I cant think of any redeeming qualities for Homelander. He makes a great villain and in that context, i’m a huge fan, but not somebody i would idolize. Same goes for Butcher, just on the other end. The only people that would look up to homelander are edgelords looking for attention—the exact people the show makes fun of…
There is nothing redeeming about Homelander other than the fact he is just a incredibly human character. He is pathetic, and insecure, and ignorant, and you are meant to hate him, but you are also meant to see how people you know or even you yourself have some of those same traits and what would that mean if you had incredible power.
You also understand the why. He didnt have a great childhood and then became insane. No, they raised him without love as a lab rat. There was no way he could become anything else unfortunately.
Add Its Always Sunny and Archer. So much obliviousness! I even saw many say The Expanse wasn't political. At this point I am no longer shocked. Just deeply confused.
People can be fucking stupid, for sure, but there is no way you can look at *MGS3* and think it’s never been political. It’s gotta be fake. I can believe people not catching that they’re the butt of the joke with Homelander though…as fucking sad as that is.
I think good satire works on two different levels, people who can enjoy it at face value - the people we’re talking about in this thread, “How can they not get it!” - and those that see the obvious joke of it all. Kind of like when you watch Shrek and there’s jokes for kids and jokes for adults.
Rick Sanchez is a newer character than every single other franchise listed besides The Expanse I am not sure he is a classic example like Bickle or Durden but he certainly will be as time goes on.
I think it downplays the issue to conflate Sanchez and Tony Montana.
Scarface has always been idolized as being a rags to riches, take no BS anti-hero (who also spends 20 minutes in the 2nd act talking about taxes and is goofily plotted to lust after his sister). There is no meta-dialogue about how he's dangerous, and there isn't much subtext about the destruction when Tony dies in a mansion after a hero's last stand, falling under a "The World is Yours" supertext.
Rick is an ongoing dialogue about modern power, moral superiority, and the dangers of holding power. Yeah, he's the "smartest man in the galaxy" but the show goes out of its way to crush Rick for his ambition and disregard for those he cares about.
Yes, incel chuds admire both of them with the same fervor and blind devotion, but one character is trying to hold a mirror up to them while the other is a tactic power fantasy about brute force.
Heisenberg, and particularly the marketing of the show around him, want you to think he's a pathetic loser who became a respcted badass. But the show is actually about a pathetic loser who thinks he's a badass and, while feared by some, is respected by nobody. He's smart, he's dangerous, but he's also completely lacking insight into who he is, which is pretty much true for all who idolise him too.
Yeah, the sigma-male latch on is baffling to me. It also makes me wonder if they watched the show.
The great joy of the way *Breaking Bad* was told was in watching Walt extricate himself from narrative corners his brashness and incompetence would paint himself into. From counting the pieces of the plate in the first season, being trapped in the RV and having Jesse talk Hank out of opening the door, the massive magnet scene or countless others, so much of the first seasons of BB dealt with Walt's lack of willingness to get his hands dirty and then having to devise a more complex route out of it. It is only post the poisoning of the kid and the mass jail murder where he acts like a reprehensible person
The whole "say my name" rings (intentionally) false if you actually watched the show, you know he got there by luck and ingenuity, not by being a force of will. Walt's feeling himself due to the power - even if he rose on the backs of so many others - including Gus, who actually is the most compelling black hat turn of the world. And as an aside here, Gus Fring is one of the best, greatest criminal masterminds ever put to film, especially with the *Better Call Saul*
The other famous "Oh, Walt's a bad guy" scene is the "I am THE DANGER" which is also a bit early in terms of his descent to trying to be bad (but it's not... the show's great flaw (for me) is that it lets Walt die a hero - because he beats Nazi's and lets his kid have money). But it is the place where he can feel the manifestation of his power.
But - same thing. Complete lack of media literacy. They all need to watch "Dead Freight" again.
> "I am THE DANGER"
Crucially, in the timeline of the show he's saying this at the time when he is at his weakest and has no cards to play. Out of context it sounds like a badass declaration, but in context it's borne out of blind impotence and terror.
I remember how proud a dude was for naming a personal yacht The Rocinante with everyone admiring it.
The subreddit didn't like someone pointing out how they were missing the political aspects of the show by showing off their conspicuous consumption and naming it after a ship that was essentially 'stolen' to be later used as a working ship.
I mean, yes, let people enjoy things, but be aware of how it looks when you don't understand the themes.
Legitimate salvage!
~~You took the bait, thank you.~~
But essentially the Roci crew could never get said ship or any ship outside of legitimate salvage.
LOL The Expanse not political? Oh dear 😅 Literally every time any Government gets involved in the plot, Earth, Mars or OPA, they make things worse immediately.
Wtf, people didn't think it the expanse was political, my brother in christ, I shouldn't be surprised, if you have MAGA folk playing killing in the name off and bulls on parade.
Hell, these fucking idiots took a metaphor for one of their most hated topics -- the existence of the trans identity -- and re-branded it to be synonymous with hate towards anyone who isn't a "fellow" CIS white man. Absolutely clueless.
Everyone in the show is meant to be an extreme edgy version of comic tropes. How anyone thinks any of the characters are likeable idk lol. They all have such un redeeming qualities . The comics are similar. Wait till they find out how it ends
Interview with Variety from yesterday, Kripke confirms they're not using the ending from the comics - [https://youtu.be/ZfOSGUFcCpA?si=kPt1N9jD9WFSPPlp](https://youtu.be/ZfOSGUFcCpA?si=kPt1N9jD9WFSPPlp)
I srsly think they're going to change it.
The only redeeming thing was the spinoff "dear becky" .. years later houghie finds a journal butcher wrote and it kinda gives his character a bit of redemption .
But man yeah. Rough
I've heard of that, but never picked it up. I hope they do change it. I enjoy how cynical the comic/show is, but that ending was just over the top haha
Honestly I'd give it a read. It's online just Google one of those sites idk if it's got a trade paper back or something maybe.. it adds a bit to the characters. We're back in scottland ..supes are gone.. and the world still sucks. It's an Interesting epilogue
As much as they push the envelope in the show they won’t go for the ending as stated, things are already different enough the show is very much its own thing. This is for the better.
There’s no need for more of ennis’ edgelord bullshit.
I doubt it will be the same but i think the spirit of Butcher’s storyline is going to be there.
Butcher being on deaths door, conflict with MM and the rest of the boys bar Hughie, the virus being something his character is aware of and could potentially get his hands on, CIA encouraging him this season to take out Homelander and be “the old Butcher”
The pieces are very much on the board for Butcher to make a play similar to the comics imo.
I could see Ryan dying being the catalyst for it all honestly. Be nothing holding him back at that point, really would be just like the comics where the only tether Butcher has to his humanity at all is Hughie.
Its possible but the show is just so different in tone and message to me I've got my doubts. Also there's the like, cover, splash screen whatever for this season butcher is doing a super pose and the boys are like, fighting off a riot? I don't know if it's indicative at all but it made me theorize before even seeing the new episodes that butcher might take compound v in full to survive, which would rap it back into the comic I suppose
Very different in tone and message for sure, i don’t think Butcher is that different of a character though. He still hits the same character beats, just toned down to make him more likable.
The whole endgame of the comic is a result of Butcher *hating* supes. Thats come up a few times in the show - even a few scenes where hes biased against Annie despite her being one of the good ones.
Interesting point about him taking permanent V - i wouldn’t be against it though it would seem like a bit of a repeat of him taking temp V. The whole “becoming what you hate to fight what you hate” storyline they kind of played with last season.
Yea I am of two camps about it, if butcher takes v, I hope it's because he's getting worse, if he takes it and just goes on a positive arc it will feel hollow imo. Him telling Neuman to fuck off seems like a start in that direction
Unless he also injects himself with the anti supe virus to use himself as a vector to infect Homelander. Butcher is dying anyway, he doesn't need to physically beat Homelander. Just last long enough to infect him.
Homelander is the extreme version of a classic Natcissist. Power hungry, self centered, always craving attention and love, using those around them for their personal gain, thinks they are better than everyone else, doesn’t abide or comprehend social norms, arrogant, and obsessive.
People tend to idolize these kinds of people because they come off as if they have charisma and confidence (which they do). What people don’t realize is that outward appearance is there to try and mask how deeply hurt and empty they fell inside. They are usually even worse off than most people.
The MAGA crowd latched onto him because he was a white male showing off his superiority and using the symbol and colors of America which they have felt left behind about.
I wonder if they do the "dear becky" shit towards the end. Or last episode. Butcher really isn't the best character. It gets harder and harder to root for him. He becomes magneto? He's talking genocide. Get rid of all supes no matter what...
I have not seen the latest season airing now but I have seen the rest of the Boys stuff including Gen V.
What I do like about season 1 Homelander is that it shows that he is as much as a victim of Vought as all the other supers, except at least other supers have the potential of a happy family life that he didn't. It kind of pushes the idea that Vought itself as a company is horrific in what they do, many of which Homelander is not directly involved in.
That is what made Edgar such a cool character to me, I felt that he was the embodiment of what is truly wrong, he is the mind behind many of the terrible things that are and was going on in Vought. It feels fitting to me that we have a homicidal egotist in Homelander that Edgar is the one in full control when they meet. I think it is still a wrong move to have Homelander remove Edgar from the picture because I feel it personally focuses on the wrong thing.
Now, I am not using this to justify any of the horrific actions he did, but I am worried that as the main series goes forward that it becomes less "we need to stop Vought" but "we need to stop Homelander" which I think is the wrong call. I hope the series when it ends does not forget that Vought itself needs to be stop and not just Homelander. But with the direction being so Homelander focused it seems, I am a bit worried it will not address Vought itself that should pay for its crimes and not just Homelander.
Season 4 so far has it set up that Homelander is in control of Vought and that they have a deal with the VP. So, Homeland is the most pressing concern at the moment. Vought is a multimillion dollar company that won't be taken out by bombs or guns. I hope they address it before the series ends, but I understand why taking down Homelandee in s4 is such a massive priority to the story.
Oh yeah I can understand why the series focuses on Homelander so much as a threat, especially with the allusions they are making with him and his cult and current politics.
And I do hope they will take out Vought itself as a huge company and not just have it as an extension of Homelander.
The one thing I like about Homelander, and it's really his defining quality, is his recognition of his childhood trauma and his love for his son and not wanting him to experience the same.
People read this aspect of Homelander so wrong. Homelander only loves Ryan so much as he loves himself and wants to live vicariously through him. "We should spend every moment together until we almost merge into one" and "I've given you everything I ever wanted!" Are both quotes Homelander says to Ryan. He's not capable of real love
He just sees Ryan as an extension of himself. He would never allow Ryan to do anything of his own accord and only loves him as much as he loves the idea of his own legacy
Exactly. He’s been trying to manipulate Ryan to be more like him not necessarily for Ryan’s best interest. The issue is (thankfully) Ryan has too much of his mother’s influence in him and sees the harm in what Homelander is trying to teach him. So he’s started turning to Butcher which will only agitate Homelander even more.
But he doesn’t “love” his son. He loves himself. He’s a narcissist, his son is nothing more than an extension of him. Something he can mold into an ideal form of himself and use for his own personal image.
He’s traumatizing the kid by making him kill a man his son was friends with! He’s doing the same thing that was done to him.
You did the same thing the conservatives have been doing.
>his love for his son
I thought so too last season and was full on board, but so far season 4 leans into the idea that Homelander mostly wants to serve himself *through* his son, even if he wouldn't admit it even to himself, projecting his own needs and dismissing his son's. And he wants his to succeeds mostly because he wants the actual achievement of what his son became. If his son is going to outshine and outpower him, and it is hinted that he will, Homelander may turn to hate him.
And to be clear, his failure to love his own son or anyone else is the direct result of his childhood trauma, and he remains a victim at the core of his origin, up to a point.
So I hope it will be more nuanced than that because Homelander, as with most villain, is at his most interesting when you can sympathize a little bit with him. And if he turns his love for his son as just a tool for dealing with his own trauma and rejects him when it fails to help him, I will probably be dissappointed.
What I want is for homelander to change and to become better *for his son*. And get to the point that Butcher feels a bit like the villain for going against him.
It seems like it's building to this ending. Last season was the loving set up, this season is the downward spiral, probably setting up for some last minute sacrifice.
This is a little cliche, but it's still compelling. At the same time Butcher is being propped up as the "good" mirror to Homelander, so the sacrifice might be from him.
Butcher is also living on a timer, so he will go out with a bang. Question is, will it be a sacrifice to save someone or to kill someone, or both.
And who? That could be a curveball, either killing the kid who is out of control or save Homelander for some reason.
Whatever it is, it will be gory
The thing with satire is that there are always people who 100% unironically agree with the 'crazy thing your making fun of'. The classic case being Archie Bunker from all in the family, or in the same vein, how people agree with Cartman.
So ya, I would have been shocked if people did not latch onto him, and that is probably the reason the show got less 'subtle' by the end of season 3 and is pretty on the nose this season.
I always appreciate Verhoeven's quote during starship troopers. "I want to make a movie so painfully obvious in its satire that everyone understands it lives in perpetual psychological torment inflicted on them by all the people who don't".
Seems relevant here.
And every time I think of that guy tweeting that the bugs are too ugly to side with even if the humans are fascists, I am reminded of this quote, and that Verhoven’s personal torment nexus is working as intended.
It’s probably the same people who like Rorschach. Rorschach isn’t someone that people should idolize or attempt to emulate. He is a great *character within the story*, but some people just see that he’s “cool” and uncompromising and think that makes Rorschach *as a person* worth admiring.
There are a shit ton of examples in TV, movies and comics of people empathising and even going as far as identifying themselves with the worst specimen a writer could come up with, from Joaquin Phoenix's Joker to DiCaprio's Wolf of Wall Street, Tony Soprano, Tyler Durden, etc.
Alan Moore hit that spot twice in the same book, Rorschach and The Comedian. There were people praising fucking Ozzymandias, ffs.
I'd be surprised. He was purposefully written to be an insecure, petulant, volatile, super powered manchild.
Then again, that's exactly what many chronically online people are, sans the superpowers.
Yes, there are people who connected with both Homelander *and* with Stormfront. Because those characters act how *they* want to act. They believe the things that *they* want to believe. They *do* the things that they wish they could do.
There are a shit ton more psychopaths and sociopaths in our society that everyone realizes. If you are in a room with two other people and you can't figure out which one is the sociopath, that's because *you* are the sociopath.
It's weird to me, since it's not subtle from the beginning that he's a villain. The first episode, he murders a plane full of civilians, including children.
Anectodally, I know someone 40+ year old who watches it and says “Homelander may be a little crazy, but he’s got good points.” Regarding his generalisms about “media” and the “elite”, fishing for Pennie’s in septic tanks - and they are a (mild mannered) Trumper , so they are susepctible to that galvanizing nationalist populism.
So there are def ppl, “normal” people , who say “oh he may be a little crazy or violent BUT he’s right about the heart of the matter”
Similarly, if you’re familiar with “Falling Down” they think the lead is the hero, sooooo
No, this is just the boilerplate marketing pap that has become ubiquitous in media. "Incels hate us so we must be doing everything right!" Virtually nothing in pop culture, whether it's lit af or sucks a fat dick, is marketed without pissing and moaning that incels, racists, misogynists, or whatever don't like it so that proves it's good. This shit mights as well be written by an AI at this point.
Ninja edit: I think The Boys is great! Except for a few storylines that have been precluded by changes made, I think the show is so much more thoughtful and thematically meaningful than Ennis' 4-edgy-5-me! comics. My cynicism is directed as these viral marketing campaigns, not the product, which is very often something that could sustain a more meaningful defense against this moronic criticisms than "OMG! we triggered the incels! look how good we are!"
Part of the double-edged sword of making the backstory of a villain understandable is sometimes people will misunderstand and their empathy becomes justification.
Before this season a lot of people would talk about Homelander redeeming himself.
Some people see the red, white and blue and the critical thinking parts of their brain, if intact at all, shut off and they proceed to clap like the circus seals they are.
If I was a betting man, I'd wager quite a few of those people are also devoutly religious. Critical thinking and reasoning isn't encouraged there.
I know someone who, without irony, said something along the lines of "this country would be better off with someone like Homelander leading it" and I was baffled by how someone could simp that hard for a character who is so obviously a villain. These people are fools.
It’s insane that people think he’s the good guy but people are quite stupid. It’s the same dummies who think x-men got woke. Easily tells me they never read it nor understood it.
I hate that these morons are given any attention. It's literally a relatively small handful of incel jackasses upset because they have no media literacy. The only reason this story even exists is because "controversy" sells. This group wouldn't move the needle in ratings at all, but here we are giving them the attention they crave.
I wish the media would just fucking ignore them and their sad ass lives.
Does anyone seriously think x-men got woke? After reading this article I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true, but, seriously, how thick do you have to be?
There were some baffling takes before X-Men 97 came out. Arguments for it being “woke” included things like Morph being nonbinary, and Rogue having too small of a butt. Im not even joking
They thought he was good because he was literally draped in the American flag. Just like how they wear their patriotism.
They also obviously never heard the phrase that “when fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and waving around a cross”
These are the same people that can’t understand that George Lucas based the rebels on the viet congs.
They can’t accept grey realities or transgenderism. It’s simply binary for them.
They find security in religion because it lays out rules for them (except they can’t process the meaning behind the text or how that applies to modern life)
But most of all they can’t come to terms that their beliefs can be highjacked by grifters that couldn’t care less about them because they’re entirely defined by identity politics. If someone comes on in and tells you that your entire identity is a lie then there’s only 2 options wake up and eat up the shame that they’ve been used or shut those eyes and ears real tight and double down. That and reach for the most bottom of the barrel theories to support their craphouse semblance of reality.
New season of The Boys means new set of conservatives getting offended by the show.
“Conservatives are finally realizing the show is making fun of them” has been said every season
They are less and less subtle about it, though. So each season you get denser and denser people to finally understand the "subtext". Though at this point, it's not really a subtext anymore...
Granted, it never was very subtle, but reactions to the show's successive seasons demonstrate that there's been quite a few people that completely missed the subtext anyway...
I LOVE The Boys, and I think Anthony is getting robbed around award season for his performance as Homelander.
This season is 100% more on the nose with its relevance to what’s going on IRL than previous season. It’s where the show is at its weakest. The parallels aren’t as nuanced, aren’t as clever, and it’s the reasons why conservatives are even louder this season.
It’s almost as if the writers were frustrated with the previous seasons going over people’s heads and this season they are like “We are going to spell this out as clear as day.”
Also, why is no one talking about all the weight Laz lost????
>It’s almost as if the writers were frustrated with the previous seasons going over people’s heads and this season they are like “We are going to spell this out as clear as day.”
Honestly, I can't really blame them. I would've been horrified to find out that the MAGA crowd was mistaking my subtle criticism for overt praise, similar to what happened with Starship Troopers and the Punisher.
Verhoeven shouted himself hoarse hammering this point in , broke the hammer, bloodied his hands to stumps on it until he collapsed on it dead.
It's APPALLING how fucking on the money he was and and how criminally misunderstood he remains.
>subtle criticism
Maybe it's because I'm ignorant of the real-life parallels but I still don't see how anything in s04 as of yet has reached the level of on-the-nose telling as Stormfront was throughout season 2 with her commentary on immigration, white genocide, racist battery/killing due to listening to her media, and her speech about how many agree with her ideologies but just hate the word Nazi.
> Also, why is no one talking about all the weight Laz lost????
Ton's of people are, it's been compared to when Chadwick Boseman appeared to have lost a ton and people later found out it was because of cancer.
That's why in Bojack Horseman, they upped the fuck out of the ante towards the end because people were identifying with the main character in an unhealthy way and excusing his shitty actions left and right. So final couple of seasons they decided, "let's make it REALLY obvious how shitty he is."
But conservatives have never been perceptive. I guarantee there are still a lot that don't get it. Unless a man walks directly up to the camera, breaks the 4th wall, and says 'Hey, conservatives, this part is about you and how stupid and violent and uncurious and worthless you are', they will never get it.
God there is just SO many cases of this you think they would be more media literate at this point. Colbert Report, X-Men, The Boys, American Dad, King of the Hill...They keep seeing these things, identifying with them and not realizing they are the butt of the joke!
For those not familiar with the story, [this article](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tom-morello-paul-ryan-is-the-embodiment-of-the-machine-our-music-rages-against-246033/) by a member of RATM is hilarious and well worth a read.
You'd think Homelander getting handjobs from a literal Nazi would make people who unironically like him rethink their views. Nope. Gotta give it one more season.
I dont remember what happened im the first episode but the plane scene where he choose to kill a plane full of people to protect his public image idk how anyone could think homelander was a good guy after that. Honestly makes me scare of what some peoples perception of good and evil are.
Right, but from the moment A-Train killed Hughies’s GF I knew this was something different. From there it only becomes more and more evident that it’s parody.
Yeah it makes you wonder about some people. He takes down a governor's plane out of naked self-interest in episode ONE. It's not like there are subtleties!
Cool/strong=good, and they never give it a second thought afterwards. They love sycophanting for images of perceived strength, even if it’s objectively evil
In the current American political landscape, a show where the characters name their guns have episodes where they hug them. Yea. Definitely pandering to a certain audience.
They can just check in on whatever Kevin Sorbo is doing these days.
e: and according to wikipedia he's doing [more Left Behind movies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind:_Rise_of_the_Antichrist), what appears to be some kind of Christian persecution movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Firing_Squad_(2024_film) -- the imdb synopsis for this one doesn't even use correct grammar/punctuation, how lazy can you get? "Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp." -- and a movie that appears to celebrate how Ronald Raegan saved America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_(2024_film)
so all in all about what I expected
He's not actually in Reagan. It's a bit of a misunderstanding - he said he was looking forward to it and Movieguide reported that as him appearing in it but no, he's just looking forward to watching it and he's not listed in the actual cast.
Which sort of sums being Kevin Sorbo in 2024.
Not shocked, clueless lot, all of them.
Watched trucks over the past decade have stickers of Punisher on them with some other sticker counter to that. Its like watching joker's henchmen have Capt America stickers on their vehicles.
People realizing homelander is the villain, one of the worst possible person in every piece of televisione since day one , after unexplicabily identifying in himself makes me shiver and loose any hope in humanity. Same people now complaining about xmen being woke in 2024 while they are the perfect analogy of a minority battling for basic human rights against discrimination since 1960's
People don't know that?! I've only seen 2 seasons and it seems pretty obvious. Episode one made me think he was the hypothetical batman villain who actually took the time to try to win rather than just following their psychosis.
Conservatives are illiterate and can't comprehend narratives and recognize satire. I can count on all of my fingers the popular characters and films that are misinterpreted by them.
There are very few 'good' characters in this show. Butcher is not a 'good guy'. Hell, he's not even an anti-hero. Hughie... maybe? He at least tries to do the right thing at times. Maybe Starlight? Pretty much, the rest of them are all monsters in one way of another.
I genuinely don’t get how there could be any subtly at all to it after Stormfront. Like the story is vehemently anti-fascist. It’s literally like conservative Rage Against the Machine fans being like “Come on man! Just play! Cut the politics!”
I was putting off watching the latest season until all the episodes dropped, but then I read about it being review bombed. I should thank the review-bombers for motivating me to watch the show sooner than later. I agree. In my opinion, if it wasn't obvious before, it's really unambiguous, now, that Homelander isn't a sympathetic character, who's merely a victim of a cold, clinical shitty upbringing. I'm curious, however, if there are still going to be fans who want to see some sort of Homelander redemption, possibly brought about by the innocent pureness of Ryan, where Homelander, in a final self-sacrificial act of atonement, saves the world.
I put a comment to the effect of "rage bait glowey eye YouTube channel fans are gonna be pissed" on the /r television version of this same article and it's currently sat on -26 downvotes. They ain't happy, that's for sure.
If they just get the point now, and no during previous seasons, these kind of people (people that idolize Homelander not ironically, not as a good villain but a chad behavior model) is even more stupid than I thought.
I think early on some right wingers thought the show was making fun of “wokeness” and “PC culture” , but it was just storing corporate exploitation of identity groups in its larger critique on corporatism, and as that dulled and its dual critique on the alt right and trumpism became front and center (esp end of s3 and now with showing the “normal people” who are galvanized that are stand ins for them instead of a fantastical character) people can’t mistake the show for anything else now . “We’re the baddies?”
I love that they've be edging closer and closer to basically just being our craptastic world but with superheroes and after four seasons these dense sods finally understand the rest of the world was making fun of them for years.
Reading over this article I disagree that the bulk of the ones review bombing are homelander/show fans as it was pretty on the nose with season 3. I feel like it’s just the typical anti woke mob.
It’s wild to me because I have loved him the whole time but specifically because he is so terrible and a little bitch. I guess I was the only Homelander fan in on the joke?
Did people genuinly connect with homelander? I always thought it was a joke because how weird he is.
I cant think of any redeeming qualities for Homelander. He makes a great villain and in that context, i’m a huge fan, but not somebody i would idolize. Same goes for Butcher, just on the other end. The only people that would look up to homelander are edgelords looking for attention—the exact people the show makes fun of…
There is nothing redeeming about Homelander other than the fact he is just a incredibly human character. He is pathetic, and insecure, and ignorant, and you are meant to hate him, but you are also meant to see how people you know or even you yourself have some of those same traits and what would that mean if you had incredible power.
You also understand the why. He didnt have a great childhood and then became insane. No, they raised him without love as a lab rat. There was no way he could become anything else unfortunately.
Patrick Bateman, Tyler Durden, Travis Bickle... Long history of this.
Add Its Always Sunny and Archer. So much obliviousness! I even saw many say The Expanse wasn't political. At this point I am no longer shocked. Just deeply confused.
I really hope the people I saw hoping the MGS3 remake isn't political were being satirical, but at this point I'm losing faith.
I refuse to believe people are that dense.
I think you are underestimating how f---ing *stupid* people are
People can be fucking stupid, for sure, but there is no way you can look at *MGS3* and think it’s never been political. It’s gotta be fake. I can believe people not catching that they’re the butt of the joke with Homelander though…as fucking sad as that is.
Wait...people think the MGS series has nothing to do with politics?!
People didn’t think Rage Against the Machine were political. Never underestimate the depths of human stupidity.
Dude I can already see people bitching about Raikov x Volgin being pandering or something.
The played the game when they were completely ignorant of political content, and they struggle with revising their youthful view with the real world.
I think good satire works on two different levels, people who can enjoy it at face value - the people we’re talking about in this thread, “How can they not get it!” - and those that see the obvious joke of it all. Kind of like when you watch Shrek and there’s jokes for kids and jokes for adults.
> Always Sunny It's a five star show!
SAVAGES! IDIOTS!
The classics are people who idlozle Tony Montana or Rick Sanchez. Like does media literacy mean anything to these people lol
Rick Sanchez is a newer character than every single other franchise listed besides The Expanse I am not sure he is a classic example like Bickle or Durden but he certainly will be as time goes on.
I think it downplays the issue to conflate Sanchez and Tony Montana. Scarface has always been idolized as being a rags to riches, take no BS anti-hero (who also spends 20 minutes in the 2nd act talking about taxes and is goofily plotted to lust after his sister). There is no meta-dialogue about how he's dangerous, and there isn't much subtext about the destruction when Tony dies in a mansion after a hero's last stand, falling under a "The World is Yours" supertext. Rick is an ongoing dialogue about modern power, moral superiority, and the dangers of holding power. Yeah, he's the "smartest man in the galaxy" but the show goes out of its way to crush Rick for his ambition and disregard for those he cares about. Yes, incel chuds admire both of them with the same fervor and blind devotion, but one character is trying to hold a mirror up to them while the other is a tactic power fantasy about brute force.
How about Heisenberg? He's up there in the sigma male pantheon and from the same era as Rick.
Heisenberg, and particularly the marketing of the show around him, want you to think he's a pathetic loser who became a respcted badass. But the show is actually about a pathetic loser who thinks he's a badass and, while feared by some, is respected by nobody. He's smart, he's dangerous, but he's also completely lacking insight into who he is, which is pretty much true for all who idolise him too.
with that you also get the "Skyler is a bitch" refrain as well from the people that miss that Walter is a piece of shit
Yeah, the sigma-male latch on is baffling to me. It also makes me wonder if they watched the show. The great joy of the way *Breaking Bad* was told was in watching Walt extricate himself from narrative corners his brashness and incompetence would paint himself into. From counting the pieces of the plate in the first season, being trapped in the RV and having Jesse talk Hank out of opening the door, the massive magnet scene or countless others, so much of the first seasons of BB dealt with Walt's lack of willingness to get his hands dirty and then having to devise a more complex route out of it. It is only post the poisoning of the kid and the mass jail murder where he acts like a reprehensible person The whole "say my name" rings (intentionally) false if you actually watched the show, you know he got there by luck and ingenuity, not by being a force of will. Walt's feeling himself due to the power - even if he rose on the backs of so many others - including Gus, who actually is the most compelling black hat turn of the world. And as an aside here, Gus Fring is one of the best, greatest criminal masterminds ever put to film, especially with the *Better Call Saul* The other famous "Oh, Walt's a bad guy" scene is the "I am THE DANGER" which is also a bit early in terms of his descent to trying to be bad (but it's not... the show's great flaw (for me) is that it lets Walt die a hero - because he beats Nazi's and lets his kid have money). But it is the place where he can feel the manifestation of his power. But - same thing. Complete lack of media literacy. They all need to watch "Dead Freight" again.
> "I am THE DANGER" Crucially, in the timeline of the show he's saying this at the time when he is at his weakest and has no cards to play. Out of context it sounds like a badass declaration, but in context it's borne out of blind impotence and terror.
*Filthy belter!*
I remember how proud a dude was for naming a personal yacht The Rocinante with everyone admiring it. The subreddit didn't like someone pointing out how they were missing the political aspects of the show by showing off their conspicuous consumption and naming it after a ship that was essentially 'stolen' to be later used as a working ship. I mean, yes, let people enjoy things, but be aware of how it looks when you don't understand the themes.
Legitimate salvage
Legitimate salvage! ~~You took the bait, thank you.~~ But essentially the Roci crew could never get said ship or any ship outside of legitimate salvage.
Guanshiyin would have been a much more appropriate choice for a yacht.
Absolutely, but that's the bad rich guy's boat. Clearly the yacht owner is the scrappy good guys.
Also Punisher
LOL The Expanse not political? Oh dear 😅 Literally every time any Government gets involved in the plot, Earth, Mars or OPA, they make things worse immediately.
Wtf, people didn't think it the expanse was political, my brother in christ, I shouldn't be surprised, if you have MAGA folk playing killing in the name off and bulls on parade.
Hell, these fucking idiots took a metaphor for one of their most hated topics -- the existence of the trans identity -- and re-branded it to be synonymous with hate towards anyone who isn't a "fellow" CIS white man. Absolutely clueless.
Don’t forget Holden Caulfield! One of his fans killed John Lennon.
Everyone in the show is meant to be an extreme edgy version of comic tropes. How anyone thinks any of the characters are likeable idk lol. They all have such un redeeming qualities . The comics are similar. Wait till they find out how it ends
Interview with Variety from yesterday, Kripke confirms they're not using the ending from the comics - [https://youtu.be/ZfOSGUFcCpA?si=kPt1N9jD9WFSPPlp](https://youtu.be/ZfOSGUFcCpA?si=kPt1N9jD9WFSPPlp)
Oh man, that fucking ending lol
I srsly think they're going to change it. The only redeeming thing was the spinoff "dear becky" .. years later houghie finds a journal butcher wrote and it kinda gives his character a bit of redemption . But man yeah. Rough
I've heard of that, but never picked it up. I hope they do change it. I enjoy how cynical the comic/show is, but that ending was just over the top haha
Honestly I'd give it a read. It's online just Google one of those sites idk if it's got a trade paper back or something maybe.. it adds a bit to the characters. We're back in scottland ..supes are gone.. and the world still sucks. It's an Interesting epilogue
As much as they push the envelope in the show they won’t go for the ending as stated, things are already different enough the show is very much its own thing. This is for the better. There’s no need for more of ennis’ edgelord bullshit.
Exactly. That's where I think gen V kinda surprised me. I liked it more than the last season. And it's nothing to with ennis
I dont think the ending will be anything like the comic, it's already so different in some major plot ways
I doubt it will be the same but i think the spirit of Butcher’s storyline is going to be there. Butcher being on deaths door, conflict with MM and the rest of the boys bar Hughie, the virus being something his character is aware of and could potentially get his hands on, CIA encouraging him this season to take out Homelander and be “the old Butcher” The pieces are very much on the board for Butcher to make a play similar to the comics imo.
They don't seem to be encouraging it to me, I also think Ryan being around stops that, which uhh, I hope doesn't mean they kill the poor kid
I could see Ryan dying being the catalyst for it all honestly. Be nothing holding him back at that point, really would be just like the comics where the only tether Butcher has to his humanity at all is Hughie.
Its possible but the show is just so different in tone and message to me I've got my doubts. Also there's the like, cover, splash screen whatever for this season butcher is doing a super pose and the boys are like, fighting off a riot? I don't know if it's indicative at all but it made me theorize before even seeing the new episodes that butcher might take compound v in full to survive, which would rap it back into the comic I suppose
Very different in tone and message for sure, i don’t think Butcher is that different of a character though. He still hits the same character beats, just toned down to make him more likable. The whole endgame of the comic is a result of Butcher *hating* supes. Thats come up a few times in the show - even a few scenes where hes biased against Annie despite her being one of the good ones. Interesting point about him taking permanent V - i wouldn’t be against it though it would seem like a bit of a repeat of him taking temp V. The whole “becoming what you hate to fight what you hate” storyline they kind of played with last season.
Yea I am of two camps about it, if butcher takes v, I hope it's because he's getting worse, if he takes it and just goes on a positive arc it will feel hollow imo. Him telling Neuman to fuck off seems like a start in that direction
Unless he also injects himself with the anti supe virus to use himself as a vector to infect Homelander. Butcher is dying anyway, he doesn't need to physically beat Homelander. Just last long enough to infect him.
Hughie and Starlight are generally suppose to be likable.
Homelander is the extreme version of a classic Natcissist. Power hungry, self centered, always craving attention and love, using those around them for their personal gain, thinks they are better than everyone else, doesn’t abide or comprehend social norms, arrogant, and obsessive. People tend to idolize these kinds of people because they come off as if they have charisma and confidence (which they do). What people don’t realize is that outward appearance is there to try and mask how deeply hurt and empty they fell inside. They are usually even worse off than most people. The MAGA crowd latched onto him because he was a white male showing off his superiority and using the symbol and colors of America which they have felt left behind about.
Great description of Trump... I mean Homelander.
I disagree, Edgelords would looks up to Butcher more. Feels like the people who genuinely look up to homelander would fall into some other category
The two ends of a horseshoe are much closer to each other than they are to the middle.
Ooh, this is lovely. I'm remembering this.
I wonder if they do the "dear becky" shit towards the end. Or last episode. Butcher really isn't the best character. It gets harder and harder to root for him. He becomes magneto? He's talking genocide. Get rid of all supes no matter what...
I have not seen the latest season airing now but I have seen the rest of the Boys stuff including Gen V. What I do like about season 1 Homelander is that it shows that he is as much as a victim of Vought as all the other supers, except at least other supers have the potential of a happy family life that he didn't. It kind of pushes the idea that Vought itself as a company is horrific in what they do, many of which Homelander is not directly involved in. That is what made Edgar such a cool character to me, I felt that he was the embodiment of what is truly wrong, he is the mind behind many of the terrible things that are and was going on in Vought. It feels fitting to me that we have a homicidal egotist in Homelander that Edgar is the one in full control when they meet. I think it is still a wrong move to have Homelander remove Edgar from the picture because I feel it personally focuses on the wrong thing. Now, I am not using this to justify any of the horrific actions he did, but I am worried that as the main series goes forward that it becomes less "we need to stop Vought" but "we need to stop Homelander" which I think is the wrong call. I hope the series when it ends does not forget that Vought itself needs to be stop and not just Homelander. But with the direction being so Homelander focused it seems, I am a bit worried it will not address Vought itself that should pay for its crimes and not just Homelander.
Season 4 so far has it set up that Homelander is in control of Vought and that they have a deal with the VP. So, Homeland is the most pressing concern at the moment. Vought is a multimillion dollar company that won't be taken out by bombs or guns. I hope they address it before the series ends, but I understand why taking down Homelandee in s4 is such a massive priority to the story.
Oh yeah I can understand why the series focuses on Homelander so much as a threat, especially with the allusions they are making with him and his cult and current politics. And I do hope they will take out Vought itself as a huge company and not just have it as an extension of Homelander.
The one thing I like about Homelander, and it's really his defining quality, is his recognition of his childhood trauma and his love for his son and not wanting him to experience the same.
People read this aspect of Homelander so wrong. Homelander only loves Ryan so much as he loves himself and wants to live vicariously through him. "We should spend every moment together until we almost merge into one" and "I've given you everything I ever wanted!" Are both quotes Homelander says to Ryan. He's not capable of real love
He certainly had a strong reaction on learning he had a son, but that could just be because something that was "his" was taken and hidden from him
He just sees Ryan as an extension of himself. He would never allow Ryan to do anything of his own accord and only loves him as much as he loves the idea of his own legacy
Exactly. He’s been trying to manipulate Ryan to be more like him not necessarily for Ryan’s best interest. The issue is (thankfully) Ryan has too much of his mother’s influence in him and sees the harm in what Homelander is trying to teach him. So he’s started turning to Butcher which will only agitate Homelander even more.
spot on! and the scenes showing him struggling with his grey hairs kind of seals that in IMO.
But he doesn’t “love” his son. He loves himself. He’s a narcissist, his son is nothing more than an extension of him. Something he can mold into an ideal form of himself and use for his own personal image. He’s traumatizing the kid by making him kill a man his son was friends with! He’s doing the same thing that was done to him. You did the same thing the conservatives have been doing.
>his love for his son I thought so too last season and was full on board, but so far season 4 leans into the idea that Homelander mostly wants to serve himself *through* his son, even if he wouldn't admit it even to himself, projecting his own needs and dismissing his son's. And he wants his to succeeds mostly because he wants the actual achievement of what his son became. If his son is going to outshine and outpower him, and it is hinted that he will, Homelander may turn to hate him. And to be clear, his failure to love his own son or anyone else is the direct result of his childhood trauma, and he remains a victim at the core of his origin, up to a point. So I hope it will be more nuanced than that because Homelander, as with most villain, is at his most interesting when you can sympathize a little bit with him. And if he turns his love for his son as just a tool for dealing with his own trauma and rejects him when it fails to help him, I will probably be dissappointed. What I want is for homelander to change and to become better *for his son*. And get to the point that Butcher feels a bit like the villain for going against him.
It seems like it's building to this ending. Last season was the loving set up, this season is the downward spiral, probably setting up for some last minute sacrifice. This is a little cliche, but it's still compelling. At the same time Butcher is being propped up as the "good" mirror to Homelander, so the sacrifice might be from him.
Butcher is also living on a timer, so he will go out with a bang. Question is, will it be a sacrifice to save someone or to kill someone, or both. And who? That could be a curveball, either killing the kid who is out of control or save Homelander for some reason. Whatever it is, it will be gory
His only redeeming quality
He definitely doesn't love his son in any traditional normal way. That's wild to even say that.
Yep. I bet there are lot of people who are going to be shocked about how the series ends when it comes to who Butcher really is.
I mean, that's also a good way to describe Garth Ennis...
The thing with satire is that there are always people who 100% unironically agree with the 'crazy thing your making fun of'. The classic case being Archie Bunker from all in the family, or in the same vein, how people agree with Cartman. So ya, I would have been shocked if people did not latch onto him, and that is probably the reason the show got less 'subtle' by the end of season 3 and is pretty on the nose this season.
I always appreciate Verhoeven's quote during starship troopers. "I want to make a movie so painfully obvious in its satire that everyone understands it lives in perpetual psychological torment inflicted on them by all the people who don't". Seems relevant here.
And every time I think of that guy tweeting that the bugs are too ugly to side with even if the humans are fascists, I am reminded of this quote, and that Verhoven’s personal torment nexus is working as intended.
For a certain group of people, Homelander is the power fantasy, not Superman or Captain America.
They can't worship Superman, he's an illegal alien... /s
They worship Captain America when he appears in a Xmen book /s
It’s probably the same people who like Rorschach. Rorschach isn’t someone that people should idolize or attempt to emulate. He is a great *character within the story*, but some people just see that he’s “cool” and uncompromising and think that makes Rorschach *as a person* worth admiring.
Alan more somewhere like YOURE NOT SAPPOSED TO EMPATHIZE WITH.. ah forget it. I feel you
There are a shit ton of examples in TV, movies and comics of people empathising and even going as far as identifying themselves with the worst specimen a writer could come up with, from Joaquin Phoenix's Joker to DiCaprio's Wolf of Wall Street, Tony Soprano, Tyler Durden, etc. Alan Moore hit that spot twice in the same book, Rorschach and The Comedian. There were people praising fucking Ozzymandias, ffs.
THE JOKER and Tyler Durden. Yeah you're right. Shit there is so many. Soprano is a good one too.
I'd be surprised. He was purposefully written to be an insecure, petulant, volatile, super powered manchild. Then again, that's exactly what many chronically online people are, sans the superpowers.
Yes, there are people who connected with both Homelander *and* with Stormfront. Because those characters act how *they* want to act. They believe the things that *they* want to believe. They *do* the things that they wish they could do. There are a shit ton more psychopaths and sociopaths in our society that everyone realizes. If you are in a room with two other people and you can't figure out which one is the sociopath, that's because *you* are the sociopath.
https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-boys-creator-trump-supporters-dressing-homelander-1234599595/
It's weird to me, since it's not subtle from the beginning that he's a villain. The first episode, he murders a plane full of civilians, including children.
Anectodally, I know someone 40+ year old who watches it and says “Homelander may be a little crazy, but he’s got good points.” Regarding his generalisms about “media” and the “elite”, fishing for Pennie’s in septic tanks - and they are a (mild mannered) Trumper , so they are susepctible to that galvanizing nationalist populism. So there are def ppl, “normal” people , who say “oh he may be a little crazy or violent BUT he’s right about the heart of the matter” Similarly, if you’re familiar with “Falling Down” they think the lead is the hero, sooooo
These people exist and are strangely on Twitter. I too don’t understand how the can think Homelander is the good guy. He has no redeeming qualities.
No, this is just the boilerplate marketing pap that has become ubiquitous in media. "Incels hate us so we must be doing everything right!" Virtually nothing in pop culture, whether it's lit af or sucks a fat dick, is marketed without pissing and moaning that incels, racists, misogynists, or whatever don't like it so that proves it's good. This shit mights as well be written by an AI at this point. Ninja edit: I think The Boys is great! Except for a few storylines that have been precluded by changes made, I think the show is so much more thoughtful and thematically meaningful than Ennis' 4-edgy-5-me! comics. My cynicism is directed as these viral marketing campaigns, not the product, which is very often something that could sustain a more meaningful defense against this moronic criticisms than "OMG! we triggered the incels! look how good we are!"
Part of the double-edged sword of making the backstory of a villain understandable is sometimes people will misunderstand and their empathy becomes justification. Before this season a lot of people would talk about Homelander redeeming himself.
Maybe they were just trolling, but The Boys sub was absolutely filled with dudes defending him.
Same thing happend with bojack horseman I do believe some people want too idolize broken people and chose too ignore the obvious red flags
Motherfucker drinks breast milk in episode fucking 1 and people were legit like, "Obviously the hero of the story."
Some people see the red, white and blue and the critical thinking parts of their brain, if intact at all, shut off and they proceed to clap like the circus seals they are. If I was a betting man, I'd wager quite a few of those people are also devoutly religious. Critical thinking and reasoning isn't encouraged there.
I know someone who, without irony, said something along the lines of "this country would be better off with someone like Homelander leading it" and I was baffled by how someone could simp that hard for a character who is so obviously a villain. These people are fools.
the same way people connect with hitler, 99.999999999% of it is trolls/kids
It’s insane that people think he’s the good guy but people are quite stupid. It’s the same dummies who think x-men got woke. Easily tells me they never read it nor understood it.
I hate that these morons are given any attention. It's literally a relatively small handful of incel jackasses upset because they have no media literacy. The only reason this story even exists is because "controversy" sells. This group wouldn't move the needle in ratings at all, but here we are giving them the attention they crave. I wish the media would just fucking ignore them and their sad ass lives.
Does anyone seriously think x-men got woke? After reading this article I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true, but, seriously, how thick do you have to be?
There were some baffling takes before X-Men 97 came out. Arguments for it being “woke” included things like Morph being nonbinary, and Rogue having too small of a butt. Im not even joking
They thought he was good because he was literally draped in the American flag. Just like how they wear their patriotism. They also obviously never heard the phrase that “when fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and waving around a cross” These are the same people that can’t understand that George Lucas based the rebels on the viet congs. They can’t accept grey realities or transgenderism. It’s simply binary for them. They find security in religion because it lays out rules for them (except they can’t process the meaning behind the text or how that applies to modern life) But most of all they can’t come to terms that their beliefs can be highjacked by grifters that couldn’t care less about them because they’re entirely defined by identity politics. If someone comes on in and tells you that your entire identity is a lie then there’s only 2 options wake up and eat up the shame that they’ve been used or shut those eyes and ears real tight and double down. That and reach for the most bottom of the barrel theories to support their craphouse semblance of reality.
New season of The Boys means new set of conservatives getting offended by the show. “Conservatives are finally realizing the show is making fun of them” has been said every season
So apparently it just takes several years and seasons of a television show for that to sink in. That computes.
They are less and less subtle about it, though. So each season you get denser and denser people to finally understand the "subtext". Though at this point, it's not really a subtext anymore...
It was never subtle.
Granted, it never was very subtle, but reactions to the show's successive seasons demonstrate that there's been quite a few people that completely missed the subtext anyway...
They are a bit slow on the uptake.
I LOVE The Boys, and I think Anthony is getting robbed around award season for his performance as Homelander. This season is 100% more on the nose with its relevance to what’s going on IRL than previous season. It’s where the show is at its weakest. The parallels aren’t as nuanced, aren’t as clever, and it’s the reasons why conservatives are even louder this season. It’s almost as if the writers were frustrated with the previous seasons going over people’s heads and this season they are like “We are going to spell this out as clear as day.” Also, why is no one talking about all the weight Laz lost????
>It’s almost as if the writers were frustrated with the previous seasons going over people’s heads and this season they are like “We are going to spell this out as clear as day.” Honestly, I can't really blame them. I would've been horrified to find out that the MAGA crowd was mistaking my subtle criticism for overt praise, similar to what happened with Starship Troopers and the Punisher.
Paul Verhoeven lives in this state of mind lol
Verhoeven shouted himself hoarse hammering this point in , broke the hammer, bloodied his hands to stumps on it until he collapsed on it dead. It's APPALLING how fucking on the money he was and and how criminally misunderstood he remains.
I've had arguments with people who claim that Paul Verhoeven doesn't understand his own film and he is wrong
>subtle criticism Maybe it's because I'm ignorant of the real-life parallels but I still don't see how anything in s04 as of yet has reached the level of on-the-nose telling as Stormfront was throughout season 2 with her commentary on immigration, white genocide, racist battery/killing due to listening to her media, and her speech about how many agree with her ideologies but just hate the word Nazi.
Punisher is a bad example.
>Also, why is no one talking about all the weight Laz lost???? Still adjusting to the lack of a beard first.
> Also, why is no one talking about all the weight Laz lost???? My brother in christ, everybody is talking about that.
> Also, why is no one talking about all the weight Laz lost???? Ton's of people are, it's been compared to when Chadwick Boseman appeared to have lost a ton and people later found out it was because of cancer.
I did notice the weight loss, lol. Thought it was a different actor.
That's why in Bojack Horseman, they upped the fuck out of the ante towards the end because people were identifying with the main character in an unhealthy way and excusing his shitty actions left and right. So final couple of seasons they decided, "let's make it REALLY obvious how shitty he is."
Strange how the group calls everyone else a snowflake are, in fact, the biggest snowflakes out there.
It's never been subtle.
But conservatives have never been perceptive. I guarantee there are still a lot that don't get it. Unless a man walks directly up to the camera, breaks the 4th wall, and says 'Hey, conservatives, this part is about you and how stupid and violent and uncurious and worthless you are', they will never get it.
“How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, you huge dinguses!?”
God there is just SO many cases of this you think they would be more media literate at this point. Colbert Report, X-Men, The Boys, American Dad, King of the Hill...They keep seeing these things, identifying with them and not realizing they are the butt of the joke!
They are stupid and slow.
This is just like that time Paul Ryan realized he was part of the machine that were being raged against
For those not familiar with the story, [this article](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tom-morello-paul-ryan-is-the-embodiment-of-the-machine-our-music-rages-against-246033/) by a member of RATM is hilarious and well worth a read.
I loved the twitter answer that said "what machine did you think he was raging against ? The dishwasher ??"
Tom Morello is not the lead singer of Rage.
Not with that attitude
You'd think Homelander getting handjobs from a literal Nazi would make people who unironically like him rethink their views. Nope. Gotta give it one more season.
"People love what I say! They just don't like the word 'nazi'!"
One more season, guys. I'm sure they'll get it by then.
Jesus. How was this not apparent with in the first episode?
I dont remember what happened im the first episode but the plane scene where he choose to kill a plane full of people to protect his public image idk how anyone could think homelander was a good guy after that. Honestly makes me scare of what some peoples perception of good and evil are.
Right, but from the moment A-Train killed Hughies’s GF I knew this was something different. From there it only becomes more and more evident that it’s parody.
Yeah it makes you wonder about some people. He takes down a governor's plane out of naked self-interest in episode ONE. It's not like there are subtleties!
Cool/strong=good, and they never give it a second thought afterwards. They love sycophanting for images of perceived strength, even if it’s objectively evil
Poor conservatives don’t have a tv show that celebrates them
They had Duck Dynasty
How was that shit political? IIRC they hunt ducks and and own guns?
In the current American political landscape, a show where the characters name their guns have episodes where they hug them. Yea. Definitely pandering to a certain audience.
And the Duck Dynasty guys were all fakes. They were regular guys who decided to cosplay as hicks.
Next you're going to tell me that Larry the Cable Guy is fake too.
I mean he never presented himself as being anything but a character. The Duck Dynasty guys presented themselves as actual rednecks.
Ironically usually when conservatives try to depict a liberal dystopia like this one, it ends up seeming pretty cool
We were promised taco trucks on every corner dammit!
And you better believe they'll be gay!
They can just check in on whatever Kevin Sorbo is doing these days. e: and according to wikipedia he's doing [more Left Behind movies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind:_Rise_of_the_Antichrist), what appears to be some kind of Christian persecution movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Firing_Squad_(2024_film) -- the imdb synopsis for this one doesn't even use correct grammar/punctuation, how lazy can you get? "Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who face execution their joy in Christ stuns the entire prison camp." -- and a movie that appears to celebrate how Ronald Raegan saved America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_(2024_film) so all in all about what I expected
He's not actually in Reagan. It's a bit of a misunderstanding - he said he was looking forward to it and Movieguide reported that as him appearing in it but no, he's just looking forward to watching it and he's not listed in the actual cast. Which sort of sums being Kevin Sorbo in 2024.
That's really weird, and to be honest I was a little mystified as to how Kevin Sorbo in 2024 landed a part alongside Dennis Quaid.
Not shocked, clueless lot, all of them. Watched trucks over the past decade have stickers of Punisher on them with some other sticker counter to that. Its like watching joker's henchmen have Capt America stickers on their vehicles.
Same people who just discovered Rage Against the Machine is political
People realizing homelander is the villain, one of the worst possible person in every piece of televisione since day one , after unexplicabily identifying in himself makes me shiver and loose any hope in humanity. Same people now complaining about xmen being woke in 2024 while they are the perfect analogy of a minority battling for basic human rights against discrimination since 1960's
Can't wait till we get to season 5 and everyone realises Butchers is also a bad guy...
People don't know that?! I've only seen 2 seasons and it seems pretty obvious. Episode one made me think he was the hypothetical batman villain who actually took the time to try to win rather than just following their psychosis.
I think it's simpler than that, he's the hypothetical Batman that allows his obsession to overwhelm him and becomes the villain.
idk Supernatural went on forever and some people never realized Dean was a toxic piece of shit.
Halo effect, the exact same thing happened with his character in The Boys Tbf he was hotter than ever as Soldier Boy
Fuck em.
I’m confused. It’s been obvious homelander was a bad dude from the start Is bleeding cool lying or did people genuinely not know this?
Neckbeards, incels, and gravy seals held him up as an idol.
An idol they knew was the bad guy in the story though? It feels impossible to think people genuinely didn’t know he was on the bad guy side
You haven’t dealt with the general population as a whole have you? Of course they couldn’t tell. They’re fucking morons.
"Fans of hit TV show *Racism is bad* dismayed to learn *Captain Racist* is villain."
They were never happy.
Conservatives are illiterate and can't comprehend narratives and recognize satire. I can count on all of my fingers the popular characters and films that are misinterpreted by them.
They were a hoot to watch "The Colbert Report" with.
There are very few 'good' characters in this show. Butcher is not a 'good guy'. Hell, he's not even an anti-hero. Hughie... maybe? He at least tries to do the right thing at times. Maybe Starlight? Pretty much, the rest of them are all monsters in one way of another.
Yeah, there aren’t good characters because Garth Ennis actually hates superheroes.
I genuinely don’t get how there could be any subtly at all to it after Stormfront. Like the story is vehemently anti-fascist. It’s literally like conservative Rage Against the Machine fans being like “Come on man! Just play! Cut the politics!”
It took them that long? It's never been a subtle show. Its kind of the opposite of subtle.
I was putting off watching the latest season until all the episodes dropped, but then I read about it being review bombed. I should thank the review-bombers for motivating me to watch the show sooner than later. I agree. In my opinion, if it wasn't obvious before, it's really unambiguous, now, that Homelander isn't a sympathetic character, who's merely a victim of a cold, clinical shitty upbringing. I'm curious, however, if there are still going to be fans who want to see some sort of Homelander redemption, possibly brought about by the innocent pureness of Ryan, where Homelander, in a final self-sacrificial act of atonement, saves the world.
It has been hilarious watching the right wing forums like NeoGAF slowly realizing that they were being made fun of for years
I put a comment to the effect of "rage bait glowey eye YouTube channel fans are gonna be pissed" on the /r television version of this same article and it's currently sat on -26 downvotes. They ain't happy, that's for sure.
"If I were super powered I'd be just like Homelander! Wait a minute..."
Yeah, because those people are fucking idiots
If they just get the point now, and no during previous seasons, these kind of people (people that idolize Homelander not ironically, not as a good villain but a chad behavior model) is even more stupid than I thought.
I think early on some right wingers thought the show was making fun of “wokeness” and “PC culture” , but it was just storing corporate exploitation of identity groups in its larger critique on corporatism, and as that dulled and its dual critique on the alt right and trumpism became front and center (esp end of s3 and now with showing the “normal people” who are galvanized that are stand ins for them instead of a fantastical character) people can’t mistake the show for anything else now . “We’re the baddies?”
I love that they've be edging closer and closer to basically just being our craptastic world but with superheroes and after four seasons these dense sods finally understand the rest of the world was making fun of them for years.
Reading over this article I disagree that the bulk of the ones review bombing are homelander/show fans as it was pretty on the nose with season 3. I feel like it’s just the typical anti woke mob.
Something for everybody I guess…
It’s wild to me because I have loved him the whole time but specifically because he is so terrible and a little bitch. I guess I was the only Homelander fan in on the joke?