I keep thinking about the asexual Homelander thing.
So let’s start from the beginning.
Growing up, it is canon that he was sexually abused in some way, it deepened the repression. S4 ep4 mentioned that growing up he couldn’t feel comfortable with things like masturbation because he would be humiliated by grown men.
In s1 we hear Butcher call HL a saint. The narrative Vought feeds us is that Homelander is this Barbie like man. In covers of magazines, parties, shoots. He’s always in the suit, always with the cape. And symbols don’t fuck.
He seems to be so uninterested in people. It reminds me of a tik tok that explained someone’s personal approach to asexuality and it showed stock picture of people with a “this is how I see people around me as an aro ace person”. Yea.
But then there is Madelyn. In diabolical we don’t see him being particularly into her. He just trusts her with his career. With “I spend years in a lab being trained, I want to be useful” so what does Maddie do? (17 vs late 20s/30s age gap btw) she put her finger down his body until he gets hard and ofc he does considering the clumsy repressed nature he is. And does it mean attraction? No idea, but in his mind it must mean “wait she didn’t make fun of me. She loves me.”
That’s why he will forever hallucinate her of all people cause he trusted her the most and he knows it’s her who shaped him.
Through s1 we also see him being obsessed with Meave. And we have Becca’s story as well. Which was just abuse, there’s no talk here about anything else here or whatever it was just pure evil.
At the end of s1 we see Madelyn and HL fuck and it’s always super uncomfortable for me to watch. Because it is a mirror to the Diabolical scene. I always noticed how he slaps her a bit as if trying to prove soemthing or wear a mask of someone who just fucks that way.
And we don’t see him do it until Stormfront. Who he was also not into until she told him that he is destined to do great things.
So there was no “love at the first sight” or even falling in love on healthy terms.
She flicks a switch that Madelyn planted, the doctors planted. There’s no shame, just obsession that comes from both of them unlike how it was with Madelyn.
And the obsession is extreme. Mind you, this is before “I can do whatever I want” and jerking off looking down at NYC. And he has public sex with Stormfront. This public figure does…that. Unexpected? Idk it feels like someone understands him and then he takes on that mania and takes it to an extreme.
I’m not talking about spectrum, but about mental disorder. Because his past has a clear effect on how the spectrum would be defined. He is definitely not masking anything, he’s extremely okay with how he is UNTIL.
Soldier boy. Because his dad suggests he is asexual to which HL says “my dick was wet when I wiped it on Stormfront’s chin.” And honestly it was awful to hear because it was a defense mechanism as if being ace was wrong. He was never hateful of himself in that way, maybe it was almost like something to celebrate. After all; it is special to be loved by him.
That’s why he isn’t letting Firecracked get it even tho she gets close. She uses the right language for a while, the right tone, the eyes. And then she suggests people are afraid of him. No, no. He isn’t regressing. So he… well. Kills her. Because she seemed to have been questing his “normality”
Where at the end of the day it’s just sex and it isn’t that deep but I am happy they are taking on what the fans noticed which is his approach to sex.
I personally think that sexuality is fluid. Some bits of it are natural and some can be reshaped by our lives and the water we swam in. To see him be called asexual as an insult isn’t a nice feeling. Seeing people like Madelyn who abused the existing asexuality/ contributed to the trauma that created it, still haunt him isn’t nice either. It’s a sensitive subject guys, I hope he accepts whatever he is and SB stfu🎀😔
But he had passionate sex with Stormfront (at her home, in the alley), plus the flowers — all of that happened before she told him that he was destined for greatness.
She projected an incredible amount of self-confidence, which I believe is what he was attracted to. So she didn't need to flick a switch that Madelyn planted to attract him. But to hook him completely? Maybe. After all, after Stormfront, he never seemed to want anyone else.
