Confused fans of Amazon Prime’s The Boys were in disarray when creator and showrunner, Erick Kripke (Timeless, Supernatural) revealed what many viewers already knew about the Superman-esque villain of the parody hero TV series. In a Rolling Stone interview, Kripke confirmed that Antony Starr’s (Banshee, Without a Paddle) Homelander was in fact a representation of the United States’ former president, Donald Trump.
Consequence reported on the stunning revelation yesterday, posting Kirpke’s statement along with a side-by-side of the stars and stripes nemesis, and Homelander. See the Instagram post below.
Well into its third season, The Boys Vought superhero has allowed the underbelly of extreme insecurity and absolute power bubble to the surface. His public persona of America’s hero has cracked, and ironically, his self-loathing as a victim of society’s political correctness is tapping into a white male base in both the series and in real life.
“He’s always been a Trump analogue for me,” Kripke told Rolling Stone. “I’ll admit to being a little more bald this season than I have in past seasons. But the world is getting more coarse and less elegant. The urgency of our team’s writing reflects that. We’re angrier and more scared as the years go on, so that is just being reflected in our writing. But part of it is where Homelander’s story naturally goes. He has this really combustible mix of complete weakness and insecurity, and just horrible power and ambition, and it’s just such a deadly combo.”
As the interview hit the interwebs, a rumbling of white male conservative Homelander stans sparked a dialogue in the depths of the series’ subreddit disagreeing with this description of their beloved character. Many thought Homelander was more of an antihero who would eventually have a heroic arc. The only issue is Homelander, although a victim of Vought’s manipulation, has only become more brazen with his toxic behavior.
“Of course he would feel victimized that people are angry that he dated a Nazi,” Kripke continued via Rolling Stone. “All he ever wants is to be the most powerful person he can be, even though he’s completely inadequate in his abilities to handle it. So it’s white-male victimization and unchecked ambition. And those issues just happened to reflect the guy who, it’s just still surreal to say it, was fucking president of the United States. And it’s a bigger issue than just Trump. The more awful public figures act, the more fans they seem to be getting. That’s a phenomenon that we wanted to explore, that Homelander is realizing that he can actually show them who he really is and they’ll love him for it.”
New episodes of The Boys stream every Friday on Amazon Prime, with the highly-anticipated “Herogasm” episode premiering on Friday, June 24.