Can Homelander be killed?

Can Homelander be killed? It’s a question that haunts Billy Butcher’s nightmares and ignites debates among fans of The Boys. With the Amazon Prime series officially back for Season 3, it’s worth revisiting the question once again. And this time, we went straight to the source.

Ahead of The Boys Season 3 premiere, Inverse asked showrunner Eric Kripke and Homelander himself (Antony Starr) whether the character can die? As an added bonus, we also asked series newcomer Jensen Ackles whether his character Soldier Boy could die, too So grab some Compound V and let’s dive in!

Eric Kripke, can Homelander be killed?

“Um, yes,” Kripke says. “I mean, eventually, right? Just the sheer fact that he ages says that, eventually, the guy can die. So I think the Boys just have to ultimately figure out a way to do it.”

Antony Starr, can Homelander be killed?

“Hmm, I think everyone can die,” Starr concurs. “And the thing that Homelander gets to confront this season is, for the first time ever he's ever encountered an existential threat: the sort of scenarios and people that could actually terminate them. That's big news for this guy.”

“It would be incredibly difficult to wipe him out,” he continues. “Kind of like the most annoying weed in the garden that you can never quite get rid of. But I've always said that for Homelander, his humanity is his Kryptonite. Ultimately, the human side of it is his mortality. So yeah, I think he could be killed. But I don't know who and I don't know how that would happen.”

Can Homelander die in the comics?

Short answer, yes. Long answer, it’s complicated.

Homelander does indeed die in the original The Boys comics, but there’s a catch: the only person who can kill Homelander is... Homelander. Sort of.

In the comics, it’s eventually revealed that Black Noire is actually a clone of Homelander created by Vought to keep the original in check. Turns out, Black Noire has also been framing Homelander for various crimes. When the truth comes out, they fight. Black Noire wins and kills his clone daddy.

It’s still unclear who Black Noire actually is in The Boys show. He could be a Homelander clone, or he could be someone else entirely. But based on the comics, it seems the only thing that can kill Homelander is another Homelander. Maybe, in this case, that’s his superpowered son, Ryan?

Can Soldier Boy be killed in The Boys?

Light spoilers ahead for The Boys Season 3.

“We see what happened to him in videos and stuff when he was captured and tortured,” Jensen Ackles tells Inverse, “and it seemed to me that they did just about anything they could think of to kill him and it doesn’t. So maybe he is immortal. I don’t know.”

The Boys Season 3 is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.