the issue with TV Homelander. Instead, it is the fact that a vocal minority of viewers are treating him like a hero.
As readers ofThe Boyscomic know, Homelander might not have ultimately been the endgame antagonist he seemed positioned to be for most of the series' run, but he was…irredeemably vicious and cruel.
Which, it is safe to say, is contrary to the point of the program. As readers ofThe Boyscomic know, Homelander might not have ultimately been the endgame antagonist he seemed positioned to be for most of the series' run, but he was, up to his abrupt exit, irredeemably vicious and cruel. In retrospect, once next year’s fifth season ofThe BoysTV show is complete, the same might be said of Antony Starr’s Homelander, but the crucial difference is that TV Homelander seemingly struggled with his nature.
The Boys TV Series Should Go All-In On Evil Homelander In Its Final Season
Leave No Doubt About His Villain Status
InThe Boyscomic, Homelander’s worst actions throughout the series were revealed to have actually been the work of his clone, who hid in plain sight through most of the seriesunder the mask of Black Noir. With this seemingly off the table for the TV version of the story, it seems possible that Homelander could end up being the “big bad” he long seemed destined to be. HoweverThe Boysends its TV run, though, the odds seem low that there will be any sort of redemption arc for Homelander, nor should there be.
In fact, most fans ofThe Boysshould want the show to emphatically repudiate any idea of a heroic Homelander, and the only way to do that is totake him to that level of indisputable, unacceptable villainy that Garth Ennis did in the comic. The question is whether the TV series can, or would go as far as might be necessary to do so. Alternatively, it will likely come down to Antony Starr’s performance, as he takes his version ofHomelanderto the bitter end of his story, whateverThe Boysmight have in store for him.
