Not Killing Homelander is Getting Real Old Real Fast, According to Reddit
The mid-summer conclusion of season three of The Boys left many feeling empty and dejected.
The season finale featured plenty of build-up yet produced a lot of unexpected twists as well as failed to resolve some critical issues. Even worse, some believe that refusing to eliminate any of the main characters from The Boys is taking the weight out of the show.
For example, there are some that believe not killing Homelander is getting real old, real fast. As one Redditor summarized, Homelander represents pure evil yet that also is contributing to The Boys becoming predictable and dull. The black and white, standard distinction between Butcher (who represents good) and Homelander (who represents evil) is getting redundant, according to some fans, meaning the show would benefit from a new villain.
However, others insist that the entire show is built around Homelander. If he dies, so does The Boys. For many, Homelander is not just the main antagonist. He's also the pillar of the show and the primary reason audiences tune in to root for Hughie and Butcher. Accordingly, unless Antony Starr is pushing to get off The Boys, there is little need to axe the character.
Rather, it's more about the writing team finally needing to ice one of the main characters to keep the story intriguing and moving forward. There are other members of the Seven that continue to annoy audiences with their existence. Moreover, it couldn't hurt to have Homelander involved in more meaningful fights that demonstrate his sadistic powers. It's well known that Homelander is corrupt yet fans would also like to see that translated on screen.
Another heated debate among fans of The Boys is whether the TV show will decide to play out the same ending as the comic book. In the comic (spoilers ahead!), Butcher – not Homelander – ends up being the bad guy. Butcher assumes the role of the antagonist after he destroys the rest of the supes, including Homelander. In the end, Butcher becomes extremely evil with Hughie being the only character capable of taking him down.
Thus far, the TV series has opted to take a different direction from the story arc of the comics. Nevertheless, the Butcher/Homelander switch is a twist many fans hope the show will incorporate in future episodes.
After all, Homelander and Butcher meet in the episode "Payback" (S3, E1) during which Butcher agrees that the two share more in common than he cares to admit. Butcher is a human that despises supes while Homelander shares the same hatred for humans. Audiences want to root for Butcher because he's the good guy yet the character is frequently teetering on the same type of evil as Homelander. He's getting more and more desperate to defeat Homelander and therefore willing to go to lower extremes to get his way. Sound familiar?
We'll be interested to discover how The Boys decides to portray the main characters in season four, which is currently under production and anticipated to arrive on Amazon Prime in 2023.