Does Soldier Boy Actually Care About Homelander, or Is He Just Repeating History?

The father-son relationship at the center of ‘The Boys’ final season is one of the most psychologically rich dynamics the show has ever produced, and the question of whether Soldier Boy genuinely cares about Homelander does not have a clean answer. It never could, not with two men this broken.

A Connection Built on Secrets and Sperm Donation

When ‘The Boys’ season 3 revealed that Soldier Boy is Homelander’s biological father, it reframed everything the two characters had in common, from their Vought golden-boy status to their parallel betrayals by the women they loved. The twist was particularly stinging because of how it came about. Vought used Soldier Boy’s genetic material without his knowledge, with Vogelbaum telling him it was simply for research purposes. The company then used it to engineer a superior replacement, effectively stealing his legacy to build his own son.

Showrunner Eric Kripke explained that the Soldier Boy and Homelander connection grew out of the season’s overarching theme of fathers passing trauma down to their sons, with toxic masculinity at its core. He noted that Homelander, like Butcher, Hughie, and Mother’s Milk, needed to grapple with his parents, and the pitch to make Soldier Boy his father immediately clicked into place.

The Rejection That Said Everything

What makes the ‘The Boys’ season 3 finale so devastating is that Homelander, for the first time in the series, comes to Soldier Boy emotionally exposed. He wants a father. He craves it the way he craves validation from everyone. Homelander watches old Soldier Boy promotional footage and something close to sincerity seeps through as he tries to connect with the man who made him.

And then Soldier Boy tears it apart.

Rather than offering his son the belonging he has always lacked, Soldier Boy looks down on Homelander and calls him a disappointment. This rejection mirrors almost exactly what Soldier Boy himself experienced from his own father, who dismissed him even after he became the most powerful supe in the country. Soldier Boy’s father called him a disappointment and accused him of taking a shortcut by using Compound V, insisting that a real man would never have cheated his way into greatness.

The scene in the finale captures something deeply tragic. Soldier Boy channels the words of his own father, his face collapsing, rage and grief intertwined, unable to see past his own damage long enough to give his son anything different. He is not a monster choosing cruelty. He is a wounded man who never learned another way.

Season 5 and a Complicated Thaw

By the time ‘The Boys’ final season arrives, Soldier Boy and Homelander have an extremely uneasy dynamic. Soldier Boy was put back on ice after season 3, and when Homelander releases him, Soldier Boy is initially disgusted at the thought of working with his son at all.

Showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed that heading into season 5, Soldier Boy outright hates Homelander and only goes along with their mission to Fort Harmony in order to prevent his son from getting what he wants, not to help him.

But something shifts. In episode 4, Soldier Boy locks Homelander in a uranium chamber to weaken him, then has an unexpected emotional breakdown when confronting his past. When Homelander finds him crying and chooses not to punish or kill him but instead gives him space, it reads as a rare moment of restraint from a man not known for any.

Jensen Ackles unpacked this turning point in an interview, explaining that this shift opened Soldier Boy up to “questioning” whether there is something worth saving in the relationship. Ackles added that before this moment, Soldier Boy’s position was essentially that he hoped Homelander would die, but now he is no longer fully certain.

A Mirror He Cannot Stand to Look At

Ackles has also pointed out that Soldier Boy despises Homelander in part because Homelander is a reflection of himself, something the prequel series ‘Vought Rising’ will explore further. The neediness, the hunger for approval, the volcanic rage underneath a polished surface. Soldier Boy sees all of it, and it disgusts him because he is looking inward.

In a separate interview, Ackles was direct when asked whether Soldier Boy cares about Homelander’s growing messiah complex. He described the dynamic as a mix of anger, jealousy, and disappointment, noting that Homelander claiming godhood pushes Soldier Boy toward the edge of walking away entirely.

Even as the season progresses, Soldier Boy’s loyalty to Homelander remains transactional, breaking the neck of a supe who moved against his son not out of love but out of cold, self-serving logic.

The Cycle Is the Point

‘The Boys’ has never been subtle about its thesis, and the Soldier Boy and Homelander story is perhaps its clearest argument. The show uses their relationship to examine how parental abuse travels through generations, with each man projecting his own self-doubt onto the next in line, ensuring the damage keeps moving forward. Soldier Boy does not need to love Homelander for that to be true. The wound passes regardless.

Whether he can break the cycle before ‘The Boys’ ends its final run is the real question, and right now the answer feels very much like no.

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