On Nov. 12, the hype about the upcoming addition of Homelander to Mortal Kombat went down significantly, as Antony Starr, the character’s actor in Amazon Prime’s The Boys, revealed that he won’t be voicing his iconic role for the game.
The Boys burst on the stage in 2019 as an iconoclastic take on the typical superhero story. The villains, which are the heroes themselves, are self-absorbed sociopaths who care little for the rest of humanity around them. Vought, the corporation that owns their likenesses, repeatedly covers up their violent misdeeds and presents a squeaky-clean image to the public so they can sell movies and toys. Homelander, the Superman analog, is almost inarguably the series’ most iconic character, and he’s set to debut in the ultra-violent MK1 soon. The character is moving into the game alongside John Cena’s Peacemaker and Prime series Invincible‘s Omni-Man.
The difference between the three is in their actors: Omni-Man’s JK Simmons is an established actor, and John Cena is an international superstar. Antony Starr, the Homelander actor, is Homelander beyond all shadow of a doubt. His performance inspired countless memes and has been the best part of The Boys to date. This isn’t the first time that an iconic character didn’t use their original actor for a voice part: when the Terminator was added to MK11, Arnold Schwarzenegger selected the voice actor but wasn’t a part of the game himself.
Having Homelander without Starr just feels wrong. His likeness will be in the game, but without his voice, it’s set to feel diluted. We still don’t know whether it’s a work conflict for Starr, or something explicit that was negotiated by the studios, but the effect doesn’t change with the cause. Homelander without Starr’s voice just isn’t Homelander. No one else captures the fascistic turbo-American superhero quite like he can, and it’s going to be a big loss for the MK1 community that he isn’t a part of the game.
