How Soldier Boy Changed The Way We Look at Villains (The Boys)

the boys is a show that has always had interesting characters Billy butcher homelander UI Starlight so many to name but the most interesting one to me came from season 3 of the show and that's the villain of said season Soldier Boy and yes soldja boy is a villain he sides with our protagonists But ultimately becomes the primary antagonist to everyone by the End season 3 was all about Fathers and Sons that's the vibe of this season and Soldier Boy's main conflict comes from his relationship with his own bi ological son homelander homelander is another fantastic character probably one of the best and most consistently written characters on television and I kind of need to talk about him for the context of today's video to make sense so here we go begs the question who do we root for homelander who we know has done terrible things and has been the main antagonist for butcher since the show started or Soulja Boy Who is another not great person who's abusive and mean to people it creates this interesting examination on who's the real villain and that's why I believe Soldier Boy changed the way we look at villains and that's because who do you root for when everyone is just as bad as each other but we follow every character in the story you could argue soldja boy and homelander are both the villains and Butcher and the boys are the heroes but butcher is using soldja boy to try and kill homelander and buter himself has done questionable acts so it becomes a lot more complicated than just having two antagonists plus yes soja boy is a bad guy although like homelander every scene with him is entertaining and I would even say soldja boy is likable despite all the bad he's done and this is in large part to Jensen ael's amazing performance he seriously adds a level of humanity to the performance that I think only he could bring and you kind of understand where he's coming from in some cases the show does a really great job at making you understand the character's points of view rather than them just being mustache twirling villains take for example the scene where he blows up a bunch of innocent civilians in a later scene with yui he tells him that it was an accident and that he's not a bad guy and yes it was an accident but he is definitely a bad guy as we learn more about his past but the way he says the line makes the audience believe that he believes he's not a bad guy like the way we believe that Thanos believes in his goal in Infinity War just because what a character is doing is wrong or evil that character might not believe so therefore they have to play the part as if they're doing nothing wrong Jensen akles plays into that and he gives the performance as if he truly believes he's in the right another great scene is where he's having internal conflict with what to do with homelander who he's just found out is his son he goes back and forth with himself debating whether to stick to the mission or not and you can see how it's taking a toll on him but he does stick with the original plan and this adds so much to his character's morals about sticking to his word this character could have easily just been evil or shitty Captain America like he is in the comics but the show gives him an actual personality and reasoning for doing everything he does he also has a lot of interesting traits like he really seems to like singing and in fact has a voice of an angel or how he reflects on the good old days all the time the way he talks and what he says makes him stand out the fact that he likes women way older than him all these traits are interesting and bring this character to life everything soldja boy does has reason to it which further makes his character realistic and this ties back to why he changed how we look at villains because yeah he's a bad guy but you do believe where he's coming from and that is so interesting to me and I would say he's not as bad as homelander they're very close but homelander is just on another level of evil but the show frames it as soldja boy being the main villain of the series so it does change the way we look at things there is another great show that does a similar thing as what the boys does when it comes to its villain and I would quickly like to bring it up and that's Daredevil seeson 1 Daredevil season 1 is probably the second best piece of Television I've ever watched and it is very underappreciated go watch it and the villain in that show Wilson Fisk is a villain you understand deeply because of how the show makes you understand where he's coming from we constantly cut the scenes of Fisk and we understand why he is the way he is we get an origin story and enough content to see where he's coming from and even sympathize with him you will root for Daredevil to take him down but because the show humanizes Fisk and we spend enough time with him he becomes a main character of the series making it harder to dislike him and depending on what perspective you look at it you might even root for him so yeah he's a great villain or hero if you're a psychopath the same thing happens in the boys with soldja boy and homelander I personally think homelander needs to die by the time the show comes to an end but because the show does a great job at humanizing him it will have to be a satisfying death to pay off for his characterization I also love how soldja boy Arc directly ties into homelanders homelander is starting to snap in season 3 but when soldja boy is introduced and he finds out he's his biological father he thinks he can have a family and keep it all together but of course that doesn't happen and homelander has to learn to be more independent again and that's why we get a great Cliffhanger at the end of the season so season 3 made soldja boy the villain to the villain but where does butcher fit into this Billy butcher's main goal has always been to kill homelander that's like all he wants so when he realizes that soldja boy could probably kill homelander if he got the super blast on him he of course takes that opportunity to team up with him so the show originally framed Soulja Boy as a protagonist but as the series goes on solder boy slips from side character to actual antagonist by the end it makes you question butcher's methods and like I said he's not as bad as homelander but he's definitely done evil acts in the show to get what he wants obviously Billy never goes too far gone and becomes the villain but he gets pretty close sometimes but in the end saves his friends and does what's right by them I do like that soldja boy becomes the antagonist to everyone by the end the fact that homelander genuinely seems to care for his son also adds a lot more to his character because again yes homelander is evil but he's also humanized further with this when soldja Boy Hits Ryan homelander doesn't fight soldja boy straight away he runs over to check on his son and see if he's okay the show makes you care for homelander at this moment because it makes him seem like a real father let me repeat that the show makes you care for homelander and that's why soldier boy makes you question everything because he wants to kill homelander who's a bad guy and butcher wants to kill homelander but now soldja Boy Hits Ryan and butcher doesn't like that so you kind of don't know who to root for in this final battle because everyone's point of view is right and that's what's so interesting to me the only one who is kind of right is m mm oh yeah let's talk about mm so mother's milk is the only character who has a genuine reason to hate soldja boy and that's because soldja boy threw a car through his house killing like half of his family so mother's milk doesn't like him and soups in general a fair reason not to however soldja boy didn't mean to kill his family definitely not a good thing that happened and soldja boy is definitely killed innocent people but it gives you another look into his perspective Soldier Boy views lives of collateral damage if he's on the mission and therefore sees it as him doing nothing wrong so yes mm's motivation also adds to who you should be rooting for because we like mm he's great but he doesn't like Soulja Boy and we kind of need Soulja Boy to kill homelander and we also kind of like Soulja Boy so in this final battle everyone has a reason to attack Soulja Boy and he has a reason to fight back but the main focus is on soldja boy versus homelander and it becomes a question of do you root for the bad guy who wants to to kill the more evil bad guy or the bad guy who wants to protect his son and that's why I believe soldja boy changed the way we look at villains because it becomes more of a question of who we like more I think soldja boy is just a really interesting character and I hope we get to see more of him he is appearing in g v well already appeared by the time this video launches and I think he will obviously be very good in that well good as in characterization not good as in a person and I do hope we get a soldja boy spin-off of some sorts in the future because I think it will be a great way to flesh out his character further and I know that sounds like Peacemaker but there are ways to make a soldja boy show that is different to that who knows maybe he'll appear in season 4 you never know I definitely think we'll see quite a bit of him in the future or maybe he dies in GV I hope that is not the case please God don't make that the case so soja boy is a great villain because he changed the way we look at certain situations he's a douchebag yes but when a lot of the characters are douchebags does it really really matter he's a villain with a lot of personality and that is not uncommon these days but to make you root for him is another thing Soulja Boy is likable and has a point but he's definitely not a good guy it's such an interesting way to handle a villain that I have never seen done that way before I have seen villains that are right and have a good point but I've never seen a villain go up against another villain and you can't decide who to root for because both points of view are fair that was up until I saw soldja boy the show humanizes him and gives him a fulfill backstory and character Arc whilst making you both root for him and question him at the same time I really appreciate how well this character was handle considering the source material was basically a joke I can't wait to see more of soldja boy and I can't wait to see what happens in season 4 of the boys that's all I have to say in today's video thank you for watching make sure to like And subscribe to join the soldja boy Army and I'll see you in the next [Music] video

Channel: Burden of Best

Views: 822,548

Keywords: The Boys, Billy Butcher, Starlight, Hughie, Homelander, A Train, The Deep, Queen Maeve, Black Noir, Soldier Boy, TV, Televison

Id: Y5Erpu6NUwo

Length: 10min 0sec (600 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023