Does Homelander die in ‘The Boys’ comic?

The thesis of Amazon Prime’s The Boys is simple. With great power comes great corruption.

Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) learns this early when there are no repercussions for his girlfriend’s death, who was killed when a high A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) runs right through her. But while A-Train is capable of change and comes to understand the consequences of his role in her death, other characters are not the introspective types. That is how The Boys has given fans one of the greatest villains of all time. 

Homelander (Antony Starr) – a clear allegory for Superman – is the epitome of corruption. A truly maniacal villain, the Boys aim to find a way to destroy him. But therein lies the problem. Homelander is essentially unkillable. Where Superman is a beacon of hope, Homelander is the opposite. His reign of terror knows no bounds, and there is no boundary he won’t cross. So how can these human beings expect to kill him?

That is the question up for the court. Homelander is so powerful it’s a wonder that he hasn’t massacred the whole lot trying to do him in from the beginning. But while it seems impractical that Homelander hasn’t decided to rid the world of everyone who hates him, there may be an answer to how to defeat him in the comics.

Homelander’s fate in The Boys comic

Seth Rogen, the executive producer of the superhero show, has long been a fan of Garth Ennis comics. He had his hand in developing the Preacher adaptation for FX, which spanned 4 seasons. And while he is known to deviate from the source material slightly, a grain of truth always remains. The secret to Homelander’s demise could lie in the pages of Ennis’ book.

As in the series, the comic portrays Homelander as basically invincible. But that doesn’t mean that Vought was without a backup plan. Understanding that Homelander was dangerous and may need to be curbed, they made a clone whose primary purpose was to destroy him if he became a problem. This clone was actually someone familiar to the Boys: Black Noir. Obscuring his identity by wearing a mask and never speaking, Black Noir is a failsafe and ultimately carries out his duty. With powers comparable to Homelander, the two come to blows, with Black Noir finally fulfilling his purpose. But because they two were so evenly matched, he also maintains heavy damage. This event allows Butcher the opportunity to kill him while he’s down.

The Amazon Prime adaptation will be unable to follow this trajectory. It was already revealed that Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) was just another part of The Seven who was brain-damaged during the days of Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and dies at the end of season 3. However, there is still room to honor this storyline. Black Noir appears in The Boys season 4, which could mean the clone version of Homelander exists. 

And then there is Ryan (Cameron Crovetti). After assaulting Butcher’s wife Becca (Shantel VanSanten), Homelander fathered her son, who has the same powers as his father. If there is someone strong enough to destroy the supervillain, it’s Ryan, who has already utilized his heat vision to devastating effect. As The Boys is a Rogen production, there is no telling where the series will go in the future. The only thing for certain is that Homelander needs to be killed at some point.