Guy dresses as Homelander at MAGA rally, showrunner thinks he missed the point

This past weekend, a MAGA protester dressed up as Homelander from The Boys and “arrested” a guy dressed as Joe Biden. Does he know Homelander is the villain…?

Homelander from The Boys is one of the best villains to come out of TV in the last few years. A twisted parody of Superman and Captain America, he is the world’s most powerful superhero, a proud American who fights for his country and defends the innocent. But really, that’s all a smokescreen for a deeply damaged individual who thinks nothing of using his abilities to kill whoever displeases him and repeats patriotic rhetoric purely because it makes him popular. In private, he cares about no one but himself and of late has been attracted to Nazi ideology, courtesy of his literal Nazi girlfriend Stormfront.

He’s a fantastic villain, a real challenge for the freedom-fighting heroes of the story to overcome. Keeping that in mind, I’m not quite sure what message this protester wanted to convey when he dressed up like Homelander at Saturday’s Million MAGA March on Washington, DC:

Okay, let’s see if we can work this out. So this protester is one of many who came out this weekend in support of President Donald Trump, who has been falsely claiming he won the 2020 presidential election against President Elect Joe Biden since the returns came in the week prior. The protester is wearing a mask of Donald Trump, whom he supports, and a Homelander outfit. And he’s “arrested” a different guy dressed as Joe Biden, complete with mask and prisoner outfit…

…but Homelander’s the bad guy, so is the protester actually saying that Trump is unjustly attacking Joe Biden? Or maybe, as The Boys artist Darick Robertson suggested, not get that Homelander is the bad guy?

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke was a little confused, too. “Um…are they actually watching the show?” he wrote. Antony Starr, who plays Homelander, doesn’t think much of the cosplay either.

At best, the message is muddled. At worst, the protester is actually mistaking Homelander’s fascist leanings as…something to be admired? That’s an unsettling though.

I prefer Homelander cosplay when it’s more like this:

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h/t Io9