I like thinking about this with Homelander,
What Homelander ultimately wanted was for someone to really know and like him as a person, not adulation for his powers or out of fear, but genuinely just liking him
But because of the way he was raised and the person he grew into that was impossible
He had no idea how to actually interact with people normally, ended up developing a god complex, and his violent personality made it to where almost anyone who actually did know him would either fear him or hate him
Which obviously doesn’t justify or negate his evil I feel I should point out, but it does show there is a tragic element to him
thinking about the switch of john and his developed in the lab alter ego protector from the doctors homelander personalities in his final moment. antony, we are getting you that emmy