Summary
The whole point ofHomelanderas a character is that there’s no-one in the world ofThe Boyswho can hold a candle to him. Strong, invulnerable, incredibly fast, and able to fire super-heated beams from his eyes,Homelander’s many superhuman powersturn him into the ultimate bully and abuser, becoming a threat to America itself as the story unfolds.However, there is one person who Homelander was impressed by, admitting,“I think I’ve finally met a superhuman…”
Homelander’s cruelty isn’t reserved for normal humans - he treats his fellow Supes with just as much disdain, humiliating and threatening other members of the Seven multiple times throughout Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s original comic series. However, even Homelander falls in line when he’s in the presence of James Stillwell - a Vought-American CEO assigned as the Seven’s official liason.
Stillwell was partly adapted in Amazon’sThe Boysin Elisabeth Shue’s Madelyn Stillwell, though most ofGiancarlo Esposito’s Stan Edgaralso comes from the character - while EdgarisVought CEO in the comics, he barely appears, and iconic moments such as calling Homelander"bad product"are Stillwell’s in the comics.
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Homelander Called James Stillwell “a Superhuman”
Even Butcher Was Freaked Out by Vought’s Company Man
ThroughoutThe Boys, Stillwell visits and oversees the Seven as Vought’s representative. Giventhe Seven were created by Voughtand all their marketing is done via the company, even Homelander feels answerable to Stillwell, at one point viciously reminding A-Train"don’t **** around in front of the money.“As the series continues, Homelander grows more and more resentful of Stillwell’s lack of respect for him and clear disinterest in his heroic reputation. This comes to a head inThe Boys #64.
In this issue,Homelander unleashes his plans for a coupon the United States, gathering a Supe army to attack the White House. Having finally enacted his plan, he can’t resist going to rub it in Stillwell’s face, crowing over the fact that the Vought executive underestimated him. Stillwell greets Homelander with mild disinterest, and despite the blood-caked villain who clearly plans to kill him, clearly doesn’t feel any fear - indeed,Homelander notes that with his superhearing, he knows that Stillwell’s heartrate hasn’t risen at all.
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It’s at this point he calls Stillwell a superhuman, with his former boss rolling his eyes at the idea he’d ever fear someone so unimaginative as Homelander. Stillwell’s attitude saves his life, as instead of killing him, Homelander resolves to prove him wrong, flying off to commit more atrocities.Homelander is later killed, and Vought survives despite taking a legal hit, leaving Stillwell in a position of power as the main series ends.
In a series where names mean a lot, it’s hard not to see some significance in Stillwell’s. First, a ‘still’ well is one that has turned stagnant and toxic. Second, Vought’s power means that even when they lose, they don’t pay a significant price - James will be fine (still well) no matter what the Boys throw at him.
The Boys comics are about the abuse of power, and Stillwell embodies the way big business hurts normal people in the name of profit.
Stillwell Is the Embodiment of Evil in The Boys
The Original Comics Are About Corporate Evil
While Amazon’sThe Boyslaunched in a world saturated by superhero media, the comics didn’t have this specific target in mind.The Boysmocks the comic businessand the idea of superheroes, butits larger focus is the misuse of power, with various characters standing in for different industries, including entertainment (the Legend), politics (Victor Neuman), the CIA (Susan Raynor), organized religion (Oh Father) and big business (Stillwell.)
Very little is shared of Stillwell’s backstory or life, and that’s deliberate -The Boystreats him as essentially a walking, talking expression of the Vought-American corporation. Stillwell cares only for Vought’s bottom line, and there are no hints of a personal agenda beyond the company’s success. InThe Boys #72, he explains his perspective to Hughie, saying:
I’m an expression of the corporation. I’m the voice that says - you’re right, sue us. That never gets upset. … We always win. We’re a registered trademark. You could snap my neck right this moment, and we’d still win.
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Stillwell never gets angry or really shows any emotion, even inThe Boys #29, when he hasthe entire roster of the G-Men massacredby Vought’s private military contractors. Stillwell talks his superiors into cutting the team loose, then watches as they’re dispatched with machine guns, stinger missiles, and flamethrowers, only bothering to leave his helicopter to tell Butcher,“We can clean up our own ****"- one of the only times in the series when Butcher is actually taken aback by another character.
The Boys gives Stillwell two endings, one dealing with him as a metaphor for corporate evil and the other giving him a nasty fate as an individual.
ThroughoutThe Boys,Stillwell represents a very specific type of corporate evil - someone who is truly amoral, never considering whether actions are right or wrong, but only how they can benefit the company. While it at one point appears that Stillwell is developing feelings for fellow executive Jessica Bradley, it turns out that he’s just setting her up to take the fall in his place when Vought’s crimes are exposed. However, he doesn’t take this opportunity to retire or more on - he goes straight back to working for Vought, underlining the fact that his evil has no personal endgame - he saves himself so he can continue to serve the company.
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Stillwell’s inhuman behavior finally cracks inThe Boys #72. After Stillwell confronts Hughie - assuring him that if Vought can’t create superhumans, it will just do"something else”- he returns to the office, where his marketing team have createda new superteam called the True: a team of Supes intended to subvert the aesthetics of the Seven, making them palatable to the general public. Stillwell notes that the product will never sell, saying they need something that"isn’t just the same old **** dressed up.“Alone, he breaks down looking out the window, saying only"bad product.”
It’s as close as the Boys get to a lasting victory over the series' true evils - Vought will persist, and there will always be a Stillwell, but no matter how evil they are and how well they play the system, they’re still selling trash, and they’ll always be vulnerable to their customers realizing that simple fact. The ending is fitting for Stillwell, especially asThe Boyshas no illusions about easy answers to the big problems of the world. Vought’s schemes relating to superheroes have been stopped, but human greed and the groups who weaponize it still exist.
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Coming eight years after the main series,The Boys: Dear Becky(from Ennis and Russ Braun) acts as an epilogue, set12 years after the death of Homelander. In the series, Hughie checks in on old enemies, and findsStillwell now living on a pineapple plantation, having had a sustained breakdown after his"bad product"moment. It’s a more human fate for Stillwell and one that somewhat undercuts his original ending, though it doesn’t actually clash with its message. InDear Becky, Stillwell’s split from Vought finally renders him an actual individual, meaning he can’t retain the implacable, inhuman status that being an"expression of the company"gave him (but someone, somewhere has taken his place.)
Homelander’s comment to Stillwell is particularly ironic given he’s missed the ACTUAL superhuman in his midst - one who’s even more powerful than he is.
References to Milton Friedman - a major proponent of free-market capitalism and monetarism - make it clear exactly what philosophy Stillwell stands for inThe Boys, and the logic that turned him into the ultimate (and very literal) company man. Ultimately,The Boysmakes Stillwell the embodiment of the evils that the text argues plague America, making it clear why he never feared Homelander. The Supe’s acts of evil were petty, selfish indulgences, where Stillwell was party to carefully managed human suffering on an industrial scale.
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Homelander Missed the REAL Superhuman In His Midst
Black Noir Was Way More Powerful Than Homelander Guessed
Of course, Homelander’s accusation that Stillwell was the only real superhuman he ever met isn’t just about the Vought executive.When he says this line, Homelander is hours away from being torn to pieces by Black Noir- a clone of Homelander who Vought created to kill him if he ever stepped out of line. Ultimately, thereisaSupe even more powerful than Homelander, but he totally missed their existence because of his solipsistic focus on his own wants and desires. Even Homelander’s anger at Stillwell only comes from the executive disrespecting him.
The Boysfollows a major theme in Garth Ennis' work, where competence and incompetence are equally as important as good and evil.The Boyshas nothing but disdain for the incompetent, whether they mean well or not, and regards the competent with a form of respect, even if they’re evil. The original ending ofThe Boyssees Homelander torn to shreds while Stillwell endures, making it clear that whileHomelandermay have taken many lives in his extended tantrum, Stillwell is the one who’s truly dangerous. Ultimately,The Boysdoesn’t imagine true evil as a terrifying superhuman with glowing eyes, but as a nondescript man in an expensive suit.
