Homelander from "The Boys" is well known for performing a fatality or two, so his inclusion in "Mortal Kombat 1" makes perfect sense. What you might not notice, though, is there's another actor in the role.
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00:00Homelander from The Boys is well-known for performing a fatality or two, so his inclusion
00:05in Mortal Kombat 1 makes perfect sense.
00:08What you might not notice, though, is there's another actor in the role.
00:12Antony Starr's Homelander is one of the most unpredictably dangerous soups in the Amazon
00:16original series.
00:17Starr has elevated Homelander into a figure mired in complexities, imparting the character
00:21with a singular brand of desperation-fueled evil that only becomes more twisted with each
00:26passing season.
00:28Starr's turn as Homelander cements the character's idiosyncratic presence within the Boys universe.
00:33The character benefits greatly from the actor's remarkably layered, scene-stealing performance.
00:37I'll do it for you, for America.
00:45It's no surprise, then, that Starr voiced Homelander both in the animated anthology
00:49series, The Boys Presents Diabolical, and the Call of Duty games, where he is an operator
00:53of the Kortak faction.
00:55Given Starr's ownership of one of the most complicated characters in the Boys universe,
00:59it would make sense for the actor to continue playing Homelander wherever he shows up.
01:03However, the streak was officially broken with the casting of voice actor Jake Green
01:07as Homelander in Mortal Kombat 1, where his performance is so convincing it led to confusion
01:11among fans of the show.
01:13That'll get ratings.
01:17Part of the confusion stems from an incorrect IMDb listing, where Chris Cox is wrongly credited
01:22with the role.
01:24Unfortunately, Green's involvement has since been confirmed by NetherRealm Studios.
01:28Homelander became playable in Mortal Kombat 1 as a part of the game's deluxe edition,
01:32or the DLC Kombat Pack.
01:34This also includes combatants from other media, including Peacemaker and Omni-Man, both voiced
01:39by their original actors, John Cena and J.K.
01:42Simmons, respectively.
01:45Cox, best known for voicing a bunch of characters in Family Guy, had previously voiced the Terminator
01:53in Mortal Kombat 11.
01:54It lent momentary credibility to the incorrect IMDb listing before in-game footage of Homelander
01:59was released.
02:00Green himself has posted about his work in Mortal Kombat 1, and the support for his performance
02:05has been overwhelmingly positive since then.
02:08Green's Homelander is essentially a vocal impersonation of Star's rendition of the character,
02:12but it is a very good one, and it links the in-game character seamlessly with our understanding
02:16of the soup from the Amazon series.
02:18You got spunk for an old man.
02:21I like that.
02:23A quick look at Green's voice acting history immediately positions him as someone with
02:26incredible vocal range.
02:28His recent performances include the soft-spoken yet morally gray Shuji Ikutsuki in Atlus'
02:33English dub of Persona 3 Reload, and the brash, ambitious Jun Sekibayashi in Baki Hanma vs.
02:39Kingin Ashura.
02:41His other voice credits include Olaf in Disney's Speedstorm, Morbius in Marvel's Midnight
02:45Suns, Poe Dameron in Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation, and Sid in the Ice Age Adventures
02:50of Buckwild.
02:51After three seasons of the boys, and with a fourth currently rolling out, it is not
02:55controversial to say that Star deserves all the accolades for his performance as Homelander.
03:00The horrifying brutality that Star's rendition of the character brings to the series feels
03:04undeniable.
03:05He's fragile and sadistic all at once, carrying out a pastiche of Superman to violent and
03:10entertaining extremes.
03:12Despite being the show's primary antagonist, Homelander is essential to the heroic quest
03:16of the title boys.
03:18Homelander's cultural status as a villain stands out in every iteration of the character.
03:22Take Star's voice acting in the Call of Duty games, where he features in Modern Warfare
03:262 and 3 along with Warzone 2.0.
03:29There, his voice lines are impossible to divorce from the grander context of the show.
03:34You.
03:35You're the real hero.
03:37The latest season of the boys deepens Homelander's interpersonal depravities.
03:41He relishes his control over less fortunate pawns in his game, but comes undone when the
03:46same authority is even implicitly challenged.
03:49Star fleshes out these moments with both overt and subtle facial expressions, where an extended
03:53vacant stare feels like the calm before the storm, or the slight twitch of his lips feels
03:58like the prelude before a diabolical disaster.