Deepfake videos are becoming increasingly popular, seeing the faces of characters swapped out with others who the editor think might be appropriate. A particularly disturbingly effective take on this is having Chris Evans as superpowered villain Homelander from The Boys, which you can check out for yourself above.
Most of the caped characters on the Amazon series are cynical expies of popular and recognizable heroes from DC and Marvel, with Homelander principally being a stand-in for Superman that explores what the Big Blue Boy Scout might be like if he lacked the decency and compassion that typify the Kansas farm boy. As the leader and most powerful member of superteam The Seven, his character is a mix between an insatiable hunger for adulation and sociopathic tendencies that threaten to obliterate the mask of humanity he wears when interacting with people. Antony Starr nails the balancing act on the fine line between the two states, but seeing Evans take on the same facial expressions has an eerie uncanniness to it that exists in direct contrast to his portrayal of Steve Rogers, while also being all the more convincing due to having just that as a basis of comparison.
Of course, Evans himself is now widely perceived as being not that far removed from the wholesome heroism of his most famous role, but he’s certainly no stranger to less empathetic performances, such as the oblivious narcissist Jake Wyler in Not Another Teen Movie, arrogant action movie star Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and most recently, and memorably, the obnoxious and entitled Ransom Drysdale in Knives Out. Also, I don’t want to spoil Snowpiercer if you’ve not seen it, but suffice it to say that Curtis Everett is not quite the unblemished underdog hero he’s initially presented as.
Homelander does possess grace notes of Captain America, but that character’s principal parody from the comics, Soldier Boy, is set to appear in season 3 and will be played by Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles. The Boys features a vast wealth of superhero caricatures, many of them obvious, others delightfully obscure, and most of whom possess the same kind of egotistical condescension that’s seen here. And it would be a surprise equal parts enjoyable and disturbing to see Evans crop up as any one of them.
