The One Thing About Queen Maeve's Relationship On The Boys That Makes No Sense
This article contains spoilers for Amazon's The Boys
One of the most underutilized characters on Amazon's The Boys is undeniably Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott). The Wonder Woman-inspired hero has her fair share of demons that she's battling as well as being one of Vought International's premier superheroes. Her brief relationship with Homelander meant that the secretly psychotic, but outwardly patriotic caped crusader became somewhat obsessed with Maeve, controlling her actions in any way he sees fit. And when Homelander discovered that she's bisexual, it only made things worse for Maeve.
Of course, Maeve is a physically capable hero who has impressive super strength and enhanced reflexes, but she's understandably terrified of Homelander's unhinged depravity. It's never more prevalent than in the first season, as Maeve is forced by Homelander to let a plane filled with civilians plunge into the ocean. It's a traumatizing experience for the hero, who spirals into a dark place because of Homelander's actions. And although she eventually finds consolation in her ex-girlfriend, Elena, even that gets tainted by Homelander's manipulative and abusive nature.
Although she tries to keep her relationship with Elena a secret, Maeve made a surprising mistake which revealed the truth to Homelander — only causing more trauma for the couple.
How did Queen Maeve overlook Homelander's super-hearing?
During the second season of The Boys, Homelander outs Maeve as a lesbian on a talk show appearance, blatantly ignoring the fact that she's bisexual. And when Maeve furiously confronts him after the interview, the "hero" revels in explaining that he overheard her personal phone call to Elena in Vought Tower. And here's the problem: Queen Maeve (whose real name is Maggie Shaw) is rightfully very paranoid about her psychopathic ex-boyfriend. He's a fan of brutal violence and psychological torture, after all. So why did she even call Elena at the tower?
Surely after being in a relationship with Homelander, Maeve would know about his super-hearing, which makes it a little strange that she'd even risk speaking to her girlfriend in the tower. The obvious answer is it's a simple (super)human error that Maeve didn't think twice about until after she'd been outed on TV. Ultimately, Homelander putting Maeve and Elena through the wringer helped the heroes subdue him. She used the GoPro footage salvaged from the underwater wreckage to blackmail him into leaving the couple alone and letting Starlight back in the Seven. How satisfying was his statement and apology on national TV? You could see the hero really starting to crack.
Although Maeve getting one over on Homelander wasn't exactly a win. Elena left Maeve to go stay with her sister, and it's not clear if they'll manage to patch up their relationship. It's understandable, because Elena was forced to participate in Vought's PR machine, with various consultants suggesting ways of changing who she is to fit into an "acceptable" LGBTQ+ stereotype. We'll just have to wait until The Boys Season 3 to find out if they get a happy ending. But knowing this violent and messed up universe, don't count on it.