Abandonment and Complexity: Unraveling the Man-Child Persona of Homelander in The Boys.

If you can get over The Boys’ deliberately ostentatious gore and sentiments, you might have come to a turning point in the story. At this point, Maeve snatches Homelander by the rear, much like a raptor would. When I tell you that Homelander is a man-child who has suffered from abandonment trauma, at this point you will begin to trust me.

Home fookin lander is similar to the recurring blue moon serial ripper. The hope that comes with a blue moon is something that ordinary people experience from time to time, but The Boys experience it most frequently. Homelander dives into the minds and emotions of superheroes with the same dexterity as a man catching a fish with his own hands. I refuse to attempt to guess.

Homelander is A Hurt Individual, Unhealed and Half-Grown Psychologically

You’re on the edge of your seat for half the duration of the damn performance (and I mean that in a good way—the show isn’t horrible, pfft!). Did you believe Hughie would back down in the face of Homelander?Not at all! And so do you. For heaven’s sake, I agree! That is, of course, only if you had watched The Boys’ first season, which, in all honesty, had barely scratched the surface of what exists outside of Homelander’s reality.

Now, trust me when I say that Homelander from The Boys is not a psychopath. He’s a wounded person, and maybe he deserves some sympathy at some time. However, this does not absolve him of his faults.

Our Initial Impression of Homelander is That of Superman Like Calibre

Obviously, The Boys’ Homelander is a Superman rip-off. A kid who’s never seen a scene of The Boys will tell you that this is a Superman parody. But even the most bedecked superhero moviegoer will tremble at the expanse of Homelander’s initial entry in the series.
There’s this sense of composture and evil lurking behind his heroic smile. Of course, the series eventually shows what a villain he is, but for the first few minutes of the first episode of The Boys, you’re kinda bought.

From the beginning, Homelander commanded immense respect from me. That obviously changed, or else I wouldn’t be calling him a civilized wuss who still hasn’t gotten over his motherly issues—a scaredy-cat. However, Homelander strikes you right once as a calm man who has been to the farthest reaches of the globe. His ideology ought to be so perfect it would make you stand still.He is a walking god among mankind because of his radiant aura. or so you believe. That is, I believed.

Homelander is The Villain Who Never Had Character Development

He’s more along the kins of Omniman and man! Omniman is a nightmare. But what separates him from Omniman’s blood-boiling aura? The Boys’ Homelander is a kid pretending to be a man.
He’s got raw strength and unbelievable Supe powers that allows March 20 flight or laser-eyes, but that’s the end of it. Homelander is the villain who never had character development.

You can see what a man-child vs an actual adult confrontation is like when Homelander tries to subdue Stan Edgar in a battle of passive dominance. Despite being a normal human, Edgar completely crushes Homelander to the point his face crawls up to a near-crying level.

Homelander is Not A Psychopath

Now it frightens me to the point the strands of my body hair straighten – what a force would Homelander be if he have had proper psychological and character growth? What kind of a person would he be if he was a complete psycho maniac devoid of any human empathy?
Now it isn’t that he isn’t this, but he is more of a hurt individual. He isn’t completely devoid of emotions, contrary to what psychopathic tendencies are defined as and understood in Psychology.

Omniman is the reverse categorization of this, but more of that later [I can’t sponge all my sources in only one article can I? 😉 ]

Homelander Has An Inner Child That Still Yearns For Love

Homelander’s hurt inner child is reflected through his obsession with milk. To the point, he once detoured a farm adjacent to his scheduled workplace to have a spill of that good ol’ cow momma milk.

What Growing Without a Mother Does to You

The milk obsession seems to me to be more of a subconscious metaphor that relates to his desire to be loved by a mother. This is made even more evident through the different adaptations of Homelander’s story where his time growing up as a lab test subject is shown.
Jonah Vogelbaum who personally supervised Homelander’s childhood confirmed that Homelander is an example of the dangers of growing a supe without a mom.

Homelander’s Son is The Closest Thing to Love He’s Ever Going to Get

Maeve hated him and had to pretend to love him out of the fear she had of him. It was only when she was so drought with hopelessness that she decided to go for a suicide jump did she fight Homelander.
Madelyn Stillwell only used him as a corporate asset, a capital, and a risk factor – a walking weapon of mass destruction.
Stormfront loved him only so that she could continue her lineage of Nazi ideology. The only thing closest to love Homelander’s ever gotten is his son.

It may also come off that his love for his son is one based on selfishness. It may come off that Homelander is actually trying to fill a void in his own life by trying to be a father when he never had one (ahem ahem). Yet in Season 3, it really hits you when Homelander shows that he actually cares for Ryan.

Now, it isn’t that far from reality that all parents to some degree love their children in the essence of selfishness. Every parent sees their children as an extension of themselves, their own flesh and bones. In this regard, Homelander’s selfishness isn’t unjustified. Ryan is a projection of all the love he never had, that he’s trying to give to his son. In this sense, I come to respect Homelander, simply out of the sheer relatability and vulnerability of his character.