the fact that you made a correlation tot rump with homelander just because a couple idiots chose that as their symbol, just goes to show how unyieldingly manipulated by the media we are.
I had a class about communication in media. And someone for their project was talking about bias in media. Then they concluded by saying that Fox News is the only non-biased news program and the professor was like "hold up"
One thing that my flatmate had to point out to me is Antony Starr does not blink while in character. Its not completely true but watch whenever he is paying attention to someone and he will go minutes without blinking, its something that subconsciously adds to his creepy factor
My favorite comment about Homelander was in a tweet that went something like: "Seeing Homelander causes me so much terror, just imagine how horrible it would be if americans existed in real life!"
I believe the name "The Batman" comes from iterations where he's not a well-known hero and more of a rumor as far as the public is concerned. He's not Batman, leader of the Justice League, he's the Batman, a guy who looks like a bat and appears out of the shadows to kick your teeth in.
Is the same thing I thought, like a horror movie where the moster is a man with a first and last name but that he trasform himself into a bat, and than the director choose the name "The BatMan" for his movie, despite the term "BatMan" is never quoted in the entire movie. Indeed the onlyone that call Bruce "BatMan" when he is in action, is the riddler because he mentally ill and obsessed of him that he choose to indicate him like "BatMan". Neither Gordon call Bruce like that, and that is soo cool because that emphasizes the mythology of Gotham's criminals and the fear they have of him, failing to understand if he is a mere man or a real creature of darkness. 
I prefer Batman to be an urban legend, but yeah, once you start seeing him in newspaper photos or cable TV standing beside Superman the mystique tends to wane
Just like Homelander, the lack of self awareness about these things is because it's always a little TOO on the nose, to the point they actively can't see it anymore. Black Panther, Wakanda being an isolationist country that hates immigration, hates foreigners, and only supports their own kind. Metal Gear Rising, US Military Complex and every president who's started a war being international supervillains. Or other characters from The Boys. A-Train representing criminal athletes being praised and above the law, but only as long as they perform and are the best in their field. The Deep being washed up actors trying to stay relevant. Stormfront being a relic from an old political family that thinks she's better than everyone else because she got a new social media team behind her, right until all of the old criminal things she's done start coming to light due to leaks on the net, then everything falls apart around her. All of these things and so much more will be purposely ignored by fans of something, if the thing they like has a negative side that they disagree with.
The reason why it has "Homelander" and "The Homelander" listed as aliases is because (within the fictional world of The Boys) he debuted as The Homelander and changes his name to Homelander after joining The Seven.
Oh yeah, wasn't it a literal argument in the Diabolical series or something like that? That *The* Homelander is a shitty name and he just should stick with Homelander?
I think for me the most entertaining part of watching Homelander, is seeing just how much of an opposite he is to Superman and where those differences come from. Powers their almost identical but in personality and origins they are completely different and it shows how that has shaped them. Superman was orphaned by his home world exploding, was raised in a loving home, with two people who taught him properly what was right, what was okay, and what was wrong. And once he out grew them, he did what any normal person would do, he left to make his own mark on the world, in his way both as Clark Kent and Superman using the morals and values taught to him by kindhearted parents. Homelander was born as an experiment ultimately to help a corporation make more money(no spoilers), he was seemingly raised in a sterile environment, devoid of any real contact with people, (he was given no real parental figures who actually cared about him as a person, he was only ever considered as product),constantly preforming tests to see how effective his powers were, and experimented on as a child to see his upper limits. And when he was at a marketable age he was just thrust into a celebrity status with no real say in the matter. The show really did a good job of showing where all his issues stem from. Considering this it’s kind of amazing that he didn’t burn the world down the moment he stepped foot out of the lab. The world he lives in is lucky he’s only as messed up as he is, though that is starting to slip. It’s a really interesting idea, Homelander is not a deconstruction of Superman, Homelander is a perversion of Superman in basically every way. Hell, it could be coincidence but the 1930s German/ operation paper clip origin of Vought that leads to Homelander’s creation, I think is a weird in universe twisting of Siegel and Shuster two Jewish men creating Superman. I really feel uncomfortable when I hear people say that Homelander is what would happen if Superman was real, because, no. If Superman was actually real, he would have the same origins as in the comics and that would make him a good person.
@@HipsterKhan "hopped up on SSRIs" The fuck is that even supposed to mean? Do you think antidepressants are some kind of stimulant, or artificial happiness inducer, or something? 'Cause, seriously, tha fuck?
"A bunch of people that don't understand what Superman stood for try and replace him." is the basic meta of Snyder and his crew making a Superman film.
Also, to be fair, Rising you are an antihero too. I mean Raiden even has that whole struggle with his own parallel to might makes right and trying to divorce himself from that even through the Armstrong fight.
I have a random nitpick: the police in Metal Gear Rising are specifically said to be a private police force that were given the authority by the state government to act as the police. So saying the game frames killing "literally the police" as morally good, while technically true, is a bit of a mischaracterization. It's specifically exploring the PMC dystopia that MGS4 made
As well as the fact that the entire level these events take place in is Raiden accepting the antagonistic part of himself and utilizing those parts to achieve a greater good, albeit for entirely selfish reasons.
I mean police today in america which japanese creators critique enforce laws which can be described as unjust. They then throw people into prisons which are run by the states or PRIVATE companies which then exploits the prisoners for slave labor as prescribed by the 13th amendment. These companies then advocate for tougher sentences more police etc... for i dont know a profit motive.
@@massie27 compared to other countries, the American prison industrial complex is particularly bad and exploitive in in many ways, particularly the sheer number of people being held per capita. That being said, your saying "Japanese creators" seems to imply that Japan doesn't have private prisons or exploit prison labor. Japan is one of the few other countries to do both, and has particularly draconic treatment towards their inmates.
The best thing about Homelander as a character is that although he does the most horrible shit and is basically a walking time bomb that could implode at any minute, there are still moments when the show manages to make you feel bad for him. As much as I wanna see the protagonists succeed and finally get rid of him, I think that would break the show because he’s just such an incredible villain.
@@wolfmanoh I mean, he was once an innocent child who was put into a lab and raised like a rat to be experimented on and the man he unintentionally saw as a father figure because he was the only one who could vaguely fit that role called him his greatest failure. You can even see how despite being such a fucked up person and his inability to feel empathy for others, he is genuinely attached to Ryan and wants to protect him. In his own fucked up way. Not saying that makes him a good person or even remotely redeems his character, but it’s proof that he is indeed human even if he likes to think of himself as a different species.
he's gonna be there for the entirety, he's the main bad guy. If he dies, the show is over. Butcher is also a ticking time bomb so even if homelander is dead, we might get another villain in Butcher. His hatred for supes is neverending and especially if Ryan hits a point of no return and becomes a mini-homelander
The best thing about The Boys is that it's a bash at politics, celebrities being able to do what they want and companies like Vought generally being worst than Homelander.
I recently realized that Homelander and Handsome Jack are actually very similar villains. Incredibly polite and charismatic and able to get most people to bend to their will. Only those who actually see their atrocities are able to see their true selves.
@@theonewayroad3867 not really. Both are willing to lable anyone who even slightly disagrees with them an evil and immediately kill them. There are a lot of things I could point to or you could just go play borderlands 2 again.
@@thomasdahlberg5920 except unlike Homelander, Jack actually has a point considering his opposition are literally raiders, bandits, murderers, cannibals, and outright menaces to society, etc... in any other medium we're the bad guys. Also where as Homelander is a petulant child who believes he right because of his immense power , Jack is broken man who believes he's right because people keeps proving him right every attempt at mercy or peaceful resolution is met with betrayal from Roland to Moxxi to Lilith.
I like the idea of Zack Snyder's Reign of the Supermen, but I see one mistake in your summary of it. While three of the four Supermen definitely have no idea what Superman actually stood for, Steel got it 100% right.
That's because Steel is human. That's the part about Superman that people seem to forget. He was raised as a human. He never sees himself as above humans. To quote Batman, "it is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then… He shoots fire from the skies and it is difficult not to think of him as a God. And how fortunate we are that it does not occur to him."
Homelander doesn't really mame Blindspot as a power play because he wants to choose whos on the seven. He does it because he so insecure the idea of someone having to overcome an issue and perserveer is seen as an afront to the piss baby manchild who's never broken a sweat in his entire life and had everything handed to him.
@@nubreed13 Homelander is not a perfectionist in the slightest, they literally talked about how lazy he is, with the slightest bit of effort he could have safely taked down the hijackers, but instead he blasted them with lazer eyes on a tight civilian filled plane surrounded on every side by important equipment to keep the plane in the air, and then refused to lift a finger to help everyone because then the world would potentially know he caused some collateral. he's just obessed with his PR and doesn't value the life of others. I can personally attest that pissy narcassists will take the idea that you've endeared, that you've had to overcome unjust hardship and persevered as an afront to them, 'the main character' (under their framework). Instead they'll often rationalise their anger and feelings of inadequacy by belittling or dismissing your struggle or attempting to externally justify why you when through that, to explain it as a punishment for your actions or the actions of someone else. He isn't against diversity hires or expects perfection from the team, he isn't perfect himself even if he thinks he is, black noir is on the team and hes mute and deeply recessed. (Infact, what's saddest of all in black noirs story is I don't think he's physically all to affected by the injury, but the issues are psychological since hes shown to still be able to think and consider these things, he's simply recessed into adolessence as we see he thought process still shows hes able to understand the complex situations hes in, but simply views them through a childish lense, suggesting there's likely psychological elements at play more than a purely neurological issue, though that might be the shows lack of understanding of neurological and psychological conditions which is fair enough since the two fields are often linked or mirror each other)
I liked when he was watching the speech he gave in the previous episode while naked. It shows he's got a slim surfer body and implies that his costume is padded with fake muscles to make him look more superhuman. When you think about it, it makes sense; being the most powerful being in the world without trying means he doesn't need to train himself or push his body to its limits.
The padding in his sleeves bunching up occasionally was something that bothered me when I first started the show. I really don't mind it with your interpretation.
For a game where the police are cast as antagonists: "Deus Ex" from 2000 starts off with your character as a member of the UN's anti-terrorist task force, effectively a cop. Through the course of the first act you shift allegiances against this UN force to a position where a good portion of the game's narrative supports killing police. The game effectively casts police as the unwitting enforcers of shadowy power brokers and capital. From the UN's force, to the New York City police, to Paris and Hong Kong's police. Also, it's a fantastic action-RPG.
I was going to comment this as you litetraly join the NSF/other "terrorist" groups against the police/military of various nations as the organised systems of gevernment are the bad guys and those publicly consider the bad guys are the people fighting for freedom/survival of the human race. Unatco or united nations anti terrorist coalition are not the good guys but the grunts on the ground that you fight are just regular people donig what they believe is right and joined the UN to do so.
@@evamadman It does, but I don't think DXHR really posits the police as an instrument of opposition in quite the same ways. Even Deus Ex Mankind Divided at least shows the Prague police as complicit and enforcing efforts the game frames as a 'new apartheid'. Which is its own weird, inappropriate thing
@@notwhatitwasbefore It felt like such an obvious game to answer with that I poked through the comments to make sure I wasn't just echoing someone else :)
Seeing Homelander defeated in the Death Battle is such a moment of elation, cause karma finally catches up with him. But knowing there seems to be nothing that can actually kill him in the comic or show is genuinely terrifying
I think infamous second son fits the police fight criteria perfectly. While yes that game has a karma system and you can absolutely play as a bad guy the police are the main antagonistic force regardless of if you are a hero or a villain. It’s also an installment in a rather popular game series.
@@austinhaltiner1489 I agree in the fact that they are not the police, however they are a federal government agency. It’s sorta like splitting hairs between military branches, technically they’re all apart of the military and are just glorified cops. Same with the dups, glorified cops.
One detail I like from season 2 is that whenever Homelander and Victoria Neuman are in a scene together, she’s keeping her eyes on him. Since she has the ability to explode a head or two, I view it as her ready to turn Homelander’s head to paste.
To answer your question: Of all things, Sonic Adventure 2 has both the heroes and villains fight against a large military/army conglomerate who are, at least in the context of the world, presented as "good guys", so that probably counts? (though it does get quickly dropped about halfway into the game)
MGR's Denver Police and SA2's GUN are similarly portrayed. The Denver Police are PMC cyborgs contracted by Denver. If I remember correctly, the game implies that World Marshal is the group that outsourced them - World Marshal being the same group that is allied with Desperado and therefore complicit in the whole "child brains in jars" shit show. You aren't fighting the police so much as fighting an (especially) corrupt sector of the police that has World Marshal's interest in mind, not the peoples'. GUN is similar, although a lot more benevolent. They are a PMC group contracted to deal with supernatural and otherwise world threatening events - like, for example, a hedgehog that can run at the speed of sound who has gone rogue. Similar to the government in Invincible, they take extreme, undeniably unethical approaches to ensure peace is maintained. Be it highering a literal criminal as a double agent, imprisoning an innocent albeit potentially dangerous "Ultimate Lifeform" or murdering all witnesses and burying evidence to prevent very dangerous data leaking. Neither are portrayed as being "good" explicitly, its just that when you see the police uniform and hear their surface level goals, they seem to be good. Edit: Saw another comment mention the original Deus Ex as another example, and it is also similar to MGR in a way. The Police in Deus Ex are defenders of a corrupt and evil rule that you are forced to kill (or assault) as their higher ups set them up as human shields - I think MGR even uses the same phrasing. You are killing innocent people, but its utilitarian. You stop Majestic 12, Desperado, etc. and fewer people suffer than if you refused to kill. To end a cycle of perpetual suffering, its often necessary to bring temporary suffering. Provided the protagonist isn't seen as an objective good, which neither game does, there's not much wrong with that. Compare it to stopping the meat industry. That will require the deaths of all livestock, but their potential children and children's children will be spared the fate if their parents and grandparents.
On the same notes, Shadow the Hedgehog where it's explicitly them trying to screw you over. I've not played SA2 so I'm not super aware of why but Shadow was considered a criminal and that blame got shifted into Sonic but in Shadow's game, there's no reason attributed to it other than 1 guy really dislikes Shadow and blames him for something from years ago and orders his men to attack you on sight even if you've done NOTHING wrong!
Personally, I think “The Homelander” or “Thee Homelander” is a lot more intimidating than just “Homelander”, it makes him sound a lot more important and a towering figure, makes him sound like a legend, kind of like how in the recent Batman movie, they chose to go with THE Batman rather than just Batman, because at that point in his career, he was just a myth, a “creature of the night”, though I do admit that some characters just don’t sound right with the “the”, The Superman doesn’t sound right
I think "The" makes it seem more evil. Like really when I hear "The Superman" it sounds almost like something the Nazis would name. So "The Homelander" has kinda the same effect
@@bowats2364 indeed, but he doesn’t deserve to be mythologized. He deserves to be belittled. Which is why the boys in particular would skimp out on ‘the’ themselves.
To a certain degree I'd say the majority of Far Cry games the enemies are some form of police, even if they're technically part of an army or something like that. Hell in Far Cry 5 it's revealed that Joseph Seed had cops working for him who made sure your character didn't get any back up.
Probably the biggest case of “You didn’t get the point.” I’ve seen from someone regarding a piece of Media. Was a coworker I had who somehow played Bioshock 1 and walked away thinking the game was pro laissez-faire capitalism.
I believe that part of the reason that no one talks about fighting the police in mgr is because in the cutscene before the mission they say the the police force had been privatized and sold to the pmc, so it’s less fighting the police and more fighting the regular bad guys but in police uniforms
I feel like even if everyone in the world knew what the true homelander was like they would still fake their reactions Infront of him just to be saved from incurring his wraith.
@@re1010 once one dude starts clapping, you either join in or risk being singles out by the violent power. This is exactly how it works in the real world to. Fear breeds complacency
Revengance _does_ discuss that the police force is pretty much entirely funded, staffed, and supplied by Desparado (ie. the bad guys). And, of course, you have the leadup to Monsoon where you hear their thoughts(?) and it's made pretty clear that yeah, this is morally questionable: these people are not entirely willing. Raiden decides that it's a needed as Desparado is "setting them up a their human shield."
To answer the "is there a game where the police are the enemy and your character is the hero" question, technically speaking, shadow the hedgehog, because even if you play the entire game while being a good Samaritan and doing all the hero missions without killing any "good" enemies, some mechs opperated by G.U.N. soldiers, which is essentially the military protecting the world from serious threats, will still attack you no matter what, and you can only stop them from doing so by either A: killing them, or B: shooting them with a heal pulse canon or healing them through other means (the former of which isn't available until after you complete one of the story paths and the latter being very uncommon).
@@shupasopni and in SA2 you mostly just fight GUN robots with only 3 GUN robots having human drivers, while in Shadow you actually do get to kill the actual GUN soldiers
I viewed homelander's reaction to the genocide thing as a not-so-subtle message that even this monster of a human thinks white genocide is an utterly bonkers idea. Even through all his pathology and irrationality and volatility he cringes at it. But seeing your take does present a new way to view the scene which adds a different layer.
Thats the funny thing stormfront failed to understand and chances were if she kept trying to tell him what to do he would have clapped her skull until she was brain dead. While homelander looks down on normal humans he is a Grade A narcissist he could careless what race a normal human is so long as they love him. His biggest fear is not having positive praises which is why he daydreams about killing people when he sees/hears people not liking him. Thats what keeps him from wanting to conquer the planet because he knows people wont like that aka not liking him.
@@SoMuchFacepalm what do you think seeing minorites on the magic box or willing interracial relationships and legal immigration of non whites is genocide? white genocide is not real last I checked white people are not being hunted down and being put in camps. If you have real sources of a actual genocide towards whites please show it otherwise you are just delusional.
I would say in Dishonored 1 and 2 the main enemies are pretty much the equivalent of that worlds police. The government becomes corrupt after a coup and the soldiers (basically police) try to hunt you down based on false accusations. You even see the same police mistreated and kill regular citizens in both games.
For example in Dishonored 2 a group of guards are about to push a man into a Wall of Light (Which would disintigratd you upon touching it), because he doesn't have the money they're trying to extort out of the people of the area
"Is there a game where Police are the enemies and you're the good guy?" Mirror's Edge. The bad guys in both games are KrugerSec soldiers. KrugerSec is essentially the police in-universe.
9:46 This might be a stretch but the witcher does that some times. You fight the guards occasionally because they are just straight up racist. You also occasionally fight to protect sentient monsters
In Streets of Rage 4, the police are specifically your enemies, and they're in the pocket of the main villain gang of the game- the second level is even the police station, with the Commissioner being the boss. Plenty of caveats, though- a recurring boss enemy from the police eventually turns their back on the police and joins your side. Another major playable character is in a special forces unit of the police (but against the regular gang-employed police) and he even arrests the main villains during the ending, and also most of the other playable characters are ex-cops turned vigilantes. Strangely coincidentally, considering it's a game about violence on the streets with police as major antagonists, one of the main playable characters is a black guy named Floyd (the game came out a little before we saw the footage of that particular act of murder by the police)
There was a comic by Mark Waid called Irredeemable, it was basically Superman, but he REALLY needed validation. I know it has nothing to do with the vid, but I just can't help but wonder how awesome it would be to see Antony Starr play Plutonian.
I love Homlander so much because his character is so human and understandable for someone in his position. He’s all powerful (so he thinks) and completely narcissistic and unhinged. The actor is amazingly talented!
I don’t mind people realizing the underlying themes of media, regardless of how obvious it is. You can watch it just to watch it, enjoy it. It’s when people are told those themes, those themes are obvious, and they still deny them because of cognitive dissonance
for the question: persona 5 has you (at least narratively) going against the police for pretty much the entire latter half of the game, and shows police brutality and similar such things literally in the first 20 minutes of the game you don't really fight them per se, but you are going up against them in story stuff
9:22 The Red Faction series has you playing a revolutionary while taking out militarized corporate armies that perform the role of police. There's also Deus Ex, which has you fighting various government agents, sometimes police, in order to prevent agencies from committing acts of terrorism.
I was going to mention Infamous but your relationship with the police varies depending on your karma and the main villain is DUP which is a government organization so I'm not sure if that counts either
9:22 though you're not a hero in it by any means i feel like Manhunt fits that police level description. It's established the Carcer City police are corrupt and help keep the snuff ring hidden. They also planned to kill a reporter which your character has to safely escort home.
I think the time bomb waiting to explode part of his character is the threat, as it makes his personality or reactions completely unpredictable, but I think at a basic level Homelander is simply a form of existential horror. However, he isn't some eldritch being, or some unending expanse of madness that our minds could never grasp, he's human, or at least looks human, and that makes his unstoppable, uncontrollable rage and powers extremely scary. In my opinion it's almost like an existential uncanny valley, where a man, a human at some basic level, has powers that make him anything but just a human. Blows cant break him, guns cant stop him, and Nukes can't kill him, and he has the weakened self control of a petulant child.
"State of Emergency" on the PS2 from 2002. It's eerie how much it gets right, despite being 20 years old now: Corporations have gotten such massive influence and power that they control the government, and the police are militarized to an extreme degree, having access to APCs and heavy tactical combat gear. Protests are met with violence, and anyone that tries to expose the rich and powerful for their corruption is silenced. Police officers are told to shoot rioters to protect property. The entire game is essentially centered around starting riots and destroying property, assassinating politicians, and killing hordes of increasingly armored police.
I’m still fascinated by how the Gundam series had a character wishing to show how hitler was good only for him to team kill his dad and have his sister do the same to him and go “he died in battle, anyone have a problem?”
@@nubreed13 at least it was the funniest way to go “well, guess I better pack up and go ask the EFF for peace.” But I mean M’quvays simping for his boss aside, the sister was almost just as responsible for Zeon falling by bringing Char back in.
@@Thebucketfulorats irony is if they didn't assassinate the original zeon family side 3 would still be independent. They had their independence for decades before the one year war started but the zabi family wanted more.
@@nubreed13 or the fact the Zabi family would have been better served keeping the original figure head of Zeon Diakom in charge for when shit may have gone sideways.
I believe that the show does not only make fun of the Republican. Just like South park which can be seen as mostly left there's some punch thrown on both sides. You just have to look at the voughtland "diversity" of food to see what i mean “BLM BLT’s”, “Woke Wok”, “LGBTurkey Legs” and maybe more.
John Henry Irons aka Steel totally understood what Superman was about; he just lacked the powers and built himself a badass suit of power armor to deal with that
Spoilers for season 3 The thing is that homelander got scarier by like 10000% because in the second episode he does the whole speech where he just lets his beliefs out and people love him. The final he actually lazered a guy in public and people clapped and cheered. Season 4 will be homelander at the scariest because now he doesn’t have to suppress his actual beliefs and actions or at least at a much much lower amount. Also just neat thing is that homelander will be a terrifying monster 1 sec and then if he sees Ryan or in the finale soldier boy he becomes a “human”. He cares about Ryan because there’s another being he sees as equal. Soldier boy reduced him to a child.
I don't think the show is only to ridicule right winged people. It's the satire of our world so there's plenty of jokes about left winged people. Well because obviously radical politic is bad either way. Oh also about MGR, I might be wrong but isn't the whole point of police being the enemy in that mission , that they are just normal people with their families and such and that the true villain is the higher ups that use them?
You are entirely right about 90% of people (not people on the internet, people in general) will not read more than the first line to get the gist of what you're saying and respond to that, ignoring any questions or other statements below that first line. I deal with contractors & insurance adjusters. This happens all the time.
The funny thing about Reign of The Supermen is that between the clone, the weird ghost terminator, and the cyborg the only proper replacement for Clark ended up being the Ironman rip off.
For the game "Payday 2" could go either way on if it counts or not, the story is kinda weird. But you are basically robbing places to over through a corrupt government so it's framed in you the robbers are the good guys. Though it could still fall under the same thing GTA falls under.
so karl has this thing saying the show is taking the piss out of trump and right wing media calling it bad... yet I know plenty of lefty friends that refuse to watch it cause it "glorifies the right" then I have Righty friends that do watch it and says it "shits on the left" I am very confused I think maybe it was supposed to be what Karl says it is but people are getting the wrong message
There’s a simple answer, your friends lack basic media literacy. There’s no conspiracy, the show runners have been painfully clear on the shows message and themes since episode one.
@@FactFiend I think part of that also plays into, no one listens to what the show runners say, they don't get that information on their feeds, they don't follow media blogs etc. They just get the clips online and in adverts which does change the interpretation depending on the level of context given to the clip.
I don’t know if you’ve watched this season yet, but it is abundantly clear. Like they spell it out for you. Honestly it was ALMOST annoying how on the nose it is and I love when people criticize the right.
@@HelloDollies I think that ending was the most obvious XD but yea my friends arent to bright, the ones that would enjoy the show don't want to watch it cause they think it supports the right while my friends that do like it like it cause they think it disses the left. I just enjoy the show and now I hope karl talks about it more cause there is some good shit there.
I love homelander's character because it's not his fault he's terrible. He was raised to think he's so much better than everyone, simultaneously not being taught any empathy or real social skills. So he's looking for personal autonomy and real human connection, without understanding in any way what those are- and trying to get it in the only way he understands, which is using status and intimidation to force it. Which, of course, results in people pretending, which he gets upset about and doesn't understand why people lie to him.
this is a very based episode. it also makes me want to rip my parents apart... because they also have the gold medal mental gymnastics and weapons grade cognitive dissonance to play "rage against the machine" at an American political rally (and believe that it applies to generation of highly affluent draft dodgers)...
In COD Modern Warfare 2 there's the infamous "No Russian" mission where you as the good guy go undercover with the bad guys to kill countless innocent civilians and police. Its not quite the same since you're technically undercover as the bad guy but that's the only other game I could think of where the player character is a good guy and the enemy are the police.
One of the best things about homelander and all the Supes in general is how unstable they are. I always have this sense of dread and feeling of tension whenever a supe but especially honelander is on screen. It’s like how the in universe describes the supe terrorists as a bomb that can go off at any moment. As the show progresses we can see some supes like A-Train and maeve becoming more humane, which leaves you feeling a lot less scared when they are on screen, but others like honelander who are becoming more unstable, you start to feel like every single time they are on screen, many innocent people are going to die. I think that the writers do such a good job of writing honelanders descent into madness, but also we can’t ignore Anthony Starrs amazing acting. It’s crazy to watch him in interviews being such a nice guy but on screen he becomes this monster with these feelings bottled inside of him. And the music choice of using the violins for tension and stuff like that is awesome.
Just finished season 2 before watching this and I'd absolutely LOVE for a follow-up to this video. Whether it be more about Homelander, some of the other Supes, or even about the namesakes of the show, The Boys themselves.
I think that my only problem with the boys is that it's a bit too real. Like a lot of this horrible stuff that happens in the show of course can/does happen in real life. I tend to look a fiction as an escape and while I don't mind fiction being used to talk about real world issues, the boys presents its issues with no real filter or lens. It's a good show just not my cup of tea
@@IAMNOTRANA yes, thats the most real thing. Not the company that doesn't care if people die, and even find it acceptable as long as their bottom line isn't hurt.
10:42 I mean, Sam literally confronts Raiden on it at the middle of the Murder The Police section, telling him on how fucked it is that he's killing the police-men. And Raiden realizes he needs to not give a fuck, goes Ripper mode, and then he never really feels guilty about anything in the rest of the game.
"this is so on the nose there no way anyone can miss it" i thought the same with a character named blue hawk showed up yet apperntly there was a significant group of people who agreed with him and blacklashed against the episode
I would say yes you are correct but think the question is about American police and although they are police in America in xcom2 that you fight this happened as a result of an alien invasion and I don't think is hitting what he is looking at. I feel Karl is looking for more satire about the forms of "justice" and the government
It's been revealed that Homelander will not have the same ending in the series as he does in the comics, as a lot of qualities of Black Noir were given to Homelander, and it wouldn't make sense. Interesting to see if they provide a similar, yet equally shocking final arc. And to everyone saying he's like Superman: Yeah. That was the point. Garth Ennis said he made him as an evil Superman/Captain America and that he sees him as "an almost entirely negative character." So, if you admire him... just remember. The creator's original idea for the character is mocking you, too.
I’m a Republican, and I don’t care about the political messages against people with my beliefs. I watch The Boys purely because I find all of the characters incredibly interesting.
When I look at Homelander and I make a historical reference to a regular human being, I always think of Frederick the Great's father. Quite honestly the man was a beast, poor Frederick, he had a hell of a childhood. He was brutalized. Of course we can also look at Stalin's dad, he was also a monster whose temper could turn on a dime. If you look closely at photos of Stalin, one of his arms is badly damaged and smaller and crippled. His father did that. The Boys is what it would really be like in this world with ppl like this who have super powers. As you can see, they can be quite dangerous even without super powers.
To answer Karl's question in regards to the Police being the bad guys. Persona 5 is an example of another video game that presents the Police as evil, primarily since the story takes place in Japan.
Antony Starr should 10/10 get some sort of role as Reverse Flash or a similar villain. We all know how terrifying he is playing a villain and being able to play the sheer pettiness of Reverse Flash would only further prove this
I’d say LA Noire counts since the final mission has you against loads of corrupt LAPD officers in the last mission. Definitely lines up with the example of Revengeance since the Denver PD in that game are all contracted PMC’s under World Marshall Inc. Only GTA game where I would argue the police are actually evil is San Andreas with Officer Tenpenny’s CRASH unit. They’re criminals benefitting from sowing discord and keeping crime going in Los Santos all with the benefits a badge gets them. Only other one I can think of is FF7 with Shinra Public Security Forces. Cloud and Avalanche are definitely criminals, but the police are also corporate soldiers working for Shinra.
7:37 Back in the day, someone asked Allison Hannigan if the Buffy people copped a lot of shit from Christians over Willow being in a lesbian relationship and she said they actually didn't because most of the Christians who would be offended by that aren't watching a show about vampires anyway. They figured out what many Republicans can't - that the show wasn't made for them - without the show even directly ridiculing them.
To be fair Homelander outfit is really cool. A flag of USA as a cape, eagles on the shoulder. You can hear US national anthem mix with eagle scream and Gau-18 firing from the costume. Only problem is a superhuman psychopath wearing it.
I remember reading the quote on the wiki and thinking “Karl is gonna read the shit out of this if he ever does”. I see this video, I get excited, and then I sit through 10 minutes of him talking about Republicans, Zack Snyder, and black panther. Just for him to say “it’s a speech, here’s a clip of homelander talking”. It was still a good video, but I really wanted him to read that quote
I am republican and i love the boys knowing what they are making fun of. Not everyone is crazy but it is funny how they do represent the crazy ones. Like yup that fits there are nut jobs
Actually finished playing revengance today bc I watched the Smallwood vids. I felt weird killing the police, I thought it may turn into a no killing raiden mission, with knock outs and fists but nope they all cut the same. Literally can’t think of a game with a similar pattern. Wonderful game thanks for introducing it to me Karl and Brad :D . Genuinely broke my heart that there’s no sequel but I think I’m going to play the other metal gear games, any advice for order to play them would be appreciated
Maybe Vanquished (Not cops obviously) But you fight with marines and eventually against them. And at the end, the president was one of the background villans.
the fact that you made a correlation tot rump with homelander just because a couple idiots chose that as their symbol, just goes to show how unyieldingly manipulated by the media we are.
The guy who wrote the entire show has literally confirmed that they wrote the character of Homelander with Trump in mind but go off I guess …
@@FactFiend it concerns me greatly when people like the op are so blind to obvious parallels
I had a class about communication in media. And someone for their project was talking about bias in media. Then they concluded by saying that Fox News is the only non-biased news program and the professor was like "hold up"
@@FactFiend the boys was made in 2006…..
@@aka9252 “the show”.
Remember that was a comic, and with a very different homelander
One thing that my flatmate had to point out to me is Antony Starr does not blink while in character. Its not completely true but watch whenever he is paying attention to someone and he will go minutes without blinking, its something that subconsciously adds to his creepy factor
That's fucking horrifying
I didn't notice that, and now I hate it
I did not notice this but I bet I will now not unsee it
That's what i enjoy about the character!!! It shows he's tripping balls with a simple stare
Maybe he blinks less due to his eyes being invulnerable, he probably only really blinks more than he needs to for public appearances.
My favorite comment about Homelander was in a tweet that went something like: "Seeing Homelander causes me so much terror, just imagine how horrible it would be if americans existed in real life!"
XD
👏👏👏👏👏🤣🤣🤣
Yeah it would suck if we existed
At least the government doesn’t have laser vision. Yet..?
@@Ydrakar The drones are similar
I believe the name "The Batman" comes from iterations where he's not a well-known hero and more of a rumor as far as the public is concerned. He's not Batman, leader of the Justice League, he's the Batman, a guy who looks like a bat and appears out of the shadows to kick your teeth in.
Is the same thing I thought, like a horror movie where the moster is a man with a first and last name but that he trasform himself into a bat, and than the director choose the name "The BatMan" for his movie, despite the term "BatMan" is never quoted in the entire movie.
Indeed the onlyone that call Bruce "BatMan" when he is in action, is the riddler because he mentally ill and obsessed of him that he choose to indicate him like "BatMan".
Neither Gordon call Bruce like that, and that is soo cool because that emphasizes the mythology of Gotham's criminals and the fear they have of him, failing to understand if he is a mere man or a real creature of darkness.

The bat man.
I prefer Batman to be an urban legend, but yeah, once you start seeing him in newspaper photos or cable TV standing beside Superman the mystique tends to wane
J Strand i guess you could say it
waynes
@@Canoby or Wayne? Sorry, I'll go
Just like Homelander, the lack of self awareness about these things is because it's always a little TOO on the nose, to the point they actively can't see it anymore.
Black Panther, Wakanda being an isolationist country that hates immigration, hates foreigners, and only supports their own kind.
Metal Gear Rising, US Military Complex and every president who's started a war being international supervillains.
Or other characters from The Boys.
A-Train representing criminal athletes being praised and above the law, but only as long as they perform and are the best in their field.
The Deep being washed up actors trying to stay relevant.
Stormfront being a relic from an old political family that thinks she's better than everyone else because she got a new social media team behind her, right until all of the old criminal things she's done start coming to light due to leaks on the net, then everything falls apart around her.
All of these things and so much more will be purposely ignored by fans of something, if the thing they like has a negative side that they disagree with.
A-train has become a bit of a standin for corporate wokeness.
@@austinh7110 I'd say thats more vought as a whole A- Train and the deep are more washed up and trying to stay relevant
The reason why it has "Homelander" and "The Homelander" listed as aliases is because (within the fictional world of The Boys) he debuted as The Homelander and changes his name to Homelander after joining The Seven.
I always thought that criminals explain to newcomers by telling them that it is more of an entity than a person. That's why the name of The Batman
Oh yeah, wasn't it a literal argument in the Diabolical series or something like that? That *The* Homelander is a shitty name and he just should stick with Homelander?
@@panonymousbloom5405 Yes. I believe he's occasionally tried to say THE Homelander again as a mini temper tantrum.
I think for me the most entertaining part of watching Homelander, is seeing just how much of an opposite he is to Superman and where those differences come from. Powers their almost identical but in personality and origins they are completely different and it shows how that has shaped them.
Superman was orphaned by his home world exploding, was raised in a loving home, with two people who taught him properly what was right, what was okay, and what was wrong. And once he out grew them, he did what any normal person would do, he left to make his own mark on the world, in his way both as Clark Kent and Superman using the morals and values taught to him by kindhearted parents.
Homelander was born as an experiment ultimately to help a corporation make more money(no spoilers), he was seemingly raised in a sterile environment, devoid of any real contact with people, (he was given no real parental figures who actually cared about him as a person, he was only ever considered as product),constantly preforming tests to see how effective his powers were, and experimented on as a child to see his upper limits. And when he was at a marketable age he was just thrust into a celebrity status with no real say in the matter. The show really did a good job of showing where all his issues stem from. Considering this it’s kind of amazing that he didn’t burn the world down the moment he stepped foot out of the lab. The world he lives in is lucky he’s only as messed up as he is, though that is starting to slip.
It’s a really interesting idea, Homelander is not a deconstruction of Superman, Homelander is a perversion of Superman in basically every way.
Hell, it could be coincidence but the 1930s German/ operation paper clip origin of Vought that leads to Homelander’s creation, I think is a weird in universe twisting of Siegel and Shuster two Jewish men creating Superman.
I really feel uncomfortable when I hear people say that Homelander is what would happen if Superman was real, because, no. If Superman was actually real, he would have the same origins as in the comics and that would make him a good person.
I don’t know if we had Superman all hopped up on SSRIs and nicotine, things would be a lot different I think.
Ah yes, his super cells would absorb all these toxic chemicals...
@@HipsterKhan "hopped up on SSRIs" The fuck is that even supposed to mean? Do you think antidepressants are some kind of stimulant, or artificial happiness inducer, or something? 'Cause, seriously, tha fuck?
This all assume our character is entirely driven by nuture. We know it isn't.
The the animated short of the boys diabolical had an episode about homelander and you get some flashbacks to his young self
"A bunch of people that don't understand what Superman stood for try and replace him." is the basic meta of Snyder and his crew making a Superman film.
Also, to be fair, Rising you are an antihero too. I mean Raiden even has that whole struggle with his own parallel to might makes right and trying to divorce himself from that even through the Armstrong fight.
@@monody isn’t part of narrative that Armstrong believes Raiden agrees with him on some level
@@Nostripe361 Yeah that's a pretty blunt thing shown in their last fight, and even Armstrong still gloating about it after Raiden wins.
@@macmcleod1188 That rather proves he doesn't.
@@macmcleod1188 You should look up "ultimate showdown". The Mr. Rogers thing happened.
I have a random nitpick: the police in Metal Gear Rising are specifically said to be a private police force that were given the authority by the state government to act as the police. So saying the game frames killing "literally the police" as morally good, while technically true, is a bit of a mischaracterization. It's specifically exploring the PMC dystopia that MGS4 made
So in that sense, Silver Sables team from Spider-Man on ps4 would count, as they are a privatised militia set in place as a police force.
As well as the fact that the entire level these events take place in is Raiden accepting the antagonistic part of himself and utilizing those parts to achieve a greater good, albeit for entirely selfish reasons.
I mean police today in america which japanese creators critique enforce laws which can be described as unjust. They then throw people into prisons which are run by the states or PRIVATE companies which then exploits the prisoners for slave labor as prescribed by the 13th amendment. These companies then advocate for tougher sentences more police etc... for i dont know a profit motive.
@@massie27 compared to other countries, the American prison industrial complex is particularly bad and exploitive in in many ways, particularly the sheer number of people being held per capita. That being said, your saying "Japanese creators" seems to imply that Japan doesn't have private prisons or exploit prison labor. Japan is one of the few other countries to do both, and has particularly draconic treatment towards their inmates.
If the government says your legally police that's what you are. Irl a PMC is basically all the cops are these days.
The best thing about Homelander as a character is that although he does the most horrible shit and is basically a walking time bomb that could implode at any minute, there are still moments when the show manages to make you feel bad for him. As much as I wanna see the protagonists succeed and finally get rid of him, I think that would break the show because he’s just such an incredible villain.
At what point could you possibly feel bad for him?
@@wolfmanoh I mean, he was once an innocent child who was put into a lab and raised like a rat to be experimented on and the man he unintentionally saw as a father figure because he was the only one who could vaguely fit that role called him his greatest failure. You can even see how despite being such a fucked up person and his inability to feel empathy for others, he is genuinely attached to Ryan and wants to protect him. In his own fucked up way. Not saying that makes him a good person or even remotely redeems his character, but it’s proof that he is indeed human even if he likes to think of himself as a different species.
He had a totally fucked up childhood that seemed to scar him for life. Not that it makes a damn thing he does ok, but vought did kinda screw him up.
I agree...his confrontation of Soldier Boy is soul crushing.
he's gonna be there for the entirety, he's the main bad guy. If he dies, the show is over. Butcher is also a ticking time bomb so even if homelander is dead, we might get another villain in Butcher. His hatred for supes is neverending and especially if Ryan hits a point of no return and becomes a mini-homelander
The best thing about The Boys is that it's a bash at politics, celebrities being able to do what they want and companies like Vought generally being worst than Homelander.
I recently realized that Homelander and Handsome Jack are actually very similar villains. Incredibly polite and charismatic and able to get most people to bend to their will. Only those who actually see their atrocities are able to see their true selves.
Except that's where the similarities end.....
@@theonewayroad3867 not really. Both are willing to lable anyone who even slightly disagrees with them an evil and immediately kill them. There are a lot of things I could point to or you could just go play borderlands 2 again.
@@thomasdahlberg5920 "COME ON... I WAS GOING TO LET YOU LIVE YOU STUPID... BASTARD... GOD DAMN IT"
@@thomasdahlberg5920 except unlike Homelander, Jack actually has a point considering his opposition are literally raiders, bandits, murderers, cannibals, and outright menaces to society, etc... in any other medium we're the bad guys. Also where as Homelander is a petulant child who believes he right because of his immense power , Jack is broken man who believes he's right because people keeps proving him right every attempt at mercy or peaceful resolution is met with betrayal from Roland to Moxxi to Lilith.
@@thomasdahlberg5920 maybe your the one who needs to replay the Borderlands series well not 3.... cause fuck 3.
I like the idea of Zack Snyder's Reign of the Supermen, but I see one mistake in your summary of it. While three of the four Supermen definitely have no idea what Superman actually stood for, Steel got it 100% right.
That's because Steel is human. That's the part about Superman that people seem to forget. He was raised as a human. He never sees himself as above humans.
To quote Batman, "it is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then… He shoots fire from the skies and it is difficult not to think of him as a God. And how fortunate we are that it does not occur to him."
Homelander doesn't really mame Blindspot as a power play because he wants to choose whos on the seven. He does it because he so insecure the idea of someone having to overcome an issue and perserveer is seen as an afront to the piss baby manchild who's never broken a sweat in his entire life and had everything handed to him.
I think it's more that he is obsessed with perfection.
@@nubreed13 Homelander is not a perfectionist in the slightest, they literally talked about how lazy he is, with the slightest bit of effort he could have safely taked down the hijackers, but instead he blasted them with lazer eyes on a tight civilian filled plane surrounded on every side by important equipment to keep the plane in the air, and then refused to lift a finger to help everyone because then the world would potentially know he caused some collateral. he's just obessed with his PR and doesn't value the life of others.
I can personally attest that pissy narcassists will take the idea that you've endeared, that you've had to overcome unjust hardship and persevered as an afront to them, 'the main character' (under their framework). Instead they'll often rationalise their anger and feelings of inadequacy by belittling or dismissing your struggle or attempting to externally justify why you when through that, to explain it as a punishment for your actions or the actions of someone else.
He isn't against diversity hires or expects perfection from the team, he isn't perfect himself even if he thinks he is, black noir is on the team and hes mute and deeply recessed.
(Infact, what's saddest of all in black noirs story is I don't think he's physically all to affected by the injury, but the issues are psychological since hes shown to still be able to think and consider these things, he's simply recessed into adolessence as we see he thought process still shows hes able to understand the complex situations hes in, but simply views them through a childish lense, suggesting there's likely psychological elements at play more than a purely neurological issue, though that might be the shows lack of understanding of neurological and psychological conditions which is fair enough since the two fields are often linked or mirror each other)
@@nubreed13 I think you're both right. His insecure bullshit is layered and he'll break anyone for any number of reasons
@@Dracosfire14 agreed. He despises any sign of weakness too
Diabolical Corrected this. He was pushed HARD in training by older meaner and nasty supes growing up. And then there's the Vought torture
I liked when he was watching the speech he gave in the previous episode while naked. It shows he's got a slim surfer body and implies that his costume is padded with fake muscles to make him look more superhuman. When you think about it, it makes sense; being the most powerful being in the world without trying means he doesn't need to train himself or push his body to its limits.
Not to mention what could even push his body to gain muscles? Liek how do you progressive overload?
The padding in his sleeves bunching up occasionally was something that bothered me when I first started the show. I really don't mind it with your interpretation.
For a game where the police are cast as antagonists: "Deus Ex" from 2000 starts off with your character as a member of the UN's anti-terrorist task force, effectively a cop. Through the course of the first act you shift allegiances against this UN force to a position where a good portion of the game's narrative supports killing police. The game effectively casts police as the unwitting enforcers of shadowy power brokers and capital. From the UN's force, to the New York City police, to Paris and Hong Kong's police.
Also, it's a fantastic action-RPG.
thank you, was gonna mention this
I was going to comment this as you litetraly join the NSF/other "terrorist" groups against the police/military of various nations as the organised systems of gevernment are the bad guys and those publicly consider the bad guys are the people fighting for freedom/survival of the human race. Unatco or united nations anti terrorist coalition are not the good guys but the grunts on the ground that you fight are just regular people donig what they believe is right and joined the UN to do so.
And don't forget Deus EX Human Revolution which just allows you to walk into a police station and clear out the building of anything human.
@@evamadman It does, but I don't think DXHR really posits the police as an instrument of opposition in quite the same ways. Even Deus Ex Mankind Divided at least shows the Prague police as complicit and enforcing efforts the game frames as a 'new apartheid'. Which is its own weird, inappropriate thing
@@notwhatitwasbefore It felt like such an obvious game to answer with that I poked through the comments to make sure I wasn't just echoing someone else :)
Seeing Homelander defeated in the Death Battle is such a moment of elation, cause karma finally catches up with him. But knowing there seems to be nothing that can actually kill him in the comic or show is genuinely terrifying
I mean, there is something in the comic
@@baconboi4482 The series is currently so far detached from the comic's plot that it may as well be irrelevant. That's a good thing IMO.
I think infamous second son fits the police fight criteria perfectly. While yes that game has a karma system and you can absolutely play as a bad guy the police are the main antagonistic force regardless of if you are a hero or a villain. It’s also an installment in a rather popular game series.
@@austinhaltiner1489 I agree in the fact that they are not the police, however they are a federal government agency. It’s sorta like splitting hairs between military branches, technically they’re all apart of the military and are just glorified cops. Same with the dups, glorified cops.
One detail I like from season 2 is that whenever Homelander and Victoria Neuman are in a scene together, she’s keeping her eyes on him. Since she has the ability to explode a head or two, I view it as her ready to turn Homelander’s head to paste.
*IF* she can do it, of course...
To answer your question: Of all things, Sonic Adventure 2 has both the heroes and villains fight against a large military/army conglomerate who are, at least in the context of the world, presented as "good guys", so that probably counts? (though it does get quickly dropped about halfway into the game)
MGR's Denver Police and SA2's GUN are similarly portrayed.
The Denver Police are PMC cyborgs contracted by Denver. If I remember correctly, the game implies that World Marshal is the group that outsourced them - World Marshal being the same group that is allied with Desperado and therefore complicit in the whole "child brains in jars" shit show. You aren't fighting the police so much as fighting an (especially) corrupt sector of the police that has World Marshal's interest in mind, not the peoples'.
GUN is similar, although a lot more benevolent. They are a PMC group contracted to deal with supernatural and otherwise world threatening events - like, for example, a hedgehog that can run at the speed of sound who has gone rogue.
Similar to the government in Invincible, they take extreme, undeniably unethical approaches to ensure peace is maintained. Be it highering a literal criminal as a double agent, imprisoning an innocent albeit potentially dangerous "Ultimate Lifeform" or murdering all witnesses and burying evidence to prevent very dangerous data leaking.
Neither are portrayed as being "good" explicitly, its just that when you see the police uniform and hear their surface level goals, they seem to be good.
Edit:
Saw another comment mention the original Deus Ex as another example, and it is also similar to MGR in a way. The Police in Deus Ex are defenders of a corrupt and evil rule that you are forced to kill (or assault) as their higher ups set them up as human shields - I think MGR even uses the same phrasing.
You are killing innocent people, but its utilitarian. You stop Majestic 12, Desperado, etc. and fewer people suffer than if you refused to kill. To end a cycle of perpetual suffering, its often necessary to bring temporary suffering. Provided the protagonist isn't seen as an objective good, which neither game does, there's not much wrong with that.
Compare it to stopping the meat industry. That will require the deaths of all livestock, but their potential children and children's children will be spared the fate if their parents and grandparents.
Does” dead to rights “count ?
On the same notes, Shadow the Hedgehog where it's explicitly them trying to screw you over.
I've not played SA2 so I'm not super aware of why but Shadow was considered a criminal and that blame got shifted into Sonic but in Shadow's game, there's no reason attributed to it other than 1 guy really dislikes Shadow and blames him for something from years ago and orders his men to attack you on sight even if you've done NOTHING wrong!
Personally, I think “The Homelander” or “Thee Homelander” is a lot more intimidating than just “Homelander”, it makes him sound a lot more important and a towering figure, makes him sound like a legend, kind of like how in the recent Batman movie, they chose to go with THE Batman rather than just Batman, because at that point in his career, he was just a myth, a “creature of the night”, though I do admit that some characters just don’t sound right with the “the”, The Superman doesn’t sound right
I think "The" makes it seem more evil. Like really when I hear "The Superman" it sounds almost like something the Nazis would name. So "The Homelander" has kinda the same effect
@@bowats2364 indeed, but he doesn’t deserve to be mythologized. He deserves to be belittled. Which is why the boys in particular would skimp out on ‘the’ themselves.
I think it’s kind of an ego thing for him, he is the only homelander
please do more videos on the boys, such a fantastically over the top series
They are not gonna do it now bcos of u
Id enjoy some discussion on the comic.
I kinda want them to touch on Warhammer 40k. Because that universe is over the top 😂
@@tailssonicteam1604 saaame. How's "The God Emperor is literally a 14ft gigachad dad" sound?
Hurry delete this before they see it
Kimiko and Frenchie are the best characters and I'm happy that more people are acknowledging this
To a certain degree I'd say the majority of Far Cry games the enemies are some form of police, even if they're technically part of an army or something like that. Hell in Far Cry 5 it's revealed that Joseph Seed had cops working for him who made sure your character didn't get any back up.
Probably the biggest case of “You didn’t get the point.” I’ve seen from someone regarding a piece of Media. Was a coworker I had who somehow played Bioshock 1 and walked away thinking the game was pro laissez-faire capitalism.
The Boys is so epic.. No idea how people don't get Homelander is the villain
They're probably narcissistic psychos themselves so they relate to him
Never underestimate the power of projection.
Narcissists
I believe that part of the reason that no one talks about fighting the police in mgr is because in the cutscene before the mission they say the the police force had been privatized and sold to the pmc, so it’s less fighting the police and more fighting the regular bad guys but in police uniforms
I feel like even if everyone in the world knew what the true homelander was like they would still fake their reactions Infront of him just to be saved from incurring his wraith.
@@re1010 once one dude starts clapping, you either join in or risk being singles out by the violent power.
This is exactly how it works in the real world to. Fear breeds complacency
Revengance _does_ discuss that the police force is pretty much entirely funded, staffed, and supplied by Desparado (ie. the bad guys). And, of course, you have the leadup to Monsoon where you hear their thoughts(?) and it's made pretty clear that yeah, this is morally questionable: these people are not entirely willing. Raiden decides that it's a needed as Desparado is "setting them up a their human shield."
To answer the "is there a game where the police are the enemy and your character is the hero" question, technically speaking, shadow the hedgehog, because even if you play the entire game while being a good Samaritan and doing all the hero missions without killing any "good" enemies, some mechs opperated by G.U.N. soldiers, which is essentially the military protecting the world from serious threats, will still attack you no matter what, and you can only stop them from doing so by either A: killing them, or B: shooting them with a heal pulse canon or healing them through other means (the former of which isn't available until after you complete one of the story paths and the latter being very uncommon).
SA2 also has you fight GUN and SA1 and Riders I remember has at least one part each where you destroy police cars.
@@shupasopni in Riders I just believe that the police cars are unmanned and controlled by robots who've gone rogue or something
@@shupasopni and in SA2 you mostly just fight GUN robots with only 3 GUN robots having human drivers, while in Shadow you actually do get to kill the actual GUN soldiers
lol this was my first thought.
I viewed homelander's reaction to the genocide thing as a not-so-subtle message that even this monster of a human thinks white genocide is an utterly bonkers idea. Even through all his pathology and irrationality and volatility he cringes at it.
But seeing your take does present a new way to view the scene which adds a different layer.
@@SoMuchFacepalm Tell me what evidence is there of white genocide?
@@SoMuchFacepalm u mad bro?
@@SoMuchFacepalm so who forced this? You provided only proof of demographic changes.
Thats the funny thing stormfront failed to understand and chances were if she kept trying to tell him what to do he would have clapped her skull until she was brain dead.
While homelander looks down on normal humans he is a Grade A narcissist he could careless what race a normal human is so long as they love him.
His biggest fear is not having positive praises which is why he daydreams about killing people when he sees/hears people not liking him.
Thats what keeps him from wanting to conquer the planet because he knows people wont like that aka not liking him.
@@SoMuchFacepalm what do you think seeing minorites on the magic box or willing interracial relationships and legal immigration of non whites is genocide?
white genocide is not real last I checked white people are not being hunted down and being put in camps.
If you have real sources of a actual genocide towards whites please show it otherwise you are just delusional.
I would say in Dishonored 1 and 2 the main enemies are pretty much the equivalent of that worlds police. The government becomes corrupt after a coup and the soldiers (basically police) try to hunt you down based on false accusations. You even see the same police mistreated and kill regular citizens in both games.
Just like RL police.
But if you play him lethaly corvo can be a incredible vicous monster
For example in Dishonored 2 a group of guards are about to push a man into a Wall of Light (Which would disintigratd you upon touching it), because he doesn't have the money they're trying to extort out of the people of the area
@@Greenman-io7pr I wonder what would happen If you disabled the wall before he got pushed
@@Zimran03 I think it was he falls through and then runs away, but I don't fully recall. I check tomorrow.
"Is there a game where Police are the enemies and you're the good guy?"
Mirror's Edge. The bad guys in both games are KrugerSec soldiers. KrugerSec is essentially the police in-universe.
9:46 This might be a stretch but the witcher does that some times. You fight the guards occasionally because they are just straight up racist. You also occasionally fight to protect sentient monsters
In Streets of Rage 4, the police are specifically your enemies, and they're in the pocket of the main villain gang of the game- the second level is even the police station, with the Commissioner being the boss. Plenty of caveats, though- a recurring boss enemy from the police eventually turns their back on the police and joins your side. Another major playable character is in a special forces unit of the police (but against the regular gang-employed police) and he even arrests the main villains during the ending, and also most of the other playable characters are ex-cops turned vigilantes.
Strangely coincidentally, considering it's a game about violence on the streets with police as major antagonists, one of the main playable characters is a black guy named Floyd (the game came out a little before we saw the footage of that particular act of murder by the police)
There was a comic by Mark Waid called Irredeemable, it was basically Superman, but he REALLY needed validation. I know it has nothing to do with the vid, but I just can't help but wonder how awesome it would be to see Antony Starr play Plutonian.
When The Boys final season is over I guarantee that comic will be adapted to cash in alongside a reboot of Mark Millar's Wanted comic
I really hope Irredeemable gets done, it got some cool stuff goin on.
I love Homlander so much because his character is so human and understandable for someone in his position. He’s all powerful (so he thinks) and completely narcissistic and unhinged.
The actor is amazingly talented!
I don’t mind people realizing the underlying themes of media, regardless of how obvious it is. You can watch it just to watch it, enjoy it. It’s when people are told those themes, those themes are obvious, and they still deny them because of cognitive dissonance
Rage Against the Machine comes to mind when you mention that.
@@vxicepickxv yeah I'm very much right leaning and also can enjoy rage against the machines music fully aware of the message
for the question: persona 5 has you (at least narratively) going against the police for pretty much the entire latter half of the game, and shows police brutality and similar such things literally in the first 20 minutes of the game
you don't really fight them per se, but you are going up against them in story stuff
As an American living through this crazy period of history, I find the show the most spot on parody of life here through media I’ve seen since TWD.
well actually; BrainDead (2016) is even more on the nose from an outside perspective, it surely was cancelled for coming to close to the truth
Whoa hot take.
As a fellow American. Quit sucking up
That’s good writing
9:22
The Red Faction series has you playing a revolutionary while taking out militarized corporate armies that perform the role of police.
There's also Deus Ex, which has you fighting various government agents, sometimes police, in order to prevent agencies from committing acts of terrorism.
I was going to mention Infamous but your relationship with the police varies depending on your karma and the main villain is DUP which is a government organization so I'm not sure if that counts either
I love inFamous, such good games
My favourite part of season 3 is when homelander said ‘it’s homelandin time’. I felt that one
9:22 though you're not a hero in it by any means i feel like Manhunt fits that police level description. It's established the Carcer City police are corrupt and help keep the snuff ring hidden. They also planned to kill a reporter which your character has to safely escort home.
I think the time bomb waiting to explode part of his character is the threat, as it makes his personality or reactions completely unpredictable, but I think at a basic level Homelander is simply a form of existential horror. However, he isn't some eldritch being, or some unending expanse of madness that our minds could never grasp, he's human, or at least looks human, and that makes his unstoppable, uncontrollable rage and powers extremely scary.
In my opinion it's almost like an existential uncanny valley, where a man, a human at some basic level, has powers that make him anything but just a human. Blows cant break him, guns cant stop him, and Nukes can't kill him, and he has the weakened self control of a petulant child.
I think "Sonic Adventure 2" fits in this. They wrongfully lock Sonic up, and they kill a girl.
"State of Emergency" on the PS2 from 2002.
It's eerie how much it gets right, despite being 20 years old now: Corporations have gotten such massive influence and power that they control the government, and the police are militarized to an extreme degree, having access to APCs and heavy tactical combat gear. Protests are met with violence, and anyone that tries to expose the rich and powerful for their corruption is silenced. Police officers are told to shoot rioters to protect property.
The entire game is essentially centered around starting riots and destroying property, assassinating politicians, and killing hordes of increasingly armored police.
Final Fight had police as enemies, in fact the chief puts the main character away for false charges or something
I’m still fascinated by how the Gundam series had a character wishing to show how hitler was good only for him to team kill his dad and have his sister do the same to him and go “he died in battle, anyone have a problem?”
And ignoring how his own dad flat out says that Hitler was defeated. And has no issue killing his own father for daring to try and end the war.
@@nubreed13 at least it was the funniest way to go “well, guess I better pack up and go ask the EFF for peace.” But I mean M’quvays simping for his boss aside, the sister was almost just as responsible for Zeon falling by bringing Char back in.
@@Thebucketfulorats irony is if they didn't assassinate the original zeon family side 3 would still be independent. They had their independence for decades before the one year war started but the zabi family wanted more.
@@nubreed13 or the fact the Zabi family would have been better served keeping the original figure head of Zeon Diakom in charge for when shit may have gone sideways.
Frenchie and Kimiko do be the best characters hands down
I think the game Sleeping Dogs is a an example where you are the good guy and the main villain is a high ranking officer abusing power
In Max Payne 3: Max consistently fights corrupt police and SWAT forces based on the real notorious Special Forces group; BOPE
Was wondering if anyone was going to mention Max Payne.
Crackdown, you're a super cop and the entity pulling the strings the entire time is the director of the police force
It kinda grew on me that they combined the original Black Noir and Homelander for the TV show. I found it weird at first but I kinda get it now.
I would love for them to do an episode on each super in the Boys, I'd especially be interested to see what they think of Starlight!
Ooohhh…yes.
Especially after seeing the comic book version of her..and what she went through….gods the stuff that happened to her
@@Tsupek the stuff that went in her
I believe that the show does not only make fun of the Republican. Just like South park which can be seen as mostly left there's some punch thrown on both sides.
You just have to look at the voughtland "diversity" of food to see what i mean
“BLM BLT’s”, “Woke Wok”, “LGBTurkey Legs” and maybe more.
those aren't "different sides"
John Henry Irons aka Steel totally understood what Superman was about; he just lacked the powers and built himself a badass suit of power armor to deal with that
And I would argue Superboy's arc was figuring out what Superman did stand for!
Spoilers for season 3
The thing is that homelander got scarier by like 10000% because in the second episode he does the whole speech where he just lets his beliefs out and people love him. The final he actually lazered a guy in public and people clapped and cheered. Season 4 will be homelander at the scariest because now he doesn’t have to suppress his actual beliefs and actions or at least at a much much lower amount.
Also just neat thing is that homelander will be a terrifying monster 1 sec and then if he sees Ryan or in the finale soldier boy he becomes a “human”. He cares about Ryan because there’s another being he sees as equal. Soldier boy reduced him to a child.
I hope Karl talks about this aspect more in the second part
Homelander’s actor is so fucking good
I don't think the show is only to ridicule right winged people. It's the satire of our world so there's plenty of jokes about left winged people. Well because obviously radical politic is bad either way.
Oh also about MGR, I might be wrong but isn't the whole point of police being the enemy in that mission , that they are just normal people with their families and such and that the true villain is the higher ups that use them?
You are entirely right about 90% of people (not people on the internet, people in general) will not read more than the first line to get the gist of what you're saying and respond to that, ignoring any questions or other statements below that first line. I deal with contractors & insurance adjusters. This happens all the time.
The funny thing about Reign of The Supermen is that between the clone, the weird ghost terminator, and the cyborg the only proper replacement for Clark ended up being the Ironman rip off.
Watch dogs 2 has missions where police corruption and abuse of power are a primary element
For the game "Payday 2" could go either way on if it counts or not, the story is kinda weird. But you are basically robbing places to over through a corrupt government so it's framed in you the robbers are the good guys. Though it could still fall under the same thing GTA falls under.
The same people who idolize Homelander would put a Thin Blue Line Punisher decal on their truck.
so karl has this thing saying the show is taking the piss out of trump and right wing media calling it bad... yet I know plenty of lefty friends that refuse to watch it cause it "glorifies the right" then I have Righty friends that do watch it and says it "shits on the left"
I am very confused I think maybe it was supposed to be what Karl says it is but people are getting the wrong message
There’s a simple answer, your friends lack basic media literacy.
There’s no conspiracy, the show runners have been painfully clear on the shows message and themes since episode one.
@@FactFiend more than likely true
@@FactFiend I think part of that also plays into, no one listens to what the show runners say, they don't get that information on their feeds, they don't follow media blogs etc. They just get the clips online and in adverts which does change the interpretation depending on the level of context given to the clip.
I don’t know if you’ve watched this season yet, but it is abundantly clear. Like they spell it out for you. Honestly it was ALMOST annoying how on the nose it is and I love when people criticize the right.
@@HelloDollies I think that ending was the most obvious XD but yea my friends arent to bright, the ones that would enjoy the show don't want to watch it cause they think it supports the right while my friends that do like it like it cause they think it disses the left. I just enjoy the show and now I hope karl talks about it more cause there is some good shit there.
I love homelander's character because it's not his fault he's terrible. He was raised to think he's so much better than everyone, simultaneously not being taught any empathy or real social skills. So he's looking for personal autonomy and real human connection, without understanding in any way what those are- and trying to get it in the only way he understands, which is using status and intimidation to force it. Which, of course, results in people pretending, which he gets upset about and doesn't understand why people lie to him.
this is a very based episode. it also makes me want to rip my parents apart... because they also have the gold medal mental gymnastics and weapons grade cognitive dissonance to play "rage against the machine" at an American political rally (and believe that it applies to generation of highly affluent draft dodgers)...
In COD Modern Warfare 2 there's the infamous "No Russian" mission where you as the good guy go undercover with the bad guys to kill countless innocent civilians and police. Its not quite the same since you're technically undercover as the bad guy but that's the only other game I could think of where the player character is a good guy and the enemy are the police.
Absolutely love The Boys, glad you finally made a video on it
One of the best things about homelander and all the Supes in general is how unstable they are. I always have this sense of dread and feeling of tension whenever a supe but especially honelander is on screen. It’s like how the in universe describes the supe terrorists as a bomb that can go off at any moment. As the show progresses we can see some supes like A-Train and maeve becoming more humane, which leaves you feeling a lot less scared when they are on screen, but others like honelander who are becoming more unstable, you start to feel like every single time they are on screen, many innocent people are going to die. I think that the writers do such a good job of writing honelanders descent into madness, but also we can’t ignore Anthony Starrs amazing acting. It’s crazy to watch him in interviews being such a nice guy but on screen he becomes this monster with these feelings bottled inside of him. And the music choice of using the violins for tension and stuff like that is awesome.
Just finished season 2 before watching this and I'd absolutely LOVE for a follow-up to this video. Whether it be more about Homelander, some of the other Supes, or even about the namesakes of the show, The Boys themselves.
In defense of "The Batman," a lot of cryptids are referred to as "The [Insert Cryptid here]" and that's what Batman was to Gotham at the beginning.
I think that my only problem with the boys is that it's a bit too real. Like a lot of this horrible stuff that happens in the show of course can/does happen in real life. I tend to look a fiction as an escape and while I don't mind fiction being used to talk about real world issues, the boys presents its issues with no real filter or lens. It's a good show just not my cup of tea
Ah, yes. Flying man using laser beam with superhero strength is totally real.
@@IAMNOTRANA dude, just sharing my opinion, no need to be sassy about it
@@IAMNOTRANA yes, thats the most real thing. Not the company that doesn't care if people die, and even find it acceptable as long as their bottom line isn't hurt.
10:42 I mean, Sam literally confronts Raiden on it at the middle of the Murder The Police section, telling him on how fucked it is that he's killing the police-men. And Raiden realizes he needs to not give a fuck, goes Ripper mode, and then he never really feels guilty about anything in the rest of the game.
Spec ops the line is a good one I don't want to go too in depth without spoilers but I feel it works really well.
"this is so on the nose there no way anyone can miss it" i thought the same with a character named blue hawk showed up yet apperntly there was a significant group of people who agreed with him and blacklashed against the episode
Aren't the advent troopers in XCOM 2 technically the equivalent of the police you have to kill in the game?
I would say yes you are correct but think the question is about American police and although they are police in America in xcom2 that you fight this happened as a result of an alien invasion and I don't think is hitting what he is looking at. I feel Karl is looking for more satire about the forms of "justice" and the government
It's been revealed that Homelander will not have the same ending in the series as he does in the comics, as a lot of qualities of Black Noir were given to Homelander, and it wouldn't make sense. Interesting to see if they provide a similar, yet equally shocking final arc.
And to everyone saying he's like Superman: Yeah. That was the point. Garth Ennis said he made him as an evil Superman/Captain America and that he sees him as "an almost entirely negative character." So, if you admire him... just remember. The creator's original idea for the character is mocking you, too.
Ok cool and? Was that supposed to be some sort of “gotcha” moment?
Especially, you mean
I’m a Republican, and I don’t care about the political messages against people with my beliefs. I watch The Boys purely because I find all of the characters incredibly interesting.
You can argue that Skyrim is a satire of the 2 part system, Red Vs. Blue.
When I look at Homelander and I make a historical reference to a regular human being, I always think of Frederick the Great's father. Quite honestly the man was a beast, poor Frederick, he had a hell of a childhood. He was brutalized. Of course we can also look at Stalin's dad, he was also a monster whose temper could turn on a dime. If you look closely at photos of Stalin, one of his arms is badly damaged and smaller and crippled. His father did that. The Boys is what it would really be like in this world with ppl like this who have super powers. As you can see, they can be quite dangerous even without super powers.
To answer Karl's question in regards to the Police being the bad guys. Persona 5 is an example of another video game that presents the Police as evil, primarily since the story takes place in Japan.
Would love to see more videos on The Boys after you’ve seen the entirety of Season 3
Antony Starr should 10/10 get some sort of role as Reverse Flash or a similar villain. We all know how terrifying he is playing a villain and being able to play the sheer pettiness of Reverse Flash would only further prove this
I’d say LA Noire counts since the final mission has you against loads of corrupt LAPD officers in the last mission.
Definitely lines up with the example of Revengeance since the Denver PD in that game are all contracted PMC’s under World Marshall Inc.
Only GTA game where I would argue the police are actually evil is San Andreas with Officer Tenpenny’s CRASH unit. They’re criminals benefitting from sowing discord and keeping crime going in Los Santos all with the benefits a badge gets them.
Only other one I can think of is FF7 with Shinra Public Security Forces. Cloud and Avalanche are definitely criminals, but the police are also corporate soldiers working for Shinra.
7:37 Back in the day, someone asked Allison Hannigan if the Buffy people copped a lot of shit from Christians over Willow being in a lesbian relationship and she said they actually didn't because most of the Christians who would be offended by that aren't watching a show about vampires anyway. They figured out what many Republicans can't - that the show wasn't made for them - without the show even directly ridiculing them.
Karl Smallwood talking about how immature it is to not take criticism COUGH COUGH
To be fair Homelander outfit is really cool. A flag of USA as a cape, eagles on the shoulder. You can hear US national anthem mix with eagle scream and Gau-18 firing from the costume. Only problem is a superhuman psychopath wearing it.
Fuck yeah I’d love to see a part 2
Papers, Please is pretty hard on police, the military, and the State.
season 3 homelander was so damn good
i dont think i ever fully realised the whole lazy aspect of him but it makes so much sense
I remember reading the quote on the wiki and thinking “Karl is gonna read the shit out of this if he ever does”. I see this video, I get excited, and then I sit through 10 minutes of him talking about Republicans, Zack Snyder, and black panther. Just for him to say “it’s a speech, here’s a clip of homelander talking”.
It was still a good video, but I really wanted him to read that quote
“You are not a god, you are simply… not up to Los Pollos Hermanos standards.”
I am republican and i love the boys knowing what they are making fun of. Not everyone is crazy but it is funny how they do represent the crazy ones. Like yup that fits there are nut jobs
There's Earthbound. You fight the entire police station in a boss battle.
Actually finished playing revengance today bc I watched the Smallwood vids. I felt weird killing the police, I thought it may turn into a no killing raiden mission, with knock outs and fists but nope they all cut the same. Literally can’t think of a game with a similar pattern. Wonderful game thanks for introducing it to me Karl and Brad :D . Genuinely broke my heart that there’s no sequel but I think I’m going to play the other metal gear games, any advice for order to play them would be appreciated
Maybe Vanquished (Not cops obviously) But you fight with marines and eventually against them. And at the end, the president was one of the background villans.
I just desperately tried to clean the smudge off my top left corner of the screen. Dunno if it was intentional but well played
Looks like a 3M Hook thing that you can buy from Office Depot