Homelander a pretty blond superhero with a chiseled physique and a penchant for patriotic costumes and accessories. There's no way Amazon series The Boys' Homelander, isn't a Captain America clone, right? Well, you'd only be half correct to assume that.
He's also a humanoid alien who was a baby when he fell from the sky into a Midwestern farm, where he was raised by regular, honest Americans and now saves the world alongside six other heroes who look an awful lot like the Justice League. So he's largely a send-up of Superman, with a little Steve Rogers thrown in. “[Homelander is] basically an inversion of Captain America meets Superman … and add a big dose of craziness,” Homelander actor Antony Starr told the New York Post of his character.
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The truth is, while Homelander is purposely a blend of both the Marvel and the DC all-American supes, in the universe of The Boys, he's more like what would happen if Joffrey Baratheon had been given superhuman strength and laser eyes. Based on the comic series by Garth Ennis, The Boys shows us what might really happen if people were given enough power to act like gods, with the backing of a multi-billion-dollar corporation and the adoration of the world. Many of them wind up narcissistic bullies at best, murderers and rapists at worst, but there's a vast infrastructure in place to make sure the public is none the wiser about their real nature.
Showrunner Eric Kripke recently explained to Entertainment Weekly why The Boys parodies both the Avengers and Justice League at once.
"I think, even [in 2006, when the comic debuted], DC people were held up as these gods whereas the Marvel heroes were always regular people," he said, so of course, the DC super-serious heroes are obviously worthy of satire. At the same time, nothing has dominated pop culture as decisively as the Avengers in recent years, which is why Kripke added that "we’re probably way more towards taking shots at Marvel."
That said, we find it disturbingly easy to imagine Henry Cavill's broody Superman committing homicide with a smile like Homelander does. Chris Evans and his sweet, chivalrous Captain America shall remain unbesmirched in our hearts.