The Boys’ showrunner thinks Donald Trump supporters miss the point of the show

'These doofuses don’t even understand that Homelander is the bad guy'

The Boys has been one of the most talked-about TV shows of the year. Now that superheroes totally dominate the pop culture landscape, it is not surprising that a show that skewers the whole idea of them is such a big hit. Nearly every hero in the show is shown to be an absolutely terrible person. Not least Homelander, the show's Superman analogue, who is a sociopathic murder and rapist. He is not a good guy. This should be pretty clear to anyone who has watched the show. This weekend, Donald Trump supporters congregated in Washington, D.C. for the Million MAGA March. Writer Laura Jedeed shared a photo from the protest, of someone in a Homelander costume and a Donald Trump mask - which caused The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke to ask "are they actually watching the show?"

Um... are they actually watching the show? @antonystarr #TheBoystv #theboys @PrimeVideo @TheBoysTV #SPNFamilyForever https://t.co/wJPNjJf0Bj

— Eric Kripke (@therealKripke) November 15, 2020

Antony Starr, the actor who plays Homelander put it even more bluntly: "The art of ignorant dumbfuckerry"  

“The art of ignorant dumbfuckerry” https://t.co/Q51y3Mtmwo

— Antony Starr (@antonystarr) November 15, 2020

Artist and co-creator of The Boys comic book Darick Robertson also commented, saying that the protestors "don’t even understand that Homelander is the bad guy."

These doofuses don’t even understand that ‘Homelander’ is the bad guy. ? pic.twitter.com/ogZBCv3afq

— Darick (@DarickR) November 15, 2020

Eric Kripke had previously compared superheroes to Donald Trump, saying they were "inherently MAGA." "The myth of the superhero taken straight, that’s where it starts to become fascist," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Because they’re protecting a world that doesn’t and shouldn’t exist. Superheroes are inherently MAGA.” Ok, if we were to play devil's advocate, it is possible that the Donald Trump supporter just wanted to dress as a superhero and the first costume they came across was a Homelander one. If you didn't know the show, you might just think it is a generic superhero suit - it is supposed to evoke Superman, Shazam, and other heroes of that ilk. But you think they might have checked what it was from before going out in public.