‘The Boys’ Antony Starr Calls Out Fans ‘Glorifying’ Homelander

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‘The Boys’ is one of the most popular and critically-acclaimed superhero series of all time, earning numerous accolades and generating multiple spinoffs, including ‘Gen V,’ ‘The Boys Presents: Diabolical,’ and even more on the way.

One of the standout performances of the franchise is Anthony Starr as Homelander, a sadistic version of Superman that leads the superhero group The Seven.

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Homelander has committed numerous atrocities and heinous acts throughout ‘The Boys.’ Despite this, some fans still gravitate toward the character as a hero. And Starr is having none of it.

During the Awardist Drama Actors Roundtable held by Entertainment Weekly, Starr revealed that he and other members of ‘The Boys’ had to “knock down” online fans who were glorifying Homelander.

“We had a bunch of guys that, we all kind of knocked them down a little bit on social media,” Starr said. “‘This guy is not the hero of any story.’ They were really glorifying it. They loved him, which is surreal. What I didn’t expect was that people would be so conflicted around it and finding themselves feeling empathy for this monster.”

Despite this, Starr does his best to prevent Homelander from coming across as “a mustache-twirling villain” and make him more three-dimensional.

“It had to be a real person built from the ground up,” Starr said. “The other thing is, I really don’t like using the word ‘psychopath.’ I think it’s such a reductive term.”

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Now, ‘The Boys’ is heading into its fifth and final season, putting an end to the monstrous hero’s story. And producer/writer Eric Kripke couldn’t be happier.

“It’s just such a gift to know, as a filmmaker anyway, when your story’s ending because you know when to just blow the doors off it and completely change the world of the show,” Kripke said.

“You don’t have to maintain it because you’ve got six more seasons. You’ve got to squeeze out of it that it’s time to bring on the endgame. So, that’s what that finale was built to do.”

‘The Boys’ Season 5 is set to premiere on Amazon in 2026.

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