Gen V: Could Sam beat Homelander?

Homelander has yet to be defeated in The Boys, but Gen V may have a contender: Sam, Golden Boy’s brother – but is he stronger than the star-spangled villain, and could he beat him?

Homelander is only ever halted, never beaten; some fans have even compared him to One Punch Man’s Saitama in his limited but incredibly formidable move set, allowing him to overpower pretty much any opponent or escape before he’s killed.

That said, some supes have come close. Season 3’s Herogasm climaxed with a three-on-one brawl, with Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie all managing to get the better of Homelander. They were mere seconds away from neutralizing him with Soldier Boy’s radioactive blast, but he summoned his last remaining might and rocketed into the sky.

Gen V‘s supes may be young and inexperienced, but they’re already a threat to Homelander – especially Sam, who may be one of the strongest heroes in the franchise to date.

The Boys fans debate if Gen V’s Sam could beat Homelander

Sam’s powers may be simpler than Golden Boy’s extravagant flame-on abilities, but this is the salient fact: as per Doctor Cardosa, Sam is vastly stronger than Luke.

Considering Professor Brinkerhoff believed Golden Boy could be “bigger than Homelander”, and both brothers were victims of grueling experiments aimed at enhancing their strength (or transferring Sam’s to Luke), it raises an exciting question: could Sam be the supe to beat Homelander?

We know he can hold his own against several supes at once (albeit they’re all students, so he’s yet to fight a Black Noir-level opponent), and he can leap great distances like Queen Maeve.

On Reddit, one user argued: “Could be eventually. Maybe. Doesn’t seem like he’d stand a chance at all now, but there is a lot about Sam we don’t seem to fully know yet. The line about Golden Boy ‘not even being close’ seems telling considering how much Golden Boy was talked up.”

“I’m guessing Sam has way more powers than we expect. Someone suggested elsewhere that he may end up being The Boys version of Legion, which, if so, he could easily scale to the level of Homelander,” another theorized.

Others have cited Jordan Li and their invulnerability in their male form. “Jordan’s male power seems to be invulnerability, or maybe the male form absorbs energy and the female form releases it in those blasts. But clearly they’re a more durable than average supe and basically the strongest person at the school now, so to me it makes sense they’re putting up a fight,” one wrote.

“I think Jordan is just VERY, VERY, VERY durable, but they’ll eventually crack under homelander. One could say Jordan has the SAME durability as Homelander and Soldier Boy, but we don’t know much yet. Hopefully we’ll get answers,” another commented.

Gen V Episodes 1-6 are on Prime Video now, which you can sign up for here. You can check out our other coverage below:

Gen V review | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | When does Gen V take place in The Boys timeline? | Gen V cast and characters | The Boys cameos | Gen V runtimes explained | Tek Knight powers explained | What is the Virus? | Jordan Li powers explained | Why does Soldier Boy return?

Please note that if you click on a product link on this page we may earn a small affiliate commission.