Conquest is denied a real name, his name is a purpose and a violent one at that. A purpose to contribute to a ‘community’ that’s cold and isolating to him. He is so socially deprived and without someone to talk to that he bears his soul to someone he’s actively choking the life out of and is about to kill. If Conquest were given a semblance of a community, of belonging, he would probably change his violent ways. He’s a man so emotionally repressed by his people that he feels the need to give this heart-wrenching monologue to someone he’s about to kill, so no one will know the pain he harbours in his soul.
If you’re not in a position or simply don’t want to talk to anyone about your emotions, or want to build up to it, I would recommend a diary or journal.
I think my corny advice to guys is always have an outlet, preferably other people you can trust and lean on. To have these vulnerable conversations. Mark, who is able to confide in his partner, Eve, simply by the way he's able to say "I'm not okay" and then can confide in his partner. Yes these scenes are getting repetitive, but they're really sweet. If you’re not in a position or simply don’t want to talk to anyone about your emotions, or want to build up to it, I would recommend a diary or journal.
As Newcastle University students, we are surrounded by communities and people we can talk to, society mates, course mates, the counselling service and welfare officers. Outside of uni, the call line Samaritans. Don’t be like Conquest, bottling up your emotions and venting to someone you're strangling to death. (Also, don’t strangle anyone to death in a ditch, please!!!)
If the discussion of social deprivation interested you, I'd recommend reading the book “Being Sure of Each Other” by Kimberlee Brownlee, which proposes a human right against the social deprivation that Conquest experiences.
In the live-action TV show The Boys (2019), Homelander, the main antagonist of the show, is such a great allegory to Donald Trump. Days after US President Trump shared an Artificial Intelligence image of him as Jesus Christ, he later claimed it was him as a doctor. Almost by divine coincidence, in the episode of The Boys that premiered in the days following, the character of Homelander has a vision from an angel and proclaims himself to be the next messiah.
Homelander [...] is such a good representation of what the pursuit of endless power brings: unhappiness and loneliness.
Homelander is one of the most powerful ‘supes’ in the show, there will always be more power he can attain. At the time of writing, four episodes into season five, in every episode so far, characters have made a point to criticise Homelander for being pathetic as a person. Homelander doesn’t have any loved ones, only people who are scared of him or worship him to be in proximity of power, is such a good representation of what the pursuit of endless power brings: unhappiness and loneliness. Homelander yearns for love, and yet his actions as an abusive, power-hungry, violent man push him away from other people and the love he so desperately seeks. We can meet Homelander-type men (or people) in our everyday lives. The manager on a power-trip, the friend who appoints themselves group leader, the romantic partner who wants to control what and who are.
My life advice to anyone who feels like Homelander is to search for partnership and connection with others
My life advice to anyone who feels like Homelander is to search for partnership and connection with others, to build things alongside others, and not be in charge of people who are scared of you. This carries across to our romantic, platonic and workplace relationships. I think The Boys showcases this well in season three, through Hughie, a non-powered man who's dating Starlight, a superhero whose power is to absorb and shoot electricity. When Starlight is getting attacked in a darkened TV studio (TV studios have a lot of lights wink, wink). Hughie, who is in the control room, can either take a dose of temporary superpowers (that may give him brain cancer), but instead, Hughie turns on the lights, empowering Starlight to use a powerful attack. He chooses to lift up, empower and collaborate with her rather than seek power for himself.
If the discussion of masculinity interested you, I would recommend the book “The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love" by bell hooks, which goes through the variety of ways the patriarchy negatively affects men and theories of a positive masculinity. Homelander (if he reads?!) would highly benefit from engaging with it!
It's amazing that The Boys and Invincible nail representations of masculinity and gives us some really good representations of male supervillains we can learn life lessons from. Both Invincible and The Boys are both available on Amazon Prime and I would recommend them both!