Homelander, The Boys, and the pitfalls of Great Man Theory
For the uninitiated, great man theory is essentially a way of contextualizing historical events as the consequences of the actions of 'great men,' influential and powerful political figures. For example, this theory would examine WW2 as caused by the actions of Hitler and his cronies, instead of the systemic consequences of the Versailles Treaty, hyperinflation in Germany, and the effect of military propaganda. The theory is complete bullshit and unscientific, but it is very popular in the modern world - where events like Israel's genocide in Gaza are explained as the actions and policies of Benjamin Netanyahu, and the rise of fascism in America and much of the West is due to Donald Trump, Giorgia Meloni, Viktor Orban, etc. It is much more comforting for the common people to think that the shitshow in their countries is caused by individuals, and that electoral politics is effective because it gives them a chance to vote out the individuals from office. The fact that institutional corruption and systemic bigotry is the actual reason for a nation's failings is a much harder pill to swallow.
Homelander in the first few seasons of The Boys, was not a caricature or a parody of any singular political figure. His actions were simply extrapolations and often recreations of US imperialism in the Middle East and Global South and nationalistic propaganda within the US. Assassinations and blackmailing of politicians unfriendly to corporate interests, funding and arming terrorists in foreign countries, glorification of the military as liberators - all of these things are something that every US president since the end of the Korean War has done. Unlike the comics, where he is a parody of George Bush, or the later seasons, where he is a parody of Donald Trump, Homelander wasn't a stand-in for some political leader, and he was as much a victim of Vought's predatory corporate greed as any other character in the show. He was raised in a lab by people with no empathy, treated as a guinea pig to be turned into a weapon of mass destruction, given a false childhood and parents to throw up as a facade to the public. He grew up yearning for love from the people he idolized, and love from the people he was shown to be protecting. Essentially, an unloved child.
The first few seasons were also scathing critiques of capitalism, racism, and the US government itself. Season 2 devoted a lot of time to examining how capitalism consumes and bastardizes criticism of itself, through the way Starlight's status as a victim of sexual assault is turned into a vehicle for the 'girlboss feminism' parroted by Vought through Starlight, Maeve, and Stormfront. Stormfront herself is a character that examines the Nazism still bubbling beneath the surface of the country, she and Dr. Vought were brought to the US through Operation Paperclip along with dozens of other scientists and intelligence officers of Germany. How neo-Nazis like Stormfront radicalize seemingly harmless and non-prejudiced people through propaganda is brilliantly shown in the cold open of one of the episodes, a man shoots and kills an innocent cashier seemingly on the suspicion that he is a Supe in hiding, and a threat to the people, because of the bullshit Stormfront spews on social media.
All of this depth and subtlety is completely gone Season 4 and onwards. The writers, wanting to capitalize on the shitshow that the Trump administration and the MAGA movement had turned into, decide to turn Vought and Homelander into a parody of Trump and MAGA. Vought had initially been a deeply embedded corporation with Senators and Congressmen on their payroll and near complete control of the media, but now it is an insane Supe company on the fringes of the political spectrum, and it spews evangelical talking points. Homelander, an actually competent and somewhat intelligent villain initially, now cannot figure out any of the Boys' plans, and needs to recruit Sister Sage to help him. During Neumann's campaign, a Homelander who was unconcerned with intra-human bigotry and racism because he believed himself to be above the entire human race is suddenly concerned with gay marriage and abortion and trans people. Neumann, initially a deliberate play on pseudo-progressive politicians like AOC, now becomes just an average Republican.
The reason that Seasons 4 and 5 feel like there are no stakes to the story is because the writers are hell bent on making Homelander a giant man-baby like Trump who cannot do anything properly and is way too concerned with theme parks and films and TV shows about him. While he was a man-child in the first few seasons, he had characters like Stan Edgar and Stillwell and Vogelbaum who he had actual conversations with that revealed more about his past and his character. When there is no foil for him to bounce off of, he should not be as calm and composed as he is in that time, when he knows that the Boys are still planning on actively killing him. There is no reason he should be concerned at all about the presidential campaign.
The Season 5 finale is the best example of how this show had abandoned everything that made it compelling at first. The mission Butcher and the Boys had undertaken since the very first season was bringing down Vought AND Homelander. In the first season itself, their immediate plan was exposing Compound V and unleashing the CIA on Vought to expose all the dirty laundry. Only after that plan fails does Butcher kidnap Stilwell and try to kill Homelander. In the second season as well, most of their efforts are focused on bringing down Vought through other means. Killing Homelander was never the main focus of the story, because Homelander is simply a symptom of the problem, not the entire problem itself. In the finale, after Homelander dies, Vought goes back to normal, there are no consequences for their horrifying crimes in the interim, and somehow the Boys are happy and enjoying drinks and cigarettes, as if their job is done. Even Butcher, someone whose single minded focus was on ending Supes as a concept, seems satisfied until Ryan tells him to fuck off and Terror dies (from natural fucking causes, atleast have his death be caused by a Supe to make Butcher going off the deep end more believable). The climax is Hughie telling Butcher that killing all Supes is not a good thing to do, when the only good Supes we've seen in 5 whole seasons were a redeemed A-Train and Starlight. The incident that caused Hughie to join the team, A-Train killing Robin, was also a consequence of Vought's tentacles entrenched in every aspect of the country's institutions, if not the death of all Supes, then atleast the downfall of Vought should be something that he wants too.
The writers fell victim to the great man theory, just the death of Homelander is shown as solving all the problems the world has, and Hughie declines the offer to join the Bureau of Supe Affairs, when that should be something all the Boys want to do because they did not achieve their goal at all. Kripke apparently wants the audience to believe that if we just kill of fascist leaders, fascism disappears overnight and the country goes back to sunshine and rainbows overnight.