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The Boys is an incredible show, portraying a world where superpowered heroes are treated like celebrities. In this dystopian world, Homelander is the biggest global superstar and one of the most powerful anti-superheroes. However, he's also a psychopath.
Homelander constantly rationalizes his violent acts and imposes absolute control over everyone. What makes him stand out is that even though he's a hero to the world, he has a twisted personality in reality.
In the comic-verse, many such characters exist who don't care about anyone and would do anything necessary to accomplish their goals. The same can be said for many Marvel characters, such as Cletus Kasady or Victor Creed, who usually derive pleasure by giving in to their sadistic desires. On that note, here's a list of 10 such characters from Marvel Comics who are as psychopathic as Homelander from The Boys.
Wilhelmina Kensington, Flipside, and eight other Marvel psychopaths
Wilhelmina Kensington (Earth-616)
Wilhelmina Kensington is the daughter of billionaire Lenore Kensington. Having been molested by her father, she repressed her trauma. However, she found a way to externalize it by inflicting pain, suffering, and even death on several animals and people. Her mother was the first victim of her psychopathy, as she pushed her from a great height.
She is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and can deceive anyone using deception, given that she participated in various beauty pageants as a kid. However, Wilhelmina realized she is a psychopath after the Cuckoos exposed the memories she'd suppressed, and she became overwhelmed with remorse and guilt.
Brock Rumlow (Earth-616)
Brock Rumlow, also known as Crossbones, has the makings of a psychopath. He was the leader of New York's Savage Crims gang. After his gang brutalized a 15-year-old girl, her two brothers sought revenge on them. Despite managing to kill them, but fled the scene.
Joining Taskmaster's criminal school, he worked his way up to become an instructor. He became a mercenary and enlisted in Algeria with the communist Red Skull (Albert Malik). He impressed the Nazi Red Skull (Johann Schmidt) with his efforts to invade Arnim Zola's Swiss chateau. Schmidt then took him into his service and named him "Crossbones." We saw Rumlow evolve into Crossbones in Captain America: Civil War.
Sergei Kravinoff (Earth-TRN461)
Sergei Kravinoff, also known as Kraven The Hunter, is a psychopath even in his standard form. However, his Earth-TRN461 variant from Spider-Man Unlimited went above and beyond the line of duty and defeated Spider-Man. He stole his costume and became a vigilante called The Spider.
His usual psychopathy is further exacerbated by Black Symbiote Spider-Man. Kravinoff is also referred to as "Black Suit Kraven" and "The Symbiote Hunter."
Benjamin Poindexter (Earth-199999)
Benjamin Poindexter is a Bullseye variant from Netflix Marvel's Daredevil series. He was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Growing up as an orphan, he became interested in baseball and was obsessed with throwing balls at targets with exceptional accuracy. While being successful, his coach put him down during a baseball game to level the playing field for the other team. While Poindexter wasn't allowed to re-enter the game despite his insistence, he killed his coach by ricocheting the ball off the backstop post.
He received therapy but became obsessed with his therapist, Eileen Mercer. When he felt that he was about to die due to a terminal illness, Poindexter said he wanted to "kill [her] for dying." Mercer gifted him all the tapes from their sessions so that he may find stability without her presence. Later becoming an FBI agent, he became a tool for Fisk to control after he read a file on his condition.
Poindexter later takes on the garb of Daredevil, as Fisk insists that it would be the most covert way for him to take out his frustrations in the world and harm anyone he likes. He later goes after Vanessa, but Fisk throws him into the corner of a brick wall, snapping his spine. Dex's character gives a lot of insight into the makings of a psychopath.
Flipside (Earth-928)
Flipside was an empty android made during the Heroic Age. He was made to take on the powers of whichever superhero he encountered. He was found in a broken and dormant state and kept by Packrat and his band of thieves. The android was simply in locked mode as it tried to adopt the superhero profiles it had recorded along the way.
The thieves found Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara) one day and brought him in to repair Flipside. Since he was the first superhero Flipside found years later, he was unable to identify himself as a new hero. Thus, the android used templates from Spider-Man and Venom, which resulted in a powerful Spider-Man-like creature with psychopathic tendencies. He is friendly like Spider-Man but always goes to the point of killing the assaults to prove his friendship.
Bullseye (Earth-616)
Bullseye is one of the most famous villains in the Marvel comics. He's responsible for killing Elektra, beating Daredevil to a pulp several times, and even killing his own mother. Several other instances also provide enough justifications to establish him as a psychopath. Bullseye is a master assassin, thanks to his dead-on accuracy and years spent in the National Security Agency.
He has enhanced durability, peak physical conditioning, acrobatics mastery, and a weapon proficiency that allows him to weaponize even peanuts. Bullseye's psyche lies at the edge of insanity. His psychopathy also makes his psyche susceptible to inducing schizophrenic delusions. He once started impersonating Daredevil and actually believed that he was the superhero.
Cletus Kasady (Earth-616)
Cletus Kasady is most commonly known as the vessel of Symbiote Carnage. He was already a psychopath even without his symbiote partner. After being raised in an orphanage, Kasady started serial killings and was eventually caught. He received 11 life sentences, but after Venom left its offspring behind, he bonded with it to become the Carnage.
Kasady's personality is subject to a lot of debate. His bloodline is said to be tainted by a distant ancestor, which makes him predestined to be ruthless, deranged, and nihilistic. He even had a vision of the Symbiote god Knull when he was a kid.
Much of his psychological tendencies are ascribed to the abuse he endured at the hands of his father, grandmother, and the orphanage staff. It's been shown time and again that Carnage looks for opportunities to murder people, even in times to form alliances.
Norman Osborn (Earth-22191)
This version of Norman Osborn is similar to his Earth-616 counterpart. However, in this universe, he was never found responsible for killing Gwen Stacy. He became the Mayor of Arachnia many years later while being the CEO of Ozcorp.
Osborn basically had the free reign to be a psychopath while remaining in power. He shares his psychopathy and abilities with his counterpart, but his power in this universe is amplified. He seeks to overthrow the God Emperor Doom and wants to use the powers of the Web of Life and Destiny after discovering it.
Victor Creed (Earth-616)
Victor Creed is a certified psychopath in Marvel comics and X-Men projects. Victor Creed was born a mutant. After his father believed that his Sabretooth features were signs of demonic possession, he was confined to a cellar where his father would pull out his teeth. He chewed his own hands to escape and killed his father.
Sabretooth is a well-known psychopath who relishes the art of killing. He gives into his animalistic side as he derives tremendous pleasure from inflicting pain and misery. While Wolverine, his known rival, always fights to control his innate tendencies for violence, Sabretooth liberally uses it. Even though he sometimes shows potential for redemption, he often leaves every opportunity that might redeem him.
Norman Osborn (Earth-616)
In the Sam Raimi movies, Norman Osborn is shown to have changed since taking the Goblin formula. While he has always been ruthless and ambitious, he suffers from paranoia as well. His ambition even led him to become S.H.I.E.L.D's director.
He's always dismissed his son Harry Osborn since he didn't think he could ever inherit Ozcorp and follow in his footsteps. This is even more noticeable when he develops amnesia and grows to care for Harry.
Gifted with an indomitable will, which he was commended for by monks at Temple With No Name, Norman also suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. When he took the Goblin Formula, he formed the personal of the Green Goblin. After suffering a psychic backlash to Carnage dying, his personality was suppressed underneath Cletus Kasady's personality.
Final thoughts
Marvel has plenty of villains who can be classified as a psychopath. The line between a psychopath and others who do evil is sometimes defined by their sadistic tendencies to cause pain, suffering, and death.
Homelander is an exceptional psychopath, as he manages to keep the heat on all the members of The Seven while constantly regaining control of his public consensus. The Boys season 3 premiered earlier this year and left us at a complex point in the storyline. With Homelander back into the good graces of the public with his psychopathic nature exposed, there's no telling what will happen next.
