14 Comic Book Superheroes Who Could Put Homelander In His Place
How strong is Homelander really? Watching The Boys television series, Homelander is clearly strong enough to strike fear into the hearts of his fellow supers, but he seems noticeably weaker than certain heroes in other franchises. (It should be noted that his own comic book counterpart appears to be stronger and more on par with Superman - one of the many differences between the comic and the show.) So, could the Homelander of the show face off against Superman or Invincible, or would he finally be put in his place?
It's interesting to think about Homelander facing off against other similarly powered individuals from other franchises. Still, there are also a fair amount of Homelander weaknesses that other comic book characters could exploit. There are certain characters who no one would assume could beat Homelander, but because of one little power (or weakness), they could take down the terror of Vought.
The natural comparison when talking about Homelander is Superman. In fact, when Garth Ennis created Homelander, the initial idea for the character was most likely just “what if Superman was the worst?” But the citizens of The Boys’ universe should consider themselves lucky that Homelander is no match for Superman in any way, whatsoever.
In an episode of The Boys television show, Homelander is unable to save a plane full of civilians. Homelander can neither lift the plane, nor can he move fast enough to safely remove all of its passengers. In comparison, in Superman: The Movie (obviously not his comic book canon, but we’ll get to that), Superman moves fast enough around the Earth that he can reverse time. That’s the difference of power levels we’re talking about here.
But, enough about Superman being good. When Superman goes bad, he’s way more effective than Homelander. Homelander is a stooge for a corporation, whereas when Superman goes bad in the comic book Injustice, he easily takes over the entire world, overthrowing governments and taking out other heroes and villains along the way.
Homelander's power set is purely physical. He can punch really hard, but he has no defense against telepaths. So if Jean Grey, one of the most powerful telepaths in Marvel Comics, was in the universe of The Boys, she could break Homelander without breaking a mental sweat.
Jean Grey can use her telepathic abilities to control someone's mind, cause them to forget memories (or create new ones), completely paralyze someone, and even change their personality. Those are just four of the hundreds of ways Jean can use her telepathy, yet any one of those four could eliminate Homelander as a threat.
Homelander is the strongest hero in his universe, but he should consider himself lucky he's never had to face off against a magic user - especially not one on the level of Doctor Strange. Homelander exists in a world where most things make some amount of logical sense. Homelander takes a drug that augments his physical abilities. He's stronger, faster, that sort of thing. It's all very physical, and it all logically tracks. Doctor Strange, on the other hand, exists on an entirely different plane of existence.
Doctor Strange can use his powers in far too many ways to describe each one. But, for this purpose, all Strange needs is his power of banishment. Strange is intimately familiar with countless dimensions, and he knows how to travel between them. To defeat Homelander, all Strange would have to do is bring Homelander into another dimension and leave him there. Homelander would have absolutely no chance of ever returning home.
After Hawkeye tries to slay the Hulk by shooting an arrow through his head (at the behest of Banner), Banner discovers he is no longer able to stay dead. No matter what happens to Banner during the day, Hulk will rise again the following night. At one point, Hulk was completely dismembered and had his various appendages put into different compartments, just to still break out and reattach himself. As Banner, he had himself broken into pieces so he could fit into luggage during a cross-country trip, just to, you guessed it, still come back as the Hulk.
It's been long debated whether or not Hulk could beat Superman, but in his current form as the Immortal Hulk, there's no debate whether or not he could take down Homelander. As far as head-to-head combat, Hulk has been shown at times to be strong enough to break the Earth through the sheer power of his footsteps. Hulk could easily overpower Homelander in a fight, and even on the off chance he loses, he could try again the following night.
Homelander is like a slightly less powerful, way more evil version of Superman. Well, Homelander better watch out because Wonder Woman is just as powerful as Superman and just as good at killing as Homelander. The comic Wonder Woman: Dead Earth shows an incredible depiction of what it would be like if Wonder Woman and Superman went head-to-head without holding back. In the storyline, the US government nukes Themyscira. Because Superman was standing with the US, Wonder Woman takes her anger out on him in a fight that not only takes out Superman but also practically eliminates life on Earth.
As a reminder, Wonder Woman destroys Superman, and he's a lot more powerful than Homelander. So, imagine what this Amazonian warrior could do to Vought's No. 1 corporate stooge.
Those watching the show may want to skip to the next item on this list, but let’s just say Invincible has to take on a lot more Viltrumite threats than just his dad in the comics. The Viltrumites are a lot like Kryptonians, except they’re all bloodthirsty conquerors in addition to being as powerful as Superman. Homelander is a bully who survives off of never fighting anyone as strong as him. In stark contrast, Invincible constantly has to take on foes as strong or stronger than Homelander.
In one of the final battles of the comic, Invincible (with a small team by his side) has to take down literally thousands of Viltrumites. Or, if that’s not enough proof, look no further than Invincible fighting dozens of incarnations of himself in the Invincible War storyline.
Invincible can take on Homelander because Invincible has a ton of experience taking on foes as strong as himself, and Homelander has zero.
