Hughie Campbell, played by Jack Quaid, struggled throughout the film The Boys. In Season 1, he lost his fiancée, Robin, when an A-Train hit her. Since then, he has attempted to work with the Boys to bring down bad “supes.”
Unfortunately, he lost his way in Season 3, manipulating Temp V to obtain power for himself. Fortunately, Hughie has Starlight on his side, as she assisted him in returning to the light. However, when the fourth season begins, Hughie’s life continues to slide downward. A lot of that is due to his estranged mother, Daphne, appearing on The Boys Season 4.
Who Is Hughie’s Mother Daphne in The Boys?
In the comics, Daphne annoyed Hughie and treated him like a 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢, as did his father, Alexander. This led to Hughie growing irritated when he visited them back in Scotland, though Starlight showed up to patch their broken romance. She let him know he should never take his parents for granted. Especially someone like Daphne, who loves cooking and cleaning for Hughie. The Boys TV show changed Hughie’s parents in a big way. Simon Pegg portrayed Hugh Sr., his father, but Daphne wasn’t in the picture. Season 1 made it seem like she was dead, though subsequent seasons revealed she left the family when Hughie was six. That scarred Hughie for life, giving him deep-rooted insecurity.
This fear of abandonment is what made Hughie depressed when Robin died, and what Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher preyed on to recruit Hughie. Season 4 finds Daphne visiting town when Hugh Sr. gets a stroke. Hughie is stunned to see her at the hospital, though it turns out, she and Hugh Sr. connected years back. She didn’t know how to make amends and ease her way back into Hughie’s life. She wanted to reach out over the years, but she felt guilty. As she and Hughie get to know each other, she admits that postpartum depression broke her.
She was just 22 and didn’t know how to handle a pregnancy and childbirth she didn’t want, so she left after the depression persisted for years. Hughie struggles to forgive her. He’s angry she ditched them, but he’s further annoyed that Hugh Sr. gave her the power of attorney. It feels like the man did this so that if he ever fell on life support, she could make a tough decision that Hughie wouldn’t ever be able to make. Hughie does warm to her as they converse, relate and show empathy for each other. But a part of him is suspicious as she worked for Vought International’s Voughtality, selling herbal oils and supplements.
It’s ironic because she’s selling Vought as a health and lifestyle brand, but Hughie knows they make monsters and 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ers, and are led by the evil Homelander (Antony Starr). Still, he can tell life isn’t black and white, and that at some point, he has to stop demonizing the woman for her mistake.
Hughie Is Struggling With Butcher’s Firing in The Boys Season 4
While Hughie goes through the emotions with Daphne, he isn’t handling the possible loss of another father-figure: Billy Butcher. The leader isn’t coping well after Temp V poisoned his system and is dying of cancer, with six months or so left to live. Mother’s Milk also kicks him out of the group, as the CIA and Starlight don’t trust Butcher anymore. They don’t like how he kept abusing the serum in Season 3, and how he went rogue and unleashed Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy on Homelander. To add insult to injury, Butcher is on a drinking binge, which is immature and irresponsible. But Hughie wants to forgive him and keep him around.
Unfortunately, no one else has this faith in Butcher. Even after he found the virus that can murder “supes” in Gen V, Butcher has no worth in his allies’ eyes. He has endangered them in fights with Homelander and even, Victoria Neuman. Thanks to him, the heroes haven’t 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed Victoria, which means she is inching closer to replacing her running mate, Robert Singer, as US President once the votes are counted. Once she’s installed, Homelander plans to push superhero supremacy and a military state. Thus, Butcher’s actions have consequences. With so much evidence stacked against Butcher, Hughie is at his lowest, and Neuman is on his back as well.
They worked together for years, but Neuman hid the fact she was a villain who could blow people’s brains up. Through it all, Butcher had Hughie’s back. But without his second father around, the levees are breaking, and the timing couldn’t be worse. It leads to a distracted Hughie being so far off his game, Homelander almost 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s him when he spies in on a mission. It has Hughie suffering anxiety and panic like never before. His world is crumbling, with his two best friends (outside of Starlight) on the verge of dying. No matter what, he can’t center and process these tragedies. He is still very much affected by Daphne’s presence.
The Boys’ Hughie Can’t Help Starlight
All of these events leave Hughie helpless to assist a desperate Annie. She won’t go back to being the Starlight symbol, as it reminds her of her toxic time with Vought and the Seven, but her powers are waning. It’s all due to her mental health fracturing. Usually, Hughie is her inspirational bedrock, but with his own problems taking precedence, he can’t help her personally and professionally. Starlight is fully aware of this, so she tries to train Hughie up more. But she can tell his mind is all over the place, as Hughie doesn’t handle loss well. That said, Starlight can only do so much.
She has a new difficulty to deal with in the form of Firecracker, a person from her past who knows her dark secrets. Annie must keep her guard up now that Firecracker has joined the Seven. Annie is under pressure because the Starlighters (a social justice banner that opposes Homelander’s alt-right cult) are being portrayed in the media as murderers. She cannot devote the time and energy required to assist Hughie in the manner that he deserves, and vice versa. They had a rough third season and barely rectified things, but one tragedy after another adds to the burden. As the story progresses in The Boys, the pair will need to manage multiple tasks.
Starlight may end up focusing on the mission with Mother’s Milk and the others, allowing Hughie to find closure and resolution for his family issues. However, as things stand, this will not be easy to come by. Hughie is struggling to cope with the absence of his father and Butcher. He believes he took them for granted, which adds to the weight on his already sensitive shoulders. Hughie hopes to work through all of this so that he may be a better lover, colleague, and son to a remorseful Daphne. Butcher and his father may not be present to witness it, but knowing Hughie is working to improve will give them peace of mind. If anything, the boys need Hughie to play his best game.
