Mortal Kombat 1/Homelander/Introduction

Introduction

The World's Greatest Superhero

"Homelander is the most powerful being on the planet and the leader of The Seven, the elite superhero team owned and managed by Vought International. In a world where “Supes” are made, he's the strongest of them all. He can fly, has super strength, and can laser enemies with his eyes. Homelander presents himself as the ultimate patriot and protector, but don't let his movie star good looks or high approval rating fool you. He is a murderous, narcissistic sociopath with an insatiable need for validation, love, and power. Homelander's destruction of enemies and lust for power does not end with his world. Challengers from other realms will face his wrath."

Homelander is a rushdown/stance archetype with several mixup and zoning qualities that are defined by cancelling various movements/attacks into his airborne “Flight” stance (Up + Flip Stance) to instantly access all aerial options, as well as firing various fullscreen projectile beams both while grounded and airborne; he also has disjointed laser normals in place of some kick attacks to complement his High/Mid projectiles (i.e. D4/B4/F4). Homelander’s BF2 command dash can be performed both on the ground and while in air/Flight, with optional follow-ups such as his High command grab (BF22) that can quickly tick-throw unprepared stand-blocking opponents up-close after his crouching pokes, F4, and B14. Although his crouching kicks are his only grounded Lows, he has instant Overhead mix by being able to cancel any normal or string that allows it into Flight stance which leaves him in the air hovering still at low enough of a height to connect follow-up jump normals in a kombo or blockstring (i.e. j1/j4). Homelander also has access to a Low DB4 while in air/Flight that can be delayed and/or cancelled; in addition to meterless juggle conversions with Kameos, this move can be enhanced on reaction before the falling attack animation to come out in 6f and instantly launch the opponent for a bar of meter.

Strengths

Weaknesses

The Only Man in the Sky: Homelander can take free flight at will and can even cancel into it out of buttons, giving him unique options, such as... Instant Overheads: Flight bypasses the usual instant overhead prevention on aerial normals, creating unique mix-up opportunities; Flying Grappler: Diabolic Dash gives him a fast Running Bear Grab that he can tick into and, with Kameos, combo out of; mixing this up with his Mid attacks in the Dash means people can't afford to just duck on him; Loopable Back Throw: His regular back throw can loop into itself and enables trivial conversions with Kameos; Fire the Laser: Many of Homelander's normals and specials feature a plethora of ranged laser beams to control space; his downward laser in flight hits at an angle that is difficult for grounded opponents to challenge;

Carpal Tunnel: Optimizing his combos requires making use of flight cancels, requiring fast and more specific inputs than most characters will need for their combos; Stop Ducking!: When Homelander is on the ground, he has few tools to discourage opponents from ducking: many of his command normals are Highs, his main Mid string requires a difficult one-hit confirm to combo or else settle for a knockdown, and he has no grounded Overheads because of what Flight offers in that department;