S.H.I.E.L.D. has a dedicated unit that monitors videos appearing online. Once any trace of the supernatural is detected, the footage is intercepted and sent to headquarters for verification.
Now that this video has reached the desks of several top agents—and the Director himself—it's clear it has already been authenticated as free of any manipulation.
The footage came from a wealthy young man who had been stargazing with high-end camera equipment. His three girlfriends confirmed they all saw the "flying man."
"For someone to move at that kind of speed, his body must be harder than steel," Coulson thought, shaken after watching the video.
"Our scientists have confirmed it. His speed is even faster than a fighter jet," Nick Fury said, his tone filled with awe.
He turned toward Natasha and the other female agents, his gaze full of meaning. "Don't you have anything to say?"
At that, Natasha spoke up. "This does remind me of something."
"You think so too?" Agent Hill's eyes flickered.
The two women exchanged a look. Both knew they were thinking of the same thing.
"If it feels familiar, why don't you explain it to Coulson?" Fury stroked the beard on his chin, glancing at his top female agents.
"Homelander!"
Natasha and Hill gave the answer almost at the same time.
"You go ahead," Hill said, giving Natasha the floor.
"Alright." Natasha didn't hold back. She addressed the others: "In that TV show we worked on, one of the characters—Homelander—had this same kind of physical strength. He could also fly freely, defying gravity."
Among those present, Coulson was probably the only one who hadn't been involved in that mission.
"Wait, you're not seriously saying a TV character came to life, are you? It's not even April Fool's Day yet." Coulson found the idea absurd.
"Just a guess," Natasha shrugged.
But Coulson's expression didn't relax. Even as speculation, agents' instincts tended to be frighteningly accurate.
"Their suspicion isn't baseless. Our investigation showed that every actor who appeared in The Boys could basically be considered playing themselves," Fury said.
"They're all mutants with different abilities, perfectly matched to their roles." He rubbed his bald head and sighed.
"So now you suspect the director who played Homelander has abilities like Homelander's in the show?" Coulson's sharp mind immediately pieced together the reasoning behind Natasha's speculation.
Still, even with that logic, he couldn't accept it. "Director, you can't seriously believe this! That was just a TV script!"
"The actors really were mutants whose powers matched their roles. Natasha's theory is just a reasonable deduction," Fury countered.
He hadn't dared lose his temper earlier or send agents after Herman Chu, precisely because he suspected the same thing. Someone Charles valued so highly couldn't just be an ordinary director—or even an ordinary mutant.
If Herman truly had Homelander's abilities, then Charles's regard made sense. That would mean another being with godlike power had appeared.
"You've got to be kidding me! For heaven's sake, in that show, Homelander was written to withstand a nuclear blast! And now you're telling me someone like that really exists in New York? That humanity's most powerful weapons are just toys to him?"
Coulson's expression twisted into horror.
He had read the files on The Boys. A human capable of tanking a nuclear explosion—could such a thing exist?
The thought was unthinkable.
If ordinary people heard about this, the entire world order could collapse. And it wasn't just Coulson who felt disbelief.
Natasha, Hill, and May also felt a chill run through them as they remembered the days filming with Herman.
If Herman really was this flying man… then their greatest danger back then hadn't been the mutant students.
It had been the risk of Herman losing control and crushing them with a single punch. Maria Hill, who had played Queen Maeve, felt the most dread.
"Could that director, Herman Chu, really be this flying man?" Hill couldn't help but ask Fury.
She received an answer that was as close to confirmation as possible. Fury said, "Their body measurements are identical. That's what the data comparison shows."
The data matched perfectly. Which made his identity all but undeniable.
"Unbelievable. What kind of world are we living in?" Coulson pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head with a bitter smile.
"The idea that someone could actually withstand a nuclear blast is ridiculous. But we do need to be ready for the worst-case scenario." Nick Fury's eyes grew heavy. With his broader experience, the figure flying in the footage reminded him of a long-absent friend.
Captain Marvel.
If the cosmos could produce beings like her, then why couldn't Earth give rise to someone similar? What was impossible about that?
"When Carol flies, her body glows, and she can survive in space. Compared to that, Carol is probably still the stronger one."
That was how Fury consoled himself. Otherwise, even he would feel a surge of panic he couldn't contain.
"How are we supposed to deal with a… ticking nuclear bomb like this?" Coulson asked hoarsely once he steadied himself.
"He isn't causing any harm, is he? With our director friend, it's better to keep good relations. We might need him one day."
Fury wasn't the type to eliminate dangerous people the moment they appeared, even if they unsettled him. He always weighed how dangerous they truly were.
Knowing how many alien species existed in the universe, and firmly believing in the "Dark Forest" principle, Fury wanted to secure every extraordinary power available to him.
"Could he be one of the candidates to initiate my plan?" Fury's gaze shifted to the corner of the video feed, where Herman's comparison photo was displayed. His expression grew unusually grave.
After a long silence, the staff member responsible for filing reports looked up. "How should we classify this flying man in the records?"
Fury didn't hesitate. "Same inhuman strength, same terrifying durability, same overwhelming flight speed… We'll use the existing name: Homelander."
With Fury's decision made, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s official records were updated. The designation "Homelander" was entered, filed alongside the flying man's video footage and Herman's photograph.