Twisted The Boys' Homelander Theory Reaches New Depths of Disturbing
Some details we may have ignored bring new depth to his relationship with Stan Edgar.
The Boys, Eric Kripke's superhero TV series based on the comic book of the same name, has a wide variety of colorful characters, and Homelander is undoubtedly one of the best.
This perverted version of Superman, portrayed by Antony Starr, often sends shivers down the spine of the viewer with his sociopathic personality and menacing demeanor.
But one of the few characters who is able to put him in his place and stay alive in the process is Stan Edgar, a now ex-CEO of Vought International, played by Giancarlo Esposito.
The dynamic between the two was extremely satisfying to watch, as Edgar verbally slaps the super-powered man-child in the face in a calm but badass manner.
However, one particular fan theory completely changes the tone of their interactions.
It points out that Homelander's twisted mind is a direct result of being abused and experimented on as a child by the very company that Edgar was the head of, as seen in episode 8 of The Boys Presents: Diabolical spinoff.
It is also shown in Black Noir's flashback in the third season of the main series that Stan, who already had a high position in the company at the time, knew about the superpowered child Vought created to replace Soldier Boy.
So it is clear that he almost certainly knew about the horrible and painful experiments being conducted on Homelander.
It also seems that Homelander sees Edgar as some kind of father figure, and Stan shamelessly uses that to put him down.
Considering all of this, their interactions begin to seem less like a tough executive putting a sociopathic superhero in his place, and more like one of the people responsible for Homelander being the way he is, mocking and belittling him for failing to be a functional human being.
Stan even makes it blatantly clear how he sees Homelander in one of the most chilling scenes of the third season. To Edgar, he is not a person, but simply a bad product.
Of course, Homelander, being the horrible human being that he is, completely deserves that. These little details just add another layer to their complicated relationship.
And it does not diminish the fact that Stan still has an amazing strength of character.
"You gotta hand it to Edgar though, he's got serious balls talking down to HL the way he does. He knows full well that HL could laser his head off if he wanted, but he's confident he won't, and that confidence is remarkable," Reddit user hrvbrs said.
The release date for The Boys season 4 has not yet been announced.