The year has been fairly devoid of comic book cinema now that superhero fatigue seems to have chronically set in. While the genre is still beleaguered by formulaic plots and diminishing returns, Prime Video’s fourth season of The Boys continues to disgust and disturb with unabashed gusto, serving up a razor-sharp antidote to prosaic supe storytelling. Having established its super-saturated universe with its previous seasons, and a spinoff at Godolkin University last year , Season 4 wastes no time diving into the rancid morass of its characters’ psyches, with a slower more contemplative approach.
Homelander, still terrifyingly portrayed by Antony Starr, grapples with an existential crisis as he scrutinizes a single golden pubic hair with aghast. Starr’s portrayal captures the essence of a god grappling with his own mortality, his manic episodes, punctuated by moments of eerie calm (think Squidward crippled by the monotony of Tentacle Acres). A still from the ‘The Boys’ Season 4 With his power more unchecked than ever before, Homelander seems simultaneously self-assured and deeply insecure about the sycophancy surrounding him.
This dichotomy is embodied in his obsessive need to control everything around him, including his own son, in a desperate attempt to cement a legacy that will outlast his own fading supremacy. This fixation on his legacy and creeping mortality adds a fascinating new layer to one of television’s most terrifying villains, making his descent into .
