Stormfront makes Soldier Boy Homelander’s biggest threat in The Boys. Homelander’s popularity and sense of control took a major hit in season 2 of The Boys. After killing Madelyn Stillwell, Homelander began reporting to Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), the head of Vought, a pharmaceutical corporation that owned and operated the Seven, an elite team of deadly superheroes. Stan had more firm control over Homelander, which prevented the dangerous man from doing what he wanted. His alliance with Stormfront did him no favors and, now that she’s gone, Homelander is faced with his most challenging adversary yet in Soldier Boy.
Jensen Ackles will portray Soldier Boy in The Boys season 3. A parody of Captain America, the comic book version of Soldier Boy originated during World War II, his superpowers and physical enhancements the result of the Compound V serum. Soldier Boy, a member of the superhero team Payback, has been referenced a couple of times over the course of the show’s two seasons. He’s been described as the original superhero, with The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke confirming that the history of both Soldier Boy and Payback will be explored in season 3. But, what does that mean for Homelander?
In short, it’s pretty bad news for the floundering leader of the Seven. Throughout season 2, Homelander associated himself with Stormfront, a Nazi who wanted to carry on with her white supremacist agenda. While they were adversaries at first, Homelander quickly became an ally to Stormfront, who won him over by promising that he would be the leader of her super army. Together, they stoked the fire of the right-leaning extremists. However, when Stormfront was publicly outed as a Nazi and her history revealed, she was edged out as the Vought spokesperson and Homelander was forced to denounce her actions and play victim to her plans.
This perfectly sets up Soldier Boy’s arrival. With Homelander losing steam, Soldier Boy can replace him as a hero. There are indications that Soldier Boy is a more perfect rival for Homelander, who is an egotistical, unhinged, and insecure man. Soldier Boy is an attractive hero who will presumably be far less naive than his comics counterpart (who sucks up to others to get attention and approval, including from Homelander). With the public probably favoring a new brand of hero, Soldier Boy could swoop in to deliberately take up Homelander’s position as America’s poster boy and leader of the Seven. As a supe, Soldier Boy rivals Homelander in strength and combat skills.
Played by Ackles, and with some adjustments made for the TV adaptation, Soldier Boy’s presence could turn Homelander into a distant public memory. The latter is already not as powerful or as in control as he wants to be and Soldier Boy’s arrival could provoke him in more ways than one. What’s more, Homelander’s image has already been damaged by his alliance with Stormfront and incidents that revealed he wasn’t exactly as squeaky clean as his publicity team made him out to be. With the public’s loss of trust in him and his capabilities, Soldier Boy is the next best person to replace him in every respect. He will likely turn up the charm while in public, his Captain America-esque persona sets him up as a golden-boy patriot with clean-cut ideals about right and wrong, making him a more palatable option than Homelander in The Boys season 3.