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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys

-Le Finale-

🇺🇸Homelander🇺🇸

Thank you to everyone who sat by and waited for this grand finale, it truly means a lot to me! You’re the heroes, truly! I added Superman by Ivory Layne because I associate it with America’s #1 Supe, plus I wanted to plug one of my all time favorite 2010s throwbacks.

I think Homelander’s “Evil Superman” pitch is definitely the main draw of the franchise, but I wish he wasn’t always shackled to that identity. He acts as an introspective analysis of the true evil of corruption on a radical/political level. I mean, the man was birthed in a lab and raised on straight looping American nationalist propaganda. He was essentially being hypnotized by Vought to be an All-American boy, and yet he turned out exactly like America itself; overpowered, inescapable, and caked in far too much makeup.

Homelander/John’s wide range of abilities stems directly from the versatile torture methods Vought used on him in infancy in order to rig the results of the V and produce the most amount of abilities. For example, my assumption is they would drop him, along with other flying Supes, from high places, and if they managed to float for survival they would grow up to be able to fly at dazzling speeds. This is based on the number of trials he endured, such as the oven he would be placed in for hours on end. He’s now invulnerable, but he had to quite literally be forged through flame to be so.

In addition to his range of abilities, the episode of Diabolical that depicts Black Noir feeding him his lesson on optics makes his inability to swiftly dispose of those who show no fear all the more reasonable. When he’s viewed as the monster he’s always been seen as (the whole “you ripped out of your mother and beamed through the bodies of the doctors in the room while flying like a scene from the exorcist” thing) he’s incentivized to be what they expect of him, almost like how he was taught to be what the masses wanted from him. The careful crafting and hardwiring of a monster stays, even though he’s subverting Vought’s benevolent persona.

When a character shows indifference or truly just a lack of terror, he spares them, deeply yearning for genuine human connection with an individual who doesn’t recoil from his advance. Whether it was Madeline, Stormfront, or Maeve, they all proved themselves to be fierce women who he had difficulty letting go of. Madeline in particular managed to survive up until the exact moment she admitted her fear of him, to which he incinerated through her skull with his laser vision.

Even when analyzing how he spares Hughie, Butcher, Annie, or the rest of The Boys, Homelander has ample opportunities to fly over and murder them all. He could kill them all in broad daylight and get away with it, but whether he’s consciously aware of it or not, he fully needs humans on this planet who know the truth about him and refuse to be afraid. The alternative would be too boring, and as I could imagine, horrifying. He doesn’t want to be a king, we see into his psyche too frequently to know he hates himself. He truly hates what he sees in the mirror, and masks it with a veneer of egotism until he eventually breaks down again. He wants people unafraid to challenge him, otherwise he would have used one of his several powers to slaughter The Boys ages ago. You may call it plot armor, but I think John needs someone to go blow for blow with. Butcherlander

John never had the chance to be human. He was directed how to be a god, and given the power to match. While every part of me sees him as the monster he is, rape and murder included, I almost feel like killing him wouldn’t be the karmic serve fans think it would be. I agree with the sentiment that he should be stripped of his power and condemned to live an average human life without access to Compound V (I like to imagine they’ll just blow up Vought tower in the finale, but we’ll see). His scenes with Ryan almost make me believe that he wants to be human, but he can never do that as the supervillain he is today. Maybe if he could try out being a human, he wouldn’t have to try and escape his humanity.

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H2O: Just Add Water S01E03 | The Secret Circle S01E02

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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XVIII

🧨 Ryan Butcher🧨

An under-analyzed character from The Boys cast, Ryan is the son of The Homelander. Being the first official natural-born superhuman, I find it curious that Ryan was never injected with compound V. Even though none of the babies could have consented to being shot up with a potentially lethal drug, Ryan having a genomic affinity for world shattering power forms the basis of any Evil Superman story you can think of.

Ryan being the first, and really the only one of his kind, creates this distance between him and the other Supes. None of them chose this life, but Ryan was raised with powers he never got to explore nor understand, while he was sequestered away under the protection of Becca. Homelander’s reaction to this lack of self realization is heartbreaking to me, specifically because, unlike Homelander, Ryan was raised a human instead of an experiment. I find it almost insulting that Vought essentially propped Ryan up to have the exact backstory they fabricated for “John”: a quiet life in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, à la Clark Kent’s origin story.

Ryan being this cookie cutter doppelgänger of his father creates this dynamic of showing the audience the hero Homelander could have been had he been raised by people instead of maniacal scientists in a lab. Additionally, it provides a bitter form of clarity on the nature of corruption. Given the circumstances that John went through, wouldn’t any and every baby grow up to be exactly like him? You can try to explain that you’re special or you’re different, but without any form of support system or human socialization, and between being baked alive and probed beginning at infancy, I doubt most people would be capable of maintaining their humanity.

I pray that Ryan is able to truly internalize that the deaths of Becca, the stunt actor, and even Grace weren’t truly his fault. I mean, if someone gave you superhuman strength as a preteen wouldn’t you have an alarmingly high body count by now? If you ask me, the kid’s doing good, all things considered…

I think the most valuable lesson you should take away from his character is the concept of chance. Anyone, given the circumstance, could have been either John or Ryan. Ryan has the *chance* his father didn’t to be a real hero, but whether he chooses power or mercy, is entirely up to chance.

*Butcher’s influence on Ryan is fascinating to me because, he’s a horrible role model. Butcher has just as horrible tendencies and selfish whims as Homelander, and yet, in Ryan’s eyes, is the more humane of the two purely because he’s just some guy. Now that Butcher can rival the strength of Homelander, and Ryan knows everything his father’s done, only time will tell how Ryan will begin to unpack his new perspective on Billy.*

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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XVII

💣Soldier Boy💣

Acting as a parody of Captain America, Soldier Boy exists as a manifestation of everything America needed post-WWII. Strong, durable, and dutiful, he maintained the persona of the perfect little soldier boy, who could endure both enemy fire and the passage of time without flinching or aging respectively.

However, in true The Boys fashion, he’s a charlatan. While he did serve in WWII, Stan Edgar even claiming he “killed Germans by the dozen”, the majority of his all American backstory detailing him as a war hero, barring in mind his pompous, macho persona, sounds too good to be entirely true.

While this post isn’t supposed to debate his true involvement in WWII, I find his unique reaction to V resulting in immortality to be a cruel twist of karmic irony. He appears to have little value for human life, being quick to resort to murder to settle scores with his old teammates. He’s so ruthless that when Black Noir, a seemingly apathetic and unfeeling indestructible superhuman, gets word that Soldier Boy’s been released from Russian confinement, he practically pleads for Homelander to give him a swift death so as not to die in tortured agony by Soldier Boy’s sadistic hand.

In total, I find it ironic that the soldier forced to kill and slaughter into oblivion with nothing but his PTSD and flashbacks as a testament to his body count, is condemned to an endless immortality. You almost want to mourn the man he could have been had he never been shot up with experimental V. He was a victim of verbal abuse from his father, feeling pressured into potentially dying in WWII just to prove something to him in hopes of finally making him proud. However, he did screw a nazi for years, so, meh.

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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XVI

🎙️Supersonic🎙️

Alex/Supersonic was a painfully irrelevant character who was introduced and briefly killed off all in S3. While his time on the show was short, his had his license to drive his way into all of our hearts…

Alex’s abilities are actually never shown in the show whatsoever. It is mentioned that he has the ability to generate a sonic boom by clapping his hands, but we unfortunately never get to see this before his life is cut short by Homelander.

I find Alex’s role significant, not because of his weird faux love triangle with Annie, but because of the nature of “sound” throughout the series. Alex proves himself to be an ally, and to align himself with Annie on her journey to take down Vought. He gives us valuable insight into how not every supe is brainwashed and radicalized, and yet, we watch as his advocacy goes unnoticed and still punished.

He was a child star, a musician, and a true hero, but his power wasn’t in the limelight like Annie’s. Despite the obvious fame he had, he was supposed to be an encouraging voice in Annie’s head telling her that she’s not alone, and he served that purpose exactly.

Like literally every character we see get killed in this show, I just pretend they’re not actually dead and we’re going to get a Dawn of The Seven style “Avengers Assemble” moment for the finale, but yeah no, this flop’s dead.

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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XV

🐈‍⬛Kimiko🐈‍⬛

Kimiko is one of the core members of “DaBois” and a fan favorite, rightfully so. I imagine she was supposed to be this world’s version of X-23, but with all the charm of America’s favorite terrorist assassin.

Her primary ability is her healing factor, allowing her to regrow limbs, instantly heal wounds, and even revive herself from death. This is coupled with great strength and agility, making her a formidable combatant.

Her origin story paints her as being abducted by a terrorist group that forced her to compete in routine death matches to weed out the weak from the strong. This was most likely what forced her body to adapt a healing factor; Kimiko needed to keep getting back up after every cut, gash, punch, or gunshot, so being able to heal instantaneously would be the most useful adaptation.

I find great tragedy in her character, seeing as how she’s been conditioned into a weapon by Shining Light only to be “freed” by The Boys, and inadvertently groomed into becoming Bitch’s Butcher’s personalized weapon. She openly resents this and shows herself to be miserable at the prospect of having to slaughter more people since being released from her cage, but this reaction seemingly annoys Butcher (one of the many reasons I’m salivating on that man’s death, but whatever).

I enjoy seeing her character finally being able to speak by the end of S4, seeing as how her voice seemed to be a control tactic the show used for her characterization. She was expected to be a silent assassin, which she internalized into being entirely mute to grapple with the monster she believed she had to become. With her finally being allowed to wail out for Frenchie, I wonder in this insinuates that she no longer views herself as a killer, but now as a rightful victim of all the suffering she’s endured. I also think it’s worth noting that this was brought about in a scene that reintroduced Cate, which I found symbolically interesting, seeing as how Cate’s ability is dependent on her verbal communication, so seeing Cate’s entrance into Kimiko’s life eliciting Kimiko’s voice was a fun little detail.

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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XIII

🧲Andre🧲

In loving memory of the incredible Chance Perdomo, thank you so much for giving us not one incredible, generational ally and hero, but two: Ambrose and Andre.

Andre, the son of essentially this world’s Magneto, has the identical ability to his father. They both possess the ability to manipulate magnetism, which expresses itself as mostly bending metal to their will. This is a perfect example of how genetic factors influence the way compound V manifests in subjects, much like Maverick with Translucent.

Andre’s interesting to me, mostly because he’s what holds the friend group together, almost like his magnetism works on them as well. He drew Marie in and placed her in their orbit. He encouraged Jordan to go out with her, and was quick to console Cate after Luke’s death. He was the group’s heart in a way, which matches well with his power.

Additionally, the fact that he’s constantly under the pressure of his father, Polaris, to be the best at everything he does insinuates that his power has a downside. We find out that overexertion of his power results in potentially fatal brain damage. The source of his strength is also the source of his weakness, and yet, Andre chooses to defend Marie regardless in the S1 finale.

Magnetism can attract, propel, and in Andre’s case, crush him under the weight of his father’s expectations, almost like his father’s magnetism was interacting with his own. He was constantly expected to be one thing or another. He should have been the hero, saving the day and getting the girl. He should have lived* to take down Homelander. He should have gotten to Cate sooner. All of this is to say that maybe all he had to be was the true hero he truly was: a friend.

*I’m well aware nothing has been confirmed for his character following Chance’s passing, but I doubt they would recast a role like his given them only really having one season left for his character. I can imagine they kill the character off in an offscreen jailbreak that would be implied to have taken place after the Gen V S1 finale, and the characters have to grapple with his loss and potential sacrifice, but I’m also talking out of my ass right now.*

[harleyxhoward]

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XII

🚹Jordan🚺

Jordan is, by nature, dichotomous. Their ability is a unique form of gendered shapeshifting which is implied to be a byproduct of their bigender identity. When we first meet Jordan, they’re snippy and selfish, focused solely on getting ahead and being applauded for their good work and impeccable scores. As the story goes on, you begin to reveal layers of insecurity and frustration that the world will only ever see them for their superficial identities.

When first introduced to Jordan, they were relaxed in their female form. Interestingly enough, this was most likely due to the fact that Brink knew Jordan was assigned male at birth, and accepted them regardless as both identities they present as. This, as I mentioned earlier with Dean Shetty’s master manipulation of Cate, was most likely the byproduct of a drawn out control tactic to keep Jordan’s success tethered to GodU, and to give Brink a guard dog in the event of…well, exactly what transpired in the first episode.

As we see while Jordan fights, their female form, the result of their own vulnerability typically used when comfortable or in moments of leisure, has the ability to propel people away with some form of telekinetic blast. This may be due to their own insecurities plaguing them with feelings of inadequacy. That initial desire to push people away manifests itself as the ability to do exactly that.

In their male form, they’re seemingly indestructible and super strong, being capable of being shot at point blank and trading blows with Luke and Sam, affirming that Jordan is both strong and versatile in combat.

When the V most likely kicked in, Jordan was probably going through puberty, as many other supes were when their powers manifested. Imagine recognizing that you were bigender and feeling the need to endure the bigotry of your surroundings in hopes of a better future while simultaneously wishing to shove people away. This dual nature manifested in their ability to visibly shapeshift, and yet their parents treat this as a burden, confused as to why Jordan doesn’t just stay a boy indefinitely.

Jordan’s gendered division is most likely rooted in their feelings of men being tough while women are guarded, but I believe that as Marie shows them that it’s possible to love both sides at once, we might see them use their powers interchangeably or even simultaneously.

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Hi! Are you going to continue your analysis of the abilities of the superheroes from the Boys? There have been no updates for a long time and it's sad… It's very interesting to read your analysis.

Yes yes! I do intend to keep up, I’m just sorting out some things in my personal life, but get ready for a content burst pretty soon!

Thank you!

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Aphrodite energy ✨️

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rikki: star of the coming of age film

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Aphrodite Anadyomene

🌊 The goddess rising out of the sea 🌊

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'H2O: JUST ADD WATER'

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rikki!!

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Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XI

🦗Emma🦗

Little Cricket, more regularly known as Emma, is a child star turned influencer who’s actress impressed me purely by taking a character I otherwise would roll my eyes at and making me adore and root for her.

Emma’s ability is size manipulation. Much like Alice in Wonderland, when she eats she grows, and when she makes herself vomit she shrinks. This is tethered to an eating disorder that’s been perfectly tailored by her mother’s obsessive hand. Her mother carries a tape measure around to make sure her daughter isn’t too small or too big, which makes for an obvious metaphor for the unloading of generational body image issues.

The most important aspect of Emma’s character is that in the Gen V S1 finale, it’s revealed that she can shrink by simply feeling small after Sam yelled at her. This proves that her ability isn’t truly dependent on food, but rather on the feeling of being too big or too small whenever she binges and purges.

-Psychology Major Moment-

“Killing Us Softly” is a series of documentaries put out by Jean Killbourne about the unsettling and frankly murderous nature of the beauty industry towards young women. Jean said in one of the documentaries something that stuck with me to this day, and reminds me deeply of Emma’s situation. She had said that while men are encouraged to be the largest of them all, the biggest man in every room they walk into, women are taught to be a perfect size 0, or in other words, “to not even exist”. Emma is repulsed by how huge she becomes after saving her friends, and ignores how in her giant form she’s stronger than Sam, capable of pressing him to the ground and holding him there with no obvious effort. She’s been indoctrinated and manipulated into truly believing that being petite is being valuable, and I’m praying that come the end of the show we get to see her become a giant woman yet again.

This whole ordeal reminded me so much of “I Like Giants” by Kimya Dawson, purely because when all is said and done, she’s a kickass hero and devoted best friend to Marie, but even then “all girls feel too big sometimes, regardless of their size”.

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crane wives album covers i did for a class last year! hoping to get the other ones done before beyond beyond beyond comes out