The performance of introducing a free radical initiator into dealkylation-based visbreaking of heavy oil in the N2 or supercritical benzene (SCbenzene) medium was investigated. Calculations based on density functional theory show that the introduction of di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) into heavy oil visbreaking results in the formation of alkyl C radicals similar to those naturally formed in high temperature initiation. The visbreaking in SCbenzene environment is sensitive to the introduction of DTBP, which is different from the visbreaking in N2 environment. According to reaction kinetics analysis, the presence of SCbenzene solvent and the introduction of DTBP greatly accelerate the dealkylation related lumped reactions. Benefiting from improved diffusion environment, the superimposed radicals resulting from DTBP introduction effectively participate in visbreaking and selectively accelerate dealkylation. After only 10–20 min of reaction at 380 °C, visbreaking products with satisfactory viscosity reduction, reduced asphaltene content and improved light component yield can be obtained.