The Boys Season 5, Episode 4 showcased Homelander's vulnerability that could provide a hint on how he can truly be defeated at the end of the season. The Boys is laying the groundwork for Homelander's potential downfall as the ragtag group of protagonists race against time to ultimately kill him (or at least permanently depower him) to end his tyrannical reign of terror. The key to victory lies in the elusive V-One, the far more potent prototype of Compound V. Beyond granting powers, this ancient formula effectively halts aging, granting its user near-immortality and immunity to Billy Butcher's Supe-killing virus.
In The Boys Season 5's latest episode, Soldier Boy (who almost died in The Boys Season 5, Episode 2) delivered a gut-wrenching (albeit temporary) betrayal by trapping Homelander inside an old Vought supermarket containment chamber at Fort Harmony. This reinforced vault was historically used to test whether supes could survive nuclear blasts.
Homelander was very much weakened from the radiation of enriched uranium, leaving him vulnerable and broken. If anything, exploiting radiation served as Homelander's temporary "kryptonite."
The exposure rapidly weakened Homelander's physiology, his skin blisters and peels, radiation burns emerging over his body, and his powers falter. His heat vision was not as powerful as before, and his super strength could not break the super-proof glass or doors.
This marks one of the rare times where Homelander looks truly mortal, which is quite satisfying for those who hate him.
While radiation doesn't permanently nerf Homelander, this reveal could hint that The Boys could use radiation-based weapons to disable the god-tier villain, long enough for them to inject the virus and hopefully stop and ultimately kill him (read more about Homelander's death in the comics).
The next episode of The Boys Season 5 will premiere on Wednesday, April 29, at midnight PT.
What Are Homelander’s Other Weaknesses in The Boys?
The radiation exposure isn't an isolated highlight, mainly because it highlights how Homelander still has exploitable weaknesses that could lead to his defeat.
A glaring physical weakness of Homelander is the fact that he can't see through zinc. The Boys weaponized this vulnerability in Season 1, hiding Translucent's remains in a zinc-lined box and even using zinc-coated air ducts to evade his gaze.
Despite his superhuman biology, Homelander still ages, underscoring that he is not immortal. At one point in The Boys Season 4, Homelander was seen plucking gray hairs and staring at them in pure horror, realizing he is far from perfect. This fear serves as his prime motivator in hunting down V-One because Homelander wants to be a god and live forever.
Homelander has the core delusion that he is a divine being above all humans and supes, and his superiority complex proves to be his fatal flaw. His sheer ego makes him overconfident, impulsive, and blind to threats. He craves validation like an addict, and those against him have repeatedly exploited this weakness to distract him and shatter his ego during battle.
Homelander is simply a broken man-child craving for genuine affection and motherly love (which explains his disturbing obsession with milk). This explains why he has volatile reactions to betrayal, and his position as a man-child makes him easy to manipulate by peers, such as Sister Sage and Stan Edgar (in past seasons).
While Homelander is indeed overwhelmingly powerful and threatening across the board, he is still deeply flawed, and it is up to Billy Butcher, Starlight, and their crew of misfits to find exploit his wide array of vulnerabilities before it is too late.
