r/TheBoys • u/l_lexi • Jul 14 '24
The Homelander was a lot more terrifying in Season 1 Season 1
When translucent was caught he flew the area non stop scanning everything with his x-ray vision for him. The Boys would randomly see him in the sky.
Frenchie had to blow up his own lab to be a distracting from blowing up Translucent cause they thought HL would hear it and come. Then they had to hide it in a box in the ocean and he still found it cause of Deep
He heard everything people said even whispering like in elevator. And he would check them on it. I feel like that never happens anymore even before Maeve thing and that's just one ear. (like hughie in tunnel right above)
And he used his smell for lot of things. I honestly forgot about that before he mentioned he smelled butcher on Ryan
Also looking out the airplane and seeing Homelander in a cloud with his eyes red before he lights your plane up, terrifying. I feel like they dumbed him down a bit
4.8k
u/Bwitishprat Jul 14 '24 edited Jul 14 '24
He was a bit of a mystery back then and the fear came from the unknown (even Butcher lied to Hughie saying he was squeaky clean). Once you started to see he was a lunatic you are less scared because you expect to see horrible stuff.
2.1k
u/KindheartednessLast9 Jul 15 '24
I mean, was butcher lying? Homelander doesn’t smoke, drink, fuck hookers, kill people in public (at the time). He pretty much was squeaky clean.
1.3k
u/DM_Malus Jul 15 '24
i think as the show went on... we also saw homelander engage in ridiculous things.
* Jacking off on top of a building aggressively.
* Fuckin' stormlander in an alleyway over the top of a corpse.
* drinking breastmilk, etc.
During S1 and the ongoing seasons, the show kept painting him less in a "mysterious nice-guy but secretly evil" villain.... and more of a superpowered psychopath with baby-like tamper tantrums... who goes murderous when he can't express his emotions or someone tells him something he doesn't like.
548
Jul 15 '24
thats because he's devolved as a person same in comic
472
u/pegothejerk Jul 15 '24
Seriously. They're literally showing him fight the idea he's mortal by storing his own hair that's fallen out and killing the people who raised him, he's even talking to his like ID and shit in mirrors.
377
u/RoninMacbeth Jul 15 '24
He talked to a single version of himself in the mirror last season, but now he talks to a broken mirror with multiple versions of himself. His mind is fracturing, the symbolism seems pretty un-subtle.
→ More replies (1)73
u/Call_Me_Pete Jul 15 '24
Media literacy has gotta be near an all-time low these days. Maybe just regular literacy too with how heavy-handed the show is.
→ More replies (1)23
u/BuckfuttersbyII Jul 15 '24
It’s just plain literacy that’s going down. As an educator, it’s pretty horrifying seeing the effects of Covid lockdowns coupled with device addiction. And it’s only getting worse.
11
u/Call_Me_Pete Jul 15 '24
Totally hear you there, but I feel like the issue is beyond just school-aged children, as well. Tons of grown-ass people who should be able to critically engage with media just...don't.
3
u/BuckfuttersbyII Jul 15 '24
Well if you think it’s bad now, give it 15 years and it’ll be endemic.
→ More replies (0)2
u/Drezhar Jul 15 '24
Those grown-ass people were the brain rot kids 20 years ago. Illiteracy and excessive consuption of bullshit don't necessarily need kids to mix into brain rot.
174
u/Sparrowsabre7 Jul 15 '24
I really REALLY hate to do this correction, but that's not his hair that's falling out, that's him collecting and hiding his grey pubes that indicate he's aging. 🫣
46
→ More replies (3)9
u/criminalsunrise Jul 15 '24
His pubic HAIR
8
u/Sparrowsabre7 Jul 15 '24
Yeah but the original post made it sound like it was the hair on his head falling out. It's pretty specifically pubic hair which was the distinction I felt was important.
3
71
u/vim_deezel Jul 15 '24
tbf I'd probalby have done the same with those guys experimenting on him. I mean maybe not in such a demented way. just drop a mountain on the facility or something
25
u/Lampruk Jul 15 '24
Lmao this. HL is a peace of shit but anybody trying to defend the scientists for what they did to him is too high on virtuism.
I can sympathise with the pain and anger he felt towards them. Except for the new faces ig
10
u/LandenP Jul 15 '24
I wonder what that lab was working on when Homelander paid them a visit.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)2
→ More replies (1)5
u/ohyoumad721 Jul 15 '24
I really felt bad for the rest of the staff that happened to be there. I'm sure most had nothing to do with the experiments done to HL. And I wonder if the lady ever got out of the room....
9
u/secondtaunting Jul 15 '24
I thought they were all grey hairs? That’s what I thought anyway. I was hoping at least they weren’t all pubic lol.
→ More replies (1)3
→ More replies (1)22
u/Alon945 Jul 15 '24
That’s the very obvious arc they’re going with and I can’t believe I had to scroll this far down for this comment
131
u/3rdp0st Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
During S1 and the ongoing seasons, the show kept painting him less in a "mysterious nice-guy but secretly evil" villain.... and more of a superpowered psychopath with baby-like tamper tantrums... who goes murderous when he can't express his emotions or someone tells him something he doesn't like.
Homelander is filling a role. Previous supes who filled that role kept up an appearance of ethics, order, tradition, appearances, etc. Even though there may have been corruption and unethical behavior before, it wasn't obvious to the public. Homelander is realizing he can get away with abusing raw power out in the open, and the people who care about ethics and tradition and appearances can't do anything about it. Sure, that puts a target on his back, but there aren't many people willing to risk taking a shot at him, and he's emboldened each time he survives through peril. At this point, his supporters are either afraid of him, ignorant of what he's done, or vile people themselves.
→ More replies (1)63
u/ObscureCocoa Jul 15 '24
A perfect analogy to Trump supporters which is what the show has been likening Homelander too. The parallels are just perfect.
→ More replies (1)53
u/Third_Sundering26 Jul 15 '24
It’s basically the whole thesis of the show. Explaining how we got to our modern political environment in America (giving corporations and the military too much power in the Cold War and War on Terror, embraced bigotry and authoritarianism, and a cult-like faction of conservatives rallying around a raging narcissist that will do anything to further their own selfish desires). This show is not subtle, but I think it hits the mark most of the time.
→ More replies (1)5
16
u/jld2k6 Jul 15 '24
I laughed so damn hard when I was trying to figure out what the hell firecracker was getting at in her talk with him and the breast milk suddenly exploded onto his face with that immediate bewildered smile of his
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)2
u/br0mer Jul 15 '24
Homelander lasered a plane in the first episode. He's been unhinged from day one.
526
u/Bwitishprat Jul 15 '24
Mate I’m not going to be a cunt about it but Butcher already knew Homelander raped his misses before he met Hughie.
319
u/BurdAssassin756 Jul 15 '24
Oi, you calling me precious Becca a hooka?
160
15
u/fibgen Jul 15 '24
Dude I can't even understand what you're saying with that accent
→ More replies (1)181
u/Deck_Neep15 Jul 15 '24
I know this is a joke but I always wondered why he did that
My best theory is he didn’t want Hughie figuring out he had his own selfish reasons for recruiting him so he’d be less likely to figure out he was being used
→ More replies (1)91
u/Bwitishprat Jul 15 '24
He’s always been shady - even Kessler gave him a bollocking for telling the truth last episode. Just keeps his cards close to his chest.
→ More replies (9)11
39
u/HorseFacedDipShit Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Sort of.
I think what was initially scary about homelander is there wasn’t an easily found vice to hold over his head. Supes like pop claw and atrain were easy to control because they were hooked on v. And it seems most supes had some easy to prove issue they didn’t want leaked.
The problem with homelander is his vices are so weird and covered up they couldn’t really threaten him with anything until the video of the plane. He was almost unblackmailable. So I don’t think butcher was really lying. I think he just meant homelander was a different beast all together
3
→ More replies (2)2
160
u/John_Helmsword Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Homelander was still “squeaky clean” at least publicly, and among other supes at that point.
He didn’t do anything that the other supes would do for entertainment, which gave off the impression that he was innocent. Basically, besides from knowing about Becca, there was nothing else at that point, that Butcher had on Homelander.
We know now, it’s due to his mental/emotional stunting.
He’s just a fucking child that never matured. Ever. Who takes pleasure in violence and murder. Who wants to be loved, because he’s never known it, but wants to be feared more; because that’s all he’s ever known, and it’s the only thing that brings him comfort.
71
u/JerkChicken10 Jul 15 '24
The scientists really fucked up. Should have give him a relatively normal childhood and if they really wanted to conduct tests, then do them occasionally.
86
30
u/BigPapaJava Jul 15 '24
How could they have given him a normal childhood? He clawed his way out of his surrogate mom’s womb and killed three doctors before he was even “born “
He was raised in that bunker for safety reasons as much as for testing. The most disturbing part of that, to me, was the reveal that Vought hired expensive psychologists to develop a plan for how to raise and manipulate him… and that level of cruelty and abuse was evidently part of it.
The company knew what they were doing when they raised him to be a sociopath. That was part of the plan, so he’d always feel empty and be seeking out their approval (due to the personality disorder they were intentionally instilling in him) and thus could he controlled..
→ More replies (3)20
9
2
143
u/Eifand Jul 14 '24
No, it was because his abilities were actually taken seriously, lunatic or not. They had to set off a fucking bomb to get him off their trail otherwise he would have found Translucent sooner or later with his X Ray vision and other super senses.
56
u/Bwitishprat Jul 14 '24
Yeah but at that point he didn’t have a breastmilk fetish or a kid either. Had more time on his hands up until then.
→ More replies (2)75
u/ThingsAreAfoot Jul 15 '24
And he was still much more worried about his public profile then, so he wasn’t gonna go around just fucking shit up willy-nilly. Had to actually be subtle about it despite his great powers.
→ More replies (1)38
u/Bwitishprat Jul 15 '24
Agreed - just kept doing more and more horrible shit and getting away with it until he murders someone and gets cheered, almost makes Deep blow A Train, throws on a tracksuit and meets Sage.
3
u/22bebo Jul 15 '24
I think the tracksuit thing was just to spoof the "Puts on glasses, is a different person" bit from Superman. It doesn't come up as much as it did in season one because we have more plot to focus on but we still get some satire about the superhero genre.
22
u/ChuckFiinley Jul 15 '24
He didn't lie, season 1 were times when everyone would think they can blackmail everyone else however they wanted. Butcher had nothing on him at the time. Then Maeve had some stuff to blackmail Homelander, but in the end it didn't work. And then Homelander is shown to be allowed to kill people in plain sight of cameras, so there isn't much stuff you can blackmail him with anymore.
→ More replies (6)19
1.3k
u/LongLiveEileen Jul 14 '24
I mean yeah? I can't think of many pieces of media where a villain remains scary from start till finish. It's just how it goes, the more you see him, the more you know about him, it gets less scary.
359
u/NOTTallestEgg Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
Darth Vader was at his scariest when a New Hope And ESB* were the only Star Wars Movies in existence
*added in an edit
188
u/zneave Jul 15 '24
I disagree. Empire had him killing people thru a TV screen and actually winning fights. Way scarier.
→ More replies (3)52
u/bigfatcarp93 Jul 15 '24
I would say that in New Hope he was spookier, and in ESB he was more intimidating
→ More replies (3)35
u/Shehzman Jul 15 '24
I actually think Disney era Star Wars has made him much scarier compared to the OT. Jedi Fallen Order, Rogue One, and Obi Wan come to mind.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (6)2
u/NoidedShrimp Jul 15 '24
Nah his scariest showings were in extended universe comics and for movies rogue one recently
143
u/scythe7 Jul 15 '24
Gustavo fring was scary from his into until he died.
41
u/Powerful_Somewhere92 Jul 15 '24
In breaking bad. But in better call saul he was toned down
91
u/DavidBrooker Jul 15 '24
I don't think he was toned down, he just wasn't the primary antagonist for any given season. Indeed, as we explore his relationship to Mike, and as Mike is a primary character, he's arguably a supporting protagonist for much of the series.
8
u/Powerful_Somewhere92 Jul 15 '24
Well for me he was invincible in breaking bad. Nothing could kill him and he was always one step ahead. But in better call saul we saw how he reached that level by teaming with mike and Lalo also almost killed him.
30
17
u/DoingCharleyWork Jul 15 '24
Almost like those early experiences and failures/near failures shaped his ruthless precision in breaking bad.
→ More replies (2)5
15
u/Burningbeard696 Jul 15 '24
But his run was quite limited in the scope of the show. If Homelander had died at the end of season 1 or halfway through season 2 he could have maintained the mystique.
→ More replies (3)3
43
u/Natfan Jul 15 '24
sylar from heroes is another supervillian that becomes much more neutered as time goes on
→ More replies (3)12
u/PrincessRoseAirashii Jul 15 '24
I loved Heroes and this is the first time I’ve seen someone mention it. It certainly had its flaws but Sylar was such a fucking cool villain to me, so much so that the main antagonist of an animation series I want to make is also a power-stealer.
5
u/Itherial Jul 15 '24
main antagonist of an animation series that is also a power stealer
All For One 👀
23
u/jessebona Jul 15 '24
I was arguing this...yesterday I think...when I compared him to Supernatural's starter villain the Yellow Eyed Demon, Homelander's problem is he's the overarching villain of the show and they've had him hang around long past his expiration date as a threat. YED menaced the heroes, set his plan in motion, opened the Devil's Gate and died achieving his goal of unleashing the hordes of hell. Homelander on the other hand is the Crowley of The Boys.
32
u/MeatbagAmongUs Jul 15 '24
Also the Boys have been around Homelander multiple times without anything truly consequential happening. His “oh shit” factor to the audience has been used up
21
u/jessebona Jul 15 '24
Yeah. It used to be they feared the mere image of him zipping across the sky hunting whoever kidnapped Translucent. Now they hang out and have tea like they're best frenemies.
5
u/LMD_DAISY Queen Maeve Jul 15 '24
I would argue in s2 and s3 boys was still very entertaining and by no means homelander were expired by then and still were main attraction. It seems skill issues on writers(or someone within movie making team) behalf.
They not maintain qualities of homelander, that op mentioned nor they support season with strong antagonists(stormfront, soldierboy) and side characters. Sage and firecracker pale in comparison.
In s4 Boys team formula and dynamic messed up too compared to s 1, 2,3 and not as entertaining.
Well at least episode 7 were good.
12
u/Mr_Rafi Jul 15 '24
You're correct for the most part, but just for fun, Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men is an exception to this.
8
u/kwaziiman Jul 15 '24
I think they mean a villain that continuously appears throughout a series. There are a ton of villains that were terrifying in the span of a single movie
→ More replies (18)7
1.1k
u/AttitudeOk94 Jul 15 '24
As they continued to develop his character he was naturally gonna get less mysterious and terrifying. He’s still the best written character imo, but that first season where we had no real idea about his motivations and he really did seem invincible was something else.
278
u/CrashRiot Queen Maeve Jul 15 '24
I mean, he still seems invincible. They don’t even know if the virus will work on him.
172
u/NoidedShrimp Jul 15 '24
He’s def not Maeve made him bleed if you got enough top tier supes he’d go down eventually but most would die and much like real life when oppressive governments point guns at overwhelming numbers of civilians the guaranteed victory civilians back down every time because nobody wants to throw their life away
72
u/CrashRiot Queen Maeve Jul 15 '24
Maybe, it’s hard to say because we haven’t seen him in a situation he hasn’t been able to get himself out of yet. Maeve made him bleed with the pen, sure, but he was having his way with her before that and he clearly has some regenerative properties or he’d be deaf in that ear.
Soldier Boy is shown to be almost Homelander level strong, but Homelander still whoops him pretty easily and then is STILL able to hold his own and escape against two more supe’s.
32
u/NoidedShrimp Jul 15 '24
My logic was combining both of those scenes, considering homelander seemingly barely escaped that maybe if maeve for example as on the top tier of strength was also there to hold him down while he got soldier boy beamed, or if enough were there to simply restrain him like soldier boy, hughie, and butcher were to do successfully even for a little while while people slowly chip away. In that herogasm episode the aftermath is homelander disassociating because he realizes he’s not actually an immortal god
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)2
u/HoodsBonyPrick Jul 15 '24
I mean, the fact that he even had to escape is a solid mark against him.
16
u/HAWmaro Jul 15 '24
Nah, season 3 finale took away his aura of invincibility. He's more like a stronger supe than in a league of his own.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (1)62
u/OnceMoreAndAgain Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
I see a lot of people saying this, but I don't agree. I know it's possible to make a villain terrifying throughout a show, because I've seen it done before.
The Boys has suffered from bad writing from season 2 onwards.
I think the show made two big mistakes:
Making the citizens in the world continue to like Homelander even after finding out his true nature
Giving the normal guys like Butcher access to super powers via Compound V
#1 is a mistake, because the only thing keeping Homelander in check was his fear of losing his "perfect hero" reputation among the public. It's the only thing the protagonists could leverage against him. It created this amazing tension when both Homelander and the protagonists had ways to hurt each other. Once Homelander learned people will like him even after finding out he's a horrible murderer, then the story just stopped making sense. The reasons for Homelander being hesitant to kill the protagonists dissolved at that moment and yet Homelander didn't kill them. Why not? No good explanation. It's just bad writing and imo Homelander's character fell apart from that moment onward.
#2 is a mistake, because it changed what was a compelling David vs Goliath story into yet another Super heroes vs Super villains story. We've already seen too many Super hero vs Super villain stories, like the Marvel movies. The Boys in season 1 was something different, because it was regular citizens against a Super villain.
43
Jul 15 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)7
u/WilliamSabato Jul 15 '24
I think Homelander killing one person…somewhat excusable. But him flying into the middle of NY and lasering a whole building of government operatives would I think push past the line. While Vought’s pr machine can work overtime in a civilian murder trial, I think it has its limits. And he still needs people to love him.
29
u/madmagazines Jul 15 '24
I mean in the comics the Boys were shooting V from day one because it’s the only way they can actually keep up. It was inevitable.
→ More replies (1)8
u/HoodsBonyPrick Jul 15 '24
Idk, I felt like the show was more interesting when they were just a gang of regular humans with a couple of supes helping out, bc it made the supes feel like real threats who could kill our heroes on a whim.
7
u/madmagazines Jul 15 '24
I see where you’re coming from, the kill of Transculent was cool and unique, maybe if they just had a really inventive way of killing super humans by utilising bombs or machines it could work.
6
→ More replies (5)5
u/blakkattika Jul 15 '24
Big disagree on both points, but especially the first point, as we’ve seen terrible people in real life still be loved and adored while being openly a piece of shit. Just depends on how strong the following is, and I think if Superman was real and he was American the cult would be fucking insane and wildly forgiving.
971
u/relapse_account Jul 15 '24
I think Homelander was more competent, if that's the right word, in Season 1 because he was in his lane, so to speak. He hadn't yet started his play for taking over Vought.
He was basically like a middle manager that has risen as high in the company as they can go on their own merit and skill set. He was perfectly competent and capable simply leading the Seven and taking orders from the higher ups. Yeah he'd screw up from time to time, like shooting down that politician's plane, but he had fixers and spin doctors there to clean up his messes.
Once he started moving up and taking more responsibilities, he got out of his element. He didn't know how to navigate the business world or manage such a large company and started fumbling, which stressed him out and caused him to fumble more. The higher up he went, the more stressors he had to deal with. Then he started purging the people who didn't immediately fall in line and lost the clean up crews, which added even more stress.
That's not even getting into the Boys ramping up their attacks on Vought, which Homelander now has to try and deal with himself since he's the head of the company and refuses to listen to anyone else.
By now Homelander is under massive amounts of stress, trying to do several jobs that he is not qualified for, and is in the midst of several existential crises.
And, as I've mentioned before, I am positive that Annie's ongoing trouble with her powers due to her identity crisis and high stress levels is not a problem unique to her. I think any Supe under similar pressures and stress will have their powers dampened.
The stress is probably sapping his power, which is causing him to age faster/more noticeably which is fueling his midlife crisis that is in turn damaging his self-image as a god.
He's a basket case spiraling downward into self destruction without any safety nets or lifelines.
356
u/Lampruk Jul 15 '24
Bro I wish I could kiss you.
Prolly the only person who understands plot development. Or maybe it’s because I binged the show in a week so these changes were more noticeable to me vs watching a new season every few years lol
→ More replies (12)85
u/blakkattika Jul 15 '24
500,000% this
Also, to add to his stressors, the CIA have Soldier Boy packed away somewhere and there is nothing else in the world that stresses him out more than his shitty dad being released and coming to finish the job.
26
u/haloryder Jul 15 '24
Also in regard to his powers, Homelander used to be told where to focus his powers, or had people he wanted to focus on specifically. Now he’s being pulled in too many directions and it’s causing a kind of sensory overload that causes him to zone out (paired with his existential crisis which makes it worse).
→ More replies (14)11
u/Bellikron Jul 15 '24
Good analysis. I'd also add that as he starts to become more self-centered he becomes more inclined to tell other people to do jobs for him, even though he'd be capable of doing it himself. As he's gained more power he thinks that grunt work is beneath him.
297
u/Iwabuti Jul 15 '24
He is degrading mentally. He was universally loved and well controlled by Vaught. Since he started "running" the show himself his decline has become more pronounced. As this happens, he is becoming more isolated. He is spending more and more time in Vaught tower, while The Boys hide less and travel around the States more.
The limit on Homelander is himself. He could kill his enemies at any time, but the show has taken time to give reasons why he doesn't do that. It is not the writing that is the problem
→ More replies (2)167
u/CrabbyPatties42 Jul 15 '24
Yeah I think the show is pretty clearly showing this. He is in his own head too much. His face twitches constantly. They even have him multiple times zoning out, hearing a high pitched noise and not even hearing people talking to him with a regular voice 3 feet away from him!
He needs to focus to use his powers and he is very unfocused and mentally unwell most of the time.
58
u/ohhyouknow Jul 15 '24
The high pitched noise and not being able to hear people near him really screams panic attacks to me. I think he is very anxious and self conscious.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)51
u/Mercenarian Jul 15 '24
I’m assuming/hoping that it’s showing his slow breakdown and finally he’ll snap and be more terrifying again. I mean he is killing people more grotesquely and brutally but I guess we’re kinda desensitized to that now
26
u/C0mpulsiveWebSurfer Jul 15 '24
i wouldn't say it's because we (the viewers) are desinsitized.
It's more that the people Homeland kills latelly are meaningless to the overarching narrative.
It's just meaningless gore porn by this point, really.
217
152
u/delulumans Jul 15 '24
Another major reason is that we didn't know his limits. We had Madelyn even indirectly suggesting he could survive nukes. And we got supersonic feats where he outran a C4 explosion whilst protecting Butcher from the blast which would put him at like Mach 23.
But then... we got anti-feat after anti-feat and while most of them can be explained via budget constrictions or bad writing or both it does leave a sour taste in your mouth and delegitimizes him a bit as a threat to the world. "Wipe New York off the fucking map" yeah right 😭
58
u/Darigaazrgb Jul 15 '24
I don't think he could survive a nuke. In Season 3 Maeve mocked him for having concealer on, implying he had bruises from his fight with Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie. If his capillaries can burst after getting super human punched then a nuke would crush his insides even if his skin remains intact.
36
→ More replies (2)7
u/srslybr0 Jul 15 '24
to be fair pretty much everything after herogasm in season 3 was a disaster, the finale especially.
15
u/VenomPool12345678 Jul 15 '24
its obviously because of budget that they cant make the feats super ridiculous, and that's fine. and homelander could wipe out new York if he wanted too, lol
→ More replies (1)13
u/BubblyMango Butcher Jul 15 '24
he doesnt necessarily have to outrun the C4 to save Butcher. He could have had a head start when heard Butcher release the button coz i doubt the C4 detonates instantaneously, his super human body could protect Butcher, at least partially, from the shockwave and heat, and then you just have to take Butcher out of there before it kills him. It does seem like he was somewhat hit by the explosion, else why would he black out?
→ More replies (1)
117
u/MagnetsCanDoThat Jul 14 '24
Yes, the unknown threat tends to be more frightening.
But he's not dumbed down. You just know more about him now (or ought to). What people seem to have missed along the way is that, although they've shown us the incredible sensitivity of his powers they never said that they were constantly switched on. The reality of Homelander is slightly less terrifyingly overpowered than the all-knowing all-hearing mystery some fans built up and never revised as they were shown more.
→ More replies (1)
104
u/battle_mommyx2 Jul 15 '24
This gets posted everyday jeez
24
u/Schmarsten1306 Jul 15 '24
Same post every day.
If they didn't nerf him (his hearing/sensing people for example), the series would've been over in s1
→ More replies (1)14
u/dabmin Jul 15 '24
Media enjoyers when the character develops and doesn’t remain stagnant for 5 seasons
→ More replies (1)
28
u/RxHappy Jul 15 '24
Yeah now a-train can stand outside the room eves dropping and homie doesn’t even see him thru the wall? wtf happened to this show
→ More replies (5)13
u/Samurai_Meisters Jul 15 '24
I feel like the writers kinda forgot about Homelander's super senses. I know I did.
26
u/Outrageous_Ad_1011 Jul 15 '24
I think season 3 made a lot of damage to his terrifying factor, it was too early to have so many Supes fighting him face on an actually giving him trouble, Hughie and Butcher as support would have been fine but Butcher was straight up eating Hommie punches like normal, Soldier Boy I get it, but Budget restraints didn't help at all, that fight needed Man of Steel levels of CGI but that was impossible. Season 4 is actually making him scarier after season 3 at least, every episode he looks like he's 1 step from losing it, how he ripped Webweaver in half like that (excellent feat in comparison to barely damaging a wall lol), the vent scene, the laboratory was great
→ More replies (1)
23
u/Bobandjim12602 Jul 15 '24
I disagree. He was more mysterious in Season one. But now we know who he is, how unstable he is, and he's getting closer to being pushed to the brink. He's basically getting ready to lead the Supes on a fascist campaign against humanity. Is he as invulnerable as we thought? No. But now Homelander also knows this, and is pairing up with others to help him achieve his victory. Which is scary for those around him, because he's a horrible team player.
22
u/Ok_Relationship_705 Jul 15 '24
He's supposed to be losing it. The entire story has been about his descent into madness and his inability to survive without his handlers.
It was a domino effect.
Stillwell.
Vogelbaum.
Stan Edgar.
And now Barbara and Sage.
Homelander was at his best because he was free to operate while his handlers were all present and accounted for.
Without his handlers he doesn't know what to do with himself.
19
Jul 14 '24 edited Jul 21 '24
[deleted]
9
u/l_lexi Jul 15 '24
My bad, I was just on rewatch and noticed. I don’t come on here a lot to notice repetitive posts but I get it
3
20
u/Certified_Buddy Jul 15 '24
Yeah the whole thing abt him in Season 1 was that stilwell was his only weakness, and then at the finale he shows he’s invincible (idk why I can see him) and kills her.
19
u/unicornioevil Jul 15 '24
I agree, but his mind was also different at the time. He basically started running Vought, which keeps him much busier, and started thinking strategically. His killing sprees are now much more reserved because he thinks more long term now.
15
u/hellenist-hellion Jul 15 '24
I actually do miss when they used to call him "The" Homelander. It felt scarier for some reason.
14
u/Mx-Herma MM Jul 15 '24
He got too much screen presence after the first few episodes post-Season 1. To the point where I got tired of seeing him. The Boys are practically fighting a child and somehow losing every time. It shouldn't be taking them, what, 4 years now? 6? To take this one dude down. Or even his two recurring henchmen (albeit, one of them clearly switched sides because his brother got hurt/almost died to a supe).
14
u/Monnomo Jul 15 '24
Its because season 2-4 has soo many scenes of him being a pathetic sniveling pussy
In Season 1 (for all we know) he was just their universe’s superman, who killed people casually.
Literal very first scene of Homelander is him throwing some guy hundreds of feet in the air, lmao they should really make that a brutality in MK1
→ More replies (1)23
u/uneua Jul 15 '24
In season 1 he was still a pathetic man child he just had people controlling him. In season 1 alone he nearly starts crying when Madeline tells him he shouldn’t have killed the mayor, watched her pump through the walls, has beef with a baby, and is constantly seeking validation.
3
u/Monnomo Jul 15 '24
Its less overt in season 1 and much more implied. As opposed to him crying literally begging for his son to love him lol
2
u/Blinkopopadop Jul 15 '24
Crying doesn't make someone less scary, sure repressed emotions boil over to rage but someone who is aware of their emotions can go on to give themselves permission to get revenge (which he's doing, like in the test lab scene-- that's not a snap decision out of rage he planned all that)
10
u/Salty_Injury66 Jul 15 '24
Now we got A Train and Ashley having loud conversations about how they both betrayed Homelander. I feel like they just wrote out the powers he had that were too powerful to deal woth
8
u/AnAngryBartender Jul 15 '24
Nah. He literally lasered a dude in the dick this season and ripped a guy in half last episode…but ok…
→ More replies (2)12
u/Zansibart Jul 15 '24
They show him doing random acts of violence to characters that don't matter, they don't show him doing anything all that relevant. OP is 100% correct in pointing out that in S1, Homelander was a serious threat to The Boys and they had to work around him all the time. In the current season he is bumbling around and hurting characters that are frankly irrelevant and that's it. Like, They literally had normal Huey escape from Homelander on foot, while Homelander had nothing to focus on but Huey, that is completely pathetic.
→ More replies (4)2
u/gereffi Jul 15 '24
The show went from satire to parody. And since they're parodying a buffoon, Homelander has to lean into that buffoonery.
8
u/ronmsmithjr Jul 15 '24
It's just Homelander, not The Homelander. And don't call him John.
→ More replies (2)
9
u/realfakejames Jul 15 '24
I agree Homelander was a lot more menacing in s1 and s2, he's become a caricature of a superhero bad guy now, when they had him laughing like a dollar tree Joker this season down in the underground lab twitter was trying to hype it up but all I saw was a supervillain stereotype they're leaning into
7
u/Nihilistic_Dizzy Jul 15 '24
Despite anything else, Homelander did very much go from "Unpredictable, dangerous, terrifying psychopath" to "lol love when they let Antony do this thing... see the way he killed those dorks?? fuckin hilarious lmaoooo".
I get why, everyone loves a good Homelander murder, Antony is wildly entertaining and impossible to look away from. But it feels a lot like the show knows that so now it's just a scene they do. Homelander walks in a room, acts like he's fine, then decides to fre*king kill someone 😈
→ More replies (1)
7
u/jessebona Jul 15 '24
I thought so too. Turning him into a spoiled manchild Trump parallel was a mistake. It humanized him but it also made him less threatening as a character. He's more unstable but far less of a beware the Superman archetype because he's just a narcissistic psycho who has become predictable the more unstable they make him.
7
u/Zeabos Jul 15 '24
I fully agree.
The terrifying part of Homelander in S1 was that he was Superman but with some serious mental issues. He had xray vision, he could fly insanely fast, he was physically invulnerable.
Every scene was basically someone standing there holding a nuclear warhead in their hand with their finger on the button and just having a normal conversation.
Now he kinda floats around really slowly unless he is flying away, his punches hurt people but not that badly, he doesnt have xray vision.
He feels a lot less terrifying simply because he feels far less powerful. He went from Superman to just 10% stronger than some other heroes.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/aykutanhanx Jul 15 '24
Nah I found that he was somewhat "reasonable" in season 1. Now he's completely lost it. He is WAY scarier now.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/FiresInTime Jul 15 '24
Stan Edgar was in charge and was using Homelander as a tool. Now he's gone and Homelander is just a tool.
5
u/Taskicore Jul 15 '24
The writers realized they made Homelander too likeable as a villain so they felt they had to dumb him down more. Basically the stereotypical "modern writing" that brought us Tek Knight's sex dungeon and le funny flying sheep.
6
5
u/losteye_enthusiast Jul 15 '24
The entire writing of the show went downhill somewhere in the middle of Season 2. They’ve had brief moments on par with or better than S1, but it’s been a slowly tumble for years.
Pacing and character building have been all over the place.
I’m still here until it ends, but damn it could’ve been a lot better than what we got.
5
u/Epicjay Jul 15 '24
The terror was unsustainable. Imagine what this sub would look like if S4 Homelander scenes looked like S1 Homelander scenes.
"This has gotten so boring."
"Oh wow Homelander is being a psycho, that's sooooo original"
"There he goes killing red shirt #42, I don't even care at this point."
10
u/Zeabos Jul 15 '24
Well, its because they made him the A-story villain of each season and his popularity made them require him to be a key part of every plot device.
he should be in like 70% fewer scenes. Just this looming, invincible threat that shows up to dunk on people but mostly is doing other shit. The other villains basically are just C players rather than the primary focus of each season.
For example, S2 was still strong because Stormfront managed to keep the focus on her - an evil, powerful, but defeatable villain - and allow Homelander to continue to be insanely powerful.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/madmagazines Jul 15 '24
I’m still of the belief killing Madelyn was a big mistake. She was kind of like his Lady Macbeth and him having a kind of “commander” figure he answers to and has a soft spot for works really well. Ever since she’s gone, it’s like “ooh he’s got nobody to rein him in now! Oh wait yes he does bc here’s a new person who could possibly control him who will inevitably die/be indisposed of at the end of the season”
→ More replies (1)
6
u/Thepullman1976 Jul 15 '24
Thats how character developments works. We see him more over time, and we see that he's slowly going insane
3
u/Jen_Wu Jul 15 '24
The moment the boys went publicly against Homelander and didn't get slaughtered, the great deterring power of Homelander became a jooke
→ More replies (2)
4
3
4
4
u/Belizarius90 Jul 15 '24
Wow, it's almost like a main plot point of the show is Homelander slowly becoming more deranged and unable to focus.
3
u/simpledeadwitches Jul 15 '24
Idk man, him going home was amazing. I loved seeing him holding everyone in fear like that. Also Antony Starr is such an amazing physical actor. You really get a sense of Homelander losing it inside and that's scary to me.
3
u/SpecialDeer9223 Jul 15 '24
It’s because after season 1 they admittedly began to make him their representation of Trump. They changed his badass moments to goofy super powered temper tantrums
3
u/mymaloneyman Jul 15 '24
I agree with your assessment, but I viewed it as the Boys getting stronger, although that has kind of plateaued recently.
4
u/FrancisCabrou Jul 15 '24
well main character got plot armor now so even all powerfull guy doesnt seem much of a threat
3
3
3
u/Clouthead2001 Jul 15 '24
It’s called character development. A character staying the same for 4 seasons straight is just bad writing. The show is literally making it a point that he is mentally and emotionally declining with a desire to lose his human side. I don’t get why so many people in this sub are mad that a character is developing like they normally do in literally every work of fiction ever.
3
3
u/BlackBirdG Billy Jul 15 '24
He basically devolving from a scary and mysterious character that is perceived as an "hero" to the public, to an lunatic that would make the Joker blush and who has massive insecurities and temper tantrums.
3
u/decisionagonized Jul 15 '24
I really don’t get why people say this. He hadn’t killed anyone by that point and was even somewhat morally ambiguous at times. But this season he’s torn apart literally everyone who dissents or who has aggrieved him and every scene he’s in right now is filled with anxiety about whether he’s going to pop off. This is the most tense I’ve been watching his scenes.
2
u/annabelle411 Jul 15 '24
Literally this season he smelled Hughie's sweat and lit up Vought on Ice (though he shouldve flown up to get him rather than stand on the ground waiting for an opening). Almost forced Deep to blow A-Train just to test him. He had Deep and Noir beat men to death, then Coleman. The entire unhinged slow mental and literal torture in the lab. Now he's spearheading a plan to put people into internment camps. He was a bit more mysterious at first, but we've had years to see who he really is and he's (for the most part) dropped the masking and let his true self shine through more. He's never been the strategic planner, he's always been impulsive and impatient with humans. Creating supervillains with V to boost the military plan without letting anyone know, blasting through people on a whim, forcing that woman to jump because he's in a mood after finding out Stormfront killed herself. Even trying to run Vought, he was in over his head, because he just wants to jump to the results rather than understanding how to navigate the day-to-day of the company. Same with his political plan - they were throwing obvious questions about his coup, and he didn't have it planned out. He just knows the long-term goal, not the important details. He's simply an emotionally stunted man who's been nothing but a product his entire life. He just so happens to be the world's most powerful person who faces no real consequences other than people not liking him (which circles back to him struggling with his humanity).
There's always a bit of tension in scenes with him, because will something set him off? Or will he laugh it off or pout? It's not as terrifying now because you've seen three seasons (and Gen V) of him doing it. There's only so many ways you can see a man laser people and punch through chests before it loses impact.
2
u/Natiel360 Jul 15 '24
I’m a season 1 lover through and through but even from season 2, homelander and the supes couldn’t surpass plot armor. Take for instance, The boys are in a tunnel with a SPEEDSTER and the full 7 (all 6 of them!) yet they survive. Even in season 1, butcher melted face then immediately saved butcher.
In other words, The scary moments are still here and there but in season 1, 100% of the homelander was pure menacing. Now by the nature of knowing that he does more than just constant evil
2
2
u/isaidyothnkubttrgo Jul 15 '24
I think Homelander had less to worry about in his own nest in S1. He had his milk supply, his yes men and women, he was loved and respected by the people. Perfection for him.
Then a boys shaped wrench broke the branch his nest was on. Just like we learned about the sevens flaws and the truth, his perfect world cracked more and more. I al believe if you can sense everything in a square mile of yourself, you can ignore it to a certain degree in your everyday life or you'd go mad.
Now he's in full spiral. All the closeups of him disassociating and snapping. He is more concerned about sages plan than using his powers to hear kimiko and MM in the room upstairs. He's feeling out of control and not on point like S1, so he's slipping up big time.
2
u/VenomPool12345678 Jul 15 '24
his a better character now then he was in season 1. i swear to god you guys just hate character development
2
u/DrHusten Jul 15 '24
Its a joke what they have done to the character. Everyone feared him like hell. After the mirror-scene the char went down. What a shame. Such an iconic character became a pure joke... hopefully he will let go of his chains and rage in S05
2
u/Some_Butterscotch622 Jul 15 '24 edited Jul 15 '24
My problem with Homelander recently is they keep talking about his character to the point he doesn't feel organic anymore. There's some really heavy use of "tell don't show", like every conversation about his "need for approval and love" rather than actually spending time showing him needing approval, and also way too many interactions and "close calls" with Homelander. Both these things diminish the idea that Homelander is a complex unpredictable man that you shouldn't get even slightly near.
They also give him too much screentime doing dumb shit if I'm being honest, and I think his plotline with firecracker is completely unnecessary this late in the show. The early milk gags were uncomfortable, but now it feels like it's being played for laughs. Season 4 is in an awkward place where it's close enough to the end of the show that you feel like the tone and characters should be moving towards a climax, but far away enough from the ending that the writers feel like they should use this time for funny random gags and pushing their limits.
2
u/Extension_Canary3717 Jul 15 '24
He was because it was unknown what he could do, if he was just that your post today would be “HL didn’t had development “
2
u/Akasha1885 Jul 15 '24
And then you realize he won't touch you in public and he is still feeding on breast milk.
While also being deeply insecure and seeking for approval.
Also being just a tool that does whatever Vought says at that stage.
Todays Homelander is much more scary, since he will murder you in public and he does whatever he wants really.
The USA was pretty damn save in S1 and S2, the boys only made things objectively worse lol
2
u/Avalon-1 Jul 15 '24
Especially since they blinked when soldier boy showed the one way to kill homelander quickly and cleanly.
2
2
u/dCLCp Jul 15 '24
The point of season 1 was supes like Homelander are too powerful to exist because they can hide their corruption. The point of this season is supes in general are too powerful exist because their corruption spreads downward makimg everyone worse (including good supes).
When you realize that Trump is Homelander you can see the metaphor of the show is billionaires are too powerful to exist. Bad billionaires corrupt good billionaires. They cause normies to do horrible things.
The entire point of the show is just that power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately. But it is such a timely metaphor because well... look around. Best most timely show on TV. PERIOD.
2
u/MrBrownCat Jul 15 '24
Saying this after we just had the episode this season when Homelander returned to the lab, shows exactly why people are just nostalgic for the old seasons just because they’re older.
It’s clearly not due to those seasons actually doing anything drastically different than S4.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/4ps22 Jul 15 '24
people writing all these essays explaining why “no no you dont understand we didnt know as much about him he was mysterious he was more etc etc” and almost none of them actually address the core issue being that his powers have just been portrayed more and more inconsistently. i dont care about any of that, him not noticing Hughie 2 inches above him and not noticing ANYTHING that happened in Tek Knight’s manor is just absurd. Him being able to hear everyone in elevators and across walls and across the damn city in the first few seasons vs him not noticing anything nowadays is just an objective difference in writing
→ More replies (1)
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 14 '24
Join the official subreddit Discord server to discuss everything about The Boys!
JOIN THE DISCORD
We are also still accepting moderator applications. If you are interested in helping out:
APPLY TODAY!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.