The Heroic Homelander Act That Confuses The Boys Fans
Any fan of Amazon Prime Video's "The Boys" knows that the superhero team owned by Vought International called 'The Seven' are less than heroic. Aside from a few stray members who have come and gone, like Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore), Stormfront (Aya Cash), and Translucent (Alex Hassell), the main team since Season 1 of the show has been pretty consistent. The Seven consists of at least six key members: The Deep (Chace Crawford), Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), and their leader, Homelander (Antony Starr).
Aside from Queen Maeve and Starlight, who very clearly stand in opposition of Vought and The Seven as of recent seasons, the rest of the team has committed predominantly horrible and even unspeakable acts. Each is driven by fame and monetary success first and foremost, obsessed with maintaining their status as arguably the best-known superhero team on the planet. Each member of the team has their share of skeletons in the closest too — some more gruesome in nature than others. However, when it comes to Homelander, it's always been different. This character's list of misdeeds is long and varied, including but not limited to war crimes, mass murder, and conspiracy, just to name a few. Homelander is completely unhinged, driven by an internal desire to be loved and worshiped due to his dark upbringing.
Although Homelander is very clearly an evil man, there was one act he committed early in the run of the series that could be deemed heroic, a move that has confused a great many fans of the show.
Fans don't know why Homelander saved that baby from an explosion
In a thread on the r/TheBoys subreddit, some viewers expressed their confusion as to why Homelander saves an infant at the end of "The Boys" Season 1. In this episode, Billy Butcher takes Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) and her son, Teddy, as his hostages, attaching numerous explosives to the Vought businesswoman. In response, Homelander simply murders Stilwell with his laser vision, but he ultimately opts to leave the child unharmed. Prior to this moment, Homelander's obvious hatred toward Teddy is alluded to originate from Homelander's sexual and maternal relationship with Madelyn. So, why would Homelander save a child he hates?
In a post to the Reddit thread, u/The1Big1Enchilada argued, "It was for reputation, the blame was put on Butcher for the explosion so he saved the kid to look heroic." This would certainly make sense, as we know Homelander saves Billy's life not only because he knows Billy wants to die, but so he can also make him suffer more by revealing that Becca (Shantel VanSanten) and Homelander's son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) are alive. Naturally, Homelander is always looking to improve his image, so saving Teddy could be a simple effort to convince the public of his heroism.
However, other users suggested an alternative theory. In a post that received 15 upvotes, u/DontWannaBeCrowFood argued that Teddy could be a Supe as Stillwell may have given her own child Compound V. For some time, the answer to this question had been left open to speculation, but Season 3 of "The Boys" has seemed to prove some fans' theories correct.
Teddy Stillwell is actually a Supe and Homelander likely didn't save him
In "The Boys" Season 3, Episode 2 ("The Only Man in the Sky"), Teddy Stillwell (Declan and Gavin Sheedy) appears at the Supe adoption center called Red River. In the episode, Hughie (Jack Quaid) heads there in search of answers about Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), who apparently grew up at Red River. During Hughie's visit, Teddy suddenly teleports in front of Hughie, startling him.
This not only proves fan theories like that of u/DontWannaBeCrowFood's correct, indicating that Teddy does in fact have superpowers, but it also makes it seem more likely that Homelander did not make any effort to save Teddy from the explosion at the end of Season 1. Knowing Homelander, it is actually more likely that Teddy used his newfound teleportation powers to get himself away from the Stillwell residence, saving his own life in the process.
This theory certainly lines up with what some of the cast and crew have said about Homelander in the past. In a 2021 interview with The Playlist, Antony Starr stated that he believes that Homelander's first sense of selflessness comes when he first meets his son, an event that occurs only a short time later.