Despite its ever-growing competition, Prime Video's The Boys has carved out a niche for itself by being weirder and more gruesome than other superhero series. Leading that charge, and embodying the best (and worst) of everything the show has to offer, is Homelander.
Played by Antony Star, Homelander is The Boys' demented parody of Superman, he's unquestionably among the show's most interesting characters, from a psychological perspective. Much of the fun in his personality comes when viewers get a terrifying glimpse inside his head, to see what makes him tick. However, what's going on with the rest of Homelander's body is just as interesting, as there's a lot more to him than meets the eye.
When Did Homelander Develop His Powers?
The dark secret behind superpowers in The Boys is that they're artificially produced by Vought International, utilizing a substance known as Compound V. Although much of the public is led to believe powers are naturally bestowed, many of the Seven and other Supes were injected as children with Compound V. Homelander is no exception. His his childhood in a laboratory proved so traumatic that many of his psychological problems seem to be rooted in that upbringing.
Homelander's age of exposure to Compound V has yet to be revealed on the TV series. However, in the comics he was injected as early as the embryonic stage. When he was born, his heat vision activated from the stress, and killed his mother, as well as the nurses in the delivery room. Prime Video's Homelander developed powers quickly as well, as he mentions in Season 2 that he reached Mach speeds when he was a child.
How Strong Is Homelander?
What stands out as making Homelander most threatening is, of course, his extreme power level. It's implied multiple times that Homelander is the strongest Supes -- more powerful, even, than Soldier Boy, or Billy Butcher hopped up on Compound V24. There has yet to be an individual that can fully go toe to toe with Homelander. People crumble under his touch, and he can knock off a plane door with a simple bat of his arm. In the comics, he even throws a jet plane during a flash of rage.
Perhaps even more impressive is Homelander's durability, which makes him almost impossible to kill. He survives point-blank explosions, with Madelyn Stillwell stating that "there isn't a weapon on Earth they haven't thrown against him." Add to that list a combined assault by Soldier Boy, Maeve, Starlight and The Boys.
What Is Homelander's Weakness?
That isn't to say Homelander is without his limitations. He mentions he's unable to carry the crashing plane from to safety in Season 1, hinting at an upper limit to how much weight he can carry. Homelander has also been caught off-guard, and taken momentarily out of a fight, although he didn't suffer significant physical harm.
In the comics, the U.S. government kept Homelander in check for some time with the threat of atomic weapons. He was strapped to a hydrogen bomb for his first 18 years of his life in an effort to keep him in line. Throughout the comic, it seems that a nuclear explosion may be the only thing that could stop him permanently. However, considering Madelyn Stillwell's words, that may not be a limitation that transfers to the Prime Video adaptation.
What Are Homelander's Super Senses?
Pure brawn certainly isn't the only thing that makes Homelander such a chilling threat.There's the possibility he is always watching and always listening. He has X-ray vision capable of piercing any material other than zinc, which The Boys used to line a box holding Translucent's remains, and super-hearing that can pick up explosions from miles away or pinpoint a man's blood pressure.
Homelander's powers get even creepier in the comics. The illustrated Homelander takes pinpoint blood pressure a step further by using super-smell to detect sweat, differentiating emotions by the sound of heartbeat, and allegedly hearing the "firing of neurons" in a person's brain. On top of that, he uses his X-ray vision to spy on those around him.
How Does Homelander Fly?
From floating above an adoring crowd to chasing down airliners, Homelander's ability to fly is one of his most useful powers. While scanning the country for Translucent, he clocked nearly 1,872 kilometers per hour, and he frequently catches up to and outpaces jets. This even combines with his extraordinary reaction time to such a degree that Homelander saved Billy Butcher from a point-blank explosion before it did any harm to him.
What's even more chilling is Homelander's requirements in order to fly at the heights and speeds that he does. Breathing would be immensely difficult at such speeds in a thin atmosphere. That suggests Homelander can't suffocate (at least under most conditions). The extreme temperatures and frictions of such environments also speak further to his impressive immunity.