Fallen Hero · TV

Homelander

What if the strongest man alive was also the most insecure

Threat index 84 The Boys 2019 #4 Best on TV

Attribute scores

Power96
Intellect68
Menace92
Fear factor86
Cultural impact82
Charisma78

Editorial estimates on a 0–100 scale, calibrated against every other character in the index. Not official canon.

Who they are

Homelander has the powers of the archetypal flying superhero and the emotional development of a lab-raised child who has never been told no by anyone who survived. He is a corporate product, a media personality and a mass murderer, and the series' central horror is watching a man with unlimited power slowly stop caring whether anyone approves.

Defining traits

Flight, heat vision and near-invulnerabilityCorporate media controlDesperate need for adorationNo childhoodEscalating instability

What makes them dangerous

Nothing on Earth can physically stop him, and he owns the news channel that would report it.

And what undoes them

He needs to be loved, publicly and constantly, and the approval rating is the only leash that exists.

Things you might not know

  • Starr has said he plays every scene as though the character is one second away from crying or killing someone.
  • The comic version is more straightforwardly monstrous; the series added the neediness that defines him.
  • His costume is deliberately designed as a merchandising asset within the show's own fiction.

Why number 4 in Best on TV

A superhero body with the emotional development of a lab-raised child, played with a permanent sense that he is one second from breaking.

See the full ranking

Why number 7 in Most Powerful

Flight, heat vision and effective invulnerability in a setting with no magic, no cosmic beings and nothing that can meaningfully stop him.

See the full ranking

Why number 12 in Most Dangerous

Nothing in his world can physically stop him, and he controls the media that would report what he does.

See the full ranking

Why number 13 in Most Tragic

Never had a childhood, never had a name until adulthood, and was manufactured as a product. It does not excuse anything, and the show knows that.

See the full ranking

If you like this villain

Animation Original artwork representing the fallen hero villain archetype

Azula

Avatar: The Last Airbender · 2005

A fourteen-year-old prodigy who was raised as a weapon

Threat index 84
Anime Original artwork representing the fallen hero villain archetype

Light Yagami

Death Note · 2003

A top student with a notebook and a god complex

Threat index 84
Anime Original artwork representing the fallen hero villain archetype

Griffith

Berserk · 1989

The most complete betrayal in the history of the medium

Threat index 90