May 21, 2026
Easily one of Amazon Prime Video’s biggest streaming TV hits ever, The Boys, has finally come to an end. The gritty show, adapted from the graphically violent and sex-laced Wildstorm comic book series about humans who become superheroes and villains, spawned a number of memes, often centered on the character Homelander. On Wednesday, fans got to see how the story ends.
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Assuming you’ve already seen the episode, you know that Homelander (played by Antony Starr), the Superman analog who turns out to be pure evil, is defeated, stripped of his powers, and quickly murdered by Butcher (played by Karl Urban). The ending is being hotly debated online, with some loving how Homelander immediately became a coward and offered Butcher “sexual services” in exchange for his life, while others wanted to at least see a bit of authoritarian carnage from Homelander before his defeat.
But for those who know how to look between the political lines of The Boys, it’s impossible to ignore that the series creator, Eric Kripke, used the final episode to kill off a character who is undeniably meant to be Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla, xAI).
The character, named Günter Van Ellis and described as the richest man in the world, arrives at the White House wearing Musk’s trademark black blazer, black t-shirt, and black-on-black “We Support Homelander” baseball cap (a direct play on Musk’s “Dark MAGA” black-on-black “Make America Great Again” cap supporting President Donald Trump). Van Ellis (played by Ivan Sherry) says he is visiting to discuss having Homelander dissenters work in his factories for free (“So, slaves?” says Homelander lieutenant Oh Father, played by Daveed Diggs), and to address the issue of white fertility rates.
At this point, Homelander is done playing politics, and not even the richest man in the world, who, like real-life Musk, is a space travel mogul, can command the supervillain’s attention. So Homelander casually walks Van Ellis outside for a chat, and then flies him into outer space, instantly killing his biggest donor. Viewers can read into that sequence what they will about the nature of power and politics, but one watcher, Musk, was clearly unhappy with the outcome, which apparently came at his expense.
One viewer, who screenshotted Homelander’s begging scene, criticized the ending and its political allegory just hours after it debuted. Hours later, at 3:02 a.m. ET, Musk replied to that viewer’s Twitter/X.com post with one word: “Pathetic.” Musk’s reply has since racked up over 2 million views, as fans and haters alike continue to take note of Musk’s late-night reaction.
More importantly, that reaction caught the eye of Kripke, as he screenshotted Musk’s reaction and posted it on Instagram, writing, “OMG I’ll never have a better review ever.” In the comments on that post, Starr (Homelander) weighed in with a series of laugh-out-loud emojis. But Starr wasn’t the only cast member to back Kripke. Also commenting positively on Kripke’s post were show stars Valorie Curry (Firecracker), Jack Quaid (Hughie Campbell), and even Simon Pegg (Hugh Campbell, Sr.).
The legacy of The Boys is secure primarily for its great characters, writing, and acting performances. But social media, and Musk, the current richest man in the world at $676 billion, have inadvertently turned the show’s finale into an all-time political satire moment that will become a highlight of this moment in American history.
