Homelander had been mired in a swamp since the day he was born.
Vought Company understood human weakness all too well, especially Homelander's profound loneliness and desperate craving for love.
Like cunning hunters, they used false warmth and attention as bait, luring Homelander little by little into a trap they had prepared long ago.
Homelander had grown up in Vought Company's training system. There was no real familial love or friendship there, only cold training and brutal competition.
He watched other children have their families by their side, his heart filled with envy and jealousy, yet he could only bury that longing deep inside.
And Vought Company, when he was at his loneliest and most helpless, would offer him a few scraps of care, a few hypocritical compliments, and several deliberately arranged "intimate" interactions.
These seemingly ordinary gestures were like a glimmer of dawn in the darkness to Homelander, who desperately craved love. They made him willing to give everything, gradually turning him into Vought Company's puppet, acting according to their wishes and becoming a powerful tool for protecting the company's interests and suppressing opposition.
The psychological trauma of his childhood was like a wound that could never heal, carved deep into Homelander's soul.
The psychological shadows Vought Company had deliberately planted within him were like demons hidden in his heart. They might lie dormant in ordinary times, but once awakened by outside stimuli, they would instantly unleash terrifying power, causing him to lose all reason and descend into madness.
Future Homelander was no exception. Though time had seemingly given him greater power and a more mature mind, the wounds of his childhood had always followed him like a shadow, becoming a nightmare he could never escape.
For that very reason, although Homelander could be controlled by Vought Company through