Homelander for Pope? At This Point, Why Not.
In what now feels like a long-running tragicomedy, America's political circus continues to blur the line between satire and reality, a dynamic that The Boys has mined with almost prophetic precision.
The show's cape-wearing sociopath Homelander was never explicitly modeled after Donald Trump, but over time, the resemblance has become less and less coincidental.
Trump’s Papal Moment
While actor Antony Starr insists the character isn't a direct Trump clone, The Boys' marketing team seems less concerned with plausible deniability.
Case in point: after Trump's latest social media blunder – a bizarre, AI-generated image of himself in full papal regalia – the show responded with a mock announcement that Homelander was offering to become pope
The accompanying image was eerily convincing: clasped hands, serene gaze, mitre on his bleached-blond head. Frankly, he looked more qualified than the original.
The timing was particularly brazen. The post appeared shortly after the death of Pope Francis, adding another layer of bad taste to Trump's already tone-deaf cosplay.
Was it an homage? A joke? A power grab?
Enter: The Boys, And A Better Pope
But for The Boys, it was a gift-wrapped opportunity. Their caption? A not-so-subtle jab at Trump's own bombast: "HOMELANDER: A GREAT CHOICE FOR POPE." Emphasis theirs.
'The Boys' social media has made a parody post about the conclave & Trump wanting to be pope."There are many worthy candidates, and this afternoon, you can add one more to the list - Homelander. Selfless as ever, our greatest hero just offered to assume the world's holiest... pic.twitter.com/W2udmW2AD6
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) May 7, 2025
If the show's original mission was to lampoon power, delusion, and unchecked ego, it can probably start outsourcing its scripts to the news cycle.
Starr himself admitted in a 2024 interview that while Homelander isn't a one-to-one satire, "there's a very obvious human being" influencing the character. No points for guessing who.Meanwhile, the parallels only deepen – not just aesthetically, but in the chilling sense that both men might actually believe their own myth
Let's hope one of them doesn't develop laser vision.