Jensen Ackles Explains Why Soldier Boy Is Not, In Fact, A Bad Guy
Not as bad as Homelander, at least.
Jensen Ackles ' character in 'The Boys ' is a wild twist on Marvel's Captain America, with many people describing Soldier Boy as "Steve Rogers if he was a villain". However, the actor begs to differ: according to him, Soldier Boy is not a bad guy but rather just a person from another generation who failed to adjust.
In an interview with Men's Health Ackles ponders how his character took the wrong path believing it's the right one.
"I felt like Soldier Boy could have very easily been the Dean Winchester of the 1950s or the 1960s. It was just an older generation mentality that this guy had," Jensen explained. "He thinks he's walking the right walk, when in actuality, he's just terribly mistaken. He thinks that he's the hero, when he's really horribly broken and is clearly the antagonist."
Reflecting on how Soldier Boy was damaged by toxic masculinity standards drilled into him by his father, Ackles argued that his character is not a villain in his core. And it looks like fans largely agree with him.
One Reddit post even assembled a number of little things about Soldier Boy that set him apart from actual bad guys, like Homelander or Stormfront. Aside from being okay with wearing regular clothes and speaking with non-supes as if they were equals, Soldier Boy is also no stranger to actually being a good team player, expressing remorse, and backing off when told to.
Still, we have to remember that we're talking about the same Soldier Boy who abused Payback team and beat Black Noir to the extent of ripping a piece of his brain away. Let alone Soldier Boy's routine sexism and racism. The duality of a man, right?