***SPOILER ALERT: This post discusses the season 3 finale of ‘The Boys’.***
Season 3 of Amazon’s irreverent superhero series The Boys has come to a close, with plenty of deaths, explosions, and gratuitous sex scenes. But unfortunately for humanity, megalomaniacal superhero Homelander finds himself at the peak of his powers. After surviving an assassination attempt by Soldier Boy and the death of his teammate-turned-rival Maeve (or so he thinks), Homelander still retains his superpowers, his control of Vought International, and custody of his son Ryan. And he also has the support of his MAGA-like followers, who are devoted to his every whim.
Their support runs so deep that, when a pro-Starlight protester throws a can at Ryan and Homelander during a rally, Homelander murders the man in front of hundreds of people. The crowd goes silent for a moment, before erupting into cheers. A vindicated Homelander beams as his adoring public celebrates him. The scene is a callback to Donald Trump’s infamous quote from 2016, where he said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?” It was a chillingly prophetic quote from the future president, who in 5 years time would lead an armed insurrection of his followers to the Capitol to upend the results of the 2020 election.
Of course, Homelander has long been a stand-in for Trump, from his racism and misogyny to his inflated ego to his pompadour of blonde hair. Both share an outsized power that masks a massive well of insecurity and white male grievance. And both have squandered incredible power and surrounded themselves with simpering sycophants to cover for their incompetence and ineptitude. Season 3 compared Homelander’s response to Soldier Boy with Trump’s response (or lack thereof) to the Covid pandemic.
Series creator Eric Kripke discussed Homelander’s evolution in an interview with Rolling Stone, where he said, “He’s always been a Trump analogue for me. I’ll admit to being a little more bald this season than I have in past seasons. But the world is getting more coarse and less elegant. The urgency of our team’s writing reflects that.”
In a new interview with Variety, Kripke noted, “It’s just a notion taken to the extreme that the more horrible public leaders act, the more fans they seem to rack up … And it’s just true. It’s like that campaign video of the guy actively saying he’s going to hunt down people with his semi-automatic and kicking open private residences to hunt them down — and people cheer for that now. So for us, it was just sadly, not that far off from what would actually happen.”
Season 4 will see Homelander at the height of his powers, with his son beside him, and an ally in Rep. Neuman who joins the election ticket as potential vice president. And now that Homelander knows that public murder is not a deal-breaker with his fandom, there’s no telling what kind of hell he’ll unleash.
(via Variety, featured image: Amazon Prime Studios)
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