Homelander

Homelander
Homelander in Mortal Kombat 1
Publication information
Publisher	Dynamite Entertainment
First appearance	The Boys #3 (October 2006)
Created by	Garth Ennis Darick Robertson
In-story information
Alter ego	John Gillman (Gillman is a surename only used in the comic)
Species	Supe
Place of origin	New York City
Team affiliations	Vought International The Seven The Democratic Church of America
Partnerships	Queen Maeve Black Noir A-Train The Deep Jack from Jupiter (comic) Translucent (series) Starlight Black Noir II (series) Soldier Boy (father in the series, unrelated in the comic) Lamplighter Mister Marathon Ryan Butcher (son, series) Oh Father
Notable aliases	The Homelander
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, durability, reflexes, and hearing Flight Lazer/Heat vision Superhuman screaming

Homelander is a fictional supervillain, and main villain of the television series The Boys. He is one of the antagonists of the comic of the same name. He was created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson in 2006 as an evil version of Superman. In the series, he is played by Antony Starr.

In the series, Homelander is an evil, greedy villain, who believes himself to be a hero and later in the series, God. He was raised by scientists who tortured him, to see if he could be hurt by anything. He would grow up to become the leader of The Seven, under the watchful eye of Vought.

Vought International is a company that specialises in managing superheroes. In secret, they use a chemical called Compound V to give babies superpowers that will manifest as they grow up.

In the 1980s, Vought's most successful superhero team is one named Payback, and have deployed them to Nicaragua so that Vought can try convince the US government to put "supes" in the military. Stan Edgar, then-representative of Vought tasked Payback to betray their leader, Soldier Boy, so that Vought can replace him with a new hero. This hero would be Homelander. After Payback defeated Soldier Boy and gave him to the Russians, Vought introduced Homelander to the world.

In his early days, "The" Homelander was assured by Vought executive Madelyn Stilwell that he is the most powerful superhero, but convinces him to not use the "The" in his name anymore. At this time, Black Noir was Vought's most popular superhero, and Homelander was jealous of him.

Later, Homelander was sent to defuse a chemical plant hostage situation held by activists. Homelander tried to save the hostages, but accidentally caused a gun to explode, killing one of them. Overwhelmed and angered, Homelander then slaughters everyone in the room, except for one survivor.

Black Noir shows up and Homelander thinks he will tell everyone what he did. Homelander tries to kill him, but accidentally blows up the entire chemical plant. Homelander finds the last witness and before he can kill her, Black Noir does it first. He then coaches Homelander to lie to the media, saying that the terrorists had bombs and blew up the plant.

In The Boys, Homelander is the strongest "supe" on Earth, and has a list of many different powers.

• Superhuman Strength: Homelander can lift planes and can kill humans with little to no effort.
• Superhuman Durability: Homelander is bulletproof, and Madelyn Stilwell stated that every weapon on Earth was tested on him and they all failed to hurt him.
• Flight: Homelander can fly, being able to take off into the air very quickly.
• Superhuman Speed: Homelander can fly at speeds of around Mach 3, or 2,300 kilometers per hour. He can also keep up with fast superheroes such as A-Train.
• Superhuman Hearing: Homelander can hear someone whisper under their breath from across the room, and even their heartbeat.
• Heat Vision: Homelander can shoot beams of heat from his eyes, which can cut through most things. He relies on this power a lot, and it has grave consequences for how destructive it is.
• Superhuman Voice: Homelander can scream very loud, rupturing the eardrums of ordinary people around him.

Homelander is leader of The Seven, Vought's best superhero team. His teammates are:

• Annie January, known as Starlight. She can absorp electricity and use it to fly or as projectiles.
• Maggie Shaw, known as Queen Maeve. She is a trained warrior and is almost invulnerable.
• Earving, known as Black Noir. He is a former member of Payback and is Homelander's most respected teammate.
• Reggie Franklin, known as A-Train. He is the fastest man on Earth.
• Kevin Moskowitz, known as The Deep. He can talk to sea animals.
• Mr. Schecht, known as Transluscent. He has indestructible skin and can turn invisible.

Later in the series, there would be more members of the Seven, as members rotated.

• Benjamin, known as Soldier Boy. He was Vought's former top superhero and after being defeated by Payback, was handed over to Russian scientists who tortured him for decades.
• Misty Tucker Gray, known as Firecracker. She can make firecrackles by snapping her fingers, and is a right-wing political podcaster. She later becomes the head anchor of the Vought News Network.
• Justin, known as Black Noir. He is actually the second Black Noir, replacing the first, who was killed by Homelander. He has many of the same powers as the first, but can also fly.
• Jessica Bradley, known as Sister Sage. She is the smartest person on Earth, and frequently lobotomises herself in order to enjoy herself like a normal person.
• Clara Vought, known as Stormfront. She is a Nazi, and has electricity powers.
• Alex, known as Supersonic. He can create shockwaves by clapping. He is also an ex-boyfriend of Starlight's.

In the past, there had been other members of The Seven, such as:

• Lamplighter. He can control fire with his mind, but not make it.
• Mister Marathon. He was the former fastest man on Earth, being replaced by A-Train.

Under Homelander's employ, many other supes assisted The Seven.

• Aaron, known as Oh-Father. He can create shockwaves with his voice. He is also a popular televangelist.
• Robert Vernon, known as Tek-Knight. He is a "super-noticer", being able to notice the tiniest of things in any situation.
• Doug Brightbill, known as Cipher. He is the dean of Godolkin University.
• Vasilii Vorishikin, known as Love Sausage. He has an extremely long and tough penis, and uses it as a weapon.
• Cindy. She can explode heads with her mind.
• Dogknott. He has the proportionate abilities of a dog.

Homelander's biggest enemy is Billy Butcher, leader of the CIA-created black ops team The Boys. He and Butcher have a promise of a "Scorched Earth", a scenario in which the two men fight to the death.

Homelander's enemies, as far as it is concerning him, are those who do not believe in him. In the fifth season of the series, Homelander seeks to be worshipped as a God, using the world's most powerful telepaths to find out who truly believes in him and who does not.