Antony Starr Has One Major Problem With Fans After His Homelander Fame Blew Away Superhero Genre
Antony Starr has brilliantly brought to life the complex villain Homelander on Amazon Prime’s hit show The Boys. With his charismatic yet terrifying performance, Starr has made Homelander a fan-favorite character. However, some fans seem to be idolizing Homelander’s sinister personality a bit too much, which Starr finds problematic.
Does Antony Starr Have an Issue With Fans Idolizing His Villainous Homelander?
In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Antony Starr expressed surprise at how some fans on social media appear to look up to Homelander as an aspirational figure, despite his clearly despicable actions on the show:
“There’s a very strange thing that’s happened with the character, though he is clearly not a good guy. A lot of people have glommed onto him. There’s a weird element out there that actually kind of idolize him. I’ve seen some s— on Twitter and I’m like, ‘Wait, What? You are missing the point entirely!'”
According to Starr, “He’s got no one to relate to but himself. His isolation is immaculate. It’s almost perfect.” This loneliness combined with being the most powerful supe in the world has made Homelander detached from humanity.
Starr further added, “He’s the loneliest guy in the world. He’s got no one to relate to but himself.”
This interesting duality of Homelander being so powerful yet emotionally stunted is perhaps what some fans gravitate toward.
The Thin Line Between Hero and Villain
In analyzing why Homelander resonates with some fans, Starr compared the character’s ambiguity to another pop culture icon – Superman:
“But with the speechy stuff, if you want someone who can string a sentence together, who does that better than … Obama?”
While Starr is proud of the conversations that the show and Homelander’s character provoke, he finds the adulation for Homelander’s villainous actions concerning. Ultimately, Starr and showrunner Eric Kripke have tried to craft Homelander as a cautionary tale of power without accountability. But some fans seem to miss that crucial message.
