The Boys never fails to disgust us with increasingly vulgar things, from "Herogasm" to that scene with the Ant-Man-like superhero Termite scene, to Homelander's antics upon returning to the lab where he was raised. Every season seems to out-do the previous one in terms of vulgarity, but there's one rather disgusting plotline that's run throughout the whole story. Yes, I'm talking about Homelander's fetish for milk.
Homelander's milk fetish was first seen in season 1, when he's jealous lusts over milk, where he's jealous of Vought executive Madelyn Stillwell's baby, whom she is breast-feeding. His infatuation continues into season 2, and by season 3 he milks a cow in a farmhouse and drinks it up. This side of Homelander's personality is popular among fans, and Starr and showrunner Eric Kripke are more than happy to indulge in the repulsiveness.
Once Homelander's milk fetish had been established, Starr wrote to Kripke to make it a long-running motif in the show. "It was so funny and weird, and I think I sent Eric an email after that scene going, ‘Dude, we gotta get as much milk in this show as possible. This is gonna be like a little motif or a signature thing," Antony Starr told Rolling Stone. "And he was like, ‘One step ahead of you, brother. I’m putting it in everything.’"
"And so now every opportunity we get, the milk thing comes out. We don’t have to do anything with it, either. If I just look at someone and sip milk, there’s a twist to it. It’s become a really fun thing. The fans have really glommed on to it. And enjoyed it."
Antony Starr also discussed Homelander's very clear real-world inspiration: Donald Trump. The parallels have been increasingly evident as the seasons have gone on. But while Starr is very much aware of the political satire at play, he doesn't want the show to become too grounded in the real world. "There’s always been those elements that parallel the real world. But I feel like they always relate well to the show. It’s not like just, oh yeah, we want to stick that in for no other reason than just to poke fun at something in the real world."
The Boys season 4 continues Thursdays on Prime Video.
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