'This Guy Is Not the Hero of Any Story' — Homelander Actor Antony Starr Says It's 'Surreal' That The Boys Fans Were Glorifying the Supervillain

Homelander actor Antony Starr has spoken of his surprise at the glorification of the supervillain character by some The Boys fans, calling it “surreal.”

The Boys began in 2019 and was an instant smash hit for Prime Video, with its super gory action and dark humor delivering a standout satire of the superhero movies and TV shows of our time. It’s based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and follows the eponymous team of vigilantes who work to bring down a group of supervillains led by an anti-Superman character called Homelander.

Homelander is a demented despot who rules The Seven with an iron fist. The other supes on the team live in fear of Homelander, whose overpowered abilities give him carte blanche to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants — and no-one is brave enough to stand up to him.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Starr said he had to knock down fans glorifying Homelander on social media.

"We had a bunch of guys that we all kind of knocked them down a little but on social media to say, 'This guy is not the hero of any story.' " Starr said. "They were really glorifying him, they loved him. Which is surreal."

Starr added that he was surprised to find some The Boys fans siding with Homelander, given the outrageously evil actions he takes in the show.

"What I didn't expect was that people would be so conflicted around it and, you know, finding themselves finding empathy for this monster."

Starr’s comments echo those The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke issued last year ahead of The Boys' Season 4 premiere. Kripke responded to fans saying Homelander is a hero and criticism about the show going “woke” in its latest seasons in one fell swoop.

“Anyone who wants to call the show 'woke' or whatever, that’s OK. Go watch something else. But I’m certainly not going to pull any punches or apologize for what we’re doing," Kripke said.

"Some people who watch it think Homelander is the hero. What do you say to that? The show’s many things. Subtle isn’t one of them. So if that’s the message you’re getting from it, I just throw up my hands.”

When asked whether the showrunners always intended to parallel U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidential race via Homelander’s authoritarian rise to power, Kripe responded that Homelander was designed be an authoritarian proxy for Trump.

“When Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] and I took it out to pitch, it was 2016. We just wanted to do a very realistic version of a superhero show, one where superheroes are celebrities behaving badly. Trump was the, ‘He’s not really getting the nomination, is he?’ guy. When he got elected, we had a metaphor that said more about the current world,” Kripke explained.

“Suddenly, we were telling a story about the intersection of celebrity and authoritarianism and how social media and entertainment are used to sell fascism. We’re right in the eye of the storm. And once we realized that, I just felt an obligation to run in that direction as far as we could.”

The Boys TV series ends with Season 5, which is currently in production.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.