If we're not mistaken, it was John Dalberg-Acton who coined the phrase "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Garth Ennis and Derick Robertson's Homelander from The Boys lends credence to this claim -- he essentially has all of Superman's powers and Captain America's influence, but none of their morals.

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Simply put, the Homelander is a bully with a severe God-complex; he sees everyone else as toys that he can play with, and break, to his heart's content. Worst of all, the Homelander has very little empathy towards others -- as you're about to see in a few moments. Below are ten of the Homelander's most heinous, shameless acts. We're about to delve into a number of genuinely disturbing subjects, so steel your nerves and brace yourself as best you can.

10 Dishonoring Superman

The Homelander isn't the only corrupt superhero in Garth Ennis' expansive stable of characters. Mr. Ennis is a vocal critic of the comic book industry at large -- a factor that's lead him to parody just bout every superhero that you can think of. However, Garth Ennis is a massive fan of Superman -- which is why he tends not to create very many caricatures of the Man of Steel.

That's what makes The Homelander stand out so much -- he's the antithesis of everything that Superman stands for, and his every action reminds you of that fact. It's debatable if The Homelander's powers evenly match Superman's. What isn't debatable, however, is The Homelander's moral bankruptcy.

9 Brutalizing The Seven

The Boys Amazon Prime The Seven

The Homelander doesn't just view regular people as expendable toys, but his fellow Supers as well -- including each member of The Seven. Supers like A-Train, The Deep, Queen Maeve, and Starlight aren't exempt from The Homelander's toxicity; he won't' hesitate to beat or berate them if they don't dance to his tune.

Granted, most of the members of The Seven are pretty terrible people in their own right. However, the biggest difference between The Homelander and his contemporaries is that the other members of The Seven are far more remorseful about their corruption than their leader. But as far as The Homelander's concerned, being a corrupt sociopath is his birthright.

8 Herogasm

Herogasm refers to a spin-off miniseries that Ennis and Robertson created after issue #30 of The Boys. This six-issue storyline centers around the eponymous party that Vought-American throws for the "heroes" under their banner. But Vought's heroes aren't playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey and busting opening piñatas - they're eating like hogs, drinking like fish, and sleeping like they're hosting a Greek bacchanalia.

It should come as no surprise that The Homelander is at the center of Herogasm - consuming copious amounts of drugs and running through sex workers like he's trying to set a record. If the rumors are true, we'll see some version of the Herogasm miniseries play out in Season Two of the Amazon show. If mass superhero orgies are the sorts of things that'll churn your stomach, you can't say that we didn't warn you.

7 Embracing His Oedipus Complex

While we're on the topic of stomach-churning subject matter, let's talk about The Homelander's creepy relationship with Madelyn Stillwell. The latter is the former's boss, but she's also the closest thing to a maternal figure that he has -- what with his biological mother dying after Vought experimented on her like a lab rat.

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On the whole, The Homelander's backstory is actually pretty tragic. But, as tragic as his background may be, it doesn't justify The Homelander's outright evil personality - nor does it justify him sleeping with his boss/mother figure and killing anyone who'd try to stop that. Just like the mythical Greek king Oedipus, The Homelander's distorted interpretation of maternal love is a detriment to everyone around him.

6 Creating Super-Terrorists

For the most part, The Homelander acts like a super-powered school bully -- using his superior strength to torment anyone that he feels is beneath him. But there's far more depth to this psychopath than meets the eye; you see, The Homelander is a maniacal genius underneath the surface - emphasis on the maniacal part.

Secretly, The Homelander begins planning a coup against the American government around issue #44 of The Boys comics. To be more specific, The Homelander concocts a plan to create an army of superpowered terrorists using Compound V. Not only does The Homelander show a complete lack of concern for the untold number of civilians that'd die because of his coup - he seems to relish the thought with all the giddiness of a deranged child. 

5 The Airplane "Rescue" Attempt

Every now and again, The Homelander has to actually do something heroic -- you know, to keep his public image intact. Most of the time, The Homelander's antics are staged events that are constructed by Vought-American. However, the Homelander and The Seven were thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire during the fateful September 11th attacks.

You see, The Homelander and his team briefly attempted to save a wayward airplane that was quickly careening towards the ground. When The Homelander realized that he couldn't, he was all too eager to abandon ship. Queen Maeve even begged The Homelander to save the children, but he hoped the Hell out of there as quickly as he could. He also called The Deep (a Black man in The Boys comics,) the n-word during this incident -- revealing himself as a closeted racist. 

4 Starlight's Initiation

Starlight and Homelander in The Boys

The thing about absolute power is that most of the time, it doesn't just corrupt the individual that who possesses it. No, those who wield absolute power tend to distort everything and everyone around them. It's heavily implied that this is the case with The Seven - most of the other members were probably average people until The Homelander sank his tendrils into them.

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Starlight is a perfect example of this trend; she used to be a cheerful, devout Christian who genuinely wanted to help people as a member of The Seven - until The Homelander and his cronies "initiated" her. Again, The Homelander's tragic past doesn't justify his actions by any stretch of the imagination.

3 His Entire Relationship With Queen Maeve

Starlight wasn't the first woman who The Homelander abused -- and, in all likelihood, it isn't even Queen Maeve either. But between these two women, it's Queen Maeve who's known The Homelander the longest. At one point, she and The Homelander were in a "relationship" together.

We used quotations because the whole thing was a one-sided affair; Queen Maeve genuinely loved The Homelander, but he treated her just as callously as he treated everyone else. The Homelander even tricked Queen Maeve into sleeping with Black Noir - breaking her heart and corrupting her conscience for years to come.

2 "Impeaching" The President

Remember that coup we talked about in entry #4 of this article? Well, one of The Homelander's most shameless instances of debauchery and psychopathy occurred when he actually put that plan into action.

Near the end of The Boys comic series, The Homelander rallies an army of Supers and takes on Washington D.C. Naturally, The Homelander flies straight to the White House and decapitates the PODUS. Considering that the U.S. Government has a hand in creating The Homelander, we'd say that this is simply a matter of Karma. Still, it's hard to support the idea of regicide - especially when it's the result of one tyrant killing another just for kicks and giggles.

1 His "Only Man in the Sky" Spiel

During the "Believe" storyline, The Homelander met the Muller family - a clan of devout Christians who were also some of The Homelander's biggest fans. At the eponymous Believe Expo, the Muller family was lucky enough to win not one, but two prizes - a brand new car, and a dinner with The Homelander himself!

The entire Muller family was ecstatic - they'd finally get a chance to meet their favorite superhero. Little did the Muller know that their night with The Homelander would be their last. After insulting the Muller family's religious beliefs, The Homelander then hoisted the Mullers thousands of feet into the sky before letting them fall to their deaths -- claiming that "the only man in the sky is me."

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