Homelander’s Batman Trick Foreshadows His Boys Season 3 Twist

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season 3

Homelander is typically known as The Boys' answer to Superman... so why does he copy a famous Batman trick in season 3? It's no secret that many heroes in The Boys parody figures from Marvel and DC - Queen Maeve is Wonder Woman, Soldier Boy is Captain America, Eagle the Archer is Hawkeye, etc. As an all-American hero with a clean-cut image and a fearsome set of powers, Homelander is very much The Boys' own Superman. Both are patriotic icons, both fly and possess heat vision, and both enjoy a refreshing glass of milk...

In The Boys season 3, however, Homelander pulls a move straight from Batman's playbook. The Dark Knight has developed an annoying habit of disappearing suddenly and silently in the middle of conversations. Jim Gordon will be chatting away to his costumed friend on a rooftop, glance away for a split second, and Batman's already vanished by the time his gaze turns back. Christian Bale's Batman was infamous for this in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, but other incarnations have shown their own disregard for social niceties.

Strangely, Antony Starr's Homelander copies this signature Batman insult exactly in The Boys season 3's premiere episode, "Payback." Vought's star supe visits Karl Urban's Billy Butcher at his apartment, requesting Ryan's location and promising an almighty showdown to come. They're mid-conversation when Butcher momentarily glances toward his kitchen (and the V-24 inside his cookie jar), but in that split second, Homelander has silently evacuated his seat and exited the building. It's really not as impressive when the hero in question has superpowers, but the bigger question here is why a parody of Superman is using a trademark move belonging to Batman. An answer lies in The Boys season 3's birthday celebration twist, as mimicking Batman actually foreshadows Homelander's dramatic episode 2 outburst.

In DC lore, Superman is almost always the morally righteous, clean-conscience superhero who does the right thing and follows the rules. Batman represents the opposite side of that coin. Both men strive for the same goal, but Batman bends the rules and walks a murkier ethical path compared to his brightly-colored Justice League colleague. Batman would (and often does) argue that his methodology is the realistic necessity, whereas Superman panders to public acceptability. This famous dynamic might explain why Homelander borrows Batman's vanishing trick in The Boys season 3. In the episode immediately after "Payback," Homelander's facade cracks in public for the very first time. He drops the Superman-esque cloak of moral goodness and lets his true nature out - the egotistical sadist who believes humanity is beneath him. Copying Batman perfectly demonstrates the "death" of Homelander's Superman-like public exterior.

As a far-right racist who kills for fun, Homelander couldn't be less like Bruce Wayne if he had parents. Nevertheless, Homelander using a trick made famous by Superman's antithesis eerily foreshadows how the Seven leader drops his "American boy scout" persona and embraces his true nature in The Boys. He stops appeasing people with niceness to become the figure he believes the world needs. Batman and Homelander might have as much in common as Butcher and Mr. Rogers, but DC's Dark Knight embraced his dark true nature every time he donned a cape. In The Boys season 3, Homelander is doing exactly the same.