'The Boys' star Antony Starr reacts to Homelander revisiting his childhood trauma in episode 4: 'It's his little therapy session'

• "The Boys" actor Antony Starr spoke about Homelander's return to the Vought lab that raised him in episode four.
• Starr told Business Insider that it's his favorite episode of the season.
• "It's his little therapy session, and he thinks he's nailed it," Starr said.

Homelander goes back to his roots during the latest episode of "The Boys," and the trip down memory lane turns into a horrific bloodbath.

"That's actually my favorite episode of the season," Antony Starr, who plays Homelander, told Business Insider of season four, episode four ("Wisdom of the Ages"). "I think we worked on it a bit and then went to set and kind of just let it rip."

"That's what I'm really interested in with the character, is going into the deeper, dark places and the vulnerabilities," Starr added.

Homelander's homecoming has been long coming.

Past seasons of "The Boys" have alluded to the psychological damage that resulted from Homelander, whose real name is John, being raised by scientists in a lab. In the spring of 1981, Vought scientist Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum grew him in a test tube using Soldier Boy's (Jensen Ackles) DNA.

Instead of growing up with a family in a home, he was isolated, deprived of a childhood, and ruthlessly trained to become the world's greatest, seemingly unbeatable supe. As a result, Homelander became a maniacal and vindictive supe with a desperate need for love and approval.

In season three, Homelander's insecurities are called out during an interaction with Soldier Boy, who scoffs at him for being weak and starving for attention.

Season four of "The Boys" shows Homelander grappling with his rapid aging and worrying about the legacy he'll leave behind for his son, Ryan (Cameron Crovetti).

Despite his best efforts, Homelander still falls short as a father. He arrives at the conclusion that his need for love is a weakness that's holding him back from becoming his true, most powerful self. So, he decides to confront his past during episode four and return to the Vought lab that raised him.

The reunion is far from amicable and civilized. Although Homelander enters the room with an uncharacteristically friendly demeanor, he becomes progressively more menacing as he reveals how deep his grudge against the Vought scientists goes.

Homelander vividly recalls the different ways the scientists experimented on him, harming him physically and emotionally. In retaliation, he burns one scientist to death in an oven.

Homelander also recalls another scientist, Marty, catching him masturbating in his cell as a child and giving him the nickname "Squirt." As payback, Homelander humiliates Marty by ordering him to masturbate in front of him and the other scientists. Then, he lasers Marty's penis off using his superpowers, laughs in delight, and crushes him to death.

Showrunner Eric Kripke told BI that Homelander's reactions throughout the lab scenes were the result of Starr putting his own spin on the character.

"In the draft of the script, he was written to be pretty cruel, top to bottom," Kripke said. "He came in wanting revenge on the people who did this horrible thing to him. And Ant called me and he's like, 'I think the approach is wrong. I think he needs to come in childlike at times, not totally sure how he's feeling, and experiencing it in real time and just walking through it.'"

Kripke said that Homelander's reunion with the scientists is "horrifying" and unsettling because of the supe's mercurial nature.

"It's so unpredictable because there's moments where he's just like, 'Oh wow, this is my childhood home.' And then he'll suddenly snap into feeling vengeful," Kripke said. "And it's a beautiful, beautiful performance. And we did not write to it. It was Ant coming to us and discussing it."

Later in the episode, Homelander learns from another scientist, Barbara, that his need for approval and love was specifically engineered to make him obedient. She says he'll never be able to overcome that human need because it's ingrained in him, but he thinks otherwise.

The episode concludes with Homelander grinning and covered in blood after murdering the other scientists and leaving Barbara trapped in his old cell with the bloody bodies.

"It's his little therapy session, and he thinks he's nailed it," Starr said. "That's the funny thing, is that he's coming out covered in blood and guts and going, 'I'm going to be a good dad.' That was reaching, but he's trying to do the right thing — ultimately for the most selfish of reasons, for his legacy."

The first four episodes of season four of "The Boys" are now streaming on Prime Video, followed by a new episode every Thursday, ending with the season finale on July 18.