The one scene that established Homelander the the rest of The Boys.

The Boys, as a series, has a tendency to leave their audiences stunned by what they see. While fans have become quite desensitized to the bloodshed now, with the fourth season airing out everyone’s dirty laundry, the first season was a different story altogether. It cleverly set up everything that the viewers could expect from the show.

 

The Boys – Billy Butcher vs Homelander I Prime Video
Within the first few minutes, we became painfully aware that attachment to characters would only lead to more pain, considering just how easily they are killed off. As soon as A-Train walked through Robin, the show set up its theme and let fans know what they could expect from the series.

 

However, it was a different scene that made showrunner, Eric Kripke realize the type of series he was making.

The Moment That Sets Up Homelander’s Character

In a not-so-subtle manner, The Boys has evidently established itself as a parody of the superhero genre, and no character embodies this better than Homelander. The character is a clear knock-off of the DC Universe’s Superman. By looks and what they symbolize, there is very little difference, and that is what the fans think. until one scene rips the ground from under their feet.

Antony Starr as Homelander in The Boys I Amazon Prime Video
In the fourth episode, Queen Maeve and Homelander must save a commercial flight that has been hijacked by some terrorists. However, thanks to the latter’s mishap, the plane begins to go down after he ‘accidentally’ kills everyone in the cockpit and destroys the controls of the plane through his laser eyes.

If it were Superman instead of Antony Starr’s character, he would have tried everything in his power to save every single person on the plane. He would have used his speed, flight, and strength to save every last person. However, Homelander is not Superman.

Antony Starr as Homelander in The Boys I Amazon Prime Video
After the grave mistake, he did not ever try to think of a way to save a single person. He simply said that he couldn’t, and he spent the rest of the time trying to convince Maeve to leave with him or die with the rest of the people. Maeve left with him, and there were no survivors.

The Scene Made Eric Kripke Realize What The Boys Is About

The entire sequence left audiences completely stunned. Homelander’s sheer disregard for human life is awfully concerning considering just how much power he possesses. A silence felt as the credits rolled and fans knew that The Boys was not messing around. It would seem that viewers weren’t the only ones to be deeply affected by the scene.
Homelander drenched in blood in a still from The Boys | Amazon Prime Video
Despite knowing every single thing that was going to happen in the scene, showrunner Eric Kripke was deeply affected by the scene and understood what it meant for the show as a whole. During an interview with Variety, he talked about how this one scene stood out to him in the first season, even going as far as to call the fourth episode of season one his favorite from the whole series.

The one that was the first one that I was like, “Oh, I get what this show is, is Season 1, Episode 4 of the plane hijacking.”

That was when like, oh, I get it. I get it now. And so I’ll say that one, but really all of them.

He mentioned that after watching and making the episode, he had a sudden moment of realization. Kripke understood what he was doing with the show and what he was trying to shape Homelander into being. It is safe to say that the scene had a similar effect on the audience.

The Boys is available for streaming on Prime Video.