No one in unordinary has a backstory (besides the obvious exception) so here’s my two cents (headcanons) on Arlo’s history
He was born out of wedlock (I promise this is relevant to The Way That He Is in canon)
When his parents met his father was a middle aged very influential government official who did make a bit of an effort to be in Arlo’s life, but had a whole nother family. Arlo was primarily raised by his mom during his early childhood. Arlo’s ability comes from his fathers side, and val is his paternal aunt
Arlo’s father tries to be affectionate, genial old man, but. He’s just quintessentially unprepared to help raise a young child. He’s also in his 70s during canon so he’s very out of touch to what Arlo’s life is even like. Arlo is mostly just standoffishly polite to him
Arlos mother was a broke college student when he was born. She felt like a failure for getting pregnant before doing anything with her life, so she kind of unconsciously externalized that onto arlo- “if I raise this child to successfully enough, I won’t have failed as a parent and as a person”
She was unyieldingly strict and demanding at all times. She always pushed him to get stronger, to raise himself in the hierarchy because it was her way of proving that she was doing something valuable. She loves him, but maybe not as much as the idea of him. I don’t think she was abusive, but certainly just. Not a Good Mom
It kinda works out for them because arlo inherits his dads power and absolutely excels at it. He measures himself by hierarchy but it hasn’t destroyed his self esteem because. Turns out he’s pretty great at hierarchy actually
At some point Arlo’s mom sends him to live full time with his dad because he can provide so many more opportunities for him. It’s a pretty cushy lifestyle
Arlo has 3 half siblings from his dads side that are all MUCH older than him, like 14 years older at the youngest (in canon they are all in their 30s)
In his early childhood they all really resented him for ruining their parents’ marriage. His mom tried to keep him away from that shit, but it got into his brain a bit. His method of dealing with it (like in canon) is just. Repression repression repression baby!! Can’t have problems if you just fight people about them. He inherits his moms perspective on hierarchy: no one can judge you if you’re the most powerful person in the room
Val was the one person on his fathers side that really tried to form a relationship with him which is why he looks up to her so much. Whether it’s because she actually cares about him or it’s because she thought he’d end up as a valuable resource, well. Arlo certainly believes the former
His now grown ass adult siblings regret being shitty to him. They try to reach out and reconnect now but Arlo is Arlo about it and just brushes them off
Arlo ends up the tallest and the most powerful of all his siblings
His mom ends up remarrying and starting her own family too. She gets happiness. She changes from that bad parent from the earlier parts of his childhood and tries to fix things. She’s been able to move on from the toxic mindset she raised him with, but he’s still stuck there with the trauma she’s given him.
Arlo’s kind of stranded between 2 happy families and he deals with it by!! Pretending the only life he has is the one at wellston. He throws himself into his duties as King and ignores everything else
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The fact that we know everyone elses ages but not MK, Why are they hiding MK's age? If he was human, there would be no reason to hide it. 100% guessing he is, atleast not fully, as human as he think he is
as far as im aware MK not having an age is a “running joke” with the crew but purely because they won’t reveal it makes me immediately assume his age will be plot important so...yknow what.... i think you’re right anon. I think MK is playing the role of the “ordinary man dragged into supernatural bullshit” despite the fact he isn’t an ordinary man
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im no expert, so take what i say concerning ages with a generous grain of salt. so, in the show, im fairly certain billy butcher is in his 40s (im not sure if it's said on-screen, so i do not have a citation), while starlight and hughie are both in their 20s (like, im pretty sure starlight is in her mid-20s, like 25 or 26). i can't speak to the ages of mm, frenchie, or the female, but i would assume they're all between or around those two points.
the ages of the other characters vary, as well. if i had to generalize, they would all be around their mid-late twenties or thirties? the only one im remotely close to sure about is homelander, who was born in 1981 (making him about 40-41 as of this last season). (i would tell you how i know that, but it's a significant spoiler so I won't)
now, the comics are different, but I can't recall much information (unfortunately) because it's been a while since i read them (except herogasm, which i reread recently-- but that's besides the point).
thank you so much!! this is rly helpful, even just having homelander’s age clears a lot of things up for me! and also hearing that the comic ages might be different from the show is enlightening too, makes me wonder what changes were made and why
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