As the ultra-powerful superhuman at the heart of The Boys, Homelander is intimidating specifically because no-one can hurt him. Indeed, at the end of the comic series, it takes his own clone – genetically designed to be even stronger – to finally kill him. However, in a surprising forgotten moment, it’s confirmed another Supe on the Seven can actually cause him pain.
In The Boys #49, from Garth Ennis, Russ Braun, Tony Avina, and Simon Bowland, the story flashes back to the biggest clash between the titular CIA-backed team and the Seven. After the Seven utterly botch their response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks – intended to be a showcase of superhuman competence that would kick off Vought-America’s move into national defense – there is an immense loss of life. After Gregory Mallory’s team confront the Seven with evidence of their misdeeds, Lamplighter refuses to take the insult lying down, and blinds the rest of the Seven so he can chase down the Boys and take his ‘revenge.’
Lamplighter Managed to Hurt Homelander
It’s a pivotal moment in The Boys, as Lamplighter actually ends up killing Mallory’s granddaughters. This cataclysmic event leads to Mallory retiring and leaving the Boys under Butcher’s control, as well as convincing Vought-America to pause their dark aspirations for crucial years. However, it’s only possible because Lamplighter (an insulting pastiche of DC’s Green Lantern) is able to blind Homelander with his powers. On the surface, this makes sense – while he doesn’t use it often, Homelander does have enhanced vision (including X-ray vision), so a blinding flash would be more effective against him than others. However, it’s surprising to know that a character who dies before the story really begins is capable of causing Homelander pain – one of only two people to seemingly do so. The series does clarify that each of the Seven is orders of magnitude more powerful than any other Supe, so it’s possible that similar powers from a less potent Supe wouldn’t phase Homelander in nearly the same way.
Lamplighter’s Attack Changed The Boys’ History
Even more interesting, Jack from Jupiter implies that the only reason Lamplighter reacts in this way is that – after sustaining injuries during the Seven’s 9/11 mission – he’s on a cocktail of drugs that impair his judgment. If true, this means that one errant injury set many of The Boys‘ major plot points in motion. It’s also likely that Lamplighter’s attack on Homelander sealed his fate in the aftermath. When the Boys and the Seven later meet to negotiate a ceasefire, Lamplighter is offered as a gift to Mallory, and brutally killed by the Boys shortly after. While it’s a way to stop the Boys going nuclear with everything they know about the Seven, it’s also likely Homelander jumped at the chance to sacrifice Lamplighter as an act of petty revenge.
Homelander’s invulnerability is so extreme that it’s likely he’s only felt pain a handful of times in his life, but one of them was at the hands of the Lamplighter. It’s a dubious honor that many people – Butcher first among them – would kill for, and yet it only led to suffering and horror for Lamplighter, who was first killed by Mallory, and then resurrected using an experimental procedure by Vought-America, which left him brain-damaged and imprisoned in the Seven’s base. For a story that hinges on how impossible it would be to take on Homelander in a fight, it’s fascinating to know that many of The Boys‘ events begin with Lamplighter being able to cause him pain – if only for a moment.
