MovieChat Forums > The Boys (2019) Discussion > Questions about Translucent

Questions about Translucent

posted 5 years ago by freefallin (37)
18 replies | jump to latest

When they were figuring out ways to kill him why didn't they try to poison him? Hughie offered him water and he drank it so they had opportunity. That's what I thought Hughie was planning in that scene. There was no mention that Translucent was immune to poisons, only that he had diamond skin.

Also after he died they were certain that Homelander would find his remains. Why? How? Why not just bury his remains somewhere far away? Do they actually think it's feasible for Homelander to x-ray vision every inch of the city or state?

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 5 years ago

Possibly they were afraid that, if poison worked, they'd have an invisible body with impenetrable skin hiding a still-active tracking chip

Or maybe that was just next on their list

As for being certain his remains would be found, they didn't know how long it would take, just that it would happen eventually. So yeah, Homelander could, eventually, x-ray vision every inch of the city or state.

But remember, Butcher actually wanted the remains found, so the Seven would receive his message

[–] FilmBuff (7360) 5 years ago

What I didn't understand is why the explosion blew him apart. I thought it would blow up his innards, and a lot of them would likely come shooting out of his butthole, but his body would remain perfectly intact.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2684) 5 years ago

That would have been hilarious and made more sense. Geysers of blood and guts from his mouth and butt.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 5 years ago

Explain that to Drax (if you've seen "Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2")

but yeah, skin that's impenetrable from outside should be impenetrable from the inside too

[–] ace2 (600) 5 years ago

Exactly.

I am assuming he has to actively make his skin hard, just like how he becomes invisible. So if he is dead he is also no longer able to keep his skin hard. However under this logic he would also stop being invisible, unless that is the default state.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I don't think he had to make his skin hard, if that was the case then after the electric shock that knocked him out they could have easily just stabbed him or shot him and killed him like he was a normal person. I think his skin was supposed to be super hard all the time and the only thing his consciousness affected was whether he was visible or not.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

You are right, I think it was just a result of showrunners not actually thinking things through all the way. First thought it might have been because they just wanted to have the exploding guts every scene but when you think about it the real result should have been explosive diarrhea and stuff shooting from every opening would have also given them a gore scene.... So tend to think it was just poor writing.

[–] freefallin (37) 5 years ago

"Possibly they were afraid that, if poison worked, they'd have an invisible body with impenetrable skin hiding a still-active tracking chip"

They tried shooting him and using a drill on him when he was invisible so they obviously weren't concerned about him being invisible.

"As for being certain his remains would be found, they didn't know how long it would take, just that it would happen eventually. So yeah, Homelander could, eventually, x-ray vision every inch of the city or state."

C'mon how can one person search every inch of an entire city or state looking through land, water, and infrastructure? You know how long that would take? Not to mention that Homelander doesn't even know what happened to Translucent. Why would he assume he was blown up into bits and then those bits buried and then spend the next 5 years flying around x-raying anything and everything for human remains? It's beyond ludicrous. Plus this is Homelander we're talking about. He couldn't be bothered to do something like that.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2684) 5 years ago

Did they also say some group tried suffocating/drowning him and it didn't work? Which was a bit weird. I guess they conveniently have secondary immunity powers. Like Starlight taking two .50 rounds to the chest.

[–] GordianNott (137) 5 years ago

I was thinking he still needs food and water--so starving him to death wasn't an option? He also needed air to breath; they couldn't let all the oxygen turn into CO2 in his room? But I guess the show isn't totally serious, and that seemed a darkly comic way to kill him, and more exciting than suffocating.

[–] ColdOfWinter (147) 5 years ago

I thought it was a little weird that they acted like they exhausted all the possible ways of killing him off as well. I assume the writers are wanting to try to kill off all of the heroes by exploiting a weakness vs common sense methods. Otherwise, I suspect that if they were seriously attempting to kill off the heroes, then any of them that were not bullet proof would already be dead.

Or maybe I missed something and it is just a given that all Supes are bulletproof? I was a little shocked that Starlight turned out to be bulletproof.

[–] GordianNott (137) 5 years ago

Starlight's bulletproofness surprised me too. I do wonder if it's a given for all Supes?

But then Kimiko was able to give A-Train a serious flesh wound in the leg with a weapon (was it a crowbar? I forget), so he didn't have impermeable skin.

[–] freefallin (37) 5 years ago

It's not really surprising. When we're introduced to Starlight we see her training by punching a brick wall and lifting a car which means she has super strength which means her body is extra durable.

[–] ColdOfWinter (147) 5 years ago

Well that still depends on the comic adaptation that they go with. Spider man could do all of that as well, but his vulnerability was still that he was just human. I hear what you are saying though, if you introduce real world physics then extra strength(the kind required for the feats you describe) only works if your skin and bones are also equally resistant/enhanced.

[–] freefallin (37) 5 years ago

Spiderman does have enhanced durability though. I don't know if he's ever been shot with a .50 cal but he's taken beatings that would kill a normal person.

[–] asom (6881) 5 years ago

Yeah, A-Train was not quite invulnerable.
And still: when he hit Robin he should have had some injuries as well.

the way i understood about Translucent was that only when he was transformed his skin was that durable.

[–] MinaVladimir (4086) 5 years ago

I thought the exact same thing. Just poison Invisidude! But I seem to remember someone said something about the lining on his stomach? I didn't hear it well and was too lazy to rewind, but he might have had something on the inside protecting him from harm.

[–] McQualude (4231) 5 years ago

The real question is how did they get that tracking chip through his impenetrable skin.