Warning: spoilers ahead for The Boys season 4, episode 7, “The Insider.”

For all his many faults, Homelander’s attempts at fatherhood haven’t been a total catastrophe, but The Boys season 4, episode 7, “The Insider,” proves he will never be a good parent to Ryan. Antony Starr’s Homelander is one of the most despicable, diabolical, destructive villains across the entire superhero genre. A murderer, rapist, would-be dictator, abuser, bully, and sociopath, Homelander has long passed the point of redemption, and will undoubtedly serve as the final villain when The Boys season 5 rolls around. Despite all of the above, The Boys has made numerous attempts to humanize the Seven’s sadistic leader.

In The Boys season 4’s “Wisdom of the Ages,” for example, Homelander’s past as a Vought test subject was described in painfully minute detail. As the supe recalled being burned alive and kept in a cell, The Boys seemed to deliberately invite the slightest sliver of sympathy for him – not with the intention of justifying Homelander’s behavior, but perhaps of explaining his journey toward becoming a monster. Easily Homelander’s most redeeming feature, however, has been his relationship with Ryan in The Boys, which occasionally comes close to resembling a genuine father-son bond.

How The Boys Created The Illusion Of Homelander As A Good Parent

Homelander Has Appeared As The Doting Father At Times

Describing the period in The Boys season 2 when Homelander was first getting to know Ryan as a “rocky start” wouldn’t quite do justice to the tumult. Those early days did, however, contain bright spots. When Ryan became overwhelmed by crowds and noise, Homelander was quick to step in, and even showed a seldom-seen softer side by empathizing with his son’s fear. Homelander even acted skeptical when Stormfront began trying to sway Ryan into believing her far-right ideology. Homelander has continued to display flecks of proper parenting into The Boys season 4 too.

Homelander learned from his mistakes after a frosty costume meeting, listening to his son earnestly when discussing the awful “Super School” pitch and assuring Ryan that he was under no obligation to partake. During a heart-to-heart afterward, Homelander revealed an honest and innocent interest in his son’s future. Things took a dark turn when Homelander interpreted Ryan’s desire to “help people” as the humiliation and physical beating of Vought director Adam Bourke, but it could be argued that this incident was Homelander trying to fulfill Ryan’s wishes in his own twisted way.

The Boys Season 4, Episode 7 Proves Homelander Was Never A Good Parent

All of that progress is shown to be a lie in The Boys season 4, episode 7. Remembering his father’s kind and understanding attitude several episodes prior, Ryan calls Homelander with concerns about the Avenue V Christmas Special puppet show he’s working on for Vought. Once he finally gets around to replying, Homelander’s response is simply, “Just suck it up and do it.” Homelander is evidently too busy with his own plans and schemes to do some parenting, but the bigger issue lies in how the scene exposes Homelander’s true intentions.

Homelander’s chief priority is still very much himself, and any positive acts of fatherhood he shows toward Ryan are merely in service of that overarching goal. Allowing Ryan to refuse “Super School” was little more than a transparent overture to win back his son’s affections from the ever-circling Billy Butcher. The release or otherwise of “Super School” has no impact whatsoever on Homelander’s plot for world domination, but the Avenue V Christmas Special is a propaganda piece designed to promote Homelander’s agenda with a script he personally approved. When Ryan shows dissent toward the former, Homelander shows grace; when it’s the latter, Ryan gets a “suck it up and do it.”

The turnaround in how Homelander responded to Ryan’s Super School reservations versus how he responds in “The Insider” demonstrates how the Seven leader views his son as a tool first and a child second. Ryan’s emotions and desires will be tolerated and listened to – until the point where they begin interfering with Homelander and Sister Sage’s plan. Such selfishness firmly dispels any lingering notion that Homelander is a good parent in The Boys.

Does Homelander Love Ryan In The Boys?

The question of whether Homelander loves Ryan in The Boys is not straightforward. From one perspective, Homelander is clearly manipulating his son for his own gain. From another, Homelander doesn’t have overtly malicious intent toward Ryan, and displays a genuine desire for his son’s approval. Homelander didn’t wrestle Ryan away from Butcher just because he thought Ryan would be a useful asset – there was a genuine love there. Homelander’s quest to take over the world is at least partly motivated by the need to leave an empire behind for his son to rule, after all.

In that sense, Homelander does love Ryan, but lacks the necessary experience to know what real parental love looks like. From being raised by scientists to drinking the milk of whichever Vought employee happens to be lactating in any given season, Homelander has no clue of what a healthy parent-child relationship should look like. Any parental bond he has experienced was, one way or another, exploitative in nature, which helps to explain how Homelander can love Ryan in The Boys season 4, but still be a terrible dad.