Why The Boys Fans Have Concerns About This Homelander Superpower
It's a calling card of The Boys to take classic superhero archetypes and make them depraved and messed up. The speedster, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), has a drug problem, while the Amazonian-esque warrior, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), seems perpetually in the midst an existential crisis, burned out from what she's been made to do as part of the Seven. Then, of course, there's the biggest bad of them all — Homelander (Antony Starr). This universe's perverse Superman equivalent has pretty much all of the same powers as the Man of Steel, but without the moral compass.
Homelander has done some pretty horrific things on the show, from refusing to save a crashing plane filled with passengers to squeezing a common thug's head until it explodes in an alley ... and that's not even getting into all of the messed up stuff he did in the comics. The Supe has an array of powers at his disposal for dishing out his idea of justice, including super strength, laser vision, super speed, and the ability to fly, all of which makes him arguably the most formidable being on the planet.
That last power, however — namely, flight — has some fans scratching their heads.
Fans think Homelander would kill people if he flew too fast
On The Boys, it's established that Homelander can fly at supersonic speeds, which leads Redditor RedViperMartell94 to ask, "Would someone die if they flew with Homelander?"
After all, if the Supe is just carrying you, then you're exposed to the elements, and would surely pass out and die if he were to pick you up and fly at top speed just out in the open.
While RedViperMartell94 could only remember Homelander flying with Queen Maeve and Ryan (who both have superpowers), another user mentioned, "He flew Butcher out the house before the bomb exploded in S01E08." Granted, that was a pretty quick trip to get Billy Butcher out of harm's way, so there's a good chance it wasn't long enough to cause any serious harm. Plus, we have to imagine that Homelander has some modicum of control over his flight speed. He doesn't necessarily have to go supersonic every single time, and can presumably adjust as necessary to make sure harm doesn't come to any passengers.
In the same discussion, fellow Redditor ikarosswings0 brought science and math into the mix. "He is reportedly able to fly at up to 1500 mph per google. That's about mach2," the user explained. "Above mach 1.2 or so, you will pick up significant heat from the friction of air resistance. Given a sufficient amount of time at high speed, you would likely die from the heat, which could be 300-400 degrees. This could take several minutes depending on what you were wearing, etc. In terms of acceleration, if he held you the wrong way and accelerated, it might kill or severely injure you, but would likely not be instantaneous."
By the sounds of it, you could probably survive a quick trip with Homelander, if he decided to fly around with you, but we wouldn't recommend the trip lasting more than a few minutes. Though honestly, we wouldn't recommend spending any amount of time with Homelander, regardless of where you are.