The Big Picture

• Antony Starr showcases versatility by embodying different personas in Banshee and The Boys .
• Banshee offers an engaging crime story with superheroesque characters and gritty action sequences.
• The show features memorable mythical villains and realistic, brutal fight scenes, making it an underrated gem.

Since the release of The Boys, actor Antony Starr has risen to a new level of Hollywood stardom with his performance as the superhero antagonist Homelander, becoming the show’s biggest draw among the entire cast. Although this was the performance that put Starr on the map in a definitive way, it’s far from his only watch-worthy series. In 2013, he appeared as the lead protagonist in the Cinemax crime drama Banshee. Compared with his work in The Boys, his performance in this show truly shows what a rare charm he brings to the screen. Antony Starr proves himself to be a master of the craft in the way he takes on a completely different look and persona in Banshee, which feels so different from his role in The Boys yet with a startlingly similar essence.

He appears in the show as an ex-convict on the run from his former boss, who settles down in a small town assuming the identity of its new sheriff, Lucas Hood. Banshee is an underrated gem that delivers an engaging and gritty crime story with a myriad of standout characters and a gory action style that is enjoyably stylistic and genuinely deserves credit as some of the best action seen on TV. Not just that, but the show comes with comparisons to the classic superhero genre, along with tasteful subversions, that make it a perfect companion watch to follow up after The Boys. Between charismatic villains, gray characters with their own agendas, and complicated interrelationships with multiple warring sides, the show has the perfect mix of chaos to appeal to The Boys fans.

Banshee

An ex-con assumes the identity of a murdered sheriff in the small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania, where he has some unfinished business.

Antony Starr Brings a Familiar Grit in ‘Banshee’

Antony Starr is the kind of actor who can immerse himself, body and soul, in any role he takes on. While his performance in The Boys was powerful enough to garner him an entire fan following, his work in Banshee lets you truly appreciate his acting chops. It begins with the fact that even without much drastic change in his looks, Starr manages to appear like a completely different person, donning just a different hairdo. It’s the first thing to strike your attention, as you find it difficult to recognize that this is the same man who plays Homelander.

Lucas Hood is the complete opposite of Homelander in how he communicates and carries himself. While the latter has an utterly despicable persona that is loud and narcissistic, Hood carries an aura of youthful physicality and a thousand-yard stare, capable of switching between rumination and action instantaneously. As a former criminal, his moral compass feels curiously dubious. The show presents his decision to take on the sheriff’s identity as something unavoidable, given the circumstances. But the ex-convict quickly begins to feel at home in the role, enjoying the ability to make the lives of the townsfolk better. At the same time, a recurring theme is the thin line that divides a criminal from a lawman. People around Hood regularly comment on his willingness to get his hands dirty, telling him that his instincts and personality resemble that of a criminal more than that of a police officer.

In this theme, the character of Lucas Hood demonstrates a core similarity with Homelander, and the broader template set for most characters in The Boys. It is pointed out time and again throughout Banshee that Hood carries around a darkness in his heart; this characteristic is one of the most compelling aspects of Starr’s performance in the show. Hood is always eager to solve the case first and worried about the legalities second. A sense of darkness, secrecy, and urgency come hand-in-hand with an eagerness to do good. At the same time, he always seems to enjoy throwing down at the smallest provocation, leading the way to many of the show’s fight sequences and its most memorable quips. His dark and reserved persona finds a perfect setting in the gritty nature of the show.

‘Banshee’ Applies Superhero Tropes to the Crime Drama Setting

Despite having the looks of a run-of-the-mill crime drama, the show does have similarities to the typical superhero setting. These parallels cannot be considered intentional, as Banshee was released years before The Boys and holds no connections to the superhero genre. Instead, the clever signatures in the show's writing displays create a parallel with the superhero genre, turning it into an essential piece of real-life lore in Starr's journey to becoming the iconic superhero villain, Homelander. Years after the MCU phenomenon broke ground in Hollywood, the superhero genre today is all about subversions and callbacks, and how a new superhero title handles them makes it fun. Banshee makes a similar play with typical crime drama tropes in building up its setting. Along this course, the show develops similarities to the superhero genre, applying them seamlessly to a crime drama context. The similarities are mainly seen in the show's central characters, who give the appearance of a classic superhero team setup and are almost stereotypical in that way. But with simple twists and some brilliant writing, these characters come to life in memorable ways.

It begins with Starr’s leading character himself: Lucas Hood is an assumed identity of a man with a flawed past but a willingness to do good. Felony records and an old heist team-up bring some of his old crew back together and develop a natural camaraderie between him and some of the town’s old residents. We get Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison), a former boxer and felon who acts as the lair keeper, his bar acting as the superhero lair for all of Hood’s secret activities. Job (Hoon Lee) is the guy in the chair, a cross-dressing hair stylist who moonlights as a highly competent computer hacker. He is an old acquaintance from Hood’s former life, forced to move into the town of Banshee with him after Hood unwittingly blows his cover. Similarly, Ana (Ivana Miličević) is his former love interest with whom Hood has unfinished business and the whole reason that he moved into the town in the first place. In the 15 years that he was in jail, Ana took on a new identity, getting married to a Banshee resident, and the two developed a hot-and-cold relationship reminiscent of the gray allegiance between Batman and Catwoman.

‘Banshee’ Loves Villains With a Mythical Sheen

There are other parallels between Banshee and the superhero genre; across its four-season runtime, Banshee demonstrates a penchant for creating magnetic, memorable characters that appear almost mythical, standing apart from the crime genre. This was one of the aspects that gave the show such a unique quality. In that vein, its villains have the same kind of personas as superhero villains, the most noteworthy one being the resident crime lord of the town of Banshee, Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen), a Lex Luthor or a Kingpin equivalent in that he is a charismatic villain whose power comes from his mind and his enterprise.

Another standout character with such a persona is the Albino, a specter from Hood’s time in prison. Larger and more muscular than any other inmate, he comes across as an unreal being due to his skin condition. Put together a slow and deliberate style of communication, the Albino feels less like a real person and more like a fairy tale character. The deputy officer, Kurt Bunker (Tom Pelphrey), who first appears in the third season, also has a compelling history and personality that gives him an unusually strong screen presence. Given that he is a supporting character, this characterization is unusual for a crime drama, making him another character aligned with this quality of the show. The deliberate nature of such characterizations adds an intriguing layer to Banshee. Though they blend into the crime drama setting strangely, such characters elevate the show to another level, making an interesting comparison to the subversive superhero universe that defines The Boys.

The Action in ‘Banshee’ is Gruesome and Underrated

The action is a standout part of Banshee, good enough to make you wonder why it is such an underrated show. It continuously amazes you with mind-blowing action set pieces and gruesome fight scenes. Consider the chase sequence from the pilot episode, when Hood is pursued by his former employer after being released from prison. The chaotic nature of the scene, the big thrills, and the crashes easily remind you of something like Mission: Impossible, with the added grittiness of Heat.

The fight sequences, of which there are plenty, are no less fascinating as they are always messy in the best way, ending up in a puddle of blood. Banshee doesn’t try to impress you with unconvincing elements; its action won’t remind you of the crisp fight choreography of John Wick. However, each action scene is shot and choreographed with its own brilliance, always giving a realistic feeling. For example, in an early scene, Hood gets into a spat with a world-class MMA fighter. It’s a losing battle for Hood until he begins to use his environment to his advantage, allowing him to win the fight in the most realistic way. A clear contrast is shown between the mentality and fighting styles of a professional fighter facing off against a former convict who survived a dangerous prison. At the same time, the scene develops with flashbacks of Hood’s time in prison, drawing parallels between a formative incident from his prison days and his current experience of duking it out with a trained athlete.

Banshee certainly found a perfect actor for its leading man in Antony Starr. With a fascinating set of unique layers, memorable characters, and a gritty action style that holds its own against some of the best blockbuster films out there, Starr succeeded in evoking a quiet darkness that fit perfectly into the show. With so many comparable elements to the classic superhero genre, Banshee can be a very rewarding watch for any fan of The Boys.

Banshee is available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S.

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