The Disturbing Mother's Milk Origin We Could See In The Boys Season 3
Amazon Prime's superhero black comedy The Boys left a lot of its characters in dangerous and dark places. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) has just lost his only-recently rediscovered wife. Hughie (Jack Quaid) has joined the campaign of Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), who, it turns out, has been exploding everyone's heads lately. In fact, one of the only character who seems to get a perfect, happy ending in The Boys season 2 is Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso). That just can't bode well for what's coming his way.
Milk spent most of the last two seasons running for his life, becoming a wanted man, and otherwise being a danger to himself and others. The problem with Milk living that kind of life is that he's also responsible for his wife and daughter. So imagine how relieved he and audiences were when Milk was finally reunited with said family. Whatever comes next, at least reconnecting with his family is all good for Mother's Milk.
However, what if that family reunion were to immediately lead to a seriously dark turn? What if it turned out that a family reunion is the worst thing that could happen to Milk? Unfortunately, there's a theory that Milk is headed for a very distressing family event which connects with his story in the original comic books, and that theory is starting to look very plausible.
Homelander and Milk both like the same drink
There's a bit of The Boys fan art that made the rounds just before Christmas, wherein Homelander is envisioned as Santa Claus sneaking down the chimney for some warm milk and cookies by the fire place. Fans of The Boys will immediately get the gross joke — Homelander is obsessed with drinking the breast milk of his former boss Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue). Grown men drinking breast milk is very weird, and only on a show like The Boys might you find a second grown, adult male who craves human breast milk.
Milk may not be drinking any actual milk on the Amazon series thus far, however he's a big fan in the comics. It turns out that in the Garth Ennis book, Milk is actually superpowered. His mother worked for Vought, and working around Compound V so much caused her two children to be born as superheroes — kind of.
To cut to the chase: Yes, in the comics Milk has a brother who is developmentally challenged and who dies as a result of his own Compound V powers. Milk doesn't discover his own powers until he joins the military and becomes a heavyweight boxing champ. The catch to Milk's powers is that he needs to drink his mother's milk in order to live.
In the comics, Billy Butcher knows about Milk's abilities, and though they are friends, this doesn't dissuade Butcher from his opinion that all Supes must die. In the comics, Billy and Milk have a confrontation that results in Milk's death, which raises a big question: How closely will Amazon hew to the comic books when it comes to Milk?
The Boys season 3: season of the moms?
If the Amazon series explores this storyline, it'll be interesting to see how that might shake out. It could be played as a joke where Milk doesn't have to drink his mother's milk anymore, but did have to for a very long time. It's possible that Milk still needs his mother to survive. As of right now, not only are we unaware that Milk has powers, but we also have no idea if Billy Butcher would know if Milk did.
While there are many moments in which Milk performed in ways that one could deem superheroic, he's never quite shown as being as strong or durable as any of the established Supes. He's strength is admirable, but apparently mundane. In all likelihood, if Milk does have powers, he either doesn't know or is trying to keep them a secret from Butcher.
One thing we absolutely do know that the series has kept from the comics is the story of Milk's dad. In the series, Milk confirms that his father was a lawyer who was in constant litigation with the superhero corporation Vought. In fact, Milk confirms that his father literally died at his typewriter still fighting against Vought. What we don't know is what the court cases were about. We have not met Milk's mother on the series at all. Now that he's been reunited with the rest of his family, it's hard to believe we won't hear about his mother soon. Season 2 ended in part explaining that Hughie's mother abandoned his family when he was a kid, so who knows? Season 3 could be all about moms.
Get your milk ready because The Boys is filming season 3 in 2021.