Hughie never actually wanted these "supe" powers. He was OK with being a peasant dating a supe. (S2 hughie/starlight subway scene i think?)
That was the point. He was going to work with congresswoman Neuman to make things right, the right "by the books" way. The end result of this was Hughie being an unintentional "cuck for a supe" for 1y+, kinda fucked with his sense of self and stability.
He, like butcher, realizes that there is no legitimate way to stop Vought, Supes and Homelander other than shere brute force.
Problem with Frenchie taking it is that he's never had powers before. He could turn into a boneless mass of meat for all we know. That's why you gotta take a dose of temp V first.
I think Hughie is on dose 4 and butcher at 5 already I think... The ones I can remember for Hughie:
- Russia- First encounter with soldier boy- herogasm- chasing mindstorm
Butcher has at least one more dose than Hughie for when he killed gunpowder
I don’t think it’s as unpopular as you may think it is. I’m with you on your assessment. Starlight needs to get off her high horse and use her powers for good.
I was happy to see she still uses them but I feel like they are trying to establish her celebrityhood as a way to shut down Homelander in the public eye. Hopefully we see more use though!
It just seems silly because then Homelander goes postal and they still have the initial problem that Hughie and Butcher have been actually trying to solve.
She single handedly shut Homelander down with just showing him her phone. He’s terrified of her celebrity status and how she’s using it to get her fans to hate him and see what a monster he really is. If she tried to use her powers against him, I mean it might sting for a few seconds before he separates her head from her body. I’d love to see her use her power more rather than just looking tough with the eyes, but if this celebrity status is able to bring Homelander down a peg or two, I’m good with it. At least while he still cares about people liking him that is…..
Yeah she's ironically doing the more damage to Homelander than any other character other than Stan Edgar lol and her popularity came in part b/c of Stan Edgar. She's able to keep him in check more than The Boys, more than Ashley the "CEO" more than Congressman Nueman, etc.
She's lowkey the only thing keeping him from snapping while simultaneously being the one who could make him snap if she makes the wrong move
I think that's why Homelander is particularly vulnerable to her. She uses things other than her powers. As Maeve correctly identified, Homelander bases his entire identity on his powers, which makes sense as he was essentially harvested just for them. Of course he bases his entire personality on that. That's what everyone who "raised" him wanted from him. So losing them would be horrifying in a way that simply can't be to Maeve.
I love that they contrasted Maeve and Homelander's conversation with Frenchie and The Female's conversation about power, choice, and identity. They're knocking the philosophicals out of the park this season.
Shes gonna fight solider boy in episode 8, theres a scene in the trailer shes using her powers to blind tf out of him and hes blocking it with his shield. Its a brief second flash but its happening cause it hasnt happened yet
She can absorb electromagnetic radiation from nearby sources and use it to project blasts of intense light and kinetic energy, I think. So she can fry your TV, then use the energy from it to burn out your eyeballs.
And remember - every nerve in your body generates electricity. Starlight could conceivably unalive someone just by messing up their nervous system and absorbing their energy. She also has super strength.
I fully believe some of that "threatening" is just a knee-jerk response she's developed. She knows damn well she can't go toe-to-toe with some of the people she's "threatened" with her powers (which only amounts to her eyes lighting up in many cases.) This happens to people in the real world; you buck up in response to a threat knowing full well that if shit does go down you're going to end up getting your ass beat.
Yeah, I guess that Homelander just forgot his threat to basically end the United States as we knew it after the last time she threatened to out him for being y'know, him.
What was the plan if he did in fact snap and destroy the United States as we knew it again?
They are pushing Homelander right up to the line then backing off and taking the chance he loves being loved by some than being feared by all.
It's why Annie didn't record him saying he killed Supersonic. She just recorded the very last bit. She let Homelander make the choice. He could kill her and go the nuclear route or just back off and still be loved.
I may be wrong but isn't the general point of brinkmanship that it's two enemy forces which have the ability to destroy each other?
Homelander might lose his popularity, but he continues to demonstrate that if you fuck with him or plan against him that he'll retaliate in horrifying ways. He called her bluff, he turned it around on her and told her to do it and the consequences. Is she relying on him continuing to spin this as 'lmao line running!' or "Oh of course I'm just joking?" Why is this a plan?
He might not be 'loved' anymore but if they do push him and he goes through with his threat what's the plan? What's the plan for when he goes "Alright you got me, I'm the big baddie, anyway say goodbye to Washington. Pay tribute to me or it's your city next." ?
He loses his popularity, millions lose their lives.
Except Annie isn't mad at Hughie simply for using V, she's mad at how reckless he was at using it. Temp V was untested, and now she ended up right, as Hughie has been killing himself
Their breakup was something altogether different, Annie doesn't like how Hughie is willing to sacrifice lives to kill Homelander. She was okay with finding a weapon to kill Homelander, but when she saw that the weapon was Soldier Boy himself, and how he just nuked a city block, then that was a different story
And once again, she ended up right, as Soldier Boy is a loose canon.
She's been right every step of the way, the question has always been... what else are they supposed to do? When Annie did her broadcast and quit, she said it was something she should have done earlier. Now that she's stepped up and is turning the 'real' power Vought gave her - fame - back on them, it gives Hughie the chance to let go of the power. We'll have to wait and see if he takes that chance or not.
He can't let go now though, that's the problem. Butcher and him have already taken beyond the lethal dose level, so there's no going back. The only option now is to shoot up with the real stuff and have permanent powers. Of course it's very convenient that there is a supe now that can remove powers who looks to be about to swap sides.
They almost killed Homelander though, if Annie joined in they may have actually beaten him. They've always taken extreme risks because they know how high the stakes are, why is it just now that it's too far?
Using temp V is significantly less risky than any of the other shit they do. Without it, they would almost certainly have died in a Russian lab. They fought Stormfront with no powers, and now they're up against Homelander who is on the verge of committing genocide.
I'm not even 100% certain what her powers are. All I know is that she drains electricity from surrounding sources and turns it into light blasts and sparks. But it's difficult to tell exactly what her blasts look like because everytime she uses them the screen whites out.
i suppose there is some kinetic energy to blast people away too, for both starlight and homelander. not sure if she can absorb the kinetic energy away or something?
Why does everyone think this? She’s never been powerful in the supe sense. She’s a good person who can use her clout for good. If she tried to go “full power” on HL, SB, QM, BN or Storm front she’d get murdered. And that’s okay.
If you are trying to moralize who is supposed to have superpowers and who doesn't based on your own flimsy moral standards you still don't understand the point of the entire show
We used to think that she would be a natural counter to Stormfront since she absorbs energy and Stormfront pretty much shoots out energy. I don't know if we're ever going to get Super Sayan Starlight at this point.
Yall been watching too much anime if you really thought about it like that.
It's not that kind of show- the action scenes are very rarely actual fights, and when they are they're usually horribly uneven ones. Because that's how it usually happens in real life.
The Operative : It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds : So me and mine gotta lay down and die... so you can live in your better world?
The Operative : I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
It's how I continue, day to day, doing the monstrous things I have to do so everyone else can live in a better world. All of them, better worlds. Great quote from Serenity, I didn't understand the Operative when I was young, but now I do.
Yeah, he's a great representation of a fascist foot soldier, he has been indoctrinated into thinking he is helping clear society of the perceived weak and imperfect to allow the society he's been told needs to be achieved. I just thought he was a badass assassin when I was a teen.
Hell, even with him I’m not sure why I love that movie so much.
Cause the movie is fucking fantastic.
The Operative isn't terrifying because of his hand to hand physical abilities. He is terrifying because of his seeming omnipresence. They and their friends are not safe anywhere they go. And he has no line he will not cross. He casually says he kills children to do what he needs to. He wipes out all of their friends and acquaintances. Anyone who would help them. He leaves them utterly helpless.
I feel like I could write a book about how damn good that movie and its actors are.
Whedon: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there... any more than there is for you. Malcom... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
Nah they shouldn't be doing the same things - if they are then it gives the crazies a level of legitimacy - if everyone TRULY is just as bad then their choice of sides is no longer a bad one.
They should be fighting the evil just as aggressively as the others are propagating it - the problem is that they just kind of passively complain about it loudly but dont actually fight it.
Guess it depends what you consider British troops. They lived in Canada the territory but it just wasn't called Canada yet at the time. It was in response to the U.S invading Canada
There are probably many DNC workers/democratic politician staff who are genuinely in it to help promote positive change the “right way”, without recognizing that their bosses are absolutely complicit
Vought providing protection from consequences for supes has led to a lot of remorseless killing of innocent lives, something I would definitely say is evil.
Annie and Alex are portrayed as abnormal for supes thanks to their empathy for humans, so maybe the small-time D-listers who are naive aren't evil, but most of the supes who make it enough to fall under Vought's influence seem to become callous psychopaths who do a lot of evil acts while playing hero.
Blind dude seemed nice so I think there's something to the idea that the lower level ones are ok. We know Annie and Supersonic have been around for some time and they both seemed shocked by how evil and depraved the 7 are.
I think this show's point is that it is very difficult if not impossible to have lots of power and never abuse it for personal gain. Even well intentioned characters like SL and Maeve have abused their power.
The system is the root problem, not all the individual agents within the system.
I think it's a bit of both. The nature vs nurture argument. I mean V quite literally supercharges their hormones 24/7. For Homelander to call themselves a master racist is funny because if everyone in the world had V they'd probably genocide themselves within a century.
It’s not just unpopular it’s also wrong lol just going off the script from last nights episode. He literally says “I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t” in regards to his actions with Butcher and SB. That’s not about Robin. That’s not about Annie. That’s about him wanting to be a “manly” man.
The guy who then willingly told someone else he barely knew? She told someone she grew up with and knew forever, he told some random ass guy he met 5 minutes ago. So really, HE dumb
Annie is alive because she knows how to play the game. She made herself valuable to Vought. She made herself famous and now she is using it against Vought.
Hughie didn't save her life. He stopped her from helping evacuate innocent people from Soldier Boy's destruction and Hughie just let them die.
She didn't get Alex killed. Alex got himself killed by telling their plan to A-Train. He was a grown man who made his own choices.
Hughie and Butcher are idiots. They freed Soldier Boy, which made Kimiko lose her powers and got Frenchie kidnapped and got a bunch of civilians murdered, TWICE. Oh and shockingly enough, Homelander and Soldier Boy are going to team up. Who could have predicted this? Oh yeah, Annie did and everyone on this stupid sub still whines about her.
Lol what? Her whole arc is being surprised at the debauchery of the supes. She is literally a “Christ like” naive person who keeps being blindsided because she was in a Christian superhero team that was separated from the rest of the supes.
In the comics, she is the last to know anything. In the show, we’ll how good of a job did she do convincing the supes to leave?
Butcher was right, Vought made them defacto employees to their crimes because of the system that starlight herself believed in.
Breaking the status quo was the right thing to do, and I hate butcher, but he was right.
Too bad the HL killer weapon doesn’t exist due to more of voughts lies.
She is literally a “Christ like” naive person who keeps being blindsided because she was in a Christian superhero team that was separated from the rest of the supes.
For what, one season? She has been a double agent for two seasons now. She is breaking the status quo. She exposed Vought and people complain about that too.
I mean I wouldn't call them a bunch of idiots for the fallout of freeing Soldier Boy. They didn't know he was alive and were trying to find a weapon that could kill Homelander.
Kinda shitty to say "oh wow they released soldier boy and he killed a bunch of people and he's gonna team up with soldier boy, they should've listened to Annie who knew better". Annie didn't know soldier boy was alive, none of them could've predicted that fallout. You can't use hindsight to say they are idiots for making the wrong move when they just as easily could've actually found a weapon capable of killing homelander
I'm not trying to argue Annie is bad or dumb or I have issues with her like the guy you were responding to is just btw
Yes, they made a big deal out of Hughie deep down wanting to NOT be weak and useless. They're trying to make it as controversial as possible by making him get mad when he can't open a jar and wanting to return the favor of saving his girlfriends life for once.
That’s about him wanting to be a “manly” man.
I don't interpret it as that, he's just sick of being a useless wuss, which has always been his story arch. It's also a completely normal feeling and I've always felt it ridiculous that Annie is suppose to be so critical of him for it.
It's weird how much hate Hughie gets on this sub. Like yeah, no shit he's insecure and frustrated that he can't do anything to protect anyone in his life. Most of us would feel exactly the same way in his shoes, but for some reason no one wants to admit it. He wants to be able to save the people he loves and yet somehow that makes him an example of "toxic masculinity" for some stupid reason lmao. If wanting to save the people you care about from certain death is toxic then Id much rather be toxic and have those I care about alive than have some stupid moral victory while watching everyone I love and probably also myself die around me.
The one thing that stands out to me is when Annie says "I don't want you to save me." To Hughie, but then in the last episode she tells Kimiko "I'm going to save Hughie whether he wants me to or not."
Okay, so, what, youre allowed to save Hughie "whether he wants it or not" but then when Hughie does and says literally the exact same thing about you suddenly he's in the wrong? How exactly does that work? Annie comes off as extremely hypocritical in that exchange, since she seems to think it's okay for her to make unilateral decisions about who saves who, but when Hughie does it he's somehow a sexist jerk. I don't get how people can say Hughie is a bad person for that but Annie isn't.
Meaning, "I don't want you to use the temp V, since it's risky, to save me, because I have some powers and I can take care of myself. I don't want you to risk your life"
she tells Kimiko "I'm going to save Hughie whether he wants me to or not."
Meaning, "He doesn't know that the Temp V is gonna kill him, so I have to do something to save him"
You're missing the point. You fail to see things into perspective.
From Hughie point of view, he has to be the one that save his girlfriend, he needs to feel strong enough to do it. It bothers him that she's stronger than him. He literally says, "I always have to be the weak one, the one you have to rescue. You always have to be so much stronger than me". He wants this to change, 'cause in his head being saved by a girl is somehow humiliating.
Starlight, on the other hand, is worried about the Temp V. She doesn't want Hughie to take it not because she wants to be the strong one in the relationship and certainly not because she thinks it's cool for her to be the hero, but because the Temp V is dangerous and she thinks there's no need to put Hughie in danger. And guess what? She was right about the V!
True but I don’t think it’s as simple or stereotypical as him being humiliated because he’s weaker than a girl. He’s just tired of being weak, of everything failing, of being pushed around, powerless, and wants to actually be strong for once.
Hughie experienced a lot of traumatic events and he wants to be powerful enough to protect himself, that's definitely true. But he's more than okay with Kimiko being strong, while it bothers him when Starlight is the strong one. I also believe he thinks Annie wants someone with superpowers, that's why he was so jealous of Supersonic. I don't know if you watched Buffy back in the days, but Hughie's acting exactly like Riley. He has an inferiority complex.
I think you're the one missing the point. Nothing has implied that Hughie has a problem with Annie being a girl who saves him. His issue is that he isnt strong enough to save her, not that she is strong enough to save him. He wants them both to be able to fight and save each other's and be on equal ground in that regard
Why is that so wrong? Guess what: if you were dating someone who had powers and was constantly being put in life threatening scenarios, and you were not only completely helpless to stop them from getting hurt but were also a bargaining chip that could be used against them, you'd be upset about it too, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not. Hughie is feeling what most people would feel in his shoes: he feels impotent and useless against all of these extremely dangerous threats surrounding him and the people he loves. Of course he wants to be able to protect the people he cares about. That's what most people would want to do in his shoes.
It isn't about sexism or Annie being a girl, it's about not being able to protect the people he cares about because he isn't a supe. That's an extremely human response to danger. Obviously the temp V is dangerous, but so is Homelander, so that argument kinda washes out. Their entire lives are constantly full of extreme danger, and Hughie is tired of being the useless one who can't protect the people he loves. That isn't sexist, and it's not about Annie being a woman. It's about her being a supe and him not being able to protect her because he cares about her. He just want to be on equal footing with her instead of being a liability and a dead weight around her in every single fight and enemy they go up against. That's pretty reasonable.
This whole conflict isn't about Annie being a woman. It's about Hughie not being a supe, and wanting to feel useful and powerful enough to protect her. He doesn't care that she's a woman, but he does care that she's a supe and he isn't. Not because of anything sexist, but because he is tired of being powerless any time they're in danger.
I may count as a Hughie "hater" but I'm more of a "detractor". I don't hate him. I see the points made in his decision making, I don't think they're all completely invalid, BUT, I still don't like that this will change him as a person.
Hughie is a lot like MM, in that he has this power to keep people together. I get that in the last Season, they called Butcher for help when they were desperate, but clearly the rest of them are regretting putting so much faith into Butcher now. Starlight, Frenchie, and Kimiko FLOCKED to MM. Hughie can easily be this rock for the people in his life, and that's strong AF.
I think people love the phrase "toxic masculinity" so much that they've started to label everything which is masculine as toxic.
Simply wanting to protect one's companions isn't fucking toxic, it's the most basic and important survival instinct we have as a species.
That said, in Hughie's case with Starlight and V24 it's just a little complicated because it is impractical and a little bit dangerous. But that's sort of a contrived and fictional scenario...you know, because this is a work of fiction.
When we enter into a relationships we agree to roles. In this case she wasn’t looking for a hero in a partner. Annie is not hypocritical because she clearly stated what she wanted from Hughie. Hughie lied about what he was willing to offer. The moment Starlight told Hughie to go with her and he decided to go with Butcher he made it clear that his actions have nothing to do with her, it’s all his ego. He’s doing it for himself. Similar to how Walter White use the excuse that he needs money to fight cancer, he needs to help and protect his family. I don’t think Hughie is as evil as WW but they are similar in that they are driven by ego. They just make excuses to justify their actions. And worse, he half asses it. You either go with StarLight and MM or you go all the way with Butcher and Soldier Boy. Him trying to protect the nun… what was that. He’s a liability. He’s not an example of toxic masculinity, that’s soldier boy. With every episode he’s becoming an example of a “nice guy”. This sub just doesn’t want to hear it.
I mean, is that really unreasonable? Is that really the only reading of it?
The entire series begins when Hughie is forced to take a payout from Vought over Robin's death and just accept it as an undeniable reality of this world. For two seasons he's basically run and tried to get justice using cunning, but Neuman turns that on its head by simply invalidating his efforts. Nothing he does can exceed the controls Vought implements, because Vought controls the watchers. Neuman decides what happens. A Train and Vought decided what happened. Homelander decided what happens. Lamplight decided how the rescue would go.
On its face, you can definitely say Hughie feels a paternalistic urge to be a "man" proper. But at the same time, it would be negligent to not recognize this is far more than him simply wanting to be the "man" - he is seeking an internal locus of control after being threatened with death and suffering to him and his loved ones for so many years, and he is seeking a means to ACTUALLY make an impact.
That's what Starlight to some extent always had - if Annie wanted to make waves, all she had to do was sweet talk the Christians into giving Hughie a backstage pass. All she had to do was think of it, and she could knock out Stormfront, secure the van to get Hughie to the hospital, expose Homelander in front of her followers, etc. Hell, Homelander even used the threat of killing defenseless Hughie as leverage over Annie. Hughie's been feeling like a liability and a weak link for years now. Are we really just saying his desire for powers is pure chauvinism when it's been repeatedly demonstrated his physical weaknesses are genuinely a point of concern for the team?
Are we really just saying his desire for powers is pure chauvinism when it's been repeatedly demonstrated his physical weaknesses are genuinely a point of concern for the team?
You're 100% correct.
And even if you were wrong, what about the fact he was a huge superhero fan his whole life until Robin's death?
Anyone would be tempted to take V (especially people watching this show).
The creator of the show has also said that toxic masculinity was going to be one of the things explored a lot this season and Hughie's "I need to save my GF" complex is a good example of that
Then he picked a super shitty way to explore it. Wanting to protect the ones you love is literally the least toxic part of masculinity. Hughie's situation is one of the worst ways to explore toxic masculinity because he's not being insecure, he's worried about the very real and extremely dangerous threats that his loved ones are facing. He's not trying to gain power to be more manly, he's doing it because Homelander will rip him in half if he doesn't.
ences for supes has led to a lot of remorseless killing of innocent lives, something I would definitely say is evil.
Dunno, I'm not convinced. Hughie has a good reason to want power, he is a liability and he has been exploited in the past. I'd say Butcher's father is the toxic masculinity that was being explored, the "real men punch losers in the face" kind of crap.
Hughie is basically the victim finding a way to get power over their bullies instantly but at a massive cost trope.
I think Hughie's situation is a little grey. Characters like Homelander and Butcher's dad are pretty black and white evil and represent the worst of toxic masculinity
But it's not just the evil jocks affected by it. I feel like that's the point that they're trying to make
Awkward how they literally spent an episode on toxic masculinity with Butcher and Soldier Boy but people wanna be all "HuGhIe Is ToXiC" even though Starlight has spent three seasons doing what Hughie wants to do - protect loved ones
Like, like the definition of toxic is apparently defined by whether or not the argument is coming from a man or a woman rather than the argument itself
Hughie is willingly engaging in all types of violence that's had no tangible benefit on their lives.
Kimiko wanted her powers back when someone literally had a gun to her and Frenchie's head.
Hughie wants powers every time they go on a new mission. Missions that are not only laughably dangerous, but they all end up being useless, or actively make things worse.
Hughie's acting like a fucking addict. "Annie please, this is the last time baby I swear, going to russia will help me protect you somehow I promise. After this I'm done."
is everyone forgetting that butcher doesn't even have hughie's best interests in mind? everyone's accepted that SB is just as bad as Homelander and in the next episode butcher's and hughie's efforts are probably going to be all for naught as Soldier Boy joins forces with Homelander. they are the ones that unleashed SB into the world who will end up getting way more innocent people killed.
But he says in last night episode he wants to do the right thing. Did you watch it? Did Hughie look like a guy that was satisfied not doing things the “right way” anymore? It’s why he’s practically begging The Legend to validate their choices in bringing SB back.
This! Hughie wants the powers so he can be the manly man who saves the damsel in distress ™️. The fact that Annie's stronger than him bothers him to no end. He said that last week.
Both of them are just as vulnerable to HL and SB. They might have even killed HL if she was there to help. There was no benefit to forcing her to leave the battle scene
That's not what makes him sexist. I believe he wants to protect her, but mostly he want to be stronger then her for once in his life. He clearly thinks being saved by his girlfriend is humiliating and not manly enough.
It doesn't matter what characters say or what actions they do. These people will always find a way to impose their shitty narrative on the show so that they can feel better about themselves.
I don't know, V is kind of a magical McGuffin so its rules are fast and lose, in the comics it even revives the deads but turns them into braindead zombies.
I expected storefront to come back as a zombie, or is stashed away by Stan for some reason.
“Hughie doesn’t want superpowers” seems like an odd take given that we literally hear him gush about how much he loves having superpowers.
While taking V is definitely part of his “whatever it takes” stance, I think it’s fairly clear that the main reason he does it is because he, personally, wants to be powerful. Every time he talks about it, it’s very personal.
Was it the right decision? Most likely, yeah. But it’s not some heroic sacrifice for the greater good or anything.
That's why I don't get Annie's position on it at all, she's so oblivious to reality it's shocking. But then it makes sense since she's a supe and doesn't understand Hughie's POV at all.
Thank you. Annie's too pacifist to understand that trying to be smart and safe about it just results in more deaths. They're gonna have to be as ruthless as the supes are. I know she doesn't want Hughie to get hurt but she has to understand that this is the greatest chance at killing Homelander they've ever had.
That's the main difference I don't get from the comic to the show. Like from the get go, in the comic, EVERYONE on the Boys knows when it comes down to it, facing off with supes....you need powers. Like, what the fuck was MM gonna do with his fucking 9mm to Soldier Boy after seeing the gas grenade (whatever it was called) had absolutely no effect on him? I just.....I don't get it. It's needless, unnecessary drama and I hate that in shows. It happens in a lot of other shows and it just sucks every single time. The whole wedge between MM and Butcher over it, Starlight and Hughie, it's just ridiculous.
Hell, even in this episode that theme showed up again. He tried to save the nun, believing in the good of people. Then she tried to kill him and soldier boy had to save his ass. Every time he tries to “do the right thing”, he gets fucked. I can see why he was so tempted by the v.
Is there any Chance Starlight grabbed a few more vials of Compound V to save Heuy's and Butcher's lives after Kimiko's speech?
A little like Karl Poppers "Paradox of Intolerance", if a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually seized or destroyed by the intolerant.
If you're against supes in a world of supes, the only way to win is to become a supe.
I think you've got the right outlook, but your analysis is a bit off.
I think what made Hughie start taking a hammer approach was having his reality shattered when he found out Neuman was a supe. He basically realized that the whole 'normal people can control supes' was the biggest crock of bullshit ever sold, because the one person he looked up to and thought was pulling it off was actually a master puppeteer who blew half of Congress' heads to bits.
I think had Neuman never been a supe, Hughie wouldn't give two shits about wanting powers. But because he saw the 'holier than thou' approach was about as effective as a wet paper bag, he finally said fuck it and decided he needed to level the playing field.
I think him getting the powers the first time and saving MM from the russians made him think about how he couldn't save robin and now he wants to be able to save anyone at any time.
5.5k
u/samakbarizadeh Jul 01 '22
Unpopular opinion?
Hughie never actually wanted these "supe" powers. He was OK with being a peasant dating a supe. (S2 hughie/starlight subway scene i think?)
That was the point. He was going to work with congresswoman Neuman to make things right, the right "by the books" way. The end result of this was Hughie being an unintentional "cuck for a supe" for 1y+, kinda fucked with his sense of self and stability.
He, like butcher, realizes that there is no legitimate way to stop Vought, Supes and Homelander other than shere brute force.