“The Boys” Perfectly Refuses to Respect Homelander in His Death

Throughout The Boys series, Homelander is portrayed as the ultimate villain. However, his death perfectly subverts this notion by depriving him of his dignity and importance. As a ruthless parody of DC Comics’ Superman, Homelander is a vicious bully who attempts to overthrow the United States government by killing the President and numerous others in a foolish grab for power.

Ultimately, Black Noir – a clone of the powerful Supe, tasked with assassinating Homelander should he ever deviate from the interests of Vought-America corporation – kills him. Black Noir, who turns out to be the most significant superhuman threat in the series, dispatches Homelander in a manner that not only delivers a thrilling twist but also undermines Homelander’s character portrayal throughout the narrative.

Homelander’s Ignorance of His True Role

In issue #65 of The Boys, created by Garth Ennis, Russ Brain, John McCrea, and Keith Burns, Homelander finally learns the truth about his true role. He discovers that Black Noir, his supposed ally, has been plotting his demise all along by framing him for heinous crimes and forcing Vought to call for his execution. Homelander’s own atrocities are a result of his misguided belief that he had already committed such terrible deeds. Butcher delivers a definitive put-down, telling him, “It means you turned into a psychopath by mistake.” At the start of the issue, Homelander sits in the Oval Office, feeling invincible, but by the end, he throws a profanity-laden tantrum and is destroyed by a superior foe in a fight that occurs off-panel. This genius twist takes a character who revels in being seen as the ultimate evil and subverts expectations by killing him in a confrontation with a bigger threat, moments after he is shown to be ignorant of the true machinations behind the scenes.

Throughout most of The Boys, Homelander is portrayed as an unkillable terror, someone who can’t be brought down by conventional means and who can single-handedly plunge the country into chaos on a whim. This is precisely how he sees himself, but ultimately, it’s a façade maintained by someone whose emotional maturity, as described by his creator in an interview with Newsarama, is “that of a fourteen year old.” Homelander’s coup proves to be a dismal failure, lasting less than a day and resulting in his demise at the hands of Vought’s secret weapon. His superhero “army” is also decimated by the military. Homelander is not a heartless killer, but a person who is constantly questioning his own actions and merely playing a part.

Homelander’s Death in Live-Action Should Also Be Uninspiring

Despite deviations from the comics, such as the twist involving Black Noir, The Boys TV series must give Homelander a similarly unremarkable death. In Season 3, Antony Starr’s portrayal of Homelander has gained significant fame and popularity, even as his true nature has become increasingly evident. By the end of the season, Homelander feels invincible and believes he can do no wrong. Therefore, the show should give him an equally uninspiring death that cuts at the core of his psychopathic self-importance. By doing so, the show can not only defeat Homelander but also his problematic followers who have bought into his lies and narrative.

In the end, Homelander is not among the top three villains in The Boys, ranking below Black Noir, Vought executive James Stillwell, and Billy Butcher himself. Despite setting himself up as a terrifying threat, Homelander’s death in the series pulls the rug out from under him and the audience, showing that he is anything but invincible. Popular culture often gives even the most heinous villains a cool or iconic death, which only serves to validate their significance. However, The Boys denies Homelander such an ending, revealing that he has been playing someone else’s game all along and killing him in a fight that only serves to establish his killer as an even more disturbing and significant villain.