14 Comic Book Superheroes Who Could Put Homelander In His Place

Jake Brian Williams
Updated February 2, 2025 14 items
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Vote up the heroes who would make short work of Homelander.

How strong is Homelander really? Watching The Boys television series, Homelander is clearly strong enough to strike fear into the hearts of his fellow supers, but he seems noticeably weaker than certain heroes in other franchises. (It should be noted that his own comic book counterpart appears to be stronger and more on par with Superman - one of the many differences between the comic and the show.) So, could the Homelander of the show face off against Superman or Invincible, or would he finally be put in his place?

It's interesting to think about Homelander facing off against other similarly powered individuals from other franchises. Still, there are also a fair amount of Homelander weaknesses that other comic book characters could exploit. There are certain characters who no one would assume could beat Homelander, but because of one little power (or weakness), they could take down the terror of Vought. 

  • The natural comparison when talking about Homelander is Superman. In fact, when Garth Ennis created Homelander, the initial idea for the character was most likely just “what if Superman was the worst?” But the citizens of The Boys’ universe should consider themselves lucky that Homelander is no match for Superman in any way, whatsoever. 

    In an episode of The Boys television show, Homelander is unable to save a plane full of civilians. Homelander can neither lift the plane, nor can he move fast enough to safely remove all of its passengers. In comparison, in Superman: The Movie (obviously not his comic book canon, but we’ll get to that), Superman moves fast enough around the Earth that he can reverse time. That’s the difference of power levels we’re talking about here. 

    But, enough about Superman being good. When Superman goes bad, he’s way more effective than Homelander. Homelander is a stooge for a corporation, whereas when Superman goes bad in the comic book Injustice, he easily takes over the entire world, overthrowing governments and taking out other heroes and villains along the way. 

  • Homelander's power set is purely physical. He can punch really hard, but he has no defense against telepaths. So if Jean Grey, one of the most powerful telepaths in Marvel Comics, was in the universe of The Boys, she could break Homelander without breaking a mental sweat. 

    Jean Grey can use her telepathic abilities to control someone's mind, cause them to forget memories (or create new ones), completely paralyze someone, and even change their personality. Those are just four of the hundreds of ways Jean can use her telepathy, yet any one of those four could eliminate Homelander as a threat. 

  • Homelander is the strongest hero in his universe, but he should consider himself lucky he's never had to face off against a magic user - especially not one on the level of Doctor Strange. Homelander exists in a world where most things make some amount of logical sense. Homelander takes a drug that augments his physical abilities. He's stronger, faster, that sort of thing. It's all very physical, and it all logically tracks. Doctor Strange, on the other hand, exists on an entirely different plane of existence. 

    Doctor Strange can use his powers in far too many ways to describe each one. But, for this purpose, all Strange needs is his power of banishment. Strange is intimately familiar with countless dimensions, and he knows how to travel between them. To defeat Homelander, all Strange would have to do is bring Homelander into another dimension and leave him there. Homelander would have absolutely no chance of ever returning home. 

  • After Hawkeye tries to slay the Hulk by shooting an arrow through his head (at the behest of Banner), Banner discovers he is no longer able to stay dead. No matter what happens to Banner during the day, Hulk will rise again the following night. At one point, Hulk was completely dismembered and had his various appendages put into different compartments, just to still break out and reattach himself. As Banner, he had himself broken into pieces so he could fit into luggage during a cross-country trip, just to, you guessed it, still come back as the Hulk. 

    It's been long debated whether or not Hulk could beat Superman, but in his current form as the Immortal Hulk, there's no debate whether or not he could take down Homelander. As far as head-to-head combat, Hulk has been shown at times to be strong enough to break the Earth through the sheer power of his footsteps. Hulk could easily overpower Homelander in a fight, and even on the off chance he loses, he could try again the following night. 

  • Those watching the show may want to skip to the next item on this list, but let’s just say Invincible has to take on a lot more Viltrumite threats than just his dad in the comics. The Viltrumites are a lot like Kryptonians, except they’re all bloodthirsty conquerors in addition to being as powerful as Superman. Homelander is a bully who survives off of never fighting anyone as strong as him. In stark contrast, Invincible constantly has to take on foes as strong or stronger than Homelander.

    In one of the final battles of the comic, Invincible (with a small team by his side) has to take down literally thousands of Viltrumites. Or, if that’s not enough proof, look no further than Invincible fighting dozens of incarnations of himself in the Invincible War storyline. 

    Invincible can take on Homelander because Invincible has a ton of experience taking on foes as strong as himself, and Homelander has zero. 

  • Homelander is like a slightly less powerful, way more evil version of Superman. Well, Homelander better watch out because Wonder Woman is just as powerful as Superman and just as good at killing as Homelander. The comic Wonder Woman: Dead Earth shows an incredible depiction of what it would be like if Wonder Woman and Superman went head-to-head without holding back. In the storyline, the US government nukes Themyscira. Because Superman was standing with the US, Wonder Woman takes her anger out on him in a fight that not only takes out Superman but also practically eliminates life on Earth.

    As a reminder, Wonder Woman destroys Superman, and he's a lot more powerful than Homelander. So, imagine what this Amazonian warrior could do to Vought's No. 1 corporate stooge. 

  • Homelander may be an incredibly powerful, almost Superman-level foe - but Rogue does best against incredibly powerful foes. Rogue is a mutant with the ability to pilfer powers from anyone she touches. Depending on how long Rogue is in contact with her opponent, she can knock them out and sometimes leave them permanently powerless.

    In one instance, Rogue touched Ms. Marvel (a hero with a similar power set to Homelander) for so long that she retained her powers for good. So, good luck, Homelander. 

  • Laser vision is one of Homelander's favorite abilities in his arsenal. Homelander can use his lasers to melt guns, split commercial airliners in half in seconds, and instantaneously eliminate any human opponents. But these lasers would be of no use to him in a fight against Carol Danvers.

    Captain Marvel is Homelander's equal in a lot of ways. Danvers is superhumanly strong, invulnerable to most attacks, and can fly at super speed. But whereas those abilities are basically all Homelander has, they're just the tip of the iceberg for Captain Marvel. One of her most useful abilities, especially when fighting a foe like Homelander, is her ability to absorb and manipulate energy. Not only would Homelander's laser blasts not hurt Marvel, but she could also store the energy from those blasts and redirect them back at Homelander in any way she sees fit. For example, Captain Marvel could use the energy to make herself stronger, use it to send photon blasts back at Homelander, or use the energy to aid her in manipulating matter at a molecular level. 

  • Thanks to his flashy metal claws, it can be hard to remember that Wolverine's actual power is his healing factor. Someone could rip Wolverine limb from limb, but he'll still grow back. Homelander could slice through Wolverine with his laser eyes or throw his head across the world, yet Wolverine will still come back. 

    So, while Homelander could easily beat Wolverine in a fight, he couldn't kill Wolverine. Wolverine has all of the time in the world to regroup, come up with a new plan, and go after Homelander once again when he's good and ready. Wolverine may not immediately defeat Homelander in a fight, but he would be an absolutely devastating addition to the Boys. 

  • The key difference between Superman and Homelander isn't that Superman is good and Homelander is bad - it's that Homelander is subservient to a corporation and Superman answers to no one. In Season 2 of The Boys, Homelander gets cocky and tries to threaten the CEO of Vought, the company he works for. Instead, that CEO reminds Homelander who is really in charge and why Homelander isn't Vought's most valuable asset. Homelander is nothing without Vought, and that's where Batman, or rather, Bruce Wayne, comes in.

    Wayne is one of the most successful businessmen in the country. He has billions of dollars (recently implied to be over $100 billion) to play and invest with however he sees fit. Batman wouldn't need to defeat Homelander because Wayne could use his billions of dollars to buy a sizable stake in Vought and become Homelander's boss. 

  • Homelander is super strong, meaning he can physically hit just about anyone hard enough to end them. Homelander is super fast, meaning he's quick enough to physically catch his prey in any scenario. Homelander has laser vision, meaning he can physically roast his enemies alive. But what if Homelander couldn't physically connect with his opponent? 

    Kitty Pryde is a member of the X-Men with the power to phase through objects. When Kitty doesn't want to be touched, nothing and no one can touch her. Thus, because Homelander's entire skill set is based around physically coming into contact with his opponents, he would have zero offensive moves to land on Kitty. Kitty could simply phase her hand inside Homelander's head and then unphase herself, killing him instantly. 

  • Among Homelander's many abilities is his super hearing. This is normally a blessing, but because Homelander isn't able to shut off this power, it can be turned into a curse by his enemies. The Boys exploit this weakness at one point by luring Homelander away from Billy's son with a noise so irritating to Homelander, he has no choice but to find its source and shut it off. While this sound doesn't incapacitate Homelander, it's the sound equivalent of drawing a drop of blood from Homelander to show he isn't a god and can, in fact, bleed. 

    Black Canary is a hero from DC Comics who is uniquely suited to exploit Homelander's weakness to sound. Black Canary emits high-frequency, incredibly powerful sound waves she refers to as her Canary Cry. This ability is so powerful, it can shatter a human's skull. So, if a loud high-frequency noise can bother Homelander, imagine what a sound blast from Black Canary could do to him. 

  • While Homelander doesn't have an equivalent to Superman's weakness to Kryptonite, there are certain elements he has proven to be weak to. For example, Homelander's X-ray vision isn't able to see through zinc (which is why the Boys decide to store Translucent's remains in zinc). This shows that Homelander is vulnerable to certain elements, which means that Metamorpho has an in for taking him down. 

    Metamorpho has the ability to turn his body into any element. So, not only could he turn into zinc to hide from Homelander, but he could also turn into a liquid to stop from getting punched or turn into a noxious gas to poison Homelander. 

  • Anyone who has tuned into The Boys for any amount of time knows that Homelander is pretty messed up. Homelander has the powers of Superman but the mind and desires of a juvenile. Homelander is completely controlled by Vought, but even more than that, he can be exploited by the women in his life, as shown by his messed-up relationship with his manager Madelyn Stillwell. Stillwell is something of a mother figure in Homelander's life, although Homelander also seems to be attracted to her, so it's an odd relationship, to be sure. The bottom line is that Stillwell is able to exploit Homelander's complicated feelings toward her to get him to do what she wants. Sure, Homelander eventually terminates her, but then he forces a shapeshifter to live in a cabin and pretend to be her - so it's clear he made a poor and unstable decision when he took her out. 

    Harley Quinn is a trained psychiatrist. Quinn has worked with the worst and weirdest Arkham has to offer, so she could definitely handle Homelander. It would be easy for Harley to figure out the emotional weaknesses Homelander possesses, and then exploit those for her own good. Quinn is like an even more conniving version of Stormfront or Stillwell, both women in Homelander's life who have successfully used him.