Summary

  • Billy Butcher and Greg Mallory may not be as powerful as Homelander, but their long-term strategy and knowledge of the Supes make them powerful rivals.
  • The Female's bloodlust and skill in killing Supes gives her decent odds at defeating Homelander, despite her lack of superpowers.
  • Black Noir, the clone of Homelander, is the only character to canonically beat Homelander in a fight, making him the one Supe who can do the impossible.

Warning! Spoilers for The Boys ahead!When it comes to the Supes featured in The Boys, few are as strong or as powerful as Homelander. The Superman-like figure is the pinnacle of what Compound V can achieve. Homelander is strong enough to level buildings, can fly at incredible speeds, and devastate anything in his path with his laser vision.

But despite the Supe’s overwhelming power, there are a handful of people who have a shot at taking Homelander down. Whether they can match him in physical strength, or use their natural abilities in a clever way, Homelander could potentially be defeated by the following ten characters.

10 Billy Butcher and Greg Mallory

Karl Urban as Billy Butcher in The Boys comic ending

Billy Butcher and his mentor, Greg Mallory, are nowhere near as powerful as Homelander. Even with Butcher taking Compound V, he only wields a fraction of Homelander's power. But both men knew that defeating someone like Homelander required long-term strategy, not a quick solution. The Boys were formed to curtail the Supes' behavior, and they did a surprisingly good job. In fact, Butcher picked up enough intel along the way that he was able to nearly genocide the Earth’s entire Supe population. Butcher’s ruthlessness and Mallory’s lessons on subterfuge were enough to become powerful rivals to a Supe like Homelander.

9 The Female

The Female Boys

Of all the members of Billy Butcher’s crew, the Female has directly killed more Supes than any other member of the team. The Female was exposed to Compound V at a young age and was cursed with a bloodlust that drives her to kill. While she doesn’t have powers other than enhanced strength and durability, she’s taken out entire squads that were fully armed and numerous Supes who were arguably more powerful than her. She’d be fighting above her weight class, for sure, but the Female’s skills and voracious appetite for carnage gives her decent odds at killing Homelander.

8 Stormfront

Stormfront version from The Boys Comics with image of TV show version

Homelander may be powerful, but he owes everything he has to the original Supe, Stormfront. Stormfront was the first person to be enhanced with Compound V and he possessed every superpower Homelander did, as well as the ability to manipulate lightning. While Homelander is the result of Stormfront’s DNA being cloned and altered to create a more resilient Supe, Stormfront was also Vought-American’s attack dog and was used to take care of any problem they required. With both his powers and decades of experience, it’s quite likely Stormfront has what it takes to beat Homelander.

7 Malchemical

Malchemical The Boys

Malchemical is one of the most despicable Supes in the entire series. But he’s also one of the few people who has a decent shot at defeating Homelander. Malchemical is an elemental-based hero who can transform his body into anything he needs it to. Not only can he shape-shift into other physical forms, he can turn into liquid or gaseous states if needed. With just a thought, Malchemical could turn into a poisonous cloud and choke Homelander or even drown him. It’d require effort and a lot of self-control (which Malchemical admittedly lacks), but it’s not outside the realm of possibility for him to kill Homelander.

6 Lamplighter

The-Boys-Lamplighter Comics

Lamplighter isn’t seen much in The Boys, but back when he was a member of the Seven, he was one of the most dangerous Supes around. Not only did he possess powerful pyrokinetic abilities, but Lamplighter was also dangerously unhinged, even willing to kill children. Homelander shows a weakness to flame-based power when he fights Black Noir, suggesting that a powerful enough heat could do him damage. A Lamplighter in his prime could have seriously harmed Homelander with a hot enough flame, but his early demise leaves the true extent of his power unknown.

5 Crimson Countess

Crimson Countess The Boys

Speaking of heat-based counters to Homelander’s power, one Supe who could potentially defeat him is the underrated member of Payback, Crimson Countess. While she’s not the original bearer of the title, she possesses the same abilities of heat generation by emitting microwave radiation from her hands. Crimson Countess’ blasts are hot enough to melt steel, so potentially enough of them could melt through Homelander’s durable skin. Though she’s ultimately felled by Billy Butcher, there’s a chance Crimson Countess could have beaten Homelander in a fight.

4 Team Titanic

Team Titanic The Boys

The Seven aren’t the only Supe team featured in The Boys. A parody of the Teen Titans are introduced in The Boys #61, and feature a number of surprisingly powerful heroes. Their version of Starfire, a barely cognizant Supe named the Starlike, shoots beams of energy that are hot enough to sever limbs in an instant. The team also has a hypnotist in their member Muzzeltov, who James Stillwell confirms can actually hypnotize people. A combination of the two could potentially be all the power needed to bring Homelander down for good.

3 Starlight

Starlight in The Boys TV Show and Comics

It may not seem like it, but Starlight is packing serious firepower. The Boys #42 reveals that her bursts of light can go up to one million candlepower. One candlepower is roughly 12.7 lumens, putting Starlight’s bursts at 12.7 million lumens. For comparison, the sun is about 127,000 lumens at Earth’s orbit, meaning Starlight’s bursts are a hundred times more powerful. It’d be an uphill battle, but Annie’s powers were enough to blind A-Train, and she could almost certainly do the same to Homelander, giving Starlight a solid advantage.

2 Queen Maeve

the boys queen maeve

Though Queen Maeve spends most of The Boys in an alcoholic state, she is said to be one of the most powerful Supes on the planet, rivaling Black Noir and Homelander. When backed into a corner by Homelander, she shows no fear about charging him head-on, striking at him with a sword. Unfortunately, it’s just a prop, and it gives Homelander a chance to decapitate her. While Maeve in her later years stood no match against the Supe, she might have been able to defeat him before she dulled her fighting skills and reflexes with non-stop drinking.

1 Black Noir

Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir The Boys Comics and TV Show

The one thing that Black Noir has on every other character on this list is that he’s the one character featured in The Boys who canonically beat Homelander in a fight. Black Noir is revealed to be a clone of Homelander in The Boys #65, and was created as a contingency to take out Homelander if needed. However, Homelander never needed to be handled, driving Black Noir insane since he was unable to fulfill his purpose. Though Homelander and Black Noir are theoretically evenly matched, Black Noir succeeded in killing Homelander, making him the one Supe to do the impossible.

As the number one Supe, it's unlikely that anyone could defeat the Seven's leader. But if anyone stands a chance at beating Homelander, it's these characters from The Boys.