Yes, Homelander's Mirror Scene in The Boys Was Inspired by Spider-Man 2
Amazon's superhero satire can't help but take inspiration from the greatest.
The third season of The Boys delves deeper into Homelander's troubles, as he seems to be slowly descending into madness. This is best illustrated by the iconic mirror scene in episode 6, where we see a rare moment of Homelander being vulnerable...only to himself, of course.
As he talks to his own reflection, fans couldn't help but notice how similar it was to Sam Raimi 's 2002 Spider-Man movie. Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin also liked to talk to himself in the mirror, and it was also about his seemingly softer side trying to convince the more violent side not to push so hard.
With Homelander, it turns out that Green Goblin was indeed an inspiration for the season 3 scene. In an interview with Spoiler Time, Anthony Starr, who portrays the show's narcissistic boss, revealed that Willem Dafoe's performance, along with The Lord of the Rings ' Gollum, was one of the things that helped create Homelander's little inner monologue.
Many fans, noting the similarity between the scenes in Spider-Man 2 and The Boys, joke that "Green Goblin walked so Homelander could run. However, the majority of fans believe that Dafoe's scene was on a different level when it comes to cinematography.
"Cinematographically it's interesting, because with the Goblin scene the [director of photography] decided to specifically film the bright side of the face or the dark side to display the internal struggle. In The Boys scene, this method is not applied, or partially and then not precisely," Redditor justavault noted.
The nod didn't go unnoticed, however, especially since The Boys managed to keep it within its own tone. Amazon's dark superhero hit will soon be back for a fourth season, with many believing it could land on Prime Video in early 2023.