Why Did We Fall in Love with Homelander? Capable of Revealing all Our Hypocrisies

With the fourth season of The Boys, Homelander is back, a character beloved by the public, capable of revealing all our hypocrisies. There was a time when we liked to believe in superheroes. A time when cynical and disenchanted works like Zack Snyder’s Watchmen did not meet the tastes of the public, failing miserably. Now that time is over. Now we are sick of comic book movies, tired of this trend that has dragged so many majors into a creative abyss from which there seems to be no escape. In this climate of mistrust, no one has been able to intercept this malaise better than The Boys.

Why Did We Fall in Love with Homelander?

A brutal TV series that raises a big middle finger to the superhero world. Thanks to the over-the-top characters imagined in Garth Ennis’ comic and a TV series that had perfect timing, arriving on Prime Video immediately after the release of Avengers: Endgame. A film that truly seemed like the swan song of a genre that has never touched those glories again. Amid this “superhero fatigue,” only one man emerges from the clouds strong with his bright smile. That man is Homelander. Undoubtedly the most beloved and iconic character of The Boys. But why were we struck by this ruthless and megalomaniac figure? Let’s try to understand together.

Pop Smoothie

Let’s start with the packaging. Let’s start with the look, which in today’s world really weighs. Homelander is a great character right from the character design. His aesthetic embodies the quotations so loved by our pop culture. As if we were in a sort of Watchmen 2.0, it is clear that Garth Ennis and Robertson in the comic have created the perfect mix between Captain America and Superman, or the perfect champion of the United States of America, who in the series with his plasticized smiles also resembles Donald Trump. Homelander plays in an almost satirical way with the iconography of superheroes and his appearance already tells the character: he wears fake muscles (which underline his hypocritical and constructed nature), he wears the symbols of the United States (from the flag as a cape to the eagles on his shoulders) and dispenses pre-packaged smiles in front of the cameras like politicians do. The habit makes the man. A blasphemous monk who spits on us on the sacredness of heroes. And not only that…

Cynical Realism

The beauty of Homelander is also in its ruthless corrosive sincerity. Because the character throws a brutal answer in our faces to the question: what would we really do if we had superpowers? Would we really be as altruistic as Spider-Man and Superman have always made us believe? Maybe not. And so Homelander has become the distorted mirror of what human beings could really become with too much power in their hands (and here too the dig at American politics is clear). That is, becoming self-centered, selfish, afflicted by delusions of omnipotence, and completely incapable of working in a group.

Let alone thinking about the good of others. Everything is taken to the extreme and madness, of course, but it is incredible that precisely thanks to being over the top The Boys confirms itself more relevant than ever. Why? Because our world is exasperated and over the top. Everything is polarizing and polarized, imbued with disenchantment and wickedness as this series dares to remind us. And let’s not forget one thing: the fight against power and the system (embodied precisely by Homelander) of Butcher and company excites us precisely because it takes note of another very true thing. Nothing unites people more than anger and indignation towards a common enemy.

Hypocrisies Revealed

Another merit of Homelander? Embodying all the worst of the American star system. In the series, the character is not only a hero, but a product, a brand, in some ways even a puppet managed by a multinational like Vaught. So thanks to him The Boys reveals all the hypocrisies of the capitalist Western world we live in. Here political correctness is used in a sycophantic way by the majors, here the public is treated like a flock to be tamed with slogans, set phrases, and fake promises, here everything becomes marketing to sell something to someone. Halfway between a star, a politician, and an influencer, Homelander hides all the rottenness of our world under that delirious smile.

Loose Cannon

Now let’s leave aside what Homelander represents and talk about the weight of the character in the series. Because whether you love or hate The Boys, one thing is certain: Homelander is the character who has the most impact on the show along with Butcher. A character so cumbersome and self-centered that he is a double-edged sword. On the one hand with his charisma, he easily gains the attention of the public, on the other hand in the long run (as partly demonstrated by the start of the fourth season) he risks being too much of a joker and making the whole series bask in its laurels. A bit like The Walking Dead did with Negan, to be clear. Despite this risk, however, Homelander is a loose cannon, the loose cannon of The Boys. A character so out of his mind and unpredictable that he creates a constant state of tension in the viewers because ours would be capable of anything. Like killing someone without a reason just for the fun of it.

An Absolute Phenomenon

And let’s close with a merit not to be underestimated: the great performance of Anthony Starr in the role of the character. An actor who after so much apprenticeship has finally had the opportunity to show his versatile talent with a very difficult interpretation. Because, as mentioned, such an over-the-top character can easily become cloying, while Starr has proven to be a skilled tightrope walker. Very good at remaining suspended between explosion and implosion, between delirious madness and intimate drama. And it is no coincidence that his incredible display of skill takes place in front of a mirror. In the much talked about sixth episode of the third season (Herogasm) the best nude scene is given to us by him when he shows us a man who looks at himself in the mirror for what he really is. A chilling scene that elevates Homelander thanks to the talent of the man who plays him.