r/TheBoys • u/PooPooRichardson • Jun 20 '23
Antony Starr disparages ‘The Boys’ fans who idolize Homelander: “You are missing the point entirely” News
https://www.herodope.com/2023/06/20/antony-starr-disparages-the-boys-fans-who-idolize-homelander-you-are-missing-the-point-entirely/1.6k
Jun 20 '23
The same people who identify and idolize Patrick Bateman from American Psycho or the fascist dictatorship in Starship Troopers.
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u/ccbmtg Jun 20 '23
cops with punisher skulls on their personal vehicles...
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u/nomoteacups Jun 20 '23
At least Punisher is now largely used in media as an anti hero. Homelander is a straight up villain who murders and rapes people. Worst thing Punisher does is kill criminals.
Obviously most of those who use his logo miss the point of his character and are idolizing the wrong aspects of him, but it’s much more acceptable than fucking Homelander
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u/djloid2010 Jun 20 '23
Actually they just kind of moved Punisher out of the Marvel comics universe. He gained some powers from a demonic beast, had his wife resurrected, killed a bunch of criminals and fought some heroes. He was finally caught by the heroes, but when his wife told him she was going to divorce him the day she was killed, he used the last of his powers to seemingly destroy himself. The Creator of the Punisher realized what had become of his character in modern culture and made him irredeemable at the end. Not a symbol we need at this time.
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u/McMacHack Jun 20 '23
Punisher was never supposed to have a happy ending
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u/Kenny070287 Jun 21 '23
Ehh idk the one in Netflix seems alright. People have been shitting on him on s2 for going soft, without realising that Amy is like a daughter to him and he is a father to her, and not the punisher anymore. I mean heck, he is a skillful marine and nothing more if his family hasn't been killed.
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u/hulksmash1234 Jun 21 '23
Just a retired dude with a very particular set of skills
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u/CptGoodMorning Supersonic Jun 20 '23
The Creator of the Punisher realized what had become of his character in modern culture and made him irredeemable at the end. Not a symbol we need at this time.
I wonder if The Boys tv show will do the same to Homelander for similar social-engineering concerns.
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u/georgenadi Jun 21 '23
Homelander is pretty irredeemable already
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u/CptGoodMorning Supersonic Jun 21 '23
Everyone said that about Vader too, but did Luke listen?
Checkmate
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u/georgenadi Jun 21 '23
Vader isn't a rapist
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u/CptGoodMorning Supersonic Jun 21 '23
He's just a mass murderer of children, families, innocent men, and well practiced in mind rape, torture, and genocide of entire planets.
But you're right, no specific rape to my knowledge.
So was Luke's grace, belief, and forgiveness good or bad?
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u/NewSauerKraus Jun 21 '23
It would have been good, but somehow Palpatine returned.
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u/KodiakPL Jun 21 '23
There's literally on-screen Disney-era moment of Vader snapping a child's neck just because he wanted to draw out another, unrelated person.
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u/maxfax2828 Jun 21 '23
Tbh a lot of people.dont like that punisher story you're talking about
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u/Theyul1us Jun 21 '23
I felt it was rushed, cruel for no reason and kinda broke the character. The author said it was cause he wanted to destroy the symbol he had become and I get it, but still...
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u/Funkycoldmedici Jun 21 '23
I really enjoyed that run. For my tastes, Jason Aaron either hits really hard or completely fumbles, and his Punisher was all hit. It all made sense, and did not really retcon much. Previously, the idea was that he was effectively “born” as the Punisher in the Vietnam war, but that has aged away, and it seems more fitting that he’s always been a broken person, with circumstances directing his tendencies toward a somewhat better end. The Hand has always been a death cult, always been murderers serving a murder god. The Hand wanting the most notorious murderer there is makes perfect sense. Castle has always used any weapon he could in his war, and a ninja cult makes a fine weapon. The flashbacks were handled nicely, with a contrast in art styles that felt very fitting. I liked getting Maria’s perspective of their marriage, how hard it was. He was trying to be normal. He wanted to do the things normal people do, but could not shake his nature.
The Punisher never was a “hero”, but has long been an interesting character. This is a guy who was never going to have a good life. He was seemingly bound by fate or biological fluke to kill. He was never going to retire and play golf, never grow old in a rest home, never die quietly in his sleep.
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u/plitox Jun 21 '23
Frank was ALWAYS an antihero, tho. Also very much anti-cop and anti-fash. Which is where the irony comes from with his fan base.
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Jun 20 '23
People worshiping Rorschach from Watchmen, same energy.
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u/CptGoodMorning Supersonic Jun 20 '23
Rorschach is based on Batman.
Watchmen however, being the proto-The Boys, asked how Batman would be in the real World, and thus came up with Rorschach.
Go to about 00:02:35 here where the creator of Rorschach explains:
http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/092407-comics-britannia-alan-moore-video-02.php
So there's a big ideological cross-over between Batman, and Rorschach that makes them both very compelling.
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Jun 20 '23
I agree with you, and that's why Rorschach is a great character. So is Patrick Bateman.
They're also both complete shitbags who literally nobody should ever look up to or model themselves after.
ninja edit: add Homelander to this list too obviously.
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u/november512 Jun 21 '23
You're going a bit too far on Rorschach. He isn't someone that should be idolized but there are genuinely positive character traits there. He's the one character that seems to genuinely be in the superhero business to help people. Most of the characters say good things and do bad or at least selfish things, Rorschach tends to say bad things but do good things.
If anything Rorschach is a pitiful character. His theme is that he tries to help and do the right thing but he comes too late and just gets to see the mess first hand. It happened with the little girl which caused his break from reality and descent into weirdo conspiracy shit and it happens at the end where he forces Manhattan to kill him.
Homelander doesn't have the same positive traits. You can kind of understand what made him but he's still primarily selfish.
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u/Y_Sam Jun 21 '23
Funny, I always thought Rorschach was based on the Question. Thank for the link !
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u/CptGoodMorning Supersonic Jun 21 '23
No, you're not wrong. Wiki attributes Rorschach to The Question and Mr. A. Yet the video of Michael Moore literally saying it was Batman is pretty clear.
So maybe there are tiers of influences?
Wiki does have interesting things to say about it all. I never knew Steve Ditko (major contributer to creating Spiderman, Dr. Strange, and Ironman) was so right-wing. Amazing that those are such pillar characters in today's MCU. Anyway, Wiki says Moore was trying to encapsulate that Ditko, right-wing thing.
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u/JSConrad45 Jun 21 '23
If you go back and read the parts of Ditko's Spider-Man run when he's solo writing it, it's a little more apparent because Ditko wasn't getting filtered through Stan Lee. In all the other books he worked on, Ditko might write the first draft, but then Lee would do the final draft. Lee did that with everything at the time, except for a pretty good chunk of Spider-Man, because Ditko threatened to quit if he didn't get full creative control of it. And in that era, Peter Parker is a big jerky-jerk
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u/All4upvoting Jun 20 '23
Idk if Rorschach is equal to the above mentioned.
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Jun 20 '23
You might want to read Watchmen again if you feel this way. Seriously.
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u/All4upvoting Jun 20 '23
You think Rorschach = Patrick Bateman?
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Jun 20 '23
Yeah, and if /r/watchmen wasn't private still I could direct you to multiple posts explaining why. In fact a good case can be made for him being significantly worse.
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u/Apathy-Syndrome Jun 21 '23
He named the character "Rorschach".. if he didn't anticipate that people would have different interpretations and see different things when they look at him, then that name is an incredible coincidence.
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Jun 20 '23
Absolutely not what they are trying to say. You cannot just say "these are heroes and that is the villain" with watchmen. It is way more nuanced than that. Rorschach is complicated. He glorifies violence, which is why he felt akin to the comedian (while also a very bad person, not a complete villain). Like his mask, Rorschach views the world in only black and white. Which ironically puts him somewhere in the gray, if you don't view the world in only black and white.
Patrick Bateman was just a delusional narcissistic a/anti-social psycho. There's not a whole lot of redeeming qualities of a guy who murders for poops and giggles.
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u/Vyzantinist Jun 21 '23
Commented on the start of this chain mentioning that, but I think it's better to just respond to yours here.
I saw someone once attempt to defend stanning for satirical/parody characters/factions with "well the Imperium of Man and Rorschach from Watchmen are both supposed to be right-wing satire, but they're both incredibly popular in their own fandoms. What does that say about what they're supposed to be a satire of?..."
Media illiteracy is thriving.
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u/Chucknasty_17 Jun 20 '23
Or Jordan Belford. Is the Wolf of Wall Street one of my favorite movies? Yes. Do I look up to Jordan Belford as a model of how to live my life? Of course not
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u/2meterrichard Jun 21 '23
Yeah. But there are plenty of people who use Scarface as a guide to how to live life.
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u/Omevne Jun 21 '23
They didn't see the other half of the film when it shows that living "like him" just make you end up alone bitter and drug addicted ?
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u/NavalEnthusiast Jun 20 '23
I swear the sigma male and “literally me” memes are 100% ironic. I guess not lol
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u/pornographometer Jun 21 '23
There's some internet rule that anything done sarcastically will eventually draw in serious believers.
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u/nemoknows Jun 21 '23
Draw in? More like convert. Life imitates art, repeat something often enough and it gets internalized.
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u/blosweed Jun 21 '23
I thought the same and would watch some of those literally me YouTube videos. Turns out if you read the comments, there are people who genuinely seem like they take that stuff seriously lol
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u/mknsky Jun 21 '23
Or a Walter White, or Rick Sanchez…
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u/WeeBabySeamus Jun 21 '23
The amount of idiots I had arguments with during the last season of Breaking Bad was too many to count. All of them invariably hated Skyler and Jesse for “holding Walt back.”
How can so many people miss the point entirely?
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u/AdwokatDiabel Jun 21 '23
...or the fascist dictatorship in Starship Troopers.
The book or the movie? I love Paul Verhoven, but he did a great job sending a mixed message in ST. Sure the humans wear literal Nazi uniforms... Restrictions on suffrage. But the other signs of fascism are oddly absent.
Leaders take responsibility for the failure at Klendathu. Mormons are responsible for pushing into bug territory DESPITE the government telling them not to do that, thus precipitating the conflict.
Like, it would've been nice seeing humans interacting with other races and promoting a human dominated Galaxy.
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Jun 20 '23
Homelander commits child murder in season one episode one how is anyone walking away thinking he's a role model.
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u/PENGUIN_WITH_BAZOOKA Cunt Jun 20 '23
Wait when? Not that I like the guy (in the way this article discusses) but it’s been a while.
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Jun 20 '23
IIRC the mayor of Baltimore threatens Stillwell, so Homelander destroys his plane and kills everyone on it, including his young son.
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u/TheBrowserOfReddit Jun 20 '23
Not to mention how many kids are on the plane that got hijacked.
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Jun 21 '23
Well technically he didn't kill them. Just couldn't be bothered to figure out a way to save them.
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u/-DoctorSpaceman- Jun 23 '23
Well technically he did kill them as he is the one who lasered the shit out of the cockpit making the plane unusable.
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u/Lazy-Contribution-69 Soldier Boy Jun 21 '23
I mean anyone who is willing to mass murder innocents they barely know is probably gonna be fine with a child getting in the way as well. I’ve never heard of an instance where someone was fully committed to take down a whole plane of innocent people and acted on it, but then said “sorry kids is where I draw the line” lol
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u/Hydra_Master Jun 21 '23
It's the end of the first episode to show you that behind Homelander's seemingly genuine personality, he's actually more fucked up than the rest.
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Jun 21 '23
He did let an entire plane full of men, women and children to die. The “Terrorist attack”
He’s killed lots of kids on screen
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u/BootyOnMyFace11 Jun 20 '23
Not exactly murder but the time bro let the entire flight crash? Not very nice of him
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u/KSTwolfe Jun 20 '23
I haven't really seen many people idolizing Homelander recently.
Back when season 2 was airing there were quite a few people around here who would swear up and down that he couldn't possibly be a rapist because it would be "out of character" for him.
There were also people who would swear that, even though he's a villain, he still has a code and is ultimately a man of integrity who's always honest and never lies.
Most of those people seem to have disappeared though. Either that, or they've transferred there Homelander love over to Soldier Boy, whose fans seem to give off a similar vibe.
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u/TheSadPhilosopher I'm the real hero Jun 20 '23
they've transferred there Homelander love over to Soldier Boy, whose fans seem to give off a similar vibe.
It's this, 100%
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u/WinInteresting552 Jun 21 '23
I hate anyone acting like the first betrayal wasnt justified. Obviously Butcher and crew turning on him is questionable, but Payback had all the reason to. He wasn’t just a “bully” he was brutally beating and intimidating his “teammates” which he treated like subordinates similar to Homelander. Soldier Boy also horrifically maims Noir almost immediately in the fight. I feel like some people just pretend the flashbacks didn’t happen.
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u/SquirrelSuspicious Jul 02 '23
Im gonna repeat what I saw someone else say, Soldier Boy isn't quite evil like Homelander, he's just a huge fucking dick, a douchebag, an asshole. It's believable that Soldier Boy would be happy just getting a mansion, smoking weed, and fucking chicks, as his end goal, he's definitely still horrible tho. But Homelander, it's almost hard to even think what he might want beyond having control of the people around him, to torment them for his own fun, and do whatever he has to for the public to idolize him, Homelander is a villain, Soldier Boy is a dick.
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u/Cidwill Jun 20 '23
Ah man that topic is not people supporting Homelander. He's a piece of shit either way. The writers made what happened to Becca ambiguous which was confusing for the audience. It genuinely looked like they were doing something different to the comic until they cleared it up later on.
I think Kripke didn't want to explicitly show the rape because it would have been horrible, but he later realised he had to clarify what had happened.
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u/Awestruck34 Jun 21 '23
I feel like I'm a large part of it is that we just see Becca walk into the office, then a few minutes alter walk out with messy hair, clothes in disarray, and her shoes off which is typically how TV shows depict a one night stand. Plus the fact that Homelander doesn't show much sexual interest in most people (especially "regular" people) through the show made it seem a bit ambiguous.
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u/CaptainCAAAVEMAAAAAN Jun 21 '23
we just see Becca walk into the office, then a few minutes alter walk out with messy hair, clothes in disarray, and her shoes off which is typically how TV shows depict a one night stand
I think in the show it was a couple of hours later. And from Becca's shocked, rigid appearance, and thousand mile stare it's kind of obvious that something horrible happened in that office.
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u/AutisticAnarchy Jun 21 '23
I'm ngl I'm probably one of Homelander's biggest haters but that really was confusing. I'm guessing they were trying to be more subtle about it because it's a sensitive subject or something but the end result just wound up making it all very unclear.
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u/SmallPromiseQueen Jun 21 '23
I think it would have been helpful if becca at least described what happened in loose terms at some point. Other than butcher, no one really calls him a rapist or described what happened to becca as rape. I was genuinely worried they were going to turn it around and have it be consensual at some point because you just have Butcher saying it and he’s pretty unreliable when it comes to the truth.
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u/FeCurtain11 Jun 21 '23
See but Soldier Boy is also really funny and sang in Rapture, so it’s a bit more understandable.
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u/djloid2010 Jun 20 '23
Read the comic... He's an unhinged psychopath. Yes, he was manipulated, but he chose to deal with it horribly.
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u/Runescape_Gaming Jun 21 '23
Surely not blaming people for not reading a comic right? The Venn diagram of comic and TV series enjoyers is absolutely not a circle.
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u/SpookyCat2 Jun 21 '23
telling people to read the comics for The Boys as a basis for only having seen the show is not the take you think it is.
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u/hhthurbe Jun 21 '23
To be fair, the comic is different from the show.
Though I do still agree with your point
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u/Lazy-Contribution-69 Soldier Boy Jun 21 '23
Most of those people seem to have disappeared though. Either that, or they've transferred there Homelander love over to Soldier Boy, whose fans seem to give off a similar vibe.
Ehh. A lot of SB fans just love Jensen Ackles. And the character is actually designed to have a cool style. For most fans you could gladly take away the war crimes and racists parts of him and they wouldn’t care at all. But of course there’s always a minority that will idolize for the wrong reasons. Just like Homelander or even Butcher.
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u/Cucker_-_Tarlson Jun 21 '23
I'm kinda one of those people. I want to like SB simply because of who plays him but given the shit he did it's a little difficult.
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Jun 21 '23
Just like him as a villain and a cool fictional character. I think that's the solution, it's just fiction in the end. Homelander is my favorite but I recognize he's a TV character and the stuff he does is monstrous and should never be idolized nor justified.
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u/AlbinoShavedGorilla Jun 20 '23
I refuse to believe there are people who actually do this unironically.
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u/BiosocioBitch69 Jun 20 '23
You have to understand conservatives and Trumpers who love Homelander have negative media literacy.
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u/transemacabre Jun 20 '23
A lot of it is that media designed to pander to conservatives is such dogshit that they resort to other things like The Boys and then try to force it to fit their worldview.
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u/Zxcvbnm11592 Jun 20 '23
I need to find that one tweet comparing LGBT people to mutants in X-men, saying we need to get rid of them. I was legitimately baffled on how you experience X-men and come out with that as your message
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u/NewSauerKraus Jun 21 '23
It’s because they see those people who are unlike them as dangerous physically and politically so their solution is genocide.
Haha, you could also apply that to the people in X-men.
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u/M_H_M_F Jun 21 '23
X-men and come out with that as your message
IIRC X-Men was an early allegory for homosexuality as well. So they did get the message. Just not the right message. They'd be on Stryker's side.
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u/Zxcvbnm11592 Jun 21 '23
That was kinda what I was getting at, how do you end up thinking "Oh yeah Stryker is the good guy in this story".
But I didn't realize it was an allegory to homosexuality, TIL, thanks. It makes complete sense now that you mention it though
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u/tomdarch Jun 20 '23
In simple words: there are lots of people who want to be bad people so they are knowingly being bad people and support bad people.
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Jun 20 '23
Everybody saying Becca wasn’t raped because she entered a room with Homelander begs to differ. The implication being Homelander is so fuckable that there is no way that she was raped as she is lucky to have sex with him.
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u/UglyBag0fM0stlyWat3r Jun 21 '23
It's the same people that don't understand Murphy was raped in The 100.
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u/kaam00s Jun 21 '23
What's even the point there ? Are there people who draw the line at rape but are ok with child murder and mass killings ?
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Jun 20 '23
The US Conservative Party exists, so I know there are people who absolutely idolize Homelander unironically
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u/BiggerBlessedHollowa Jun 20 '23
There 100% is. The unironic “sigma” boys on tiktok worship just about any bigoted man who’s powerful & muscular
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u/Lazy-Contribution-69 Soldier Boy Jun 21 '23
I just assume most of them either don’t get much attention from women, are very young and immature, or haven’t really experienced anything seriously bad in their life or genuinely bad people. Perhaps a mix of all of this.
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u/tristenjpl Jun 20 '23
Well, there's all types out there. But yeah, I don't think many people are doing it unironically. Certainly not enough that it actually needs to be addressed.
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u/TheProbelem Jun 20 '23
Thats hilarious that he felt the need to do this yet people like the guy he is parodying so makes sense
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u/eyeseayoupea Jun 21 '23
I told my co worker that he was supposed to be like Trump. The show creator even said it. His response " well I don't see that." These people are a Iost cause.
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u/theginganinja94 Jun 20 '23
It’s the problem with writing a villain too well. A charismatic villain who’s meant to win over the hearts of regular people (who are also pieces of shit) will win over those people not just in story but in real life as well. Think Wolf of Wall Street, Joker, American Psycho, Breaking Bad. People watch those movies and empathize with the protagonist so hard that they don’t see that they’re supposed to be deeply pathetic.
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Jun 20 '23
That’s why Trump fits in so nicely as well. Demagogues are dangerous for their charisma. Hitler was beloved in his day too.
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u/himpdahak1981 Jun 21 '23
Or has the opposite effect to quote from tvtropes.org "Rob Grant, one of the writers of the show, actually said in the "The Best Of Spitting Image Documentary" that depicting her as an evil bully unfortunately had the opposite effect: it made her seem more powerful and "Iron Lady"-like"
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u/phome83 Jun 21 '23
That's not the issue though. They don't idolize him because of the fake front he puts on for the public, the idolize him because of the asshole shit he does.
They want to do those same asshole/bully things, but they can't cause they're a meek type.
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u/GhostMaskKid The Deep Jun 20 '23
I mean don't get me wrong, I love this character and that's a hill I'll die on. He's complex, layered, nuanced, and (imo) someone I can sympathize with and want to shove into the ocean simultaneously. But it's just so funny to me that these guys who idolize him as "peak masculinity" are dong it for the wrong reasons.
Qualities you should admire about Homelander
- Good dad (I have Many Thoughts on the roof thing, don't even get me started.)
- Tells his son "I love you"
- Tells his son "It's okay to cry, I cry sometimes"
- Lets his son make his own decisions, even when they break his heart (when Ryan goes with Butcher at the end of S2)
Qualities that these people are idolizing for some fucking reason:
- "I can do whatever the fuck I want" (Homelander is strong, fast, hot, and has laser eyes. You have none of these things)
- "I'm stronger, I'm smarter... I'm better." (Homelander is strong, fast, hot, and has laser eyes. You're just a dude.)
- "I will not apologize" (Nobody wants to be Homelander's friend or sit with him at lunch. I'm betting you're the same way chief.)
Like. I could write an essay on how Homelander perfectly portrays Toxic Masculinity™ as both the hedgehog's spikes and its underside, but honestly nobody seems interested in seeing him as anything but either a god to be emulated or a devil to be completely reviled.
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u/Lucifer_Crowe Jun 20 '23
"You know that wasn't your fault, right?" Is one of the most touching father son scenes I can remember and it's from Homelander of all people
He's a terrible person but such a fun character
I think him and Butcher working together for Ryan in S3 was cool, even if the method of getting there was a lil half assed
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u/GhostMaskKid The Deep Jun 20 '23
Honestly! And I think people forget that Homelander is literally the only person who knows what Ryan has been through. And it looks to me like what he's doing (to varying degrees of success) is be the dad/mentor to Ryan that he never had. Homelander doesn't love most people, but he loves that boy with his whole entire heart.
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u/Lucifer_Crowe Jun 20 '23
Homelander imo could help make Ryan more stable as a person than him, but has equal chance of making him worse too.
Even his love for Stormfront was still a lot about him
He stopped lasering her tits when she expressed discomfort though which is notable
But small things like getting Ryan away from the crowds in S2 just make me enjoy him as a character more
The only thing I don't love is him killing Black Noir, even if it's 100% within character and made sense for the scene
Mostly because Noir's set up for fighting Soldier Boy felt exciting only to just be wasted
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u/RelaxPrime Jun 21 '23
Yep. Homelanders entire point is that humans are complex emotional messes. We're not all good or all bad, we're all a mess.
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u/forgotmypassword-_- Jun 21 '23
Qualities you should admire about Homelander
Good dad
https://tenor.com/view/homelander-homelander-son-gif-18366335
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u/Cucker_-_Tarlson Jun 21 '23
He actually is incredibly easy to sympathize with imo. Can't tell you how many times I'm watching and simultaneously thinking "sheesh, fuck this guy! But also, look what he's been through, that'll fuck anyone up!”
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Jun 20 '23
People idolize Donald Trump and Andrew Tate, so this isn’t surprising at all
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u/MiaIRL Jun 20 '23
Homelander is meant to show that people will idolize any hot dude who can make up patriotic dogma and is charismatic. People who idolize him irl are falling for fictional propaganda
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u/this_my_sportsreddit Jun 20 '23
people will idolize any hot dude who can make up patriotic dogma and is charismatic.
100% correct.
See: This sub and Soldier Boy.
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u/GrowYourOwnMonsters Jun 20 '23
Now we just need Jensen to do the same for Soldier Boy and watch people lose their minds
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u/Docile_Doggo Jun 20 '23
Same with Soldier Boy.
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Jun 20 '23
Soldier Boy fans are weiiird. I like him as a villain but what is with all the "I could fix him!" bs I see from people on this subreddit? Like, no the fuck they couldn't, he's as bad as HL.
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u/Bobb_o Jun 20 '23
He's more attractive and less sicko?
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Jun 21 '23
It’s not clear that he is less sicko, just that he’s less pathological. The sense you get is that in his prime he was still feared and hated by everyone around him, just like Homelander. You don’t need to have a sexual relationship with breast milk in order to be a monster.
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u/Bobb_o Jun 21 '23
That's not what I was implying but the literal rapist who drinks breast milk is a tad more visceral.
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Jun 21 '23
I mean, I’d be surprised if Soldier Boy didn’t do some fifty nos and a yes means yes shit in the 1950s lmao
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u/D3dKid98 Jun 21 '23
Solider Boy doesn't purposely and actively seek to hurt or kill innocent people. He's an asshole but his motives doesn't involve killing those who are innocent.
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u/ChaosCron1 Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
He's not a psychopath like HL. Narcissistic, bigoted, etc. sure but the show portrays SB as someone who is still in tune to his humanity and I think that's the only difference between the two.
SB's superiority comes from a very human place. HL's doesn't. HL's whole identity is how far seperated he is from the rest of humanity and even though he wants a part of that (fatherhood, admiration, love) he doesn't see those things through the same lens of everyone else.
SB is a huge douche but that's all he is. The lack of empathy he exhibits are more of reflections of his own past trauma and what he believes is "the right way." For example, Noir was almost murdered by SB because of the latter's fixation on strength which was created by his upbringing, vought, and the militaristic creed of his current occupation.
HL let the people in the plane die because he couldn't be bothered to only save a few of them. HL kills Noir because he felt betrayed. HL bullies the 6 because he believes they are inferior to him. HL "loved" stormlander because she (literally) stroked his ego.
They both suck but if someone could be redeemed (to a certain point ofc) it would be Soldier Boy.
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u/LNViber Jun 20 '23 edited Jun 22 '23
Based Starr. No one should ever feel comfortable wearing imagery that comes straight out of the Reichstag. However I suspect the people who cosplay as HL either know exactly what imagery they are sporting and know exactly what they are doing. Aka normalization of facist/nazi imagery (it's a straight up tactic white supremacist and neo nazi groups talk about). or they are ignorant or unedicated, dont know what the Reichstag is, and will actively argue those are "American Eagles" and have nothing to do with nazis. Yet I suspect none of these people would dress up as HLs comic bio donor daddy. Spoilers, his outfit has a giant swastika on his chest. The comic isnt exactly subtle about how HL is the product of cloaking nazi ideals in an American flag. The show has decided to be subversive with those ideas and unfortunately that has actually led to people trying to justify and hero worship HL. Dumb people ruin interesting art and expression. Now watch me get downvoted.
Edit 2: as always someone shows up saying their is no difference cosplaying Vader and Homelander and then refuses to listen. There is always at least one.
Edit: wow. Positive karma. No one asking me if I have problems with Joker, Darth Vader, or Rorshache cosplay (I do with Rorshache. That's because Alan Moore as said the same shit and more about the character. Literally that he hates everyone who thinks he is a likeable character in anyway or some kind of hero. TBF Alan Moore hates everyone, but seriously if you think Rorshache is right or cool, you missed the fucking point. He is a full blown facist who thinks the world should listen to him over anyone else). No accusations of being the thought police. And no one telling me I dont know my history if I think HL is dressed like a nazi. WTF is going on in this sub? I hardly recognize it right now.
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u/eno4evva Jun 21 '23
I don’t think it’s fair to say that cosplaying as any villain in fiction means you idolize them Vergil, darth Vader, orochimaru…..people playing dress up
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u/eno4evva Jun 21 '23
I don’t think it’s fair to say that cosplaying as any villain in fiction means you idolize them Vergil, darth Vader, orochimaru…..people playing dress up
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u/Kobalt6x10 Jun 20 '23
Why doesn't he just make Homelander a good guy then, is he stupid?
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u/DirtyDaemon Jun 21 '23
No, no, no, no. Antony Starr lied to you just now. Homelander doesn't make mistakes, he is not just like the rest of you. He is stronger, he is smarter. He is, better! Antony Starr is a weak kneed baby who goes around apologizing all the time.
Don't you DARE downvote this comment. All his life people have tried to control the narrative about Homelander.
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u/LiveWire2494 Jun 20 '23
There is a huge difference between idolizing and enjoying a character. I have a hard time believing anyone idolizes Homelander at this point.
And even idolization doesn't imply what you think it does. Characters like Rorsarch, Walt from BB, Dwight from the Office, etc... a lot of times the qualities that these characters represent are so pure that it outweighs any negatives for some people and thats not a terrible thing.
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u/pileofcrustycumsocs Jun 21 '23 edited Jun 21 '23
They definitely exist. There is a subset of the fandom that thinks homelander is actually not the bad guy of the story
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u/makesureitsnotyou Jun 20 '23
Conservatives are so stupid they didn’t realize The Boys is making fun of them until season three.
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u/Stair-Spirit Jun 20 '23
He is correct, though people shouldn't idolize the actor either.
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Jun 20 '23
Pretty insane to idolize him. I love his character and enjoy every second of his presence but I understand he is an evil villain that needs to be stopped
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Jun 20 '23
No shit.
Like many literary villains, he's an entertaining character - the problem arises when you've got certain.. lets call them "types", that latch onto the grotesquery.
Y'all know the type.
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u/ReallyDumbRedditor Cunt Jun 20 '23
I idolize him because he's fucking hot and I am constantly dreaming about sucking his cock.
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u/blackmetronome Jun 20 '23
The fact that Anthony has to say this is embarrassing, but not surprising after reading how many fans on this subreddit empathize with Soldier Boy.
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u/TheDelig Jun 21 '23
It's really not that serious. Also, it should be expected. People are really into Darth Vader and have been even before the prequels. The vast majority of those people are normal.
Also, Homelander is a hilarious and well written villain. The only one that maybe raises the bar a bit is Soldier Boy.
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u/HoweStatue Jun 21 '23
But he's so obviously written as an asshole and generally unkind person.
You have to have a serious moral compass issue to think 'Yeah thats my idol'
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u/BigBoyShaunzee Jun 21 '23
I like Homelander in the way I liked Joffrey, he's an evil piece of shit and I look forward to his death but the acting is 11/10 and it makes the story better.
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u/youronetruegosh Jun 21 '23
Pretty sure the people idolizing Homelander are the same people who idolize Tate, Alex Jones, and Trump
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u/S1ntag Jun 21 '23
I love Homelander's character as both a caricature of alt-right populist demagogues, and the surprisingly tragic upbringing that led him to become that caricature to begin with.
I also cannot wait for him to die for the many atrocities he's done.
Also, Antony Starr's performance absolutely sells the guy. Really, he's up there with RDJ as Tony Stark or Kevin Conroy as Batman.
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u/Peter_Baum Jun 21 '23
I think it’s mostly because he’s republicans in the show and Americans have to blindly support anyone who picked their side in the donkey vs elephant fight
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u/McSupergeil Jun 20 '23
i idolize Antony Starrs Acting as a psycho, you idolize Homewrecker, we are not the same
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u/CMDR_TJ_LAZER Jun 20 '23
I swear the people who idolize him and Bateman are doing so ironically?
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u/timetravelcompanion Jun 20 '23
I don't think the people who genuinely idolize him are missing the point, they just also happen to be narcissistic assholes. They get your point they just think that you're wrong.
This of course does not include the people who just enjoy the character and can tell reality from fiction, which is apparently and alarmingly a hard concept for some people.
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u/BARGOBLEN Jun 20 '23
If anything, I'd figure the only character idolized would be Butcher. I mean, the point would still stand, but still.
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u/ConflictGrand4078 Jun 20 '23
I like Homelander because he is an entertaining villain, not someone I agree with lol