WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season 3, episode 6
Homelander's mirror personality completely rewrites his The Boys past - here's what this shocking revelation means for Vought's megalomaniac boss. The duality of Homelander was obvious from The Boys' very first scene. With an all-American exterior and a cheesy grin, the Superman parody rescues innocent children from armed criminals alongside Queen Maeve, but come the end of that same episode, he's destroying a private plane (with children aboard) just to save face. Both sides of the red, white and blue man-baby were perfectly demonstrated - the public-facing savior and the behind-closed-doors demon.
The Boys season 3's "Herogasm" episode completely changes what audiences thought they knew about Homelander's psyche. Aside from covering Marvin in milk and giving The Deep some eight-legged CGI satisfaction, "Herogasm" also shows Homelander mentally unraveling over Soldier Boy's return. Terrified that Soldier Boy's rampage could destroy Vought, a panicked Homelander retreats to his personal quarters... and what comes next is one of Antony Starr's most significant scenes in The Boys so far. Standing before a large mirror, Homelander separates into a "good" half and a "bad" half that interact with each other.
Season 3's mirror scene gives The Boys' best examination into the masochistic mind of Homelander yet. Until now, the Seven leader was perceived as a wicked villain who masqueraded as a hero for the stock market's sake. Though slightly better looking and less obsessed with rings (well... maybe not), Homelander is actually The Boys' very own Gollum.
Homelander's Good & Bad Sides Explained
The Boys doesn't try attaching a medical diagnosis to whatever inner conflict Homelander is experiencing, and that's probably for the best. Though Marvel's Moon Knight earned praise for its depiction of Dissociative Identity Disorder, genuine identity conditions have been misrepresented onscreen for decades, perpetuating harmfully inaccurate stereotypes. The Boys frames Homelander's situation not as any real-world medical condition, but as a vaguer, fantastical angel/devil divide (again, like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings). We can, however, glean that Homelander has been experiencing this phenomenon for a long time. The demonic mirror image remembers "helping" as a young boy, and has guided, manipulated and provoked Homelander into committing heinous acts ever since.
In a huge disappointment to Homelander's exasperated legal team, The Boys season 3's mirror twist doesn't justify his past crimes. Both sides of Homelander are still him, after all. Having said that, Homelander can no longer be perceived as a straightforward villain either. If the Seven's leader was truly the irredeemable moral vacuum everyone believed, his "good" half wouldn't exist at all. Deep down, some part of Homelander is still capable of empathy. The devil might be dominant right now (and, indeed, ever since The Boys began) but as a wise, sister-kissing Jedi once said, there's still good in him.
When Did Homelander's Bad Side Win? (Why Diabolical Has The Answer)
Homelander's devil is very much in control by the time The Boys season 1 begins, begging the question of when exactly those scales began tipping in evil's favor. The Boys Presents: Diabolical might hold the answer.
The final episode of Amazon's animated anthology series ("One Plus One Equals Two") has been confirmed as canon to The Boys season 3, and takes place on the day Vought first debuted Homelander. Though hardly a saint, Homelander is considerably less dastardly here at the beginning of his superhero career. The rookie genuinely wants to save innocent people, and is visibly distressed when accidentally causing collateral damage (compared to The Boys where he doesn't flinch in the slightest). Homelander's personality in The Boys Presents: Diabolical is eerily similar to his nicer half in The Boys season 3, with both showing childlike naivety to the outside world and cutting the image of a frightened puppy... albeit a puppy who could wipe out mankind should he choose.
Thanks to Homelander's animated origin story, we know that across years spent working under Vought, the bad half gradually consumed the good, who's now barely visible beneath the mass of milky awfulness.
How The Boys Season 3's Mirror Scene Reshapes Homelander's Past
The way Homelander reacts to his reflection in The Boys season 3, episode 6 confirms these one-on-one conversations are nothing new. How many times during The Boys seasons 1 & 2 did the Vought villain slink off to his bedroom off-screen and have a similar conversation between his two moral halves ? Before he destroyed the Mayor of Baltimore's plane? When he discovered Madelyn Stillwell knew about Ryan? After Queen Maeve threatened him with incriminating footage? Maybe Homelander was conflicted over how to handle all these stressful situations, but his darker half would demand control each and every time and encourage the path of violence, cruelty and destruction.
Meeting Homelander's two halves in season 3 implies that every despicable act he committed since The Boys episode 1 would've taken a heavier mental toll than anyone could guess from that emotionless exterior. There is a part of Homelander that's not completely comfortable with playing the ruthless dictator role, and that part would much rather receive the love he never experienced as a child than slaughter folk. Even Bad-lander admits, "Deep down there's part of you that's still... human." Behind the scowling face and the unabashed arrogance, this human speck of Homelander's soul means he might've actually felt a shred of remorse for every victim between The Boys season 1 and now.
Does The Boys Season 3 Prove Homelander Can Be Redeemed?
Now The Boys has confirmed a twinge of humanity still exists within Homelander's heart, can he eventually be redeemed? From the Becca Butcher incident to demanding Chelsea jump from a building, Homelander has committed far too many unspeakable acts to ever truly find atonement in The Boys. That's not to say he won't one day see the error of his ways, however.
When Homelander spent time with Ryan Butcher in The Boys season 2, their connection exposed unfamiliar traits such as kindness, understanding, and compassion. Though he didn't always get parenting right (pushing your kid off a roof is typically frowned upon), Homelander afforded Ryan an atypical sincerity. Because Homelander's problems apparently stem from a lack of parents (the hero's bad half accuses his counterpart of desperately seeking "approval and love and a mommy and a daddy") being a father to Ryan might allow the better side of Homelander to finally regain control.
One key detail from The Boys' mirror scene might prove Homelander is still capable of becoming a better man. When the split happens, Homelander's dark half speaks from the mirror, while the more innocent persona is standing in the real world. This implies the latter is Homelander's true nature, and the bad best friend is merely a coping mechanism that has called the shots for too long.
Whether redemption lies in Homelander's future or not, The Boys promises a very different path for Antony Starr's character. Until now, the two sides of Homelander have been his public facade and his true self, but since season 3's TV outburst, Homelander has more or less dropped the act. From "Herogasm" onward, Homelander's duality will no longer be defined by how he acts in public vs. how he acts in private, but by the internal battle between a naive child seeking approval and an absolute monster.
Homelander's Mirror Recreates A Boys Comic Twist
In Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's original comic books, Black Noir is revealed as a Homelander clone considerably more wicked than the real deal. After The Boys season 3's Nicaragua backstory, we know that twist isn't likely to play out in live-action, since Noir has already been unmasked.
In a mutated twist of the comic book storyline, Homelander's evil twin in Amazon's The Boys isn't a clone hiding beneath a mask, but a specter dwelling within his own personality. The Black Noir ending is so integral to The Boys' comic story, Amazon's adaptation would struggle to excise it completely. Season 3's mirror twist can recreate that same "it wasn't me, it was him" moment without the need to rewrite Black Noir's entire background. And just as the comics concluded with Noir and Homelander going head-to-head, could The Boys now finish with Homelander inwardly battling his other self as payback for all the dark deeds "Gollum" said needed to be done?
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The Boys continues Friday on Prime Video.