I struggle to think of a TV villain scarier than Homelander on “The Boys.” Played masterfully — almost too much so — by Antony Starr, America’s greatest superhero is really anything but.
He’s toxic masculinity and U.S.
imperialism packaged together with good PR and a soul-searing smile.
Starr has a ravenous grin to rival a great white shark but with eyes of burning hatred, not black emptiness.While Homelander is damaged beyond repair, the show doesn’t imply he was born that way.
Raised in a laboratory, “John” had a sterile, abusive childhood that left him with a psych textbook’s worth of mommy and daddy issues.
As an adult, he’s actually scarier because he’s pathetic — the most powerful man alive has the stability of a bratty 12-year-old boy.
Homelander is less Superman gone bad than he is a grown-up Anthony Fremont (Bill Mumy), the child with the powers and temperament of Old…
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