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[chocomiking]

Homelander fic idea, free to a good home

So I follow some Homelander fan accounts on twitter, and with the show ending the way it did, a couple of them have been watching Outrageous Fortune to get their Antony Starr fix.

Two things I know from their posts:

Antony plays twins called Van and Jethro West;

Jethro is a lawyer and is the epitome of evil.

Inspo goes to:

At the same time, I stumbled on two fics where Homelander finds out he has a brother: The first being an incesty fic called Wildtype by Deliciouskeys, and the second is The Eagle and The Heron by Ilzalith.

I like both of them. His brother in Wildtype (Adam) is an unambitious, easygoing working-class guy who was never injected with compound V. OTOH in the Eagle and the Heron, his brother Richard is basically a Superman variant.

Buuuuuut what if instead of Adam and Richard, we get the bastard Jethro West? Jethro, who from a quick google search does things like sleep with his dad's girlfriend while also pretending to be his twin. Who pretends to be Maori to get hired at the law firm. Who canonically mocks and demeans his twin.

This guy could be mirrorlander.

So, how do I imagine they'd meet? I have a couple of ideas:

First: I'm thinking when Vogelbaum talks about Ryan, he'd slip up and talk about Homelander's twin, Homie goes digging, and discovers Jethro.

Second: After Stan Edgar gets arrested, Homelander goes over some files and discovers, to his shock, another secret kept from him-Jethro.

Third: In S4, when he's on trial for murder, guess who the firm sends over? That's right, their hotshot lawyer, Jethro (he looks like Antony's character in G20, with the beard and all).

Fourth: He's a pharmaceutical exec (CPA Lawyer) whose company is acquired by Vought and he joins the board as a result.

Is Jethro a supe?

Well... I'm kind of 50/50 on that. On one hand, Jethro's usual antics would normally be a one way ticket to Homelandmurderville, buuuuuut he's Homelander's long-lost twin and the guy is sentimental enough that he'd probably just atticwife his brother if they clash. A powerless Jethro could mirror the way other normal people like Madelyn, Vogelbaum, or Stan Edgar take advantage of his emotional vulnerability to control him.

However it would also be interesting to give Jethro a kind of superpower that would also be emotionally devastating to Homelander, and I think that would be:

Nullification.

I mean, it would explain why he had the opportunity to escape Vought's grasp. Making him a supe from the start, but getting a power that's not observable makes him relatively uninteresting to Vought. We could also make him a late bloomer, only manifesting his powers in puberty when he's far away from other supes.

It could manifest as a field of nullification where every supe who enters it becomes normal. Or... He could temporarily take away their powers like a reverse Temp V thing.

Homelander would be terrified of the prospect.

Butcher would be intrigued.

[I just want these twins having a fistfight.]

[I'd make Jethro at least 30% less evil when it comes to Homie just so they get to experience some positive emotions for once.]

[frenchublog]

[kosmochlor]

There's something I've picked up on lately and it's probably not new and is a recognized trope with name. I don't feel like trying to look it up though, so I'm just going to call it the Irredeemability of Cringe.

My thesis is that Cringe is a spectrum and any character that is too Cringe and is classified as cringy becomes Irredeemable.

Of course, this phenomenon only caught my eye because of Homelander but The Boys gives me more material. Including the Deep and A-Train, but I will focus on the two biggest examples for brevity.

Homelander is a villain and, despite how he was treated in season 5, he was the villain that was framed throughout the series as being the most physically threatening. Though the role of ultimate villain was rightly Stan Edgar's, Homelander got saddled with it due to the showrunner's and writers' political fixation and skewed view of what the narrative of the series conveyed.

Homelander though powerful, threatening, and cunning is cringy. He drinks fresh cow's milk from a bucket. It has not been cleaned or pasteurized, so the audience can know that there is fur in it. He breastfeeds from a woman that he is not sleeping with or even romantically interested in. He bathes in stolen breastmilk from the NICU. Though there are deep psychological reasons behind why he does this and why he loves milk so much in general, the visuals make the audience cringe. Homelander is also often childishly petulant and insecure in a distinctly "unmanly" way compared to other characters. He behaves submissively toward some women, who were mostly villainous themselves, but was the rapist of a Good Woman. He flees from fights that he feels he stands a chance of losing, despite the advantage his superpowers give him. Which, as it is done by Homelander who is clearly defined as pathetic, is a sign of cowardice rather than intelligence or good sense. This is a villain that is plainly Cringe to most people, and in a way that makes him Irredeemable.

Now let's consider Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy was said to take advantage of some faceless women that were far too young for him. He is guilty of stolen valor; he is racist; he is in love with the same Nazi Homelander loved. But Ben gets to be charismatic and very cool too. His appreciation for older women is not some hunt for a mother figure as Homelander's tendency to fall for slightly older or only physically young women is, but simply is Ben's preference. Soldier Boy just still goes for ladies closer to his age even though he can pull young bombshells just as easily. He is mostly effortlessly charming to any woman he desires and his lovers are satisfied in bed by him (despite what lousy editing would imply). He gets to say cool lines. He gets to be clever in fights and never runs even when he should, which is brave and not ever lampshaded as stupid. When he is outsmarted, he still looks cool and always comes out the other side all right in the end anyway. He doesn't fret and cry after losing like Homelander does, he gets mad and he gets even. He has some cringe aspects but he does not slide toward the level where he becomes Irredeemable. It doesn't matter that Ben is as much an unrepentant monster as his son or that he is nihilistic and cruel. Soldier Boy is Redeemable because he is more Cool than he is Cringe.

To further illustrate my point, I only need look at fan and fan-to-fan responses now and how they compare across media.

There is a trend of thought, mostly among the male audience, that it is silly to expect every villain to be redeemed. I agree with this. It is perfectly acceptable for there to be stories that are good versus evil and for the evil to be uncomplicatedly vanquished in those stories. It is also more than acceptable for a villain's life and death to be framed as tragic but for their fall to need to happen anyway to resolve the story. That's all well and good. However, sometimes this cry for simplicity is misdirected. As it is when it comes to Homelander.

Homelander was not pure evil or really intentionally evil at all as he was never given anyone good to model morality from. He did what he was created to do and then he acted out in the destructive manners he knew. Still, he was not a born evil creature the way a Tolkien Orc is. Some fans treat him as if he was though. Granted, that is how the show tries to treat him via not letting anyone that might care learn anything solid about his past and by neglecting to explore it further in season 5. Even though the writers claimed to be tying up loose ends they failed to reveal Barbara Findley's fate (something even Antony Starr was uncertain of), because they wanted Homelander's past out of the audience's mind so they could kill their Trump parody.

It is a bit ironic how Homelander and other Cringe villains are treated in comparison to, say, Darth Vader or Roy Batty. Even though those men's plights and sins are really not so different from Homelander's. They both killed and tortured many people. Darth Vader also killed children and stood by while an entire populated planet was obliterated. Yet no fan will argue that Darth Vader should have died evil rather than return to the Light right at the end. No fan will argue that Roy Batty's final lines were unnecessary and took away from the narrative weight of Blade Runner. Because Darth Vader and Roy Batty, despite their struggles, flaws, and pain, were Cool Characters. They got that redemption because they were awesome, strong, brave, and powerful. They did not cross the Irredeemably Cringe line.

Not like Homelander did. His lack of Coolness is what doomed him to a brutal death without any last minute Redemptive Act or Tragic Framing. That is the cost of the Irredeemablility of Cringe.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

before you're ever good at something, you must allow yourself to be a beginner at that thing first. if you try something for the first time, chances are that you're gonna suck at it. but the beautiful thing about being a beginner is that you don't have to be a beginner forever — if you don't let the way you think "the first time I tried something, it turned out terrible" discourage you from mastering your crafts, you'll keep getting better and better. and the best thing about practicing is that you never stop getting better, there's no point you can ever reach the point where you can never be better anymore. as long as you're still alive and as long as you keep doing it, you'll only get better. you'll go from a beginner to a skilled expert and even when you're a skilled expert now, there's always more room for you to grow and be better, as long as you keep doing it. and it all starts at being a beginner and being suck at it first. there's something very humbling and beautiful about being a beginner and being suck at something ♡

[nullipheye]

I keep seeing this sentiment repeated online along the lines of, “feel bad for John, not Homelander.” And it frustrates me to put it lightly.

John and Homelander are not different people, they are not different characters. There is no innocent child John trapped inside a Homelander shaped shell. Homelander is not some foreign spirit possessing the body of innocent lab-rat John. Homelander is John. period. In just the same fucking way that ‘effect’ cannot exist in isolation from ‘cause,’ Homelander cannot exist in isolation from John, because every awful thing that Homelander is, is the direct causal result of every awful thing that happened to John.

Because Homelander literally could not be Homelander if he was not John.

Saying “feel for John, not for Homelander” cowardly and strategically avoids confronting the scary fact that even ‘bad’ people, people who you hate, might actually deserve empathy and equitable justice when they have been unjustifiably wronged. And it does so by taking ONE person and dividing them into two separate individuals: The Innocent (who you can advocate for without guilt) and The Guilty (who you can hurt without thought).

It’s so much easier to hate something when you purposefully strip it of its humanity and pretend it’s another character. This is the death of nuance btw.

If 15 year old John didn't deserve what happened to him in the lab, then 45 year old mass-killer Homelander didn't deserve it either. It doesn't matter what heinous things Homelander does as an adult, a person cannot ‘earn’ past punishment retroactively. The child torture was wrong when it happened and it remained wrong every year Homelander was alive, and every year afterward. Because they were the same person. Same body, same life, same soul, same injustice. And because of that, Homelander and not just John, but Homelander was owed justice. He was owed it. Because John was owed it. Simple as that.

[luminouslumity]

[cipheramnesia]

I don't know what else I expected him to do.

[homeb0ys]

This scene from season 4 of The Boys gave me absolute chills. The cracks in Homelander’s facade are evident now more than ever before.

He’s trying (his way) to be a good father and give his son the life he never had, but it’s not the life Ryan wants. And he simply can’t comprehend that, because having everything is better than having nothing, surely.

He’s completely lost and broken, struggling to keep it together, expressed by Antony Starr’s delivery of “Why am I not good enough for you?”

Something I never thought I’d ever hear Homelander of all people say.

[xieyaohuan]

Honestly my favorite S4 scene and possibly my favorite scene across all seasons.

[deliciouskeys]

“Why am I not good enough?!” might be surprising to hear from him out loud but my god that’s all he’s felt through the seasons. And we must assume his entire life. Starting in childhood when not one person was willing to be his parent despite getting 24/7 attention from a team of scientists. Continuing with a concocted relationship with Maeve where he never figured out why she was repulsed by him even though he surely suspected it (he’s less shocked when she tells him she hated him from the start than depressed at the corroboration). Hammered in further with ‘greatest failure’ and ‘bad product’ if he has any doubts.

Funnily enough, his despair at the conditional, fickle, stingy love of the people important to him—whose affection and admiration he actively seeks out— is in direct contrast to his frustration that the crowds adore him no matter what he does that he articulates in S4. Yes, he was briefly happy about it in S3. But then he seems to realize how hollow it all is when he’s not only accepted for a candid public rant but also for outright committing crimes in broad daylight on camera.

He’s irritated that the unconditional love he receives comes only from people who don’t know him and won’t ever know him.

[l0s3rd0wnt0wn]

YOUNG HOMELANDER MEETING HIS IDOL BATMAN!READER

Young!homelander x Batman!reader

Cooley notes: Homelander is young and innocent. He doesn't understand the world like you do. He wants you to guide him. Please guide him.

“You know, you’ve always been my idol,” John muttered softly, hoping nobody else in the room could hear him. It was a Vought charity gala one of those pointless events that rarely gave any real money to charity. They just called it a charity gala so they’d have an excuse to party.

But this one was different. This gala was special. It was John’s first public introduction as Homelander. No longer confined to the isolating walls of the laboratory, he was finally out in the real world as a superhero. Homelander. A man who would fight for peace, love, and everything right for America.

He was excited to meet all the superheroes he’d seen on Vought’s TV broadcasts—the powerful, capable heroes he’d grown so attached to. Especially you. You were his light in the dark, his hero from beginning to end.

“I can’t believe I’m even here with you right now,” he said, voice trembling slightly. “That I’m standing next to you, that we’re face to face like this.”

You were practically everything to the people you protected. The Dark Knight. The Caped Crusader. The Bat. Many names, one legend. You were the mask, the cape, the symbol everything.

“Oh, really?” you hummed, uninterested. You didn’t like talking about your identity, especially in public. Even in costume, it felt like a sham like you were some kind of cosplayer pretending to be something greater. The world saw you as a hero to be upheld, but you knew better.

You looked at the doe-eyed blonde staring at you with awe and admiration.

“Well, it’s going to be an honor working with you in the future, Homelander,” you said, putting on a facade something an easygoing kid like him would mistake for warmth instead of polite distance. You didn’t really care. Everyone knew Batman didn’t care.

“Oh, please, you can call me John. Well, when we’re in costume, you can call me Homelander, but if we’re just like this, then—” He fumbled over his words like a shy kid, a few blonde strands falling into his face as he tried to explain himself.

“I get it,” you interrupted. “Fine then. If I can call you John, you can call me by my name. I think ‘Batman’ is too much of a mouthful.”

You gave him one of your signature smirks the same one plastered across every tablet and magazine cover. The kid nearly blushed.

“Of course, yes, that makes sense,” he stammered. “I mean, we’re going to be working together in the future, so it only makes sense.”

You stared into those deep baby-blue eyes for what felt like an hour, though it was only five minutes.

“Uh, is there something on my face?” he asked with a shy smile.

“No, no, nothing at all. You’re perfect.”

Oh, how you wanted to take it all back.

[luna-azzurra]

Real thing that changed how i write: I started asking "what does this character think is wrong with them" and separately "what is actually wrong with them." Those two things are almost never the same. She thinks she's too much. She's actually terrified of being too little. He thinks he's bad at commitment. He's actually just never met someone he trusted enough. The gap between their diagnosis of themselves and the real thing, that's your character arc right there. you don't have to explain it. just write both.

[nazskoll-xxx]

Honest to God, Homelander is not that mentally ill for what he's been through, there should be no way that after such levels of biblical torture he's even able to form coherent thoughts of any kind.

And I don't get why people expect him to just 'know better', like baby you'd need 10 psychiatrists to adress his first 5 minutes of life alone, he's never been taught 'better', he can't act 'better', he had a 'boling the subject alive for 1 hr 40 mins' scheduled on a random Thursday evening, what kind of positive life lesson was he supposed to learn from that, was that the moment he was supposed to start caring about humans?

Like, fym he was basically in solitary confinement for all his first 18 years of life, and just casually tortured for days on end in ways the human body is not even built to withstand for over 2 seconds, how tf is he even having casual conversations of any kind, anybody else in his place would be behaving like a chimpanzee on methamphetamine 24/7, he should be sliming everybody out without a single thought, on SIGHT.

[darling-i-read-it]

Apologies

Homelander x reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: homelander being homelander, cheating sort of 

Author’s Note: I hope this was what you were looking for love! I think this one is rather good if I do say so for myself lol. Enjoy!

Requested: by anon, hi, could i request something with homelander where him and reader are in a secret relationship cuz she’s not a supe and homelander is like fake dating starlight for the publicity or something and reader is upset about it like every time she sees them together on tv and stuff but she doesn’t know how to tell him she’s upset

Summary: the request 

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director 

(not my gif)

Keep reading

[hopelessbrain]

𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 ౨ৎ

media training, (young!homie) (more) media training (even more) media training (not so much) media training (too much) media training (other than) media training (pause in the) media training dating pre-batshit, headcanons, (req)

[vampy-writing-bullshit]

do I ship deeplander? no. but I can see why others do.

look at this. usually the henchman does the dirty work FOR their boss, not WITH THEIR BOSS. and do whatever this is. it’s not like he even resisted homelander grabbing his neck like that. yeah he was a bit scared, but in the way the knights are scared of their queen—just glad to be there and be used by her however she goddamn pleases.

the deep is so lowly and pathetic to the point he isn’t even a knight, henchman, or slave to me. no, the word slave indicates that they are forced to be under someone’s control—deep is just doing this because he’s a lonely attention seeking failed singer that can only get validation from his boss that would snap his neck in half if he wasn’t so easy to influence. if homelander was asked to kill his best friend for ten litres of milk, and said some throw away line about the deep, fish boy would be sobbing and sniffling about how he’s mr america’s best buddy.

to homelander, at least starlight brought a touch of innocence to the horrifying company. at least maeve was willing to do whatever he wants in fear he will kill her love, though a bit more jaded. at least a-train was a beautiful princess that did nothing wrong—I mean, shared the v around the world to warlords so that Vought could have someone to fight while looking like the good guy.

the deep? genuinely, what has he done. he raped annie, he killed a dolphin or two, indirectly killed his friend whale, killed his octopus girlfriend that is implied to be bisexual, said to annie that he wasn’t sorry for what he did, and killed ashley. no the second ashley, ashely’s ashley. how is he useful to homelander in any way? he’s always eating his ass and homelander couldn’t be any less bothered, he wouldn’t even care if the deep was bouncing on it crazy fancy style.

homelander is like a god to the deep. worshipping him (praising about how amazing he is), praying to him (thinking that homelander will somehow solve said issue), gifting offerings (killing people that he doesn’t like), hanging murals of him (hoping he was there physically in the room to give him validation), and building fucking churches and chapels of him (verbally to other people).

but is one mere worshipper ever noticed by their god? no matter how devoted they are, no matter how much blood they shed, no matter how many hours in a day they worship and grab and lick the statue of who they love, care and trust so much, would the god care? knowing that thousands, millions of other souls do the same for them, maybe even better than said worshipper?

you can’t love someone while you put them on a pedestal, they’ll be too far up in the clouds to even hear your screams of devotion

[chocomiking]

The last line <3

[writingdose]

this and also the only difference between fanfic writers and writers who sell their own original works as careers is that fanfics aren’t monetized. that’s all.

being a “professional” writer doesn’t mean your works are inherently better than fanfics. I’ve read so many fics that are more professionally written than some published books.

whether or not a piece of writing is monetized has nothing to do with its quality.

[sternfleck]

Thoughts and prayers to my European mutuals suffering under their omega heat

[ralfmaximus]

do NOT google "omega heat"

[chocomiking]

prayers for the people googling "omega heat" for the first time

[sunnydalesolstice]

Forced to go to work, born to have a hot, sloppy makeout session with this motherfucker to this song 😩😭

The obsessive unrequited love the song describes? Yeah, sums him up pretty quickly lol.

I'll see if I'll write something involving him and this song (although I need to stop adding to my list of WIPs, it's becoming overwhelming 😅).

[chocomiking]

He is so pretty 🥺

anthony is such a good actor

[emolander]

day after the whitehouse fight (they both lived and butcher kept homelander in his basement)