Summary

• Mother's Milk's origin in The Boys comics involves a dark backstory and a need for his mother's breast milk to survive.
• The TV show changed Mother's Milk significantly, making him a sympathetic character without superpowers like in the comics.
• The alteration to Mother's Milk's name in the show created impactful moments with Homelander and worked better for the series.

One of the significant changes The Boys makes from the comics to the TV show is the origin of Mother's Milk's nickname. Mother's Milk, or MM, played by Laz Alonzo, is the team's backbone and is often seen as the team's "mother" figure. However, his comic book origin is a lot darker than Mother's Milk's backstory in the show. In The Boys comics, Mother's Milk is a supe named Baron Wallis who s the team after accidentally killing a man in a boxing ring.

Like many characters in The Boys, Mother's Milk has been altered significantly. However, of all the of Butcher's team, he's perhaps had the biggest overhaul. This has led to many questions from fans of the Amazon Prime show who haven't read the comics, especially when it comes to MM's name. While the explanation in the show is relatively innocent, in The Boys comics there's an incredibly strange reason why MM is called Mother's Milk.

Why MM Is Called Mother's Milk In The Boys Comics

MM's Powers Require His Mother's Breast Milk

What makes Mother's Milk's powers distinctive, and where he got his name, is that MM has to consume his mother's breast milk to survive, even as an adult. He also ages at a reduced rate and is something of a tactical genius, though it's unclear whether his intellect is due to Compound V.

In The Boys comics, Mother's Milk is a Supe named Baron Wallis who s the team after accidentally killing a man in a boxing ring. His nickname derives from the fact that he depends on frequent breastfeeding from his mother, due to being born with traces of Compound V in his system. His mother had been contaminated while working for Vought and ed it on to her children.

This incident led to his father suing Vought and winning, though he died before seeing the case result. Amazon's The Boys does use a similar plot point to explain MM's anger towards Vought, with his father suing the company after Soldier Boy killed MM's grandfather.

What Powers Did MM Have In The Comics

Mother's Milk Has Generic Super Strength And Durability

Mothers Milk may have powers in The Boys comics, though they're somewhat generic (aside from how he renews his strength, of course). As the only team member born with Compound V in his system, MM possesses some superhuman abilities, though he's nowhere near the level of power of the likes of Homelander.

Mother's Milk in the comic books possessed a level of superhuman strength, durability, stamina, and agility. These powers manifested later in life during his stint as a boxer. Notably, his sudden manifestation of powers caused him to accidentally kill a man, which led to his recruitment by Butcher.

Will The Boys TV Show Explain Mother's Milk's Name?

The On-Screen Character Has A Far More Normal Backstory

It's unlikely that The Boys TV show will explore the origins of his nickname, given the changes already made to the character. In the show, Milk is MM's surname, with his full name being Marvin T. Milk. The show briefly mentions his nickname is due to his past as a medic and his role as a parental figure for the team. The reason for the change is likely to distinguish the superpower-less protagonists from the villainous supes. In the comics, MM is killed by Butcher, because he was exposed to Compound V.

While MM is not a supe in the show, he is the most sympathetic character in the group, leading to frequent clashes with Butcher in The Boys. It is unlikely that the show will see the two men fight to the death, but MM's death would be a huge blow, as he keeps the team together. With the series' unpredictable nature, anything is on the table for the season.

The Show Changed Mother's Milk For The Better

Eric Kripke may have changed MM significantly when adapting The Boys into a TV show for Amazon Prime, but these changes were definitely for the better. While the comic-book version of Mother's Milk certainly has an interesting backstory, the non-supe version played by Laz Alonzo suits the show much better. The TV show manages to weave several key aspects of his character, such as his family's historic hatred of Vought, into his backstory, while losing some of the more confusing elements (such as his dependence on breast milk).

What's more, by changing the reason Mother's Milk gained his name, the show created an opportunity for another character — Homelander. Homelander's obsession with milk, especially breast milk, has been a staple of his character in The Boys TV show. It always leads to some incredibly strange and unnerving scenes when it crops up, and has gone a long way toward establishing Homelander as the borderline-psychopath antagonist that has carried The Boys through its first four seasons.

If Mother's Milk was a Supe in the show and still required his mother's breast milk, these moments with Homelander would have had significantly less impact. Ultimately, the storylines of The Boys TV show and comic books are different in many ways, and this particular change for MM definitely works much better for the Amazon Prime series.