A model antagonist is what Homelander is, subjectively and I believe so. You do not have to act high and mighty with your arms out and not be pathetic to be a great antagonist. If you believe otherwise, please enlighten me without using personal or pretentious reasoning
Above, I showed an example of how Homelander was both terrifying and interesting in the early seasons. In the final season, he became a laughing stock.
Darth Vader is a lonely, unhappy man, deprived of his family and disabled through his own fault. He spends all his time in misery and at the beck and call of the man who ruined his life. All he can do is take out his anger on others. Yes, he's a rather pathetic person, but he's terrifying; no one will tell him to his face that he's worthless and not a laughing stock.
Makima is the same lonely child who simply needed love. She grew up under the government's watch, bossed around and ordered around by them. The only people who truly loved her were her dogs, and she had a parasocial relationship with Pochita. Nevertheless, she's terrifying and interesting.
Furuta is a bastard child, an expendable tool in the family, and he suffers from the lack of a parental figure in his life. The love of his life ran away and effectively forgot about him. He literally begged Kaneki to take all the blame so that Nimura could live a normal life. Before his death, he became hysterical and said he wanted everything in the world to be his. It's all due to his insecurities. Nevertheless, he's very interesting to watch.
If Homelander had maintained the character from the first two seasons, which would have been destroyed at the end when he lost his powers, people wouldn't have had so many complaints. But this guy literally sends his father to the kids with a particularly dangerous poison, and then makes a face like he's soiled his diaper.
The fact of the matter is that Homelander yearns for connection. That is how he was raised. Him attempting to abandon something he craves and failing is not unrealistic, but that is not the issue I am addressing at all here.
In fact, it is an artificial stretching of the plot and regression
That does not mean anything. He could have just been scared out of his mind. You expect a man begging on his knees for his own life, a man who was once the most powerful in the world, to seek reason? Please question what you are saying here at the very least. And what you suggested was even more illogical, considering all of the above turned on him or were nowhere near the area. Homelander was alone and vulnerable.
No. Pleading for help with Deep, whom he had already kicked out, would be typical of him, and also quite pathetic. Generally, asking those around him to help him.
Wait, are you really saying that the idea of a son helping his father escape is less logical than Butcher giving Homelander a blow-job and then letting him go after he's had his fill?