History Characters / TheBoys2019TheSeven

** Her light powers or SuperStrength have yet to show damage output that can't be accomplished by a couple strongmen with a sledgehammer. Homelander, Queen Maeve, [[spoiler: and Black Noir as shown in the penultimate episode of season 2]] so throughly outclass her that she is non-existent in comparison.

** Stormfront has similar strength and durability to Homelander plus highly destructive ShockAndAwe powers which also enable her to fly.

** Coupled with her WeaksauceWeakness of having to be near electronic items to fuel her powers, she's basically in the same situation as Deep.

* ReverseMole: [[spoiler:As of the end of Season 1, she assists the Boys when she can while retaining her position in the Seven.]]

[[/folder

[[Characters/TheBoys2019TheBoys The Boys]] ([[Characters/TheBoys2019AssociatesOfTheBoys Associates of the Boys]]) | [[Characters/TheBoys2019Supes Supes]] ('''The Seven''') | [[Characters/TheBoys2019VoughtInternational Vought International]] | [[Characters/TheBoys2019Other Others]]-]]]]]

!!Homelander / John
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theboyshomelanderseason2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[CaptainPatriotic "God bless you. God bless America."]]'']]
-> '''Portrayed by:''' Antony Starr

->''"I'm the Homelander. And I can do whatever the FUCK I want."''

The Leader of The Seven who presents himself as an All-American good guy, but is anything but.

* AboveTheInfluence: Apparently alone among the Seven, he doesn't use his status to indulge in hedonistic pursuits. Unlike typical use of this trope, it does little to make him more appealing. As he's the most power-hungry and sociopathic of the Seven, it just emphasizes even more how remote from humanity he is. As well, while others ''merely'' engage in drugs and sex parties, he instead has disturbing sexual interest in Madelyn, and Queen Maeve in a DarwinistDesire kind of way, as well as Stormfront, and previously raped Becca Butcher.
* AbusiveParents: He throws [[spoiler:his son]] off the roof hoping to jumpstart the kid's powers.
* ActionDad: It turns out in the end of Season 1 that Homelander [[spoiler:has a son with Becca]].
* AdaptationalIntelligence: While Homelander was still a selfish, self-absorbed asshole in the original comics, it was also alongside his confidence issues and lack of real planning skills. This Homelander is more proactive, smarter and worst/best of all, more ''creative'' -- one of the weaknesses of the comics version is that he was incapable of being anything but a blunt instrument, whereas here he has long-term plans. He manages to achieve what comics Vought never did: [[spoiler:get superheroes involved in national defense]]. Furthermore, Homelander in the comics was so temperamental and rage prone that he was very barely able to keep his true nature from boiling over the thin surface. This Homelander is actually smart enough to put on a convincing affable facade. A notably evident case of this is that, during the Flight 37 disaster, [[MythologyGag he shoots down the tactic that his comics counterpart tried.]] Season 2 shows this intelligence boost to be downplayed, as his narcissism blinds him to the long term issues his plans create because he’d rather get the results he wants faster and leave the details to the side.
%%* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
* AdaptationalVillainy: Zig-zagged. In the comics, it wasn't actually he who [[spoiler:raped Butcher's wife]], and he was manipulated into some of his worst actions. There is less ambiguity to his actions in the show, however.
* AGodAmI: In Season 2, Homelander outright says this of himself [[spoiler:and his son]].
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Horrifyingly, he actually comes across as the ''more'' sympathetic party in comparison to [[HateSink Stormfront]]. While Homelander is a murderous SuperSupremacist who treats all regular humans like dirt as soon as he's off-camera, [[HatesEveryoneEqually he at least isn't as]], shall we say, ''selective'' in his hatred as Stormfront, who is seriously guilty of both FantasticRacism ''and'' regular racism. [[spoiler:Although he gets into a romantic affair with her all the same, but does express discomfort when he actually sees her espousing her more private beliefs.]]
* AnimalMotif: Eagles, he has eagles as epaulettes and as a belt on his costume. The Eagle is aloof, proud, and looks down upon the world, much like how [[HatesEveryoneEqually Homelander sees everyone as inferior to him]].[[spoiler: This was to invoke his patriotism as the All-American hero but it also relates to Vought's Nazi origins by representing The Reichsadler.]]
* ArchEnemy: To Billy Butcher. Homelander allegedly raped Butcher's wife before she mysteriously when missing. For Homelander's part, he [[UnknownRival didn't even remember who Butcher was for the longest time]], and even after finding out about Butcher he treats him and his threats like a joke.
* AttentionWhore: Homelander lives to bask in the attention the masses give him in an attempt to make up for the loving childhood he never had. When Stormfront steals the spotlight for killing a Supe terrorist in Season 2, he's absolutely livid and spends her entire speech giving her a DeathGlare.
* AxCrazy: Barely-controlled rage and utter contempt for everyone he sees as weak--which is basically everybody. He's very violent and loves murdering people whenever he's not being watched.
* BadassCape: It even has the American flag motif embedded on it, mainly to represent and embody the US.
* TheBeard: Possibly a rare male example. He and Maeve used to date, but whether Maeve had any genuine romantic interest, she did it to improve her brand (on her own or at Vought's "suggestion"), or to appear straight is open for debate. She had at least one relationship with a woman, and is later confirmed to be bisexual.
* BerserkButton: His SecurityBlanket.
** A bigger one is lying to him. Don't insinuate that he's incapable of handling bad news with maturity, even though he's a PsychopathicManchild.
** He doesn't care for being reminded about how much he depends on the praise and attention of others or, really, how much he needs people in general. He looks set to [[RedEyesTakeWarning immolate]] Stormfront on the spot when she labels his need to appeal to every demographic group as pathetic.
* BewareTheSuperman: While most Supes and a majority of the Seven are subject to this, Homelander is easily the most notorious and oppresive one. It's not just that he has so much power that hardly anyone could physically stand up to him, but he's [[TheSociopath disturbingly demented, manipulative, vainglorious and callous of everyone around him]]. And [[AxCrazy he is more than happy to be violent and bloodhungry when it comes to dealing with his problems]], which only further adds to the amount of fearmongering he perpetuates.
* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:With Stan Edgar and Stormfront for Season 2.]]
* BigotWithACrush: He's openly disdainful of non-Supes behind closed doors, but he [[spoiler:speaks very fondly over his "encounter" with Becca and shows a more familial variation of this with his son by her, acting uncharacteristically friendly despite the boy being half-Supe. That said, Becca makes it clear that whatever happened between them was non-consensual.]]
* BloodIsTheNewBlack: [[spoiler:[[VillainousBreakdown In a fit of rage from Ryan not being at his makeshift cottage]], Homelander proceeds to massacre a Vought squad team when one of them happened to say Butcher shortly before Homelander's arrival. The end result is Homelander being covered in blood fron head-to-toe and remains this way until the end of the conflict between The Boys and Stormfront]].
* BrightIsNotGood: Appears to be a PrimaryColorChampion, with a blue costume, red and white cape, and gold decorations, but is in fact a dangerous, unstable psychopath.
* BrilliantButLazy: Homelander, his mommy issues and sociopathic behavior aside, is shown to be a cunning strategist and manipulator, far more so than his comic book counterpart. He's also the most powerful Supe on the planet, but he is shown to be quite lazy and callous with how he stops criminals when there aren't cameras rolling, almost exclusively using his EyeBeams to deal with his enemies. [[spoiler:His laziness with his eye beam usage is what would end up causing the Flight 37 disaster to play out like it does, carelessly destroying the planes control panel while killing the terrorist, when he could have easily gotten up close and killed him with his super strength.]]
* ButICantBePregnant: [[spoiler:Everyone including Homelander himself thought he was infertile, so it was unprecedented when it turned out he impregnated Becca.]]
* TheCape: Is a straight SupermanSubstitute, and at first even Butcher admits that he's the only hero who seems to be the real deal. As expected from the premise, Homelander turns out to be [[ObfuscatingStupidity one of the most conniving of the supers]], in conjunction with being a FlyingBrick, having an AllAmericanFace and the leader of The Seven he is casually able to switch between charmingly dorky and sadistic in an instant. Starlight, as a WideEyedIdealist and up-and-comer, is more of a traditional example.
* CaptainGeographic: Wears a suit of [[PrimaryColorChampion red and blue]], a cape modeled after the American flag, and has gold pauldrons shaped like bald eagles. They don't call him ''Homelander'' for nothing.
* CaptainPatriotic: He appears like this, the leader of the team wearing an American flag as a cape. Subverted in that privately he doesn't seem to really care about America at all. Double Subverted with his more [[ExploitedTrope exploitative]] nature of it; America is what's getting Supes involved in the military, and he mockingly states that "camel-jockeys" will recite his name in "perfect American."
* ControlFreak: Homelander in his eyes always knows best. He chafes at the talking points Vought gives him and insists on running his own agenda, purposely installing Ashley as the new puppet manager of the Seven so he will have complete control over the group. This extends to his personal relationships, as he treats others as his personal toys who exist solely to conform to his beliefs and give him love rather than actual people with their own personalities. When he slowly starts losing things to control in Season 2, he enters a massive, prolonged VillainousBreakdown.
* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:He saves Billy from killing himself in a suicide attack so he can reveal not only is Becca still alive, but she's been raising his hated enemy's son all along and never told him about it.]]
* ADateWithRosiePalms: [[spoiler:[[VillainousBreakdown Unable to comprenhend his son being taken away from him and being further restricted by Queen Maeve via her footage of the Flight 37 disaster and Stormfront controversy]], Homelander spends his last apperance in Season 2 mastrubating on top of a building, maniacally ranting on how he can do "whatever the fuck he wants"]].
* DidntThinkThisThrough: While he is capable of making intelligent choices, a lot of his decision-making throughout the first season is plagued by him seeking short term solutions to problems without considering the potential long term consequences, either due to him [[PsychopathicManchild only wanting immediate emotional gratification]] or [[BrilliantButLazy simply not bothering to think it through]]. The fallout from these decisions begin to pile up in the second season.
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: As part of the above, when he tries to apologise for accidentally killing a civilian on video, leading to accusations of being a war criminal, he tries to downplay it and retain sympathy by making reference to this being the cost of war. His wording however makes the crowd (who were already there in protest of him) realise that he just admitted this has happened before and start actively declaring him a monster.
* DisneylandDad: [[spoiler:During his short tenure of trying to be a father, Homelander and Stormfront take Ryan to a Vought-licensed amusement park in an effort to entertain and cheer the boy up. Unfortunately, they didn't didn't expect the fact that large crowds and loud noises would cause great discomfort for the boy, forcing Homelander to take his son elsewhere.]]
* DragonInChief: Used as TheLeader of [[{{Expy}} The Seven]] by Vought and Stillwell, Homelander is the most dangerous part of the organization and his butting heads with upper management hint they don't have him as reined in as they believe. [[spoiler:He proves this true in the finale when [[TheStarscream he personally kills Stillwell]] to take matters into his own hands. However Stan Edgar manages to reign him in to his displeasure..]]
* TheDreaded: Except for Butcher and Edgar, ''everyone'' is scared of Homelander. Even Starlight, while able to stand up for herself and be confident towards the other members of the Seven, is scared silent when Homelander is lecturing her.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Homelander is introduced casually murdering a pair of robbers despite the lack of threat they pose to him, using his EyeBeams to melt one guy's machine gun and causing him horrific pain before throwing another guy about twenty to forty feet in the air to land on a car. And then he dons his friendly mask for his public image's sake.
* EntitledToHaveYou: He believes that he and Queen Maeve belong together because they are both powerful, take-charge supes [[SuperSupremacist superior to the unwashed masses]] and seems confused as to why they broke up, [[IncompatibleOrientation unaware that she is gay (or at least uninterested in him)]] and that she finds his sociopathic tendencies off-putting. While both are willing to work professionally out in public, [[spoiler:she becomes fully disillusioned with him when he allows everyone on Flight 37 to die and then remorselessly capitalizes on it]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He's a monster who has a very American-First mindset and a SocialDarwinist, but he's shown to be uncomfortable by outright Nazism. He ''still'' falls for the blatantly racist Stormfront, and [[spoiler:when he finds out her origins]] he seems to see it as a positive, but when he sees her talking about "White Genocide", he pulls a face, especially as she's saying this to [[spoiler:Ryan, his son]]. PlayedWith though as it doesn't seem to be that he has a problem with racism and bigotry, it's more the ''delusional'' side of things, such as her genuine belief that "the other races" are trying to wipe white people out, which despite his problems he can recognise as a ridiculous fiction.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Justified. [[spoiler:Not having been raised in a familial environment ''and'' being starved for affection, he believes that his son is going to immediately love him and side against the mother who's been raising him his entire life.]]
* EvilHero: Homelander is a hero to the public and a sadistic psychopath privately with an additional flavor of craving for attention from the public. He's arguably a modern TropeCodifier.
* EvilIsHammy: He tends to play up his megalomaniacal tendencies for the camera or large crowds while posturing himself as a populist tyrant in the making. However, most of the time, [[MaskOfSanity he's more reserved, if unhinged]].
* EvilIsPetty: Goes in hand with his PsychopathicManchild nature. When he finds out Maeve is both bi and never really loved him, he relentlessly mocks her sexuality and outs her without her consent on live television as a form of revenge.
** This is also one of his greatest faults. He has no greater goal in life other than to get people to keep loving him. This makes him both short-sighted because he lacks any sort of long term planning skills, and very easy to manipulate by controlling the flow of narcissistic supply he receives.
* {{Expy}}: Aside from being a SupermanSubstitute, he is one of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica in terms of having a more patriotic image than Superman, his blond hair, and his desire to intervene in military situations references Captain America's military motif and service.
* EyeBeams: Homelander has red ones. He demonstrates fine control on several occasions (such as targeting a robber's machine gun and melting it, or burning someone's eyes out without obliterating their entire head), but his most common use of them in combat is an indiscriminate blast or sweep, causing collateral damage that could easily be avoided if he weren't so arrogantly careless.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Out of all of the Seven, Homelander's image is easily the cleanest. He has no bad habits that have made it out to the public, is well-liked for his approachable, patriotic attitude, and is conventionally handsome. Behind closed doors, however, he quickly reveals himself to be the worst among them, being a complete sociopath with a [[IncestSubtext twisted fixation]] on Stillwell, an encouraged [[AGodAmI God Complex]], a completely fabricated "farm-boy" backstory and a massively high body count with zero remorse for any of it.
* FascistButInefficient: [[spoiler:Homelander was able to achieve his goal of getting Supes into the military and he and Stormfront are rallying the American people against a common enemy. However, Homelander is not a diplomat, he's simply a narcissistic, psychopathic manchild whose ego outstripped his charisma. When people stop praising him; he throws a tantrum until he gets it back, which throws his supporters deeper into disillusionment. He also spends so much time playing to Stormfront's base (IE, paranoid racists), that it narrows his base considerably, and he has to distance himself from her when her Nazi origins come out, alienating anyone racist enough to still be willing to support her while he faces an uphill battle to re-endear himself to his less hateful former supporters.]]
* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}}.
** Homelander was groomed from birth to be the "All-American Hero" when, in reality, he's an apex predator with a cocktail of psychological issues from his upbringing in a lab. [[HatesEveryoneEqually He treats everyone as the omega to his alpha]], [[MurderIsTheBestSolution kills criminals]] and [[DisproportionateRetribution hurts anyone without hesitation]]. This is why he's fascinated with Billy Butcher: to Homelander, Butcher is the first person to be completely unafraid of him and hate him with every inch of his body.
** Judging by the use of his powers, he mostly relies on his lazer eyes and strength than any actual combat technique, as he uses his powers quickly and haphazardly without considering collateral damage. Homelander cares so little for other people that he uses his powers without hesitation and without regards for public safety because he believes that, as the apex predator, ''nobody'' can or will stop him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He publicly gives off the impression of being a NiceGuy, even though it's not really indicative of his true nature. In private, many of his conversations play off of the personality he presents to the public, with him rarely raising his voice while threatening to kill anyone he thinks slighted him.
* {{Fetish}}: [[IncestSubtext Based on his interactions with Stillwell]], he appears to have one for [[spoiler:breast-feeding and mommy play. Season 2 downright has him excitedly drinking a leftover bottle of her breast milk and having Doppelganger impersonate Stillwell]].
* FlyingBrick: A default feature for someone who is meant to be a villainous allegory for ComicBook/{{Superman}}.
* FreudianExcuse: Despite the official story being that he was raised in rural America with a loving family similar to Clark Kent, Homelander actually turns out to have been raised without affection in a lab, explaining his psychological issues. His visit to Vogelbaum ends with him nearly in tears, revealing just how deep in pain he still is from his terrible childhood.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Has his [[EyeBeams heat vision]], which makes his eyes glow red when he uses it or just charges it up, and he's not above invoking RedEyesTakeWarning when he wants to intimidate someone.
* GreenEyedMonster: Any attempts to get close to Queen Maeve are met with brutal slaughter at Homelander's hands, [[spoiler:as one Hollywood producer learned the hard way.]] It's why Maeve doesn't want Elena involved.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Very much averted. He presents himself this way, but is easily the most sadistic of The Seven.
* HairTriggerTemper: He's prone to lashing out with a lot of cussing when things do not go his way.
* HatesEveryoneEqually: At best, he treats people as an asset to his goals; at worst, he'll kill, cripple and maim anyone at the smallest provocation. In Homelander's eyes, he's the apex predator who can do whatever he wants and nobody can stop him. [[spoiler:He mocks and outs Queen Maeve's relationship and participates in homophobic movements, he believes Blindspot and A-Train are liabilities to The Seven because of their physical conditions and [[EarAche he severely wounds Blindspot]] just so he can prove his point about Blindspot's disability, he carelessly uses his powers without thinking of public safety, he does not care for religion because of his God Complex, he wants to raise Ryan so he wouldn't grow up to be a "little girl" by living only with his mother, and he would have killed Starlight for not following his orders without considering how it may affect Vought's reputation with the feminist movement.]]
* TheHeavy: Vought is [[BigBad the one The Boys are going after to take down]], but Homelander is the most physically imposing and deadly threat to them. [[spoiler:Though Homelander doesn't fight The Boys at all and instead it's A-Train and Translucent that do the heavy lifting.]]
* TheHero: Homelander is seen by the public and advertised by Vought as the greatest superhero in the world, [[SubvertedTrope when in reality, he is anything but that]].
* HiddenDepths: He's quite good at detective work, and it's he who figures out the Boys' plot against him and their personal motives.
* HidingBehindReligion: Homelander is an ordained minister and makes a big deal of saying he's doing God's work. It's pretty clear that he just finds this a useful belief to invoke, however.
* {{Hypocrite}}: He's jealously possessive of Maeve, and refuses to let her get close to anyone else. This doesn't stop him from trying to put the moves on Stillwell at the same time, and later [[spoiler:Becca after he murders Stillwell.]]
* IJustWantToBeLoved: [[spoiler: Maeve is able to rein him in before he can Kill Butcher by threatening to show everyone that he let a plane crash out of apathy. Long-term this would have given Homelander the freedom he wants to be the tyrannical bastard he wishes he could be, but Mave points out that nobody would love him, at which point Homelander spaces out.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: During a bank robbery, Homelander, instead of simply apprehending the robber, chooses to thrust his fist into his torso, gruesomely gutting him and sadistically reassuring him as the robber bleeds to death.
* ImpliedDeathThreat: He loves giving these under the disguise of empty platitudes.
* IncestSubtext: He seems to possess an odd psychological lust towards his somewhat mother-figure Stillwell, something that she notices and exploits. [[PowerPerversionPotential He watches her pump breast milk using his x-ray vision]] and becomes irritable whenever her infant son is around, with [[spoiler:breast-feeding and mommy-play as a {{Fetish}}]]. [[spoiler:This doesn't keep him from killing her, though. He also starts a sexual relationship with Stormfront, despite her being old enough to be his grandmother and the widow of Frederick Vought.]]
* InformedAbility: Early on, it's suggested that he's the only superhero to have completely good intentions, and that he's so pure that he never ever swears. Obviously, the former isn't true, and there are several scenes of him using harsh profanity in public.
* InsistentTerminology: Not Super Terrorists, Super ''Villains''. It tends to make them more marketable.
* InvincibleVillain: Played straight in season 1, when nothing the Boys could ''possibly'' do would damage him, not even threatening his supposed MoralityChain Madelyn Stillwell, who herself was unable to keep him in check and scared to death of his whims. [[SubvertedTrope But come season 2]], he's casually dismissed by Stan Edgar, has his leadership questioned by Stormfront, is defeated by Kenji and finally [[spoiler: blackmailed into submission by Queen Maeve]]. In the end he's back at being Vought's puppet and reduced to masturbating in the top of the tower claiming he can do "whatever the fuck he wants". He really can't.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Homelander cares more about his popularity and reputation than he does about actually trying to help people and benefiting for the greater cause.
--->'''Maeve''': You've managed to make this about yourself in less than 20 seconds flat.
** Even his relationship with [[spoiler:his son boils down to this as he clearly sees him as an extension of himself and more as a piece of property than an individual]].
* {{Jerkass}}: It's quite astounding how much of a ''dick'' this man is capable of being.
* JerkassAtYourDiscretion: It's something of a RunningGag how he gives praise to regular people only to badmouth them as soon as they can't hear him.
* JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler:In season 2, Homelander unceremoniously kicks A-Train off the team for being too slow. While cruel, Homelander is quite right that, between his dependence on Compound V and damaged heart, A-Train is neither the fastest man in the world, nor fit to be a superhero.]]
** [[spoiler:Towards the end of Season Two, when he visits/ambushes Becca and Ryan again, he calls out Becca on her [[MyBelovedSmother isolationist parenting]], something he's well-acquainted with after growing up as a lab-rat. He was quickly proven right, as Ryan's first venture into a crowd was completely overwhelming, just as Homelander predicted.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He might seem like a hero at first, but the true Homelander is a manipulative, condescending, and mercurial psychopath who is also frequently sadistic and cruel. That said, he does a pretty good job of appearing as the exact opposite when in public as his superhero persona, always making a show of being guileless and idealistic and saying exactly what his audience wants to hear, which itself just points back to his disturbing capacity to use and manipulate others and his complete [[TheSociopath lack of concern]] for anyone other than himself.
* KickTheDog: Nothing in the show illustrates this trope more than [[spoiler:being partly responsible for the Flight 37 crash and him not bothering to save ''anybody'' in order to preserve his image and kickstart his war idea later on]].
** His past rape of Becca also counts, as he's notably otherwise never shown doing anything like that. Why he decided to rape a woman that day is still unknown.
** When Ashley presents Blindspot as a new addition to the Seven, Homelander ''acts'' accommodating to the impressionable Supe at first, then promptly bursts his eardrums to show how useless his power is and says that he doesn't want a "cripple" on the team. Then make it worse he berates Ashley, walks right over Blindspot while he's writhing in a pool of his blood to get close to her face and states that ''he'' decide who joins the Seven, not her.
* LackOfEmpathy: He cares for no one else besides himself. When Translucent goes missing, he doesn't care about the man's plight, but rather the indirect challenge to his own authority.
* KnightOfCerebus: While Homelander is capable of being darkly humorous at times, it should be noted that this is arguably the least moral member of The Seven. Anytime he does show up, there is a very good chance that something terrible is going to break out, especially if there's a moral, innocent or defenseless bystander around him and if he's sufficiently pissed off.
* LightningBruiser: Being an expy of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, this is a given. He is the strongest hero Vought has to offer and can fly from one area to another within seconds.
* TheLeader: Homelander leads and is the mascot of "The Seven," Vought's premier SuperTeam.
* LeaveNoWitnesses: He was initally sent to Flight 37 in an effort to stop terrorists from asserting control over the plane. [[spoiler:When he destroys the controls with his LaserBeams (intentional or not), Homelander opts to abandon the plane and leave the passengers to die, much to Queen Maeve's distress and shock. Rather than listening to anyone's pleas, Homelander opts to ready his lasers and threatens to shoot them, lest they "stay the fuck back" before departing the plane with a dismayed Maeve. The primary reason for letting the passengers die was because they potentially would have been able to slander Homelander's reputation, though he also develops an idea from the incident to send superheroes to the military]].
* LivingLieDetector: It's deconstructed, since Homelander functions like a real life polygraph, meaning he doesn't actually detect the lies themselves but rather the signs of stress people feel when they lie, like increased heartbeat and adrenaline. This misleads him more often than not, like when he assumes Starlight is lying to him but really she's just scared shitless of him, and anyone can get away with lying to his face as long as they have NervesOfSteel as Frenchie, Stillwell, and Vogelbaum demonstrate.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: While Homelander is dependent on receiving love from everyone around him, he goes through life always searching for someone he can attach himself to and unconditionally feed him love. In Season 1 it's Stillwell, but after [[spoiler:he murders her]], he goes through a variety of potential replacements including [[spoiler:his son, Becca, Doppelganger]], Maeve, and the rest of the Seven before settling on Stormfront. Stormfront is well aware of his need for someone to depend on and exploits it to put him under her control by tarnishing his reputation and then forcing him to turn to her to restore it.
* {{Lust}}: Considering he works for Vought, Homelander would do anything to garner as much popularity and praise as possible. He's also got the more colloquial sexual version, with a strong desire for Stillwell (and prior to this, Rebecca Butcher) both of whom he eventually manages to have sex with (or rape, in the latter's case).
* LyingToProtectYourFeelings: He's on the receiving end regarding [[spoiler:Becca's fate and the existence of their son]]. Homelander is pissed off by the condescension displayed towards him [[spoiler:and kills Stillwell for it. It turns out it's not just to protect his feelings, but so Homelander won't corrupt his son into becoming just like him]].
* MadeOfIndestructium: Bullets couldn't do crap against him. [[spoiler:Neither did Billy blowing up Stillwell's residence.]] Stillwell claims there everything possible in the world has already been thrown at him, and he's still alive.
* ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex: Implied to be part of his attraction to [[spoiler:Stormfront]], one of the very few people capable of withstanding his powers. He is cautious at first then they let loose on one another during their DestructoNookie scene, after which he is completely infatuated with her.
* MaskOfSanity: He has a reputation as clean, friendly, and religious hero in public, but beneath that is a murderous narcissist with temper problems.
* MeaningfulName:
** His moniker is probably meant to evoke "Homeland Security" with all the post-War on Terror and Patriot Act implications. Underscored when he performs an unlawful search on a truck with the explanation "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear," and his eagerness to get involved in foreign conflicts.
** His 'human' name is John, a name that was often worn by emperors, kings and saints, befitting Homelander's status as the most powerful supe and his God Complex. There is also the fact that he often 'baptised' people, just like John the Baptist once did. As for the meaning of the name, it is 'God is gracious'; and Homelander is more or less a murderous PhysicalGod who fakes being the ultimate force of good.
* MyGreatestFailure: Dr. Vogelbaum thinks of Homelander as this for him, saying he should have raised him with affection, not like a test subject in his lab, so that he might have been different. The normally snappy Homelander has no response to it, indicating it hit him quite deep.
* {{Narcissist}}: Perfectly ticks every box on the list. He has absolutely no empathy or respect for anyone, yet he is defined by his massive ego, and is dependent on his narcissistic supply provided by everyone around him. Any time someone disrupts this precious supply, he flies into a narcissistic rage that can only be calmed down by soothing his wounded pride. He also fits both the overt and covert definitions of narcissism as while his ego is genuine, it's also very fragile and meant to cover up the lack of true love he never received as a child, and there are implications that he's full of self-loathing very deep down.
* NotSoSimilar: Like Starlight, Homelander is annoyed and angered over the fact the Seven can’t do more and are basically playing expensive cops and robbers. ''Unlike'' Starlight, who feels like this for genuinely altruistic and heroic reasons, Homelander feels like this approach is limiting his worldwide options as an AttentionWhore.
* OneManArmy: Takes out a cell of MiddleEasternTerrorists all by himself while the armed forces watch on from outside the building.
* ParentsAsPeople: [[spoiler:In one of their last moments, Homelander actually tries to be a relatable father to Ryan. Unfortunately, he is forced to use his made-up past with mixed results, though he does become emotional when he starts to explain how using his powers were difficult in an effort to bond with his son after Ryan had trouble using his heat vision and getting agitated by a large crowd and loud noise. Unfortunately for Homelander, it doesn't stick for long]].
* PersonOfMassDestruction: To the point that [[spoiler:Deputy Director Reynor doesn’t want him prosecuted for his crimes, as he has the potential to kill "thousands" if he is angered.]]
* ThePeterPrinciple: [[spoiler:Homelander may be a great warrior and hero but he is terrible at thinking about how his actions affect others. He tries to sever ties with Vought, only to be reminded by Edgar that it would be a terrible idea since Vought has been protecting him from the consequences of his actions. When he tries to quell an anti-war movement, he fails and fantasises about killing the crowd, only to snap back into reality and float away after calling them all "The real heroes". It's clear that "The real heroes" line is just a weightless statement that Vought taught him for [=PR=] purposes, as the crowd still hates him when he uses it. He has a mental breakdown from all the attention and starts a relationship with Stormfront, a Nazi who enables his worst actions.]]
* PetTheDog:
** He saves Madelyn Sitwell's baby when he had no reason to.
** Starlight manages to talk him out of killing her.
* PhotoOpWithTheDog: An absolute master of this trope, Homelander very rarely breaks his image of the All-American Hero archetype when it comes to appearing in the media. But when the cameras aren't rolling on him, he doesn't hold back.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He refers to Arabs as "camel jockeys", quips about Africans all being unable to afford food, and maims/kills a Seven prospect who is blind because he doesn't want a "cripple" on his team. Additionally, Homelander's constant quips that Becca is raising Ryan to be a pussy or "like a girl" strongly indicate he's a misogynist, while he's taken part in anti-gay campaigns and upon finding out about Maeve's bisexuality, he outs her publicly to humiliate her. He still comes off as ''less'' bigoted than Stormfront however, as he HatesEveryoneEqually, he's just not above using racialised, gendered, and sexual identity-based insults.
* PostRapeTaunt: [[spoiler:He claims to Billy that Becca enjoyed their "time" together so much that she orgasmed three times in as many hours together. His lack of sexual prowess puts the claim in doubt though. When he starts visiting Becca and Ryan, he's not subtle about verbally bullying her.]]
* PowerPerversionPotential: He uses his XRayVision to watch Stillwell pump breast milk.
* PragmaticVillainy: Homelander is callously pragmatic and will immediately cut people out of his life and abandons others when it seems to be the most practical option.
** He bars Blindspot from entering The Seven because he believes that Blindspot is too much a liability to fight. [[EarAche As demonstrated by Homelander]], if Blindspot's eardrums are destroyed then he will be at a major disadvantage in the battlefield. [[spoiler: He kicks A-Train out of The Seven because his drug use has weakened his bones and affected his heart, making him a liability as a hero of The Seven since he no longer has his superhuman endurance and stamina for the battlefield.]]
** When confronted by a bunch of protesters against him for his war crimes, he has thoughts of massacring a group of protesters just to silence them, but decided to fly off and leave noting that this kind of move will cause [[SlaveToPR bad publicity with Vought and himself]].
** [[spoiler: Flight 37 is another example, as he immediately abandons all the passengers when he realises that he can't rescue them without breaking the plane. To Homelander, they would have died either way and he needed to use the failed mission to get Supes into the military.]]
* PrimaryColorChampion: Invoked by his choice of costume, with has blue, red, and gold colors, but is more an example of how BrightIsNotGood.
* ProperlyParanoid: He's the only one who takes Translucent's disappearance seriously, and correctly perceives it as the first step in a war against himself even though everyone else thinks it's just another case of ItsAllAboutMe.
* PsychopathicManchild: Comes through most clearly in his interactions with Stillwell, but compare the "Adaptational" tropes above. It's still made clear his actions are essentially those of an angry toddler lashing out whenever he doesn't get what he wants. Difference being this toddler is six feet even, [[NighInvulnerable immune to everything]], [[SuperStrength can bench a jet liner]], [[EyeBeams and shoot lasers from his eyes]]. Even Edgar describes him as such.
** Garth Ennis himself seems to think of Homelander as this:
--> '''Ennis''': (describing Homelander) "It might help to think of the Homelander as having all the self-control of, let’s say, a fourteen-year-old."
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: It is stated in the show that Homelander raped and killed Billy's wife Becca. [[spoiler:Although her initial reaction to seeing Homelander in the Season 1 finale seemed to be normal and unfazed, she confirms it was indeed rape, and the experience left her so terrified she cut a deal with Vought and ran off with their son to get away from him]].
* RedEyesTakeWarning: His eye beams are red when used, but he is also able to make his eyes glow red without actually doing any damage, which he does in between blasts or simply to intimidate. In any case, you do not want to get his attention when his eyes are glowing. And unlike ComicBook/{{Superman}}, he's ''much'' more liberal with their usage.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Unlike ComicBook/{{Superman}}, Homelander needs leverage and support in order to be able to lift something big, even though he has SuperStrength. [[spoiler:So when the plane he and Queen Maeve were trying to save is crashing, he tells Maeve that he can't push off from thin air, so that option is out.]]
* {{Sadist}}: He gets a lot of enjoyment out of emotionally tormenting people around him. See how he treats Billy in general and Maeve after he finds out her true sexuality.
* SecretIdentity: While The Seven have generally given up on maintaining these, Homelander has an Inversion of this. Vought and marketing have him fake his childhood and go by the name "John," while he really operates as a superhero daily and only answers to the name "Homelander."
* SecurityBlanket: Homelander freaks out when he sees a blanket in his fake childhood home. Turns out [[spoiler:he was raised in a lab, where the blanket was his only comfort as a young child.]]
* SmarterThanYouLook: Vought and the Boys often assume he's a dumb brute who just uses force and his extreme powers to handle every situation. While he is ''brutal'', what makes him ''threatening'' is the fact that he's actually rather on the ball and is extremely good at thinking on the fly; he just has enough powers to ''not need'' his native wits a lot.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Season 2 [[spoiler:shows him being one towards his son; [[FlyOrDie throwing him from a roof to awaken his powers]]. Becca is horrified once she finds an unconscious Ryan, no matter how much Homelander talks it off ("It was only a twenty foot fall!").]]
* TheSociopath: Homelander might seem to look like an ideal hero, but morally he is as far away as he can be for that. Aside from Stillwell, he has no close relationship with anybody, [[spoiler:and the former ends with Homelander lasering her to death anyway. He also isn't sympathetic about the victims of Flight 37, deliberately decided not to save anyone in an attempt to avoid any of them damaging his reputation, and used the incident to instead spearhead superheroes being incorporated into the military, further enforcing that Homelander [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about his own benefit]]. That, and he doesn't seem to be as patriotic as he and Vought have made him out to be]].
* SpeedSex: PhysicalGod he is, SexGod he is not. He lasts a whopping 45 seconds from insertion to ejaculation, much to his embarrassment. [[spoiler:He does seem to do a lot better with Stormfront, though.]]
* TheSpook: Marvin notes he has no public records about anything. It's because he was raised in a lab as an experiment.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:While serving as the Dragon to Stillwell for the entire first season, he's notably frustrated with this position until he ultimately kills Stillwell at the end of Season One. However he ends up having to put down by Stan Edgar who has less tolerance for his arrogance and actions than Stillwell.]]
* StraightEdgeEvil: In the first episode, it's stated that he has no vices, which makes him sound like a good guy. It later turns out that he's an insane monster... with no vices.
* SuperpowerLottery: As a Superman-knockoff, Homelander has pretty much all the abilities his role model is known for - flight, invulnerability, super strength, super senses (hearing, X-ray vision...), and the ability to shoot laserbeams with the eyes.
* SuperSenses: He has super-hearing and super-smelling.
* SuperSupremacist: When he's exceptionally annoyed with Starlight [[spoiler:over thinking she's actively helping Hughie and The Boys]], he tells her that "we're a different breed" and that she shouldn't be helping "these mud people," which is some straight-up Nazi phrasing. [[spoiler:It's little wonder that he hooks up with Stormfront, an actual Nazi.]]
* SupermanSubstitute: His power set, color scheme, apparent patriotic image, and falsified American family paint him in a very unflattering depiction of this.
* TeamDad: Deconstructed, he sees himself as one but has a warped view of parenthood due to never having a father of his own. Since he was raised in a laboratory with scientists who saw him as nothing more than a lab rat, he has no idea of how to provide that form of guidance and affection. [[spoiler:When he meets Ryan, he plans to raise him as his successor and puts him through dangerous situations in order to push him into activating his powers.]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: Played with. While the Seven do "good" as a matter of course and do save a lot of people, they are still managed by a shady corporation with extremely suspect motives, thus making them an arguably "evil" force. However, even on a team of incredibly flawed, selfish and morally questionable characters, Homelander is unquestionably the worst, and his teammates are often shown to be outright fearful of him due to his sadism and unpredictability.
* TragicVillain: He had a completely isolated and loveless childhood and was treated like a science experiment for most of his formative years, which led to his twisted personality as an adult.
* TheTeetotaler: He doesn't drink or do drugs and is vocal about it.
* TheUnfought: For the most part, none of the protagonists ever get into a fight against Homelander, which [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools makes perfect sense]] as if he did enter combat, Homelander could simply kill The Boys off [[CurbStompBattle without any effort]]. Rather than directly fight him, The Boys opt to outmaneuver Homelander in their goals and, if given the opportunity, take advantage of his psychological and emotional issues.
* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler:Forms this with Stormfront by "We Gotta Go Now."]]
* UnreliableExpositor: [[spoiler:His PostRapeTaunt is contradicted by his complete lack of sexual stamina as seen in SpeedSex above. His blatant sadism makes it likely he was making it up just to hurt Billy as much as possible.]]
* UpbringingMakesTheHero:
** When Homelander goes to visit Vogelbaum to talk about his childhood, Vogelbaum admits that [[MyGreatestFailure he was his biggest failed project]]. Vogelbaum explains that had he allowed Homelander to be raised in a home with a loving family, rather than isolated in a laboratory, he would have grown up with a sense of morality and empathy, rather than TheSociopath he is today.
** When he finds out that [[spoiler:Rebecca Butcher conceived their son, and they are both very much alive, it's heavily implied that by being raised in a stable home, the Vought Corporation is grooming the boy to become the AllLovingHero his biological father can't be]].
* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler:While his abandonment of the passenger plane is cold-blooded and it is partly his fault that it is crashing,[[note]]the terrorist shot both pilots before he laser'd them, and while damaging the control panel rendered it inoperable, neither he nor Maeve knew how to fly a plane ''anyway'', so it was going down regardless. Had he not intervened at all, the military was also going to blow the plane out of the sky, giving essentially the same result.[[/note]] he makes logical points to Maeve as to why he can't simply save it like you'd expect Superman to do, as there is no time to get everyone off and trying to manhandle the plane would send it head over heels or tear it apart. It doesn't justify refusing to save the few people that he ''could'' have plausibly gotten out, though.]]
* VillainRespect: When Homelander and Butcher finally confront each other face to face, Homelander is both intrigued and impressed that (unlike literally everyone else in the series) Butcher isn't afraid of him, and in fact shows his unmeasurable hate in all its fury towards the most powerful being on the planet.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** Homelander spends most of Season 2 as a pot of water slowly heating up until it's ready to boil and spill over the edge, as everything he holds dear begins slipping out of his grasp. Edgar takes back control over the corporate aspect of Vought and relgates him to mascot position, [[spoiler:his son openly rejects him as his father after he goes too far in his abuse]], and Stormfront begins stealing his leadership of the Seven and his popularity with the masses. It culminates in him [[spoiler:killing Doppelganger for taking his form and declaring he doesn't need anyone]].
** [[spoiler:He doesn't take it very well when he finds out his son was taken away by Butcher and Becca and was unable to do anything when Queen Maeve revelaed that she had the footage for the Flight 37 incident and was willing to leak it if Homelander tried to take away Ryan. With Ryan obviously choosing Butcher over him, Homelander starts sobbing and later on in the night, is mastrubating on top of a building out of frustration and stress, madly proclaiming that he can do "whatever the fuck I want"]].
* VillainTakesAnInterest: Homelander is intrigued by Butcher, as he is the only civilian to hate him entirely and not fear him at all. [[spoiler:He reveals Rebecca Butcher's locating to Billy just so he can mock him and he goes out of his way to single out Billy as much as he can.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He's about as evil as the Red Skull with the public persona of Superman. Subverted in Season 2, however, as his very conservative presentation, eagerness to get involved in the military industrial complex, and brutal methods cause him to suffer severe backlash from anti-war and liberal groups.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: His cape is this.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Most of his actions in Season 1 [[spoiler:including the creation of Super villains]] was done to help Stillwell and earn her approval. [[spoiler:It ends once he gets fed up with her lying and kills her.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: Has no issue with physically threatening to kill Starlight once he starts to realize that she was working covert with The Boys. Prior to this, he killed Madelyn for lying to him and [[spoiler:[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Becca]]]].
* WouldHurtAChild: Homelander is perfectly willing to let a child die to achieve his objectives, and personally murders a child when he shoots down a plane. This is in sharp contrast to Billy, who is noticeably more gentle with children. [[spoiler:He has no qualms physically and psychologically threatening his own son just to get him to activate his super powers.]]
* WorldsStrongestMan: He's the greatest superhero in the world, and has a reputation for being unkillable. Madelyn Stillwell states "there isn't a weapon on Earth they haven't thrown at him that's worked". Whether this includes ''nuclear'' weapons or any kind of WMD isn't outright mentioned. If Homelander has any kind of physical weakness, is as of yet unknown.
* XRayVision: He can see through everything except zinc.
* YoureNotMyFather: [[spoiler:He's on the recieving end of the trope by Ryan on two occasions. The first time was when he tried to teach his son [[FlyOrDie how to fly by pushing him out of a roof]] and the second time was when he comes across Becca's corpse and Stormfront's incapacitated body and urging Ryan to come with him, only to end with Homelander's son staying with Butcher instead, much to his dismay]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Queen Maeve]]
!!Queen Maeve / Maggie Shaw
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theboysqueenmaeveseason2.png]][[caption-width-right:300:''[[BrokenBird "I really did want to make a difference. I really did care."]]'']]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Dominique [=McElligott=]

->''"The truth is, our weakness is the same as anyone's. It's people. The people we care about."''

The Seven's Amazonian warrior woman.
----

* PragmaticVilliany: In Season Two, [[spoiler:he's shown to be willing to work with Annie and Hughie, both people who he despises, to get Stormfront out of his path of rejoining the Seven.]]

* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:A-Train decides to help Hughie and Annie in exposing Stormfront for being a Nazi. He does this mainly because he feels unfomfortable about having her around him and to get back into the Seven, rather than any genuinely good intentions]].

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Subverted. As she turns out to be a lot closer to her comic counterpart than previously thought.

* MaskOfSanity: He has a reputation as clean, friendly, and religious hero in public, but beneath that is murderous narcissist with temper problems.

** Her light powers or SuperStrength have yet to show damage output that can't be accomplished by a couple strongmen with a sledgehammer.
** Homelander, Queen Maeve, [[spoiler: and Black Noir as shown in the penultimate episode of season 2]] so throughly outclass her that she is non-existent in comparison.

!The Current Seven

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Ryan lasers her, dismembering all of her limbs and burning her alive.]]

* AngryWhiteWoman: She believes whole-heartedly in "white genocide", and thinks that people of color are trying to destroy white culture. She tries to indoctrinate Ryan by mentioning it. Not that this stops her from trying to kill other white people, such as [[spoiler: Ryan's mother Becca, right in front of him]].

* AngryWhiteMan: She tries to indoctrinate Ryan by mentioning white genocide. Not that this stops Stormfront from trying to kill other white people, such as [[spoiler: Ryan's mother Becca, right in front of him]].

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:While her taking the full brunt of Ryan's lasers has left her in an absolutely horrifying predicament with her limbs blown off and seared beyond recognition, it's hard to deny that Stormfront had it coming, especially considering that she tried to kill Becca in a fit of rage, right in front of ''her son'', no less]].

* FascistButInefficient: [[spoiler:Homelander was able to achieve his goal of getting Supes into the millitary and he and Stormfront are rallying the American people against a common enemy. However, Homelander is not a diplomat, he's simply a narcissistic, psychopathic manchild whose ego outstripped his charisma. When people stop praising him; he throws a tantrum until he gets it back, which throws his supporters deeper into disillusionment. He also spends so much time playing to Stormfront's base (IE, paranoid racists), that it narrows his base considerably, and he has to distance himself from her when her Nazi origins come out, alienating anyone racist enough to still be willing to support her while he faces an uphill battle to re-endear himself to his less hateful former supporters.]]

* BrokenBird: Starlight starts as an optimistic young heroine, and she tries to keep it together even after realizing what she got herself into. But after all the months spent at Vought, she finally feels the weight of all the humiliating things she had to endure, and ends up as jaded and hopeless, not believing anymore in God or heroism. By the end of Season 2, when things finally go in her favor, Annie regains some of her hopeful persona and former believes about God, but she is still clearly emotionally afected by everything.

* BrokenBird: Starlight starts as an optimistic young heroine, and she tries to keep it together even after realizing what she got herself into. But after all the months spent at Vought, she finally feels the weight of all the humiliating things she had to endure, and ends up as jaded and hopeless. She doesn't believe anymore in God or heroism.

* BrightIsNotGood: Appears to be a PrimaryColorChampion, with a blue costume, red and white cape, and gold decorations, but is in fact a dangerous, unstable psychopath.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even though he has selfish motives for exposing her, he does show genuine disdain towards Stormfront for being a Nazi.

!The Original Seven

* AdaptationalIntelligence: While Homelander was still a selfish, self-absorbed asshole in the original comics, it was also alongside his confidence issues and lack of real planning skills. This Homelander is more proactive, smarter and worst/best of all, more ''creative'' -- one of the weaknesses of the comics version is that he was incapable of being anything but a blunt instrument, whereas here he has long-term plans. He manages to achieve what comics Vought never did: [[spoiler:get superheroes involved in national defense]]. Further more, Homelander in the comics was so temperamental and rage prone that he was very barely able to keep his true nature from boiling over the thin surface. This Homelander is actually smart enough to put on a convincing affable facade. A notably evident case of this is that, during the Flight 37 disaster, [[MythologyGag he shoots down the tactic that his comics counterpart tried.]] Season 2 shows this intelligence boost to be downplayed, as his narcissism blinds him to the long term issues his plans create because he’d rather get the results he wants faster and leave the details to the side.

* AnimalMotif: Eagles, he has eagles as epaulets and as a belt on his costume. The Eagle is aloof, proud, and looks down upon the world, much like how [[HatesEveryoneEqually Homelander sees everyone as inferior to him]].[[spoiler: This was to invoke his patriotism as the All-American hero but it also relates to Vought's Nazi origins by representing The Reichsadler.]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: He reveals to Hughie that he and Jack From Jupiter used to seduce college girls. One of the porn parodies he owns is one that features Jack From Jupiter having sex with multiple men.

A former member of the Seven.

* BrokenPedestal: Hughie was a big fan of A-Train, so much so that Hughie had several action figures of him (even rare limited edition ones). However, after A-Train ran completely through Robin, Hughie is angered by the mere sight of A-Train.

* ChurchOfHappyology: [[spoiler:He begins joining the Church of the Collective at The Deep's invitation, and begins following them when Alastair offers to keep his spot in The Seven.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even he was horrified by what happened to Popclaw's landlord. As in his girlfriend crushed his head with her pelvis whilst high on Compound V.

* HumiliationConga: Experiences this in Season 2. [[spoiler:After recovering from his heart-attack, he knows Annie is working against The Seven and can't do anything about it. He continues to experience heart problems as he runs, causing Homelander to take notice and kick him out of the team to keep up appearances. This means that [[AllForNothing all of his efforts to stay in The Seven]] as the Fastest Man Alive, from abusing Compound V to killing Popclaw, have gone to waste, and [[TheDogBitesBack Ashley makes sure]] that he complies with their plans.]]

* GlowingEyesOfDoom: When she starts using her powers, seen when she chases Kimiko and Kenji down. Said chase is when she brings wanton destruction to a building complex.

** She also inspires Starlight to stand up for herself agaisnt A-train and even Homelander.
** She then moves onto Ryan and tries to convince him that the non-whites want to Kill them just for existing.

* WickedStepmother: She's clearly trying to supplant Becca in Ryan's life and is one of the vilest shoes in the series.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Rivals A-Train in speed, and while he loses their public match, it's only because A-Train was [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything abusing Compound V to enhance his speed]]. Brief glimpses of his exploits in Season 2 show him improving his speed, and [[spoiler:he eventually takes a spot on The Seven]].

* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:Along with Vogelbaum and numerous others, at the Congressional hearing on Compound-V, by whoever did the same to Raynor.]]

The "King of the Sea" and member of The Seven.

** FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Annie is in no mood to hear him try to make amends after what he did to her and several others.

&&Altering the starlight entry for lack of similarity. If someone can present a more detailed for why she's supergirl feel free.
&&** Starlight is a mix of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and Captain Marvel, not just in their similar costumes and logos but also in imagery evocative of {{Eagleland}} (ComicBook/CarolDanvers as a USAF fighter pilot [[PrimaryColorChampion dressed in red, blue, and yellow]], Annie January as an all-American GirlNextDoor from [[EverytownAmerica Des Moines, Iowa]], though her outfit isn't America themed).

** Black Noir's place in the Seven makes the nearest counterpart {{ComicBook/Batman}}. A better argument, however, can be made for [[Franchise/GIJoe Snake Eyes]]: both are completely silent figures dressed head-to-toe in black, proficient in martial arts and good with bladed weapons. He is also ComicBook/Deadpool if he didn't talk.

[[Characters/TheBoys2019TheBoys The Boys]] | [[Characters/TheBoys2019Supes Supes]] | [[Characters/TheBoys2019VoughtInternational Vought International]] | [[Characters/TheBoys2019AssociatesOfTheBoys Associates of the Boys]] | [[Characters/TheBoys2019Other Others]]-]]]]]

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: They all abuse their power, but they're a lot less one-note evil than in the comic (Garth Ennis hates superheroes even more than Butcher does), which makes the Boys' activities even more morally grey.