The overpowered “hero” Homelander (Antony Starr) in The Boys draws comparisons to DC’s Superman, but he is actually a better spoof of Marvel’s Captain America. Set in a world where superheroes are more manufactured corporate personas than they are genuine paragons of goodness, The Boys received critical acclaim for its darker take on popular superhero tropes. Starr's character is the series’ best example of that: Homelander's most controversial moments in The Boys drive home how corrupt the superhero industry is thanks to Vought — making Homelander the perfect perversion of Captain America.
First appearing in season 1, Homelander is the most powerful, and the most dangerous, Supe in the series. With flight, laser eyes, X-ray vision, physical invulnerability, and super-strength, there is a clear similarity to Superman’s own abilities. The two heroes are both unable to see through a single element – Superman’s lead and Homelander’s zinc – and are generally highly regarded by the public in their respective franchises. Even Homelander’s fake origin story — growing up on an American farm, raised by two loving parents — has similarities with Clark Kent's backstory.
Despite Superman being an obvious comparison point and parody, Homelander’s specifically American image presents militaristic and propagandistic aspects that are more directly relevant to Captain America. Both heroes are American icons, performing their duties in the name of justice and patriotism; however, Homelander twists the values Captain America symbolizes, skewing them into unhinged destruction. Where Cap has made every effort to protect innocent lives and lead The Avengers to victory for the good of the country, Homelander has utterly abandoned that value of public security despite using it as the focus of his pro-American brand. His long list of heinous crimes - including using Compound V to supercharge terrorists – show that he is way greater of a threat than he is a true protector. It's clear that while Homelander in The Boys outwardly represents all of the values of a "Captain America" figure, his actions entirely invert and at times oppose them.
Additionally, perhaps the biggest point of parody is Homelander’s own patriotic attitude. While he parades a similar pro-American perspective to Captain America, he subverts it and does so in a way that is inherently deeply racist. He was repeatedly complicit in allowing Stormfront’s rhetoric to spread, even after she confessed her Nazi background in season 2, episode 6, “The Bloody Doors Off.” He blurs the lines between Cap's classic "American" values and Nazi Germany, speaking at Stormfront’s pro-Supe rallies about the need to protect the American people and their borders from “godless inhuman supervillains pouring across our borders and dragging us down into their mud” in episode 7. Both Cap and Homelander fight their fights in the name of patriotic righteousness and protecting their people, but Homelander’s perspective is so horribly skewed that righteousness turned into toxic nationalism and Stormfront-branded white supremacy. He doesn’t just invert Cap’s values here, he completely corrupts and degrades them, using the same moral attitude to promote dangerous ideals.
Where Captain America represents the best of America, Homelander represents the worst. He takes everything that Cap embodies and debases them into his own dangerous brand of “patriotism.” Where Homelander’s radicalization will go from here is yet to be seen in season 3 of The Boys, but there’s no doubt that it’s a powerful representation and subversion of Marvel’s Captain America.