The former president Donald Trump baffled many today after announcing a “BIG ANNOUNCEMENT” on his social media account, which turned out to be a collection of digital trading cards featuring his image in… unique settings. At the center of the ad was a trading card featuring Trump in a Superman-like guise, with the “T” symbol on his chest and an American flag cape. Naturally, this specific accessory has set off some alarm bells at The Boys headquarters, as it evokes the same imagery as the show’s main antagonist, and staple of Trump-centric satire, Homelander. As can be expected, this sparked a real battle.
It all started with the creator and showrunner of the series Eric Kripkewho immediately noticed the similarities between the former President’s image and the Homelander’s look.
“This is a more entertaining payoff than I could write,” the Supernatural creator tweeted. “And he has the cloak with the flag !!!”. A few hours later the official account of Vought International, an “in universe” account that sometimes tweets promotional material for the show, added its own parody of Trump’s announcement, writing: “Huge announcement: Digital cards have arrived from Official Homelander Collection! Celebrate the life and crime-fighting career of our greatest hero by owning a genuine, non-fungible JPEG of him. Buy now for 777 VoughtCoin while you still can!”.
And that’s not all, as the show’s cast also joined in on the fun. Anthony Starrwho plays Homelander in the series, wrote on Instagram:
“How come I wasn’t notified about the new character in Season 4?” Karl Urban, who plays Billy Butcher on the show, also responded, adding: ‘If I were you I’d talk to the wardrobe about his cape, it can’t be the same as yours!!!’
Since its first installment, The Boys has never given up on mocking or parodying former President Trump and his antics. In a previous interview with ComicBook. comStarr confirmed that the businessman turned political figure was a direct influence, adding:
“It’s a little difficult to model (Homelander) on someone, because I know Eric loves the idea of him too, and he based a lot of how he wrote the character on Trump. But the irony is that if you make him look closely like Donald Trump, then he’s a little too gaunt. It’s a bit two dimensional. So I always take it with a pinch of salt and try to add a little more depth to the character, to be honest, because he has to be his own entity. It can’t just be some kind of copying attempt from someone else. He must be a real man with real problems.”
The Boys is currently filming the fourth season, which is expected to arrive in 2023. A spinoff series titled Gen V is planned for the first part of the new year.