| “ | I gave up every moment of my life. And I was happy to do it. This was our dream.
―Donna to Annie[src]
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” |
Donna January is the mother of Starlight.
The Boys Series
Relationship with Starlight
Donna's relationship with Starlight, her daughter, is a close one, and the two are seen often with one another. Donna is one of Starlight's biggest fans, often taking her two superhero festivals as a child, and is over the moon when Starlight is accepted to join The Seven in The Name of the Game.
The relationship between the two becomes strained, however, when Starlight finds out that her gifts are as a result of Compound V experiments and not a gift from God as her mother always told her. Starlight questions Donna, who reveals that she did it to give Starlight a good life.
Donna does return in Season 2 at the movie set for Dawn of The Seven, where she is seen talking with Stormfront. Starlight approaches her mother, to which Donna apologizes for lying to her about Compound V and wants to make amends with her daughter, however, Starlight is reluctant. Donna meets with Annie again at a coffee shop in Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker still trying to repair their relationship. Donna then suggests they can get away from all this, that she talked with Ashley, who agreed to let them go to Costa Rica. However, Annie realizes too late that her mother was tricked by Vought as a gas grenade is thrown into the coffee shop, knocking Donna and all the civilians out. Hughie does manage to rescue Donna from floor 42D using Lamplighter's hand to unlock her holding cell. Donna reunites with her daughter and the two hug after being rescued. Donna is seen at the end of the episode in The Boys' hideout watching the courtroom hearings with them.
Donna does appear one last time in the beginning of What I Know, where she says goodbye to her daughter and is leaving to escape from Vought.
In the Comics
Her comic's counterpart was accidentally blinded by Starlight, shortly after her birth.
Personality
| “ | If you're negative, negative things happen to you.
―Donna to Annie[src]
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” |
Donna possesses many traits typical of stage moms, projecting her own wants onto her daughter, Annie, and using her as a proxy for her own fantasies of success. She allowed Vought to infuse Annie with Compound V as a baby and turn her into a Supe on the promise that her daughter would have "an extraordinary life", one that she also lived vicariously. Since Annie's early childhood, she put her daughter through an intense training regimen and ran her through the Supe pageant circuit, all the way until she reached the pinnacle by joining The Seven.
While close to her daughter and supportive of her career as a superhero, Donna's support is largely selfish, to the point where she controlled much of her daughter's life and forced Annie to repress any feelings that would get in the way of her career. She is not above emotionally manipulating and lying to her own daughter in order to achieve her ends, and has difficulty separating her own wants and needs from her daughter's, as seen when she reacts callously and selfishly to Starlight's doubts about her speech in Good for the Soul.
However despite her selfishness, it is shown that Donna does indeed genuinely care for her daughter. This is seen where she made continuous attempts to mend their relationship after their fight when Annie learned about Compound V and showed to have truly loved her and thought what she was doing was for the best in order to insure her daughter's success in life.