Superheroes have become the norm for the everyday person in many contemporary films and shows, from the Batman toys in Shazam! to the Hulk receiving his own ice cream flavor in Avengers: Infinity War. This normalization of supes is seen at an extreme in The Boys, with members of The Seven acting in their own movies, having their own product lines and trying to influence public policy through PSAs, like Homelander's supervillain response tutorial.

This PSA, while satirical, is a dark look into how far Vought and Homelander are willing to go to win over the public; however, the MCU has also had its most patriotic hero be used in a similar way, with Captain America having several PSAs aimed at high schoolers in Spider-Man: Homecoming. While Captain America's videos deal with smaller issues like physical fitness, these PSAs say a lot about the featured heroes and how their worlds view them, especially when considering how both have tarnished reputations.

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Captain America and Homelander Could Be War Criminals

Homelander and Captain America are very different, with the former being an antagonist and the latter being a genuine hero; however, they do share similarities that go beyond how patriotic their uniforms are. Both characters may be war criminals at the time their PSAs drop, and it appears the public is relatively aware of this.

In The Boys, Homelander was caught on camera lasering a super terrorist to death, killing a civilian in the process. This was an unauthorized attack, and it was an excessive use of deadly force that resulted in a treacherous death, something that could be qualified as a war crime, and that is before taking into account the civilian's death.

Meanwhile, Captain America went directly against the Sokovia Accords in Captain America: Civil WarThis was grounds for his arrest, as well as the arrest of Team Cap; however, he got away and proceeded to free a handful of his allies before teaming up with Black Widow to work as a vigilante. While his actions in Civil War are morally gray, Cap is a wanted man, and Homecoming even jokes about how he may be a war criminal.

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Vought and Marvel's Golden Boys

The public is aware of these heroes' crimes, but the PSAs are still made available to children. One would think that after their respective controversies that Cap and Homelander would no longer be used as poster boys for heroism, but that's not the case.

In The Boys, there is initial backlash against Homelander from protestors. While the audience sees that the world of The Boys is not completely dismissive of his actions, they also see how masterfully Vought and Stormfront can twist the narrative, with the latter helping Homelander reclaim his public support by painting him out as a hero on social media, highlighting how powerful media manipulation can be. This works so well that it's not surprising that a school would allow a PSA featuring a murderer to be used as an educational tool by the end of Season 2.

Where Homelander actively has people clean up his public image, audiences don't see that for Cap. After Civil War and before Infinity War, the MCU doesn't directly address how the public is dealing with Cap's crimes, outside the aforementioned war criminal joke. Based on the joke, as well as the fact that his PSAs are still used in classrooms, it seems people are relatively neutral about his crimes. Even Tony doesn't hand over the information he has on Cap to General Ross at the end of Civil War, further showing that most people in the MCU still see Cap as a good guy.

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Homelander Wants to be a Public Figure; Captain America Doesn't

While the PSAs show how the heroes' worlds value them regardless of their past crimes, the two differ greatly when it comes to how they feel about being used as propaganda. Captain America, since his MCU debut in The First Avenger, is not a fan this. He'd much rather do the actual work of a hero instead of pushing an agenda.

Furthermore, the messages he's pushing in Homecoming contradict some of his own beliefs, specifically when it comes to breaking the rules. Some of Cap's defining moments, including when he saves the 107th Infantry, feature Cap disobeying orders. This makes his PSA about following the rules feel hollow, hammering home that Cap is not about pushing an agenda; he's about doing the right thing.

Homelander, on the other hand, actively wants to push his own agenda. He has a god complex, considers the public to be beneath him and wants to do as he pleases without consequences. That, along with the fact that he was raised to be the poster boy for Vought, has led to him wanting to push whatever agenda will put him at the top. At the end of the day, Homelander is willing to manipulate the public for personal gain. This makes his classroom PSA all the more horrifying, while Captain America's can be taken less seriously by viewers and the characters of the MCU.

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