| “ | And you, my friend, you are the real hero | ” |
| “ | I can do whatever the fuck I want | ” |
Homelander(English:Homelander) is a character in the comic series under Dynamite Entertainment, "The Boys" and its derivative works, and is the main antagonist of the series.
Introduction
Homelander is a superhuman created by Vought usingCompound Vthrough drug experimentation. On the surface, he is the world's strongest superhero, a staunch patriot and defender of the people, and the leader of the hero team "The Seven"; in reality, he is a hypocrite who disregards life, uses any means necessary, is promiscuous, and is extremely arrogant, conceited, and devoid of moral values.
Homelander has superpowers similar to DC Comics charactersSupermansuch as flight, super strength, and heat vision. His persona focuses on patriotism for publicity, even wearing a cape with the colors of the national flag, possibly referencing Marvel Comics'Captain America。
Main Plot
Manga Version
Homelander grew up in Vought's experiments since childhood. As an adult, he was identified as the strongest of the superhumans produced by Compound V and became Vought's top superhero. To control Homelander, Vought even installed a miniature nuclear bomb inside him.
Homelander first appears when Starlight has just joined The Seven; he and his teammates sexually assaulted Starlight and then left.
Later, Homelander comes into conflict with one of the protagonists, Billy Butcher, because Butcher is convinced that Homelander raped his wife, Becca.
In fact, Homelander has been on the verge of a mental breakdown because he keeps receiving messages sent from "himself," including photos of him murdering women and eating babies alive. Although Homelander is a villain who disregards life, he would not proactively do things so devoid of a moral bottom line, and he does not remember doing them. The constant mental torture leads Homelander to believe he has a split personality.
Finally, Homelander loses control completely, leading an army of superhumans with the intent to conquer the world and kill the President of the United States. He encounters Billy Butcher, but at this critical moment, Black Noir, who has been behind the scenes, suddenly appears.
It turns out that Black Noir is a clone of Homelander created by Vought as a final line of defense in case Homelander went out of control. However, because of this mission, Black Noir could not appear in public like Homelander and never had the chance to achieve his life goals, gradually developing malicious intent. The things Homelander thought his second personality did were actually done by Black Noir to drive Homelander insane.
Upon learning the truth, Homelander felt that Black Noir had ruined his life and fought him in a fit of rage. In the end, both were severely injured. Black Noir seized an opportunity to shatter Homelander's jaw with a punch, killing him, but he was also too weak to fight Butcher and the arriving army, and both eventually died.
TV Series Version
The TV series adapted from the original comic has different settings. In the TV series, Homelander is also Vought's top superhero and the leader of The Seven, but he is also a public figure and actor who cares deeply about his reputation.
Unlike the comics, in the TV series, Homelander is indeed the villain who raped Billy Butcher's wife, Becca, and has a son, Ryan, who inherited his superpowers. Becca and Ryan were kept under house arrest by Homelander in a location arranged by Vought.
Later, Homelander developed a romantic relationship with Stormfront, a superhuman who newly joined The Seven. However, Stormfront was severely injured in a trap set by The Boys and was eventually beaten half to death by Ryan's sudden burst of heat vision after she threatened Becca.
Homelander was coerced by Queen Maeve with an incriminating video, forcing him to endure the humiliation of dropping the matter regarding Stormfront; afterwards, Homelander's ambition grew, and he even schemed his way into becoming the CEO of Vought International.
Meanwhile, The Boys had been searching for a way to kill Homelander, tracking a lead all the way to Russia and releasing the long-imprisoned former strongest Supe, "Soldier Boy."
Soldier Boy, along with Billy Butcher and Hughie Campbell—both enhanced by Temp V—beat Homelander into a desperate retreat; Homelander grew fearful of Soldier Boy, but later discovered that Soldier Boy was actually his biological father.
Finally, Homelander brought his son Ryan for a father-son reunion, but Soldier Boy was disappointed after seeing through Homelander's cowardly personality and insisted on killing him; Homelander lost his will to fight while trying to protect Ryan, at which point Queen Maeve took the opportunity to attack and knock Homelander down, but the chance to completely defeat him was lost again as she had to stop the about-to-detonate Soldier Boy.
After this, Homelander gradually exposed his true nature to the public and seemed to grow closer to Ryan.
"The Woods," an underground facility at Godolkin University operated by Vought, was opened by students Cate and Sam, who went on a killing spree with the prisoners originally held there. After the incident, Homelander arrived at the scene and, without a word, attacked Marie—a student trying to maintain order—with his heat vision. Afterwards, Vought allegedly imprisoned Marie and her companions Andre, Jordan, and Emma.
Abilities
- Flight: Homelander can fly at supersonic speeds within the atmosphere, claiming to have broken the sound barrier during childhood and also claiming to have flown into space.
- Super Strength: Homelander possesses super strength greater than any other Supe, demonstrated by feats such as casually throwing a fighter jet, crashing through an airliner, and lifting cars; he could kill Queen Maeve, who also has super strength, with a single blow.
- Super Constitution: Homelander's body has extremely high durability, being bulletproof and immune to damage from various modern weapons and explosives, and cannot be wounded by blades; however, it is speculated that his internal tissues do not share the same strength as his exterior, and he can still be injured or even face life-threatening danger if he encounters an opponent with equal or near-equal strength.
- Heat Vision: Homelander's eyes can emit scorching beams; whenever he intends to kill, his eyes glow red in preparation to fire the heat vision.
- Super Vision: Homelander's vision can see through walls or see things at a great distance, but it cannot penetrate zinc.
- Super Hearing: Homelander is able to hear faint sounds from a great distance.For example, someone secretly insulting him (A-Train).。
Meme
- Panicked Homelander:
A meme from the TV series; a scene where Homelander is panicked and gasping for air was clipped and became a popular meme on both international and Chinese websites due to the actor's incredibly vivid performance. The original clip shows Homelander, who had developed a fear of Soldier Boy after being beaten by him, Butcher, and others, hallucinating a passerby as Soldier Boy during a speech; he leaves the stage in a disheveled state and secretly gasps for air to calm his emotions. This meme is applicable to various panicked situations.
In the original video of the zero-dollar shopping meme, when Batman finally arrives to deliver justice, Homelander suddenly appearsThe bastard's entranceInstantly killed Batman with heat vision, allowing the zero-dollar shopping squad to continue robbing the convenience storeRepeat customer。
The catchphrase of Homelander in the TV series. Homelander habitually uses this phrase to pretend to affirm others to maintain his saintly persona. The phrasing includes "You're the real hero," which can be expanded to "And you, my friend, you are the real hero," or "Remember, you guys are the real heroes." This catchphrase is applicable to many other situations due to various hilarious extended meanings.
- Getsuga Tensho:
From the scene in Season 2, Episode 8 of the TV series where Homelander is facing the moonMasturbation, this segment became a meme due to the actor's performance and the highly impactful visuals.
Game Appearance
- Homelander is a playable character in the FPS games "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II》《Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0" and The Boys collaboration series, with exclusive weapon skins and finishing moves.
- Homelander is a character in the fighting game "Mortal Kombat 1"'s Kombat Pack 1, and along withOmni-Man，Peacemaker, he is also a guest character.
- "The Boys" and "Rainbow Six Siege" released collaboration skins, where the attacker Ace can be outfitted as Homelander.Another attacker, Deimos, can be outfitted as Black Noir.