|
| adapted_by = [[Eric Kripke]]
| portrayer = [[Antony Starr]]<br>Rowan Smyth (child; season 1)<br>Isaac Weeks (child; season 4)
| voice = Antony Starr (''[[The Boys Presents: Diabolical|Diabolical]]'', ''[[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022 video game)|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II]]'')<br>Yong Yea (''[[Death Battle|Death Battle!]]'')<br>Jake Green (''[[Mortal Kombat 1]]'')
| species = Supe
| affiliation = [[Vought-American]]
}}
The '''Homelander''' ('''John Gillman''')<ref name=":1">[[Darick Robertson|Robertson, Darick]]; [[Adam McKay|McKay, Adam]] (March 10, [[2015 in comics|2015]]) ''[[The Boys (comics)|The Art of The Boys: The Complete Covers]]'' [[Dynamite Entertainment]].</ref><ref name=":2">[[Nelson Cragg|Cragg, Nelson]]; Monahan Ellie (June 17, 2022) [[The Boys (season 3)|''The Boys'' Season 3]]: "[[The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies]]" "'''Queen Maeve''': John- '''Homelander''': Don't you fucking John me."</ref><!--Do not remove the "The", primary use in comic series and sparing in television series--> is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists in the [[comic book]] series ''[[The Boys (comics)|The Boys]]'' and the [[media franchise]] [[The Boys (franchise)|ofresulting]] the[[media same namefranchise]], created by [[Garth Ennis]] and [[Darick Robertson]]. He is depicted as a [[Psychopathy|psychopathic]] and sadistic [[Narcissism|narcissist]] who serves as the extremely powerful leader of [[List of The Boys characters#The Seven|The Seven]]—a group of corrupt and hedonistic [[superhero]]es<!--Do not remove "superhero". While an antagonist in the narrative, they are a superhero as a profession.--> grown<!--In the comic book series, each of the original members of The Seven are clones grown by Vought-American in the 1980s.--> and funded by [[Vought-American]]—and the [[archenemy]] of [[Billy Butcher]]. Beneath his public image as a noble and [[Altruism|altruistic]] hero, the Homelander cares little about the well-being of those he professes to protect.
In the [[Amazon Prime Video]] television [[The Boys (TV series)|adaptation]] developed by [[Eric Kripke]], Homelander is primarily portrayed by [[Antony Starr]], with Rowan Smyth and Isaac Weeks portraying him as a child. This version is the megalomaniacal son of [[Soldier Boy]] and the father of [[List of The Boys characters#Ryan|Ryan]], born as a result of Homelander raping Billy Butcher's wife [[Becky Saunders|Becca]] (a crime commited by [[Black Noir]] in the comic book series). Homelander has also appeared in the [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] and [[Promotion (marketing)|promotional]] [[web series]] ''[[The Boys Presents: Diabolical]]'', ''[[Gen V]]'', and ''[[Death Battle|Death Battle!]]'', respectively. Described as the living personification of [[Stereotypes of Americans|how the world sees America]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 2, 2019|last=Smail|first=Gretchen|url=https://nerdist.com/article/the-boys-homelander-america-hero-trump|title=''THE BOYS''{{'}} Homelander Represents the Worst of America|website=[[Nerdist (website)|Nerdist]]|access-date=August 2, 2019|archive-date=August 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802201409/https://nerdist.com/article/the-boys-homelander-america-hero-trump/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/26/21534286/homelander-the-boys-superhero-comics-marvel-dc-american-military|title=''The Boys''{{'}} Homelander represents how the world sees America|first=Lauren|last=Coates|date=October 26, 2020|website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]|access-date=October 26, 2020|archive-date=July 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709163543/https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/26/21534286/homelander-the-boys-superhero-comics-marvel-dc-american-military|url-status=live}}</ref> the character has received critical acclaim along with Starr's portrayal in the series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvinsider.com/801843/the-boys-homelander-tv-best-villain|title={{'}}''The Boys''{{'}}: Why Homelander Is TV's Best New Villain|first=Meaghan|last=Darwish|website=[[TV Insider]]|date=6 August 2019|access-date=6 August 2019|archive-date=7 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807014203/https://www.tvinsider.com/801843/the-boys-homelander-tv-best-villain/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Pulliam-Moore|first=Charles|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-fascism-is-the-point-1845691473|title=The Fascism Is the Point|website=[[io9]]|date=16 November 2020|access-date=16 November 2020|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416140703/https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-fascism-is-the-point-1845691473|url-status=live}}</ref> Homelander has been compared to [[Superman]] and [[Captain America]].<ref name="wired">{{cite web|date=July 26, 2019|access-date=July 26, 2019|last=Rubin|first=Peter|title=Amazon's {{'}}''The Boys''{{'}} Tests the Limits of Superhero Fatigue|url=https://www.wired.com/story/review-the-boys-amazon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726143926/https://www.wired.com/story/review-the-boys-amazon/|archive-date=2019-07-26|url-status=live|website=[[Wired.com]]}}</ref><ref name="NYT-Hale">{{cite news|date=July 26, 2019|last=Hale|first=Mike|title=Review: {{'}}''The Boys''{{'}} Deconstructs the Superhero, With a Light Touch|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/arts/television/review-the-boys-amazon-prime.html|url-access=registration|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191126214728/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/arts/television/review-the-boys-amazon-prime.html|archive-date=2019-11-26|access-date=2020-12-15|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=July 20, 2019|last=Sarner|first=Lauren|title={{'}}''The Boys''{{'}} star Antony Starr dishes on edgy new superhero show|url=https://nypost.com/2019/07/20/the-boys-star-antony-starr-dishes-on-edgy-new-superhero-show|website=[[New York Post]]|access-date=July 20, 2019|archive-date=July 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720215913/https://nypost.com/2019/07/20/the-boys-star-antony-starr-dishes-on-edgy-new-superhero-show/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Gass|first=Zach|title=Omniman (& 9 Other Best Known Alternative Versions Of Superman)|url=https://screenrant.com/best-superman-alternatives-ever|website=[[Screen Rant]]|date=12 June 2021|access-date=3 July 2021|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183057/https://screenrant.com/best-superman-alternatives-ever/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Appearances==
The Homelander is a [[List of United States-themed superheroes|patriotic superhero]] who leads the superhero team, The Seven, and the most powerful superhuman created by [[Vought-American]]. The company's cover story for the Homelander is that he is an alien who landed in the United States as an infant, much like [[Superman]]. In reality, he and the rest of the original roster of the Seven were grown in a secret laboratory, the progeny of genetic material taken from [[Stormfront (character)|Stormfront]], who was injected with Compound V while still a member of the [[Hitler Youth]]. Homelander spent most of his young life chained down with a hydrogen bomb strapped to him in case he tried to escape. His mother was a mentally disabled woman who died giving birth to him.
Homelander remains under the financial thumb of V, as their money funds the Seven's [[Hedonism|hedonistic]] lifestyle. Homelander eventually tries to encourage the other superheroes to do what they want, but relents due to his fear of his boss [[VoughtThe Guy From Vought|"The Vought Guy"/"The Guy From Vought"]].
Until the events of the series' climax, Billy Butcher is tricked into thinking Homelander had raped his wife [[Becky Saunders|Becky]], who then died giving birth to a superhuman baby [[Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker|Butcher had then killed]]. In Issue #40, the Boys receive a series of incriminating doctored photos seemingly showing Homelander engaging in grisly acts of murder, cannibalism, and [[necrophilia]] against men, women, and children. In private, Homelander shows signs of suffering a [[mental breakdown]], talking to his own reflection in a mirror, and having bouts of nausea. He eventually decides that he is damned anyway for the acts depicted in the photos, and decides to give in to any [[intrusive thought]]s that cross his mind.
In the [[The Boys (2019 TV series)|television adaptation]], [[Antony Starr]] plays Homelander as an adult, with Rowan Smyth playing him as a child in the [[The Boys season 1|first season]], and Isaac Weeks playing him as a child in the [[The Boys season 4|fourth season]]. As interpreted within the television series, he is considered by some reviewers to be analogous to DC's [[Superman]].<ref name="wired" /><ref name="NYT-Hale" /> Grown from the [[DNA]] samples taken from [[Soldier Boy]]'s [[semen]] by Jonah Vogelbaum and having been reared in a laboratory environment to become Homelander, John displays many sociopathic tendencies and is openly contemptuous of those he considers lesser beings.
He is also highly self-righteous, delusional, possessive, paranoid, vindictive, insecure, insensitive, hypocritical, reckless with his powers, and incapable of accepting the possibility of any flaw in his person or decision-making. Unlike in the comic series, Homelander rapes Butcher's wife after she has been assigned as his assistant. However, he left her alive and, though he was unaware of it until the end of the season, pregnant with his son, Ryan. His discovery of the lies surrounding Ryan's existence influences his decision to maim the scientist responsible for his upbringing, Jonah Vogelbaum, and murder [[VoughtThe Guy From Vought|Madelyn Stillwell]]. However, his emotional incompetence and sociopathic traits initially alienate him from his son, and the loss of Stillwell's moderating influence on his behavior unbalances him further. He enters a sexual relationship with [[Stormfront (character)|Stormfront]], despite a difficult beginning, and conspires with her to remove his son from [[Becky Saunders|Becca]]'s care and turn the public against "supervillains," creating public outcry for the creation of more superheroes. Stormfront is critically injured by Homelander's son Ryan and Maeve blackmails Homelander into letting the boy go and leaving her alone.
In a series of television interviews, he is forced to denounce his relationship with Stormfront and apologize for his actions. Partly to moderate Homelander's behavior, CEO [[VoughtThe Guy From Vought|Stan Edgar]] and Vought's [[board of directors]] install Starlight as co-captain of The Seven. However, in response to this, Homelander bribes Edgar's secret adoptive daughter Victoria Neuman into opening an investigation into Edgar, ousting him from Vought, with Homelander assuming control of the company himself. Before leaving, Edgar warns Homelander that he will not be here to clean up his messes. He appoints [[List of The Boys characters#Jessica Bradley|Ashley Barrett]] as his [[puppet ruler]] and antagonizes Starlight by reinstating [[List of The Boys characters#The Deep|The Deep]] as a member of the Seven and falsely announcing that the two are in a relationship during the finale of ''American Hero''. After Starlight denounces Homelander and Vought and abandons her persona as Starlight via a livestream, Homelander says that he dumped her and accuses her of engaging in human trafficking via her charitable foundation, the Starlight House. After learning that [[Queen Maeve (The Boys)|Queen Maeve]] not only acted as an informant for the Boys but also slept with their leader Billy Butcher, Homelander has her detained at Seven Tower with the intention of harvesting her eggs. Homelander later learns of his connection with Soldier Boy after receiving a call from him. After confirming this connection with Black Noir, Homelander savagely murders the latter. He later picks up Ryan from Mallory's house after intimidating her. When Homelander attempts to connect with Soldier Boy by introducing him to Ryan and saying that all three of them could be a family, Soldier Boy disowns him as a weak, damaged, attention-seeking disappointment and attempts to kill or depower him (as part of his deal with Butcher). Homelander turns against Soldier Boy after the latter strikes Ryan, but is forced to reluctantly fight Queen Maeve. He later introduces his son Ryan to his and Stormfront's supporters at Vought Tower. There, a pro-Starlight protestor hits Ryan in the face with a soft drink can, provoking Homelander to kill him with his heat vision. This grants him the applause of his and Stormfront's supporters, while Ryan is impressed.
Homelander, after getting everything he's ever wanted, faces a murder trial and begins to have a breakdown, so he recruits [[List of The Boys characters#Sister Sage|Sister Sage]] to help him. On the day of the trial, he orders three of his fans to be killed to start a brawl right after being declared innocent. He organizes the first rescue of his son Ryan, forcing him to use his power by killing the false criminal. After trying to kill Hughie, he has a fight with Ryan for seeing Butcher and has a mental breakdown. He then visits the lab where he was created and kept locked up. He proceeds to kill all of the people responsible for testing on him in an act of revenge, with the exception of Dr. Barbara Findlay, whom he leaves locked up along with the rest of the dead staff. Following the events at the lab, Homelander begins to connect with Ryan and starts to support him. Later, Homelander tells his team that they will have to be more cruel and ruthless for the greater good just before he orders The Seven to kill Cameron Coleman, who is believed to have leaked the video. Homelander, along with most of The Seven and Neuman, attend a party organized by [[List of The Boys characters#Tek Knight|Tek Knight]], in which he plans to turn, along with Sage and Neuman, the congressmen against Singer. Homelander learns from [[List of The Boys characters#Firecracker|Firecracker]] that the mole is still alive and they become intimate when she feeds him her [[breast milk]]. Homelander begins to give Firecracker more weight on the team. Homelander kills Webweaver thinking he is the mole and sends The Deep and Black Noir II to kill Butcher and the rest of The Boys, without success. Feeling betrayed by A-Train, Homelander expels Sage from The Seven after hiding that A-Train was the mole. That night, Homelander sees how his son talks live about his mother Becca and Butcher, which leaves him in shock. Homelander discovers Butcher's gift and in a rage destroys his apartment and scolds Ryan making him leave. Afterwards, Homelander reveals Neuman as Super and orders The Seven to kill everyone in Vought who knows about his dirty laundry. When Neuman dies, Sage reveals to him that it was all part of his plan and the new presidential candidate, Senator Coulhon, swears allegiance to him and proclaims [[martial law]] commanded by Homelander and his superhuman army.
====''Death Battle!'' (2020–present)====
In the 2020 [[Amazon Prime Video]]-sponsored ''The Boys'' promotional episodes of ''[[Death Battle|Death Battle!]]'', in promotion for its second season,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Spangler|first=Todd|title=Rooster Teeth Hires Amazon Studios' Adam Bersin as Head of Marketing (EXCLUSIVE)|url=https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/rooster-teeth-adam-bersin-marketing-amazon-studios-1235205824|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=March 16, 2022|access-date=March 16, 2022|quote=[Amazon Studios Head of Marketing, Adam] Bersin said he was attracted to [[Rooster Teeth]] after working with the company on custom-content partnerships for several of [[Amazon Studios]]['] launches, like the ''[[Death Battle]]'' for [[The Boys (season 2)|“''The Boys''” Season 2]].|archive-date=March 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316140125/https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/rooster-teeth-adam-bersin-marketing-amazon-studios-1235205824/|url-status=live}}</ref> Homelander (voiced by [[Yong Yea]]) participates in the Seven's simulated [[battle royal]]e, declaring himself the winner after killing [[Billy Butcher]] ([[Stand-in|standing-in]] for [[Black Noir]]), before throwing aside the laser baby to fight Stormfront, a consequence of which Wiz and Boomstick are uneasy of.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk1RQsiz7dk|title=''The Seven Battle Royale (''The Boys'')''|work=[[Death Battle|DEATH BATTLE!]]|date=September 17, 2020|via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=September 17, 2020|archive-date=December 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230005502/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk1RQsiz7dk&list=PLB833073B659FD65A&index=8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM1qnJEWUsY|title=''BREAKDOWN: The Seven Battle Royale (''The Boys'')''|work=[[Death Battle|DEATH BATTLE!]]|date=September 17, 2020|via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=September 17, 2020|archive-date=November 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103071301/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM1qnJEWUsY&feature=youtu.be|url-status=live}}</ref>
In a 2022 episode, Homelander is pitted against [[Omni-Man|Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man]] (from ''[[Invincible (TV series)|Invincible]]''). Through a simulated battle, the hosts determined Omni-Man's superior strength, skill, and experience would prevail against Homelander if the two fought to the death.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMoL5VMN4-A|title=''Omni-Man VS Homelander (''Invincible ''VS'' The Boys'')''|work=[[Death Battle|DEATH BATTLE!]]|date=May 23, 2022|via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=June 18, 2022|archive-date=August 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805121533/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMoL5VMN4-A|url-status=live}}</ref>
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