Antony Starr Reminds The Boys Fans of the Truth About Homelander (& They Need to Hear It)

Antony Starr is hitting out at fans of The Boys, specifically a segment that appreciates his portrayal of Homelander. That appreciation comes for all the wrong reasons, the actor says, admitting that reactions from fans toward his character and performance still surprise him. And as he reveals, the cause of his surprise is how The Boys fans seem to admire and cheer on Homelander as a hero. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly during the outlet’s Awardist Drama Actors Roundtable, Starr calls the hero worship for Homelander “surreal,” and continues to make it clear to fans that Homelander is not someone to love.

“We had a bunch of guys that we all kind of knocked them down a little, but on social media to say, ‘This guy is not the hero of any story,’” Starr tells the outlet. “They were really glorifying him, they loved him. Which is surreal. What I didn’t expect was that people would be so conflicted around it and, you know, finding themselves finding empathy for this monster.

For Starr, it’s clear Homelander is a monster from the start. EW notes that the character has the largest body count on the show, where he consistently manages to outdo himself with each cruel decision that arises. Fans who still loved him after he let an entire plane full of innocent people crash due to his carelessness may be missing the point.

[RELATED – 10 Best Supes From The Boys (And Who Their Marvel Counterpart Is)]

Homelander In The Boys Is Not a Hero

Homelander’s inspiration from the original The Boys comic run mirrors the Amazon streaming version, but they diverge due to their actions and the forces working to manipulate them. Where comic Homelander leans into being a dictator like Starr’s portrayal, his evil deeds are part of a ruse by another member of the Seven. The series avoids this for its Homelander, instead ensuring all of that evil is poured into Homelander himself and increased exponentially.

Homelander is framed for raping Billy Butcher’s wife in the comic, but in the series, Homelander does the deed and is a foil for Butcher (Karl Urban). Series creator Eric Kripke called the show a “fun house mirror” for what’s happening in current events and culture. Keeping that in mind, it is one bloody fun-house mirror.

Not only have we seen the entire plane of innocent passengers, but he has also deafened a blind hero, had his fans murdered to create a backlash to get him into the Oval Office, forced The Deep to devour his dear octopus friend, Timothy, and eventually pushed to take over the United States as its de facto leader. Toss in a relationship with a Nazi and you’ve got a poisonous recipe for a character.

The Boys season 5 is currently in production and will be the final season of Prime Video’s hit series. It doesn’t have a return date yet. Prime Video also has several spinoffs in development to keep The Boys universe growing.

Do you think Homelander has a sympathetic bone in his body? Are you fearful that he could win out in the end of the series? Let us know in the comments.