This post contains spoilers for The Boys. If you haven't watched yet, check out our spoiler-free The Boys premiere review.
Superhero desconstructions have existed even further back than Watchmen, and indeed the genre’s pulp origins hinged on the idea that heroism is a morally complicated and not always glamorous thing. Yet, few properties have explored the depths of self-involvement, greed, and malice that we might see if superheroes existed IRL the way that Prime Video’s The Boys has. Sitting at the top of that list of questionable ethics is Homelander.
Fully ready to engage in racism, misogyny, and acts of violence on his best day, Season 3 is showing Homelander on his worst. With the relative lull bought at the end of Season 2 serving very much as the calm before the storm, we’re seeing a more dangerous side to most of the cast. Nowhere is that more true than Homelander, whose anger at being “subdued” has encouraged bolder acts that go beyond cruelty and into outright fascism.
Homelander’s increasingly public revelations of his rotten core have only led to a surge in his ratings, putting the rest of The Seven and The Boys in similar positions attempting to navigate his ever-escalating bad behavior. Homelander made it clear multiple times this season that he is more than willing to go into a full-fledged attack on humanity if pushed even slightly, meaning that The Boys can either get ready for a battle or accept a life of attempting to appease a man who constantly changes the rules of the game. Butcher has already begun to dabble in chemically-administered superpowers, so it seems inevitable that he’s gearing up for the fight of his life.
As Homelander continues to search for his son, Ryan, Butcher has all but alienated the boy, leaving us to wonder what will happen when Homelander inevitably finds the kid. As Ryan has been left more or less untethered as of Episode 3, it seems likely that Homelander would easily enlist his child in a fight against The Boys. This begs the question of how the team will respond to a match-up of the two most powerful beings on Earth, both with the combined emotional maturity of a child.
Even the show’s moral grounding with Hughie and Starlight has begun to shake. Hughie encourages Starlight to simply grin and bear it through Homelander’s constant acts of barely-restrained aggression, while Starlight is on a slippery slope of trying to manage Homelander on terms that he set. Judging from Hughie’s embrace of Butcher’s ruthless attitude in Episode 3, he and the rest of the team are planning a major attitude shift in how they operate. Season 2 saw the team winning by taking the moral high ground and gloriously beating up a Nazi, but as they’ve individually become discouraged at the long-term effectiveness of that approach, we’re sure to see an increase in attempting to fight Homelander by using his own shady methods.
As for what effect this will have on the rest of The Seven, we’ve already seen that Homelander’s casual cruelty is on an uptick, as is his disproportionate self-image. Having already gone above and beyond to make an enemy of Queen Maeve, he’s moved on to attempting to break Starlight while continuing to bully the others. As he continues to isolate the rest of the team, they could potentially play a big role in ultimately helping to bring him down, though betting on characters like A-Train and The Deep to do the right thing under any context is a dicey prospect.
When Homelander suddenly announces that he’s in a relationship with Starlight on film, she takes Hughie’s advice to heart and acknowledges this with an enthusiastic kiss despite her disgust. This is disturbingly reminiscent of his interactions with Queen Maeve in the first two seasons, and as with Maeve, he’s keeping Starlight off-balance in order to keep the upper hand. Maeve and Starlight teamed up in Season 2 to more or less successfully subdue Homelander, but we see now that it was only a temporary solution. Together, they seem to have a better shot than anyone of taking him out, but Maeve has made it clear that she has a life that will take priority, meaning Starlight will need to keep her horizons open for team-up possibilities.
Other options may include the many other unstable supes that exist in a secret government bunker, but perhaps most likely is the chance of a partnership with Soldier Boy, “the first superhero.” Referred to as “Homelander before there was Homelander,” it should be clear that his politics are dicey and he’s not exactly a team player, but his well-earned hostility toward Vought could entail him allying with The Boys. At this rate, it looks like they’re going to need all the help they can get. Asking how far The Boys are willing to go in order to take the threat of Homelander out is a major theme in the opening episodes of the season, and alliances with those that would otherwise be enemies could be a major factor going forward.
As a being without an origin outside of being created to serve corporate interests, Homelander has always been very much the villain of our own design. Even as unworldly as he is, he remains the most unsettlingly true element of the show. Taking the “cult of celebrity” vibes of recent political leaders and combining them with superpowers, the franchise has given genre one of its most terrifying villains. What he might do next is a chilling thing to ponder, but, as in the real world, the scariest part is asking ourselves how the “good guys” will redirect a monster that has grown much, much bigger than any one person.
Continue reading...
Superhero desconstructions have existed even further back than Watchmen, and indeed the genre’s pulp origins hinged on the idea that heroism is a morally complicated and not always glamorous thing. Yet, few properties have explored the depths of self-involvement, greed, and malice that we might see if superheroes existed IRL the way that Prime Video’s The Boys has. Sitting at the top of that list of questionable ethics is Homelander.
Fully ready to engage in racism, misogyny, and acts of violence on his best day, Season 3 is showing Homelander on his worst. With the relative lull bought at the end of Season 2 serving very much as the calm before the storm, we’re seeing a more dangerous side to most of the cast. Nowhere is that more true than Homelander, whose anger at being “subdued” has encouraged bolder acts that go beyond cruelty and into outright fascism.
Homelander’s increasingly public revelations of his rotten core have only led to a surge in his ratings, putting the rest of The Seven and The Boys in similar positions attempting to navigate his ever-escalating bad behavior. Homelander made it clear multiple times this season that he is more than willing to go into a full-fledged attack on humanity if pushed even slightly, meaning that The Boys can either get ready for a battle or accept a life of attempting to appease a man who constantly changes the rules of the game. Butcher has already begun to dabble in chemically-administered superpowers, so it seems inevitable that he’s gearing up for the fight of his life.
As Homelander continues to search for his son, Ryan, Butcher has all but alienated the boy, leaving us to wonder what will happen when Homelander inevitably finds the kid. As Ryan has been left more or less untethered as of Episode 3, it seems likely that Homelander would easily enlist his child in a fight against The Boys. This begs the question of how the team will respond to a match-up of the two most powerful beings on Earth, both with the combined emotional maturity of a child.
Even the show’s moral grounding with Hughie and Starlight has begun to shake. Hughie encourages Starlight to simply grin and bear it through Homelander’s constant acts of barely-restrained aggression, while Starlight is on a slippery slope of trying to manage Homelander on terms that he set. Judging from Hughie’s embrace of Butcher’s ruthless attitude in Episode 3, he and the rest of the team are planning a major attitude shift in how they operate. Season 2 saw the team winning by taking the moral high ground and gloriously beating up a Nazi, but as they’ve individually become discouraged at the long-term effectiveness of that approach, we’re sure to see an increase in attempting to fight Homelander by using his own shady methods.
As for what effect this will have on the rest of The Seven, we’ve already seen that Homelander’s casual cruelty is on an uptick, as is his disproportionate self-image. Having already gone above and beyond to make an enemy of Queen Maeve, he’s moved on to attempting to break Starlight while continuing to bully the others. As he continues to isolate the rest of the team, they could potentially play a big role in ultimately helping to bring him down, though betting on characters like A-Train and The Deep to do the right thing under any context is a dicey prospect.
When Homelander suddenly announces that he’s in a relationship with Starlight on film, she takes Hughie’s advice to heart and acknowledges this with an enthusiastic kiss despite her disgust. This is disturbingly reminiscent of his interactions with Queen Maeve in the first two seasons, and as with Maeve, he’s keeping Starlight off-balance in order to keep the upper hand. Maeve and Starlight teamed up in Season 2 to more or less successfully subdue Homelander, but we see now that it was only a temporary solution. Together, they seem to have a better shot than anyone of taking him out, but Maeve has made it clear that she has a life that will take priority, meaning Starlight will need to keep her horizons open for team-up possibilities.
Other options may include the many other unstable supes that exist in a secret government bunker, but perhaps most likely is the chance of a partnership with Soldier Boy, “the first superhero.” Referred to as “Homelander before there was Homelander,” it should be clear that his politics are dicey and he’s not exactly a team player, but his well-earned hostility toward Vought could entail him allying with The Boys. At this rate, it looks like they’re going to need all the help they can get. Asking how far The Boys are willing to go in order to take the threat of Homelander out is a major theme in the opening episodes of the season, and alliances with those that would otherwise be enemies could be a major factor going forward.
As a being without an origin outside of being created to serve corporate interests, Homelander has always been very much the villain of our own design. Even as unworldly as he is, he remains the most unsettlingly true element of the show. Taking the “cult of celebrity” vibes of recent political leaders and combining them with superpowers, the franchise has given genre one of its most terrifying villains. What he might do next is a chilling thing to ponder, but, as in the real world, the scariest part is asking ourselves how the “good guys” will redirect a monster that has grown much, much bigger than any one person.
Continue reading...