The Boys Season 4 Gives Us A Villain That's Somehow Worse Than Homelander
This article contains spoilers for "The Boys" season 4.
Prime Video's adaptation of "The Boys" has never shied away from making substantial changes to the source material for the sake of a good story. It gender-swapped Stormfront to have her engage in a messed-up relationship with Homelander, and it even let Maeve live and have a happy-ish ending. But arguably the biggest change so far has been that made to Homelander. In the comics, the character was born in a secret laboratory and raised chained down to a hydrogen bomb. Despite being very much the psychopath we know and love to hate, a late big twist revealed that the Homelander of the comics was kind of gaslit into committing atrocities based on false information. Before that, he was genuinely a noble superhero.
That's not Antony Starr's portrayal of Homelander, however. In the TV version of "The Boys," Homelander is a victim of the worst kind of parenting while still being a monster himself. We've spent four seasons exploring his vulnerability and his need for love, despite him being a sociopath since childhood. As series creator Eric Kripke once said of Homelander:
"Even though he's a sociopath, he's also a human being who has reactions and feelings. To me, the biggest sin that Homelander commits is that he hates that he has feelings and he hates that he's a human being. If he embraced that part of him more, he might be a happier person who isn't going to destroy the planet."
Except, as we learn in "The Boys" season 4, Homelander's huge craving for approval was part of his conditioning since childhood. It was Vought International's attempt at making him docile and make sure he would not betray its executives. Homelander may be the ultimate antagonist for the show's main characters, but it is mere humans that are the series' biggest villains.
Humans are the real villains in The Boys
We've known bits and pieces about the horrible treatment Homelander (real name John) went through at the hands of Vought scientists since season 1 — in case you need a reminder, here's our recap of what went down leading up to "The Boys" season 4 — with Jonah Vogelbaum being the main scientist in charge of raising him. However, it's only in season 4 that Homelander finally decides to take his revenge while also destroying his remaining humanity by torturing those responsible for "experimenting" on him as a child (like boiling him alive).
Throughout the show's latest episode, Homelander does increasingly more gruesome things to his former caretakers, including boiling one of them alive and lasering another scientist's privates off, all while forcing the rest to eat ice cream cake and cheer as Homelander kills them one by one. Granted, it's horrific, disturbing stuff that shows Homelander at his worst, yet it's also extremely cathartic (in a sense). After all, we've known for years that Homelander thinks of himself as a higher being and sees humans as mere ants. But humans doing equally horrific things to a kid for the sake of the military industrial complex is pure evil.
Making matters worse is the way the Vought scientists refuse to appear genuinely sorry or apologetic for their sins. Sure, they beg for mercy and say "Oops, sorry for torturing you for decades, boy!" but their cries are about as sincere as a YouTube apology video where the person never actually recognizes what they did wrong. Is the way Homelander kills them extreme? Sure. Is it also thrilling to see them pay for their crimes? Absolutely.
The many horrors of The Boys
In the world of "The Boys," apathy is the greatest evil. It's how we get Vought scientists standing around and saying nothing while a five-year-old boy is tortured day-in and day-out. Apathy is how Vought International could get away with decades of atrocities and crimes against all that is decent at the hands of supes and simply sweep it under the rug to protect its stock value.
Apathy is also at the heart of the absolute scum that is Robert Singer. The presidential candidate, who had previously gained some points with audiences by moving to heavily regulate the supes, throws all goodwill straight to the trash in the latest episode of "The Boys." As part of Firecracker's personal vendetta against Starlight, she leaks details about Starlight's abortion to the public, hoping her rightwing fanbase will cancel the hero. That not only succeeds, but it even leads to Singer throwing Starlight under the bus and severing all ties to her for fear of alienating Republicans. With Starlight at her most vulnerable, Singer proves that he doesn't actually care about people; he's all about public image. He may not physically torture Starlight, but he is just as despicable as the Vought scientists.
As the war against Homelander grows closer, the true evil of "The Boys" is becoming apparent, and it's far more difficult to fight.
New episodes of "The Boys" season 4 drop Thursdays on Prime Video.