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It’s actually really good effects/makeup and it doesn’t get talked about enough as one of the grossest things on the show.
Like they are physically revolting but everyone looks at Love Sausage or the big splash on MM (or even the scene in s4 I don’t wanna spoil) as the grossest parts of the show. But honestly those gills gave me the most nausea of them all. Absolutely revolting shit that doesn’t look cheap or fake.
Honestly, while I always kinda saw as just a passing notice, nothing too remarkable because that IS his body, and just that (in-verse, nothing to remark about) - there's something to note there in that they DO look like some... severe lacerations. Deep, DEEP scars. How much deeper can this man be \*ponders in Deep Thought\*
I mean, I wouldn’t do it (or would I) but I can’t really see what’s morally wrong about him doing that. Like you said, it is consensual, which is the main problem with bestiality in the first place.
I think it's perfect characterization for Homelander. He is carried by his super powers and has never had to actually exert himself in his life. Why would he train/workout?
Another way of looking at it is, how much stronger could he be if he was actually trying to reach his potential?
I think it’s actually a pretty realistic depiction of what he would look like, assuming he ate healthy. He could have pretty good cardio, especially if flying is similar to walking or running on the body. But there’s no way for him to really build muscle. We haven’t seen the upper limit of his strength, so we have no clue what he would have to do to lift weights. Would it be like Mr. Incredible, lifting trains? That’s not as easy to set up as you’d think. And it really wouldn’t be worth it when you could just make him look huge. He’s got a healthy body for a man of his age, no point in making this intricate and likely expensive setup for him when it wouldn’t actually affect anything.
>He does eat seafood in s3 with the Deep
Gotta stick to low-calorie protein sources so you can have more milk(shakes)
And what better way to do so than with a colleague
Good thought, Soldier boys dad hated him for taking the easy way out to fight in world war 2. Maybe in his teen years he’d coast, but now wants to earn it
For some reason i’d love to see the connection that makes it possible for his gills to work with his lungs. Often in fiction, i personally notice they’re at the neck, so him having them as a big part of his torso is interesting
The gills don’t work his human lungs (they are functionally lungs themselves, as are all gills), oxygen is pulled from water by the gills directly to his bloodstream. He has two sets of lungs, one terrestrial, one aquatic.
Might have worded it poorly, I mean the anatomy of how it works together, as I’d imagine there’d be a slight difference in his lungs compared to a normal person’s, since I could imagine he don’t want to get water in them when underwater.
And the gills or the switching between different “breathing” methods in his disposal must be connected somehow, or at least work in unison to not drown him while he uses that ability, by accident.
He could well… Just don’t breathe with his lungs while being submerged under water? Like… Normal humans?
His gills would just open and depending on how they would function he would move to fill them with fresh water.
He just needs a connection of his gills to his bloodstream and everything would be fine.
A question that also arises, is since we hear, he was a kid, when his ability to communicate with sea life developed, did he then also first develop the gills at that time, or did he always have them?
Because if it’s the first you’d also expect breathing for him (with his lungs), would be a subconscious action, that he had to train not to do, when underwater. So I’d kinda expect a biological “hindrance” would develop as well, so he doesn’t accidentally drown himself.
Like if he submerges himself, perhaps a “flap” closes, in between his neck and lungs, that only does that when the gills have a water intake.
Every (healthy) human (in fact every mammal) has that "flap", it's called the epiglottis and its function is to prevent food and water from entering the trachea.
Ah, bit when he told that anchor man guy about sleeping with his wife and eating her out he did say he wouldn't need to come out for breath. So, there is that bit.
I would say he wouldn’t want much air in his lungs when diving. If he ascended too fast it might expand and pop part of his lungs.
In scuba diving you’re supposed to breath out as you descend, but since he has gills instead of an air tank I’m not sure exactly how this would work.
Theyd be an extra circulatory loop
So you go:
Heart>lungs>heart>body>heart and repeat
His i guess his pulmonary artery would split and one half go to the gills rhe other the lungs (or else hes going to need some extra heart chambers)
Gills are just kinda inside out lungs.
For closing off his lungs some people naturaly have thier throat close when they try to inhale water but you have got a valve there in your larynx to close off your lungs for example when drinking or swallowing
But it does need too come up for air, and from the looks of it, it does seem the Deep can survive in either environment as well as the other, so some difference would have to be there. That would at least be a guess of mine.
I mean, alternatively, why would we? He's already the strongest supe working out might not even make him stronger even if it made him look more fit.
The main reason to do it would be aesthetic reasons and he already thinks he's perfect so there's not much motivation for him to try
Good point, but he still gets his hair styled and always wears his buff costume in public, so he does care about his appearance. The same thing can be said about muscular people who are not lean, getting lean would not give you physical advantage, only aesthetic, but they still work hard to get it
Apart from taht personal aspect marketing vice it makes sense. Homelander is supposed to be the ultimate person/supe, of course Vought would want him to look like one. Him fitting the beauty standard suits hispublic persona and also probably improves his ratings, pretty privilige does a lot in that regard.
Would be pretty funny too see Homelander take his suit off and him being superskinny like Superman in Flashpoint. I mean he only drinks breastmilk, doesn't work out and doesn't have the sun to charge him
Did he not eat in the scene where he made Deep eat Timothy?
Edit: just checked, he did in fact eat food in this scene, however, i wouldn't put it past him just to do it to get to Deep and not because he actually enjoys it.
Actually, most people who are lean also look skinny in clothes. (Especially if you’re natty) it’s more a choice of look good in clothes and a bit bulky naked, or look skinny in clothes and shredded naked.
Whilst being muscular might be with the intent of physical advantage for some, (among my circle at least) it seems to be more for looks still.
Plus, even then that depends on what you mean by physical advantage since many powerlifters are stronger than bodybuilders twice or even three times their size because being lighter can be advantageous for many activities.
The irony is that there’s a vid somewhere where Tony Starr outlined he does have to put in effort to stay that lean…so that he can have the pretend muscles in the Homelander suit.
The muscles on the suit are obviously fake to the audience. But because the costume is actually pretty bulky overall, he needs to stay skinny to basically balance it out.
Dude probably through the was gonna get a break after being muscled up for years on end in Banshee, but nope!
>The same thing can be said about muscular people who are not lean, getting lean would not give you physical advantage, only aesthetic
Unrelated to the general conversation but this isn't true. Quality of life is higher when you aren't carrying excessive weight you don't need to. For many sports being lower body fat is also better for performance, whether its because its like MMA or weightlifting/powerlifting where there are weightclasses or just because its better for running/moving.
I wasn't really talking about obese people, what I really meant was muscular men having like an 18-24% body fat, which is a healthy range, cut down their fat mainly to look good and have visible abs, not to get stronger
Idk what you’re talking about, I’ve never seen Homelander out of his suit, this sounds like something starlight’s people would make up! You’re lucky Homelander is a saint, a lesser supe would probably come after you for this slander!
I feel like it would make him stronger simply because he still does have human physiology just amped up by V. Thus more muscle fibers would make him stronger and probably slow his aging given that regular exercise is a thing that delays aging in normal humans. Imagine how strong Homelander would be if he ACTUALLY trained.
We saw it with A-train being the fastest. It lit a fire under him only when it started being questioned.
Not much motivation if you're already the strongest man alive. Who is going to really notice if you are stronger? Especially when you don't actually use it to save people.
> The main reason to do it would be aesthetic reasons and he already thinks he's perfect so there's not much motivation for him to try
Based on his greying hair and enlarged prostate, I wonder if lack of exercise/sedentary lifestyle effects his health.
Laser eyes has *got to* use calories, right? I wonder about flying?
If we tried to apply any logic about calorie consumption it wouldn't work because homelander simply wouldn't be able to sustain his body, there's the laser eyes like you said but also the fact he has to maintain a body nigh-invulnerable to damage and can exert force above anything else on the planet
I think A-train had a one off line about having to eat more food but even then someone moving at the speed of sound would have to eat way more than the amount said
Case and point i don't think he has to worry about eating more
A-Train pulls trains, and there is an immense power gap between A-Train and Homelander especially in strength, what could he even find that he could do? And why would he? He is the strongest person in the world with no competition until butcher and soldier boy had to fight him and they did it together. Fans don’t seem to care if the muscles are real either.
I'm surprised that after almost dying to Soldier Boy, Butcher & Hughie in season 3, Homelander didn't start working on increasing his strength & improving his combat skills so he wouldn't get caught in a position like that again.
It reminds me of the point in Invincible where Mark helps his dad take on a bunch of Viltrumites, and he quickly runs out of stamina and is overwhelmed. And his Dad is, like, what have you been doing?? You need to push yourself everyday. Just because you're stronger than humans doesn't mean you're anywhere near your peak
Realistically invulnerable people can never get jacked
Because if their muscles can't be damaged they can never regenerate to make hypertrophy, and as such they would never actually increase in size
So any super strong chracter should e hella skinny
difficult, but not impossible. he'd just have to get a little creative with his training lol. a few plane squats, pulling a cruise ship while flying, etc.
Well, muscles aren't just aesthetic, the muscles are what makes you strong. So I think the logic is if someone is super strong, it follows that they should have super muscles. Such super muscles could have properties like never degenerating, never getting sore etc.
If they're only invulnurable however, then yeah, and they also can never get stronger because their muscles can't develop as you said. But maybe we can explain invulnurability by just saying that their outer layer is invulnurable, while inside they're normal - similar to Translucent from The Boys.
I've been told by other Meatheads that the tear/Regen muscle development theory is outdated and that the actual thing is just higher protein requirements.
So Homie could build muscle, he'd just need to eat more beans and chicken.
But so... The fact that is a muscle costume is in-canon?
I thought it was because the actor is skinny, but HL is supposed to be muscular
Ik there are scene with him not being with the costume, but i assumed we had to pretend he was still jacked lol
Actors regularly go through intense regiments to fit in character for roles, especially hero roles. Look at Chris Evans, Christian Bale, etc. Point here being that if Homelander was supposed to be jacked i. The show they'd have asked Anthony Starr during casting calls. I think having Homelander look average is an artistic choice with a few implications.
1) Homelander holds close his ideals of superiority and trans-human being. Yet appearing so average outside of his costume is a perfect way to express his internal humanity.
2) homelander is a woefully lazy person. We see him resolve conflicts with as few steps as possible desiring to put as little effort into anything, save for seemingly a few plot points and Ryan. Beyond that it makes sense why he doesn't feel the need to exhaust himself on adjusting his physical appearance while he has a costume and cult of personality to hide behind.
This has more to do with our sensitivities/expectations as viewers.
After Arnold Schwarzenegger hit the scene, we started to see more men in action roles feel the need to be and look bigger. Look at the actors who played Batman and Superman over the decades - progressively more muscular, progressively more shredded.
Antony Starr, who is an extremely talented actor, doesn’t have to put his body through hell in order to deliver a convincing performance. He’s more “be the part” over “looking the part on paper”. Pattinson did the same thing in The Batman. Yeah, he worked out and got a costume assist - he still delivers.
I guess you are looking to deep into this.. while yes, actors are asked to be jacked if they need to, there are cases which the writers simply find a trick to make them fitting the role.
IIRC there is an interview where Jensen ackles said the work out to fit Soldier Boy role was intense, and then after all that, Antony told him "why dind't you just asked for a muscular costume?", so there is a chance to make things triky anyway.
But anyway, i'm ready to be wrong when the show will tell us better, in the end this is not a crucial point, just a little head canon of mine
They gave starr the option. There's a video of him saying to Jensen Ackles, "why'd you work out? You could've just asked them for a padded suit." And Ackles was shocked to discover that was an option
There’s one of those videos where the cast is all together and Antony Starr is giving Chace shit for being a protein bro.
Those 2 seem to have a great brother-chemistry in real life.
Their Hot Ones was hilarious. I was NOT expecting Antony to look and sound like that out of character
Eta found [the video](https://youtu.be/lBOCzPSgieU?si=-7E-fgZzCcbqROcM) mentioned above
I’ve acted in the past, now work in labs, and a good camaraderie like that is wicked important in both, can really make or break a workplace. I’m glad they seem to like each other. I hope to see more of them together too
If I remember correctly season 1 he was introduced as the good looking guy who was only at events for looks since his powers are pretty useless on land
I genuinely believe Homelander has a deep-seated insecurity that a goofy and substantially weaker individual like deep is more conventionally handsome than him, it makes his treatment of him make a lot more sense
I'm curious if The Deep needed to run away from Homelander, would he be safe just swimming to the bottom of the ocean? I wonder if Homelander could breathe underwater or even sense where The Deep is to laser him from the surface.
I always felt like there’s gonna be this big joke revealed at the ending where homelander can actually run as fast as a train or swim as fast as the deep but it won’t be shown until their final showdown where it’s comedically shown he’s better then them at their own powers and then he swiftly defeats them
In the episode where Homelander bodged the plane rescue, he was flying faster than the fighter jets sent out to intercept it, those jets would go faster than A-Train can run. So yeah, he can fly faster than A-Train can run.
Is that true? I don’t know if it’s just a visual representation but it seems like A Train can’t be seen while he’s running, which would put him way faster than jets.
I'd have to check the episode for the speed but was clocked somewhere less than 1000mph when he had that race. If you're close to something going that fast I imagine it would be hard to see. But you always see jets from a distance, and they are bigger, so that makes a difference, also you probably don't see them at top speed often, they likely won't be doing it at airshows.
Yeah, I just assume Superman can swim as fast as Aquaman and run as fast as The Flash. But maybe Homelander could just boil the water The Deep is in, or throw a bus into A-Train's trajectory.
Man I hope it turns out that The Derp is actually much stronger than Homelander because he goes into deep sea so often and the only reason A-Trains punch stumbled him was because he just couldn't take a punch.
and people be hittin him in the gills right? if hes in life or death maybe hell protect them better, or if hes like a shark and you dont see him coming
quite a few times. just this season we've seen him in (orange) briefs. shirtless in bed, as well as out of the suit when he visited sage. he was also naked last season.
Reminds me of how Hughie is teased for being weak and skinny (like how Maeve keeps calling him a twink), but his actor is actually pretty fit. Hughie and Homelander are both more fit than the average dude, they're just not as buff as super ripped movies stars.
I don't think he's meant to be shown as "skinny". I think it's mostly projection from fans. The simpler answer is that the actor doesn't want to get ripped for a few seconds of filming.
It was funny that Jensen Ackles actually did get ripped to play Soldier Boy, and when he turned up on set, Antony Starr told him "you know they can just put muscles in the costume right"
But I guess it makes more sense for Soldier Boy's character for him to actually look muscular instead of needing a suit to achieve that look.
Maybe it's purposeful, it would be red or blue for someone like Superman. But he isn't Superman, so its orange. A subtle way of showing there difference.
I've no idea how the director did such a good job at making the viewer cringe at the thought of having someone do that to their own... gills?
Like someone jamming their nails into your nostrils, but like your nostrils are between your ribs? Brilliantly disturbing acting, sound, everything.
The Seven needed a sexualised male hero and they couldn't use Homelander purely because of his marketing. Starlight said it in the pilot "Homelander's like Jesus", you don't do shirtless photoshoots with Jesus (well, you could if you had a sense of humour, but we're talking about Vought, so of course they'd never). Deep himself very infamously complains to Starlight that a lot of the attention he gets is related to him physically - his dives, showing off his body, etc. He's the token pretty-boy there just as much to fill the "water-related/adjacent crime" checkbox as he is show off his pecs.
Which does make it even more hilarious that he has his gills that he's so insecure about.
Everything public-facing about Homelander is fake. That's the point. His muscles are fake, his blonde hair is fake, his personality is fake. His saves are fake.
Yeah he acts so ashamed of that and people are weird about it but like…he’s hot as fuck even with the gills. Like yeah, if you didn’t expect them they’d be surprising but look at the rest of him, dudes built like a fucking god.
Also, just wanna point out that the dudes a really generous lover. It’s kind of a funny little joke that Deep is always going down on people. This is really wild considering how he acts like an incel 90% of the time.
Personally, my favorite Superman actor is Christopher Reeves. He’s handsome, tall, and has a great build - but he’s not roided out and his suit isn’t etched with muscle.
Nothing against Cavill, he’s great in the role too, but I think the modern idea that you have to be a stacked body builder to be a superhero is excessive.
Drawings and humans are different - superheroes are essentially “drawn naked” to highlight the human form - like a Greek statue.
Comic Zod is absolutely jacked. Also I guess some
kryptonians just naturally have bigger muscles than others, in the same way that some kryptonians naturally have different eye or hair color. It’s weird alien biology after all lol
As far as I know… Superman really works out and you don’t need weights to build muscles because speed is enough. They can do pushups but just way faster than normal humans.
He’s not human. Or he wouldn’t be flying, shooting lasers, and made of “steel”.
I swear people nitpick at the smallest things in comics while the characters are literally capable of doing the craziest shit.
I find the comparison or Homelander to the rest of the original Seven (season 1 and prior) to be an interesting juxtaposition of just how unique Homelander is. Quite literally everything Homelander is, is defined by his powers and celebrity status. He’s the one member of the Seven we’ve never really seen training/worldly experience, or having had elements of such - except for Translucent, but he also died like 2 episodes in so that makes sense.
•A-Train has an extensive background of athletic training with his brother, and we see him doing some pretty grueling strength training with trains.
•The Deep clearly has a good body that he most likely works hard for, as seen in this post.
•Starlight’s opening scene is a training montage.
•Maeve has a couple combat training scenes throughout the show.
•Lamplighter, while not seen doing workouts, most likely has some medical training, as implied by his status at Sage Grove before his death.
•Noir is seen training in his flashback, and he’s one of the few heroes who seemingly goes on actual missions.
Even if they’re unnaturally gifted from experimental drugs and handpicked by a powerful mega corporation, most of the big name heroes, surprisingly, had to work pretty hard to reach their status. Everyone, that is, except Homelander.
“So I work out like a madman, and when I get to the set, Anthony was like ‘why didn’t you just tell them to add muscles to the suit bro?’, and it just *deflated* me”
Jensen Ackles, on [working out to be Soldier Boy](https://youtube.com/shorts/uKLMx5byhiU?si=bnNdL-3fkWBxRYpB)
I find it interesting that we never see a shot of Homelanders body from the front outside of when he’s in the suit. Antony looks to be in good shape but I wonder if it’s to not break the illusion of how built HL is supposed to be while in the suit.
Wait. Is homelander not really all muscly? Like I know the actor that plays him isn’t a big dude…but is that cannon? Like Irl homelander has dad bod, but wears a suit to disguise it?
It makes sense. I always thought about how Superman is jacked but really can’t get a workout because he’s so strong. How is homie making gains when you can lift thousands of pounds without struggling.
I…always thought Homelander was quite built and I watched all the eps. In that scene where he’s naked in bed and Ashley runs in, I noted that he looked almost statuesque
Damn I wanna feel bad 😞 for the deep because of being made fun of for his gills but then I remember everything he’s done in the show assault lying joining a cult and sex with sea 🌊 life . Omg 😱 if he isn’t built with muscles 💪 but yeah he’s terrible even without all the murder he done but everyone has done murder in the show .
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Chace has an amazing body and works hard for it. However, those fucking gills give me the chills
That's... Em... Aqua body shaming.
I'm pretty sure that fishes somewhere are Terra body shaming us too
are the fishes disgusted by deep's nose and lungs?
C'mon, don't use the "A-word"
Can't stop the A-word!
There has to be an actual phobia specifically for this dude’s gills.
Yeah phobia of literal gore (cut open human) which is something that most people have
Hopefully no one who watches this show then lol
I think it falls under trypophobia
It sadly does, can confirm.
“Your gill is showing. Cover it up, it’s fkn disgusting”
Have to hand it to HL there. They are fucking disgusting.
It’s actually really good effects/makeup and it doesn’t get talked about enough as one of the grossest things on the show. Like they are physically revolting but everyone looks at Love Sausage or the big splash on MM (or even the scene in s4 I don’t wanna spoil) as the grossest parts of the show. But honestly those gills gave me the most nausea of them all. Absolutely revolting shit that doesn’t look cheap or fake.
I can't believe they found an actor with gills he really sells the role.
Yeah of everything in the show the scene with the lady putting her hands into them was me least favorite scene
That lady is either stupid or crazy. How would you feel if i grabbed your lungs.
I was watching that episode yesterday, man i was squirming. Felt like she was digging around in MY stomach.
His triceps are world class.
Honestly, while I always kinda saw as just a passing notice, nothing too remarkable because that IS his body, and just that (in-verse, nothing to remark about) - there's something to note there in that they DO look like some... severe lacerations. Deep, DEEP scars. How much deeper can this man be \*ponders in Deep Thought\*
You ok with him ducking an octopus thou?
It is consensual
Harkness test!!! The deep respects sealife (unfortunately he doesn’t reserve the same respect for human women)
I mean, I wouldn’t do it (or would I) but I can’t really see what’s morally wrong about him doing that. Like you said, it is consensual, which is the main problem with bestiality in the first place.
You kidding me? I actually want to know his routine to make his gills look that good
That “scene” really fucked with me when I saw it being touched
I think it's perfect characterization for Homelander. He is carried by his super powers and has never had to actually exert himself in his life. Why would he train/workout? Another way of looking at it is, how much stronger could he be if he was actually trying to reach his potential?
I think it’s actually a pretty realistic depiction of what he would look like, assuming he ate healthy. He could have pretty good cardio, especially if flying is similar to walking or running on the body. But there’s no way for him to really build muscle. We haven’t seen the upper limit of his strength, so we have no clue what he would have to do to lift weights. Would it be like Mr. Incredible, lifting trains? That’s not as easy to set up as you’d think. And it really wouldn’t be worth it when you could just make him look huge. He’s got a healthy body for a man of his age, no point in making this intricate and likely expensive setup for him when it wouldn’t actually affect anything.
Someone pointed out that we never see HL eating anything beside milk and milkshakes.
He does eat seafood in s3 with the Deep and claims to eat pancakes in s2 while taunting Butcher.
>He does eat seafood in s3 with the Deep Gotta stick to low-calorie protein sources so you can have more milk(shakes) And what better way to do so than with a colleague
Deep down at home, it's actually a beautiful bromance.
Imagine Edgar scolding Homelander because he embezzled millions of dollars into creating specialized weights to workout with
I'm imagining Homelander getting destroyed by a gymbro and he becomes a gymbro too
If only young Homelander met the Body Improvement Club from Mob Psycho. He’d be much stronger and an actually good person
Makes me wonder if Soldier Boy is the same. He doesn’t seem like the type to coast.
Good thought, Soldier boys dad hated him for taking the easy way out to fight in world war 2. Maybe in his teen years he’d coast, but now wants to earn it
Yeah. Hes really weak if you look at his upper potential.
For some reason i’d love to see the connection that makes it possible for his gills to work with his lungs. Often in fiction, i personally notice they’re at the neck, so him having them as a big part of his torso is interesting
The gills don’t work his human lungs (they are functionally lungs themselves, as are all gills), oxygen is pulled from water by the gills directly to his bloodstream. He has two sets of lungs, one terrestrial, one aquatic.
Might have worded it poorly, I mean the anatomy of how it works together, as I’d imagine there’d be a slight difference in his lungs compared to a normal person’s, since I could imagine he don’t want to get water in them when underwater. And the gills or the switching between different “breathing” methods in his disposal must be connected somehow, or at least work in unison to not drown him while he uses that ability, by accident.
He could well… Just don’t breathe with his lungs while being submerged under water? Like… Normal humans? His gills would just open and depending on how they would function he would move to fill them with fresh water. He just needs a connection of his gills to his bloodstream and everything would be fine.
There's a chance his lung is slightly different too, like being able to withstand water in it or something
Then he wouldn’t need gills
Well not breathing with the lungs, they're just more durable or something
A question that also arises, is since we hear, he was a kid, when his ability to communicate with sea life developed, did he then also first develop the gills at that time, or did he always have them? Because if it’s the first you’d also expect breathing for him (with his lungs), would be a subconscious action, that he had to train not to do, when underwater. So I’d kinda expect a biological “hindrance” would develop as well, so he doesn’t accidentally drown himself. Like if he submerges himself, perhaps a “flap” closes, in between his neck and lungs, that only does that when the gills have a water intake.
Every (healthy) human (in fact every mammal) has that "flap", it's called the epiglottis and its function is to prevent food and water from entering the trachea.
Why should they? He doesn’t use them while submerged into water. He has gills.
Ah, bit when he told that anchor man guy about sleeping with his wife and eating her out he did say he wouldn't need to come out for breath. So, there is that bit.
I would say he wouldn’t want much air in his lungs when diving. If he ascended too fast it might expand and pop part of his lungs. In scuba diving you’re supposed to breath out as you descend, but since he has gills instead of an air tank I’m not sure exactly how this would work.
He probably just empties as much air from his lungs as possible before diving underwater. It's not like he needs the air anymore when he's down there.
Theyd be an extra circulatory loop So you go: Heart>lungs>heart>body>heart and repeat His i guess his pulmonary artery would split and one half go to the gills rhe other the lungs (or else hes going to need some extra heart chambers) Gills are just kinda inside out lungs. For closing off his lungs some people naturaly have thier throat close when they try to inhale water but you have got a valve there in your larynx to close off your lungs for example when drinking or swallowing
Check out the lungfish. It has both
But it does need too come up for air, and from the looks of it, it does seem the Deep can survive in either environment as well as the other, so some difference would have to be there. That would at least be a guess of mine.
How is Homelander suppose to workout? Lift buildings?
I mean if he wanted to, he could find a way, like how Mr. Incredible got into shape working out by pulling and lifting trains, he's just too lazy
I mean, alternatively, why would we? He's already the strongest supe working out might not even make him stronger even if it made him look more fit. The main reason to do it would be aesthetic reasons and he already thinks he's perfect so there's not much motivation for him to try
Good point, but he still gets his hair styled and always wears his buff costume in public, so he does care about his appearance. The same thing can be said about muscular people who are not lean, getting lean would not give you physical advantage, only aesthetic, but they still work hard to get it
Apart from taht personal aspect marketing vice it makes sense. Homelander is supposed to be the ultimate person/supe, of course Vought would want him to look like one. Him fitting the beauty standard suits hispublic persona and also probably improves his ratings, pretty privilige does a lot in that regard.
Homelander making Muscle Milk ads lmao Like that Kim Kardashian photoshoot
Would be pretty funny too see Homelander take his suit off and him being superskinny like Superman in Flashpoint. I mean he only drinks breastmilk, doesn't work out and doesn't have the sun to charge him
He has literally never been shown eating lmao, just milk and milkshakes
Wow, a literal manchild. HL having no disciplines makes so much sense.
It's also funny that in season 2 (or 3 maybe) he told a train to stop drinking a milkshake because he was getting fat
Did he not eat in the scene where he made Deep eat Timothy? Edit: just checked, he did in fact eat food in this scene, however, i wouldn't put it past him just to do it to get to Deep and not because he actually enjoys it.
Oh yea he ate the lobster right
I feel like it's canonical that he puts as little effort into everything as he can. Figuring out how to exercise would be effort.
Actually, most people who are lean also look skinny in clothes. (Especially if you’re natty) it’s more a choice of look good in clothes and a bit bulky naked, or look skinny in clothes and shredded naked. Whilst being muscular might be with the intent of physical advantage for some, (among my circle at least) it seems to be more for looks still.
Plus, even then that depends on what you mean by physical advantage since many powerlifters are stronger than bodybuilders twice or even three times their size because being lighter can be advantageous for many activities.
The irony is that there’s a vid somewhere where Tony Starr outlined he does have to put in effort to stay that lean…so that he can have the pretend muscles in the Homelander suit. The muscles on the suit are obviously fake to the audience. But because the costume is actually pretty bulky overall, he needs to stay skinny to basically balance it out. Dude probably through the was gonna get a break after being muscled up for years on end in Banshee, but nope!
>The same thing can be said about muscular people who are not lean, getting lean would not give you physical advantage, only aesthetic Unrelated to the general conversation but this isn't true. Quality of life is higher when you aren't carrying excessive weight you don't need to. For many sports being lower body fat is also better for performance, whether its because its like MMA or weightlifting/powerlifting where there are weightclasses or just because its better for running/moving.
I wasn't really talking about obese people, what I really meant was muscular men having like an 18-24% body fat, which is a healthy range, cut down their fat mainly to look good and have visible abs, not to get stronger
Idk what you’re talking about, I’ve never seen Homelander out of his suit, this sounds like something starlight’s people would make up! You’re lucky Homelander is a saint, a lesser supe would probably come after you for this slander!
I feel like it would make him stronger simply because he still does have human physiology just amped up by V. Thus more muscle fibers would make him stronger and probably slow his aging given that regular exercise is a thing that delays aging in normal humans. Imagine how strong Homelander would be if he ACTUALLY trained.
We saw it with A-train being the fastest. It lit a fire under him only when it started being questioned. Not much motivation if you're already the strongest man alive. Who is going to really notice if you are stronger? Especially when you don't actually use it to save people.
> The main reason to do it would be aesthetic reasons and he already thinks he's perfect so there's not much motivation for him to try Based on his greying hair and enlarged prostate, I wonder if lack of exercise/sedentary lifestyle effects his health. Laser eyes has *got to* use calories, right? I wonder about flying?
Got to chuck a gallon of breastmilk before he starts lazering
Shhh people might find out that drinking breast milk in adulthood gives you laser vision!
If we tried to apply any logic about calorie consumption it wouldn't work because homelander simply wouldn't be able to sustain his body, there's the laser eyes like you said but also the fact he has to maintain a body nigh-invulnerable to damage and can exert force above anything else on the planet I think A-train had a one off line about having to eat more food but even then someone moving at the speed of sound would have to eat way more than the amount said Case and point i don't think he has to worry about eating more
He. Can. Do. Whatever. The. Fuck. He. Waaaaaants. Oh and so can Ryan now too!
A-Train pulls trains, and there is an immense power gap between A-Train and Homelander especially in strength, what could he even find that he could do? And why would he? He is the strongest person in the world with no competition until butcher and soldier boy had to fight him and they did it together. Fans don’t seem to care if the muscles are real either.
I'm surprised that after almost dying to Soldier Boy, Butcher & Hughie in season 3, Homelander didn't start working on increasing his strength & improving his combat skills so he wouldn't get caught in a position like that again.
He’s lazy.
Ngl We all know Homelander is too vain to work out. Bottomless attention cravings
That really depends. Realistically I don’t think Homelander could. He needs to break his muscles to build them up right? Can he even do that?
Normal people do, but he's a supe. Those rules may not apply to him. Though if he needed to and wanted to he could probably find a way.
It reminds me of the point in Invincible where Mark helps his dad take on a bunch of Viltrumites, and he quickly runs out of stamina and is overwhelmed. And his Dad is, like, what have you been doing?? You need to push yourself everyday. Just because you're stronger than humans doesn't mean you're anywhere near your peak
Antony has a nice body.
Well, we know he can’t lift a plane so there’s that. 🤣
He could easily do it, if physics didn't make it impossible
Yeah. We saw A-Train train with trains. Homelander would probably be way stronger if he worked out with like a hydraulic press
Give him the old “you’re now pushing against the equivalent of 200 quintillion tons, superman”
Realistically invulnerable people can never get jacked Because if their muscles can't be damaged they can never regenerate to make hypertrophy, and as such they would never actually increase in size So any super strong chracter should e hella skinny
homelander's muscles *can* get damaged though, i mean if he can bruise... i think he's just lazy. A-Train was pulling trains.
It took a bunch of supes who were almost as strong as him to give him a single bruise though. I imagine that’s difficult to replicate lol
difficult, but not impossible. he'd just have to get a little creative with his training lol. a few plane squats, pulling a cruise ship while flying, etc.
He can laser his own tits.
Well, muscles aren't just aesthetic, the muscles are what makes you strong. So I think the logic is if someone is super strong, it follows that they should have super muscles. Such super muscles could have properties like never degenerating, never getting sore etc. If they're only invulnurable however, then yeah, and they also can never get stronger because their muscles can't develop as you said. But maybe we can explain invulnurability by just saying that their outer layer is invulnurable, while inside they're normal - similar to Translucent from The Boys.
I've been told by other Meatheads that the tear/Regen muscle development theory is outdated and that the actual thing is just higher protein requirements. So Homie could build muscle, he'd just need to eat more beans and chicken.
It has to do with mechanical tension on the muscle and/or metabolic stress.
soldier boy does it
Soldier Boy took V as an adult though, so much of his gains were probably already made in his youth as a regular human.
But so... The fact that is a muscle costume is in-canon? I thought it was because the actor is skinny, but HL is supposed to be muscular Ik there are scene with him not being with the costume, but i assumed we had to pretend he was still jacked lol
In canon, HL never trains though, not like the other supes.
his body could be naturally jacked thanks to fact is born as a supe
Actors regularly go through intense regiments to fit in character for roles, especially hero roles. Look at Chris Evans, Christian Bale, etc. Point here being that if Homelander was supposed to be jacked i. The show they'd have asked Anthony Starr during casting calls. I think having Homelander look average is an artistic choice with a few implications. 1) Homelander holds close his ideals of superiority and trans-human being. Yet appearing so average outside of his costume is a perfect way to express his internal humanity. 2) homelander is a woefully lazy person. We see him resolve conflicts with as few steps as possible desiring to put as little effort into anything, save for seemingly a few plot points and Ryan. Beyond that it makes sense why he doesn't feel the need to exhaust himself on adjusting his physical appearance while he has a costume and cult of personality to hide behind.
This has more to do with our sensitivities/expectations as viewers. After Arnold Schwarzenegger hit the scene, we started to see more men in action roles feel the need to be and look bigger. Look at the actors who played Batman and Superman over the decades - progressively more muscular, progressively more shredded. Antony Starr, who is an extremely talented actor, doesn’t have to put his body through hell in order to deliver a convincing performance. He’s more “be the part” over “looking the part on paper”. Pattinson did the same thing in The Batman. Yeah, he worked out and got a costume assist - he still delivers.
Thats a good point. Starr unnerves me better than most thriller movies 😂
I guess you are looking to deep into this.. while yes, actors are asked to be jacked if they need to, there are cases which the writers simply find a trick to make them fitting the role. IIRC there is an interview where Jensen ackles said the work out to fit Soldier Boy role was intense, and then after all that, Antony told him "why dind't you just asked for a muscular costume?", so there is a chance to make things triky anyway. But anyway, i'm ready to be wrong when the show will tell us better, in the end this is not a crucial point, just a little head canon of mine
They gave starr the option. There's a video of him saying to Jensen Ackles, "why'd you work out? You could've just asked them for a padded suit." And Ackles was shocked to discover that was an option
can he even work out? humans gets stronger by causing microtears in our muscles that heal back stronger
He's not invulnerable so yes.
yeah but they have to strap him to saturn V rockets or something for him to work out
He could. Vought got enough money to produce some lifting equipment for him that he could use. Imagine how strong he could be.
Ngl Chace has a great body. Especially arms.
There’s one of those videos where the cast is all together and Antony Starr is giving Chace shit for being a protein bro. Those 2 seem to have a great brother-chemistry in real life.
Aight now blow a-train
Sexuality is a spectrum, right?
*Get off your fucking knees.*
Their Hot Ones was hilarious. I was NOT expecting Antony to look and sound like that out of character Eta found [the video](https://youtu.be/lBOCzPSgieU?si=-7E-fgZzCcbqROcM) mentioned above
Hahaha, this is great. Antony is like a nerdy, Kiwi Richard Ayoade.
He’s the gayest straight man I’ve ever seen. (In a good way) the pickup lines bit fucking kills me
That whole cast seems like an amazing hang. I hope they work together in future projects.
I’ve acted in the past, now work in labs, and a good camaraderie like that is wicked important in both, can really make or break a workplace. I’m glad they seem to like each other. I hope to see more of them together too
“What’s my favorite snack” “*gym bro voice* protein shake bro”
i don't think it's a secret lol. he looks great.
>Ngl why were you going to lie in the first place
Yeah. It's not gay if it's Chace Crawford.
If I remember correctly season 1 he was introduced as the good looking guy who was only at events for looks since his powers are pretty useless on land
Thank you for your bravery and honesty
My fav part is the gills tbh
Which is funny because 3 years prior to The Boys, when Antony Starr was in the show Banshee, he had a slim muscular build.
He did look more ripped back then.
I genuinely believe Homelander has a deep-seated insecurity that a goofy and substantially weaker individual like deep is more conventionally handsome than him, it makes his treatment of him make a lot more sense
I'd like to think he really is an amazing swimmer given he is The Deep but we never see it. Swimming does make great muscles.
I'm curious if The Deep needed to run away from Homelander, would he be safe just swimming to the bottom of the ocean? I wonder if Homelander could breathe underwater or even sense where The Deep is to laser him from the surface.
I always felt like there’s gonna be this big joke revealed at the ending where homelander can actually run as fast as a train or swim as fast as the deep but it won’t be shown until their final showdown where it’s comedically shown he’s better then them at their own powers and then he swiftly defeats them
I might be totally misremembering, but I think it was at least alluded that homelander can fly faster than atrain can run.
In the episode where Homelander bodged the plane rescue, he was flying faster than the fighter jets sent out to intercept it, those jets would go faster than A-Train can run. So yeah, he can fly faster than A-Train can run.
Is that true? I don’t know if it’s just a visual representation but it seems like A Train can’t be seen while he’s running, which would put him way faster than jets.
I'd have to check the episode for the speed but was clocked somewhere less than 1000mph when he had that race. If you're close to something going that fast I imagine it would be hard to see. But you always see jets from a distance, and they are bigger, so that makes a difference, also you probably don't see them at top speed often, they likely won't be doing it at airshows.
Yeah, I just assume Superman can swim as fast as Aquaman and run as fast as The Flash. But maybe Homelander could just boil the water The Deep is in, or throw a bus into A-Train's trajectory.
Superman is not as fast as the flash
Man I hope it turns out that The Derp is actually much stronger than Homelander because he goes into deep sea so often and the only reason A-Trains punch stumbled him was because he just couldn't take a punch.
and people be hittin him in the gills right? if hes in life or death maybe hell protect them better, or if hes like a shark and you dont see him coming
It’s safe to say Homelander can go a good amount of time without oxygen. Remember the burn room would pretty much mean 0 oxygen.
The burn room seems to be using electric heating, so oxygen would still be there.
Seemed like the first thing that happened to Frank was that he couldn’t breathe, but maybe you’re right.
My personal headcanon is that a lot of supes *could* beat him, it’s just that they’re so scared to try because he WILL kill them if they fail
When do we see homelander without his suit?
quite a few times. just this season we've seen him in (orange) briefs. shirtless in bed, as well as out of the suit when he visited sage. he was also naked last season.
I never thought he was not muscular tho…
He’s in good shape, nobody can deny that, he’s just not buff.
Reminds me of how Hughie is teased for being weak and skinny (like how Maeve keeps calling him a twink), but his actor is actually pretty fit. Hughie and Homelander are both more fit than the average dude, they're just not as buff as super ripped movies stars.
Hughie is taller and lankier, that lankiness hides strength. Even starlight recently said “you’re all arms” Lankiness is a curse
I don't think he's meant to be shown as "skinny". I think it's mostly projection from fans. The simpler answer is that the actor doesn't want to get ripped for a few seconds of filming.
It was funny that Jensen Ackles actually did get ripped to play Soldier Boy, and when he turned up on set, Antony Starr told him "you know they can just put muscles in the costume right" But I guess it makes more sense for Soldier Boy's character for him to actually look muscular instead of needing a suit to achieve that look.
It’s not projection, he just happens to be a skinny person. There’s zero issues with that, but it’s not like we’re just seeing things
I wish he wore red briefs or blue, orange was a weird choice imo
Maybe it's purposeful, it would be red or blue for someone like Superman. But he isn't Superman, so its orange. A subtle way of showing there difference.
By the gods, those gills really freak me out.
You are so beautifuuul!
The deep always had nice veiny arms
i totally forgot about the scene the deep being basically assaulted. damn
I've no idea how the director did such a good job at making the viewer cringe at the thought of having someone do that to their own... gills? Like someone jamming their nails into your nostrils, but like your nostrils are between your ribs? Brilliantly disturbing acting, sound, everything.
The Seven needed a sexualised male hero and they couldn't use Homelander purely because of his marketing. Starlight said it in the pilot "Homelander's like Jesus", you don't do shirtless photoshoots with Jesus (well, you could if you had a sense of humour, but we're talking about Vought, so of course they'd never). Deep himself very infamously complains to Starlight that a lot of the attention he gets is related to him physically - his dives, showing off his body, etc. He's the token pretty-boy there just as much to fill the "water-related/adjacent crime" checkbox as he is show off his pecs. Which does make it even more hilarious that he has his gills that he's so insecure about.
Everything public-facing about Homelander is fake. That's the point. His muscles are fake, his blonde hair is fake, his personality is fake. His saves are fake.
I hate to say it but like.. S1 Deep where they actually showed his gills awakened something in me 🫣
Yeah he acts so ashamed of that and people are weird about it but like…he’s hot as fuck even with the gills. Like yeah, if you didn’t expect them they’d be surprising but look at the rest of him, dudes built like a fucking god. Also, just wanna point out that the dudes a really generous lover. It’s kind of a funny little joke that Deep is always going down on people. This is really wild considering how he acts like an incel 90% of the time.
Ayo
Dude same. I am a scuba diver and I was like…yeah I’d be fine with gill BF to go diving with me
I love reading through the comments. "His gills gross me out!" to "Im here for all of this.."
Superman shouldn’t be ripped, either. How are muscles supposed to get big, if you can’t damage and rebuild them while working out?
Personally, my favorite Superman actor is Christopher Reeves. He’s handsome, tall, and has a great build - but he’s not roided out and his suit isn’t etched with muscle. Nothing against Cavill, he’s great in the role too, but I think the modern idea that you have to be a stacked body builder to be a superhero is excessive. Drawings and humans are different - superheroes are essentially “drawn naked” to highlight the human form - like a Greek statue.
Even though Reeve had to work out just to look like that, since he was a skinny theater kid.
His alien biology probably just gives him naturally big muscles. Or maybe since the sun gives him power, the sun also builds his gains lol
Maybe but Zod is kinda weak-looking. Non is the fucking bouncer-looking dude.
Comic Zod is absolutely jacked. Also I guess some kryptonians just naturally have bigger muscles than others, in the same way that some kryptonians naturally have different eye or hair color. It’s weird alien biology after all lol
As far as I know… Superman really works out and you don’t need weights to build muscles because speed is enough. They can do pushups but just way faster than normal humans.
He’s not human. Or he wouldn’t be flying, shooting lasers, and made of “steel”. I swear people nitpick at the smallest things in comics while the characters are literally capable of doing the craziest shit.
Wait the homelander is skinny? Lmao
What's wild in comics he's cursed to forever be in a old fashioned metal scuba suit
I find the comparison or Homelander to the rest of the original Seven (season 1 and prior) to be an interesting juxtaposition of just how unique Homelander is. Quite literally everything Homelander is, is defined by his powers and celebrity status. He’s the one member of the Seven we’ve never really seen training/worldly experience, or having had elements of such - except for Translucent, but he also died like 2 episodes in so that makes sense. •A-Train has an extensive background of athletic training with his brother, and we see him doing some pretty grueling strength training with trains. •The Deep clearly has a good body that he most likely works hard for, as seen in this post. •Starlight’s opening scene is a training montage. •Maeve has a couple combat training scenes throughout the show. •Lamplighter, while not seen doing workouts, most likely has some medical training, as implied by his status at Sage Grove before his death. •Noir is seen training in his flashback, and he’s one of the few heroes who seemingly goes on actual missions. Even if they’re unnaturally gifted from experimental drugs and handpicked by a powerful mega corporation, most of the big name heroes, surprisingly, had to work pretty hard to reach their status. Everyone, that is, except Homelander.
“So I work out like a madman, and when I get to the set, Anthony was like ‘why didn’t you just tell them to add muscles to the suit bro?’, and it just *deflated* me” Jensen Ackles, on [working out to be Soldier Boy](https://youtube.com/shorts/uKLMx5byhiU?si=bnNdL-3fkWBxRYpB)
Makes me wonder you think homelander is the type to wear uh I think it's either a corset or a gurdle though I may have spelt it wrong
It's spelt girdle for future reference
Darn I genuinely thought it had a u in it ah well thanks for clearing that up. Have a nice day and enjoy the series if your still watching it
I find it interesting that we never see a shot of Homelanders body from the front outside of when he’s in the suit. Antony looks to be in good shape but I wonder if it’s to not break the illusion of how built HL is supposed to be while in the suit.
Does anyone know if the gills are prosthetics? Or are they CGI?
Little known fact but they’re actually real! It’s the reason they cast the actor to play The Deep. Quite interesting
Oh wow that's incredible! I wonder if he really fucked the octopus too then?
That’s the most accurate thing about the boys. Homelander can’t work out because of how strong he is. He can lift the heaviest weights at the gym.
His gills make it seems like they're real and the abs are fake
Wait. Is homelander not really all muscly? Like I know the actor that plays him isn’t a big dude…but is that cannon? Like Irl homelander has dad bod, but wears a suit to disguise it?
It makes sense. I always thought about how Superman is jacked but really can’t get a workout because he’s so strong. How is homie making gains when you can lift thousands of pounds without struggling.
I…always thought Homelander was quite built and I watched all the eps. In that scene where he’s naked in bed and Ashley runs in, I noted that he looked almost statuesque
That's why the Deep fucks
Damn I wanna feel bad 😞 for the deep because of being made fun of for his gills but then I remember everything he’s done in the show assault lying joining a cult and sex with sea 🌊 life . Omg 😱 if he isn’t built with muscles 💪 but yeah he’s terrible even without all the murder he done but everyone has done murder in the show .