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Momma's Boy

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The smile says, "Yes, mommy." The eyes say, "HELP ME."

Cosmo: I am not a mama's boy!
Mama Cosma: Yes you are!
Cosmo: Yes, mama.

If a guy is excessively devoted to his mother and he's not obviously a manly man, then he will be seen as a sensitive guy even if he doesn't act like one. His mother might try to completely dominate his life, to the point of telling him who to marry (and if he disobeys then she'll try to ruin his relationship or at least ruin her life too), turning him into a Momma's Boy: hopeless with women, timid, weak, and lacking the spirit to stand up to his mother. His father will be absent or just as browbeaten. On the other hand, if he does stand up to her then he's not a Momma's Boy, even though she's still My Beloved Smother.

Young examples are shown sympathetically; older ones are usually Acceptable Targets because no one can be a badass if he always obeys his mother's instructions (unless she's encouraging him to be a badass, which would make her more of an Action Mom). Note the Double Standard in this trope, as a girl with a controlling father is almost never Played for Laughs.

A young boy has a better chance of escaping mommy's patronage than an adult — who will, if anything, end up with a domineering wife instead. Rescue is unlikely: there aren't many Action Girls running around looking for poor oppressed boys. So there's the real danger that Momma's boy will grow old alone, until smother dies, when it's too late to change their ways and Set Right What Once Went Wrong.

To every Momma's Boy there is a Boy's Momma, of course.

Although the trope is usually played as inherently negative, it can also be portrayed in a more positive light, becoming essentially a gender-inversion of Daddy's Girl in which mother and son are simply very close and utterly adore each other, often to the exclusion of the father (if he's even around to begin with); and while the well-meaning mother might naturally welcome the idea of her son getting hooked, the usual doting and spoiling with which she treats her son might be a bit overwhelming for potential Love Interests... if she didn't accidentally scare them off with her overprotectiveness first. If the mother becomes infirm in her old age, expect the son to become the caretaker of the relationship. This form is still likely to be Played for Laughs, but in a more endearing way.

The perception of this trope varies by culture. For instance, in Anglophone countries where individuality is highly valued, the trope is more likely to be negative, but in Asian and Latin American cultures where living with parents until (and even after) marriage is normal, that kind of devotion to one's parents is more likely to be seen positively.

Compare Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas and I Want My Mommy!. See also All Take and No Give. The Distaff Counterpart, Daddy's Girl, is less often portrayed as inherently a bad thing.


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Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Luck Voltia from Black Clover is a surprisingly dark example because his mom was distant from him in his youth, but she first started showing him affection after he defeated a noble. This event helped her and so she encouraged him to keep fighting, and keep winning, all for her selfish benefit. Now he has a pathological need to find and defeat strong opponents so that she will continue to love him. He finally grows out of it after his friends pull him back from being possessed, leaving what could either be his mental image of her or her spirit in the afterlife behind as she cries in happiness for him.
  • Bleach: Ichigo was one when he was younger. Yes, that Ichigo. Back then, he used to be a major crybaby, but whenever his mom appeared he would stop and would immediately smile. She was the center of not only his world, but his family as well. Her death is what caused him to be what he is today.
  • A quite weird case is shown in Case Closed. Conan and the detective kids actually find a "haunted house" where a mother keeps her son locked in the basement to wait until Statute of Limitations past, even when the guy is guilty and does want to go to jail for his crime. Eventually, Conan helps the culprit convince his mother to let him go and turn himself in.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
    • Kyojuro Rengoku dearly loved his mother, who died of an illness when Kyojuro was young and taught him that he had a duty to use his strength to protect others. As Kyojuro is dying, he sees a vision of his mother and asks her if he used his gifts well.
    • Sanemi Shinazugawa's burning hatred of all demons is directly related to how much Sanemi loved his mother Shizu. The fact such a loving mother became a mindless demon, unable to recognize her own children, killing almost all of them, forcing Sanemi to kill her in pure self-defense, made him a firm believer demons are all evil, no matter how much of a loving human they used to be; that is also what made Sanemi doubt so fervently about Nezuko ever being a good demon through the bond she shared with her brother Tanjiro, if his sweet mom couldn’t resist her demonic urges, why would anyone else? Nezuko proving Sanemi wrong shocks him deeply.
  • Wallace in the first Digimon Adventure 02 movie is shown to be this, calling his mother several times during the course of the movie. Daisuke chides him for this, although from a realistic standpoint ...
  • Gohan and Goten in Dragon Ball Z. In Dragon Ball GT, Goten is 22 and still lives with Mom, while Gohan is pushing thirty and lives right next-door with his wife and daughter. Chichi is overly strict with Gohan and seems to have realized her mistakes and been overly lenient with Goten, but both sons love her dearly.
    • Trunks counts too whether it be the Bad Future or the present, since he’s much closer to Bulma than he is to his arrogant father Vegeta. This is especially evident when Gero nearly kills Bulma and baby Trunks, forcing Future Trunks himself to step in and save them, then yell at Vegeta for neglecting his family.
  • Side material for Fate/Zero says that the most effective counter to Rider is his mother. Completely justified: this particular Rider is Alexander the Great, who was a Momma's Boy in history.
  • Inverted with the Matsuoka family in Free!. Rin and Gou's deceased father was a Doting Parent to both his kids, but it is quite evident that Rin was much closer to his father than his little sister. He took his death hard and gradually grew distant from everyone. While Gou also clearly misses her father, she is shown to be quite close to her mother, who rarely shares any scenes with her son. To be fair though, Rin travelled to Australia and after returning, enrolled in an all boys boarding school, living in the dorms, so he isn't always home and after he Took a Level in Kindness post season 1, he is shown to be on good terms with their mother and she, in return supports his dreams, but by the third season, he travels to Australia again to pursue his dreams.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist: Edward and Alphonse Elric both dearly loved their mother Trisha, so much that they didn't want to accept her death and attempted to revive her.
  • Wrath from Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) is a villainous example. He is Izumi's still-born son and thus has deep mother issues once he regains his memories. He thinks she abandoned him and hates her for it. Wrath is drawn to Sloth, who was born from the failed resurrection of Trisha and thus looks exactly like her, and even glues themselves together just before she dies however in the end he does recognize Izumi is his mother. A deleted scene from Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa had a scene where he meets up with her right when she dies.. In the final product he ends up Together in Death with her when he dies.
  • Kunio Murai from Great Teacher Onizuka is incredibly overprotective of his Absurdly Youthful Mother to an obnoxious and paranoiac extreme. He hates when someone gets close to her, dislikes thinking maybe someday she'll remarry, and his Berserk Button is people getting pervy over her (especially his homeroom teacher Onizuka).
  • A positive example in Hajime no Ippo. Ippo and Volg both adore their mothers and they're huge parts of their lives, but both Hiroko and Mrs. Volg are caring and loving women who do not dominate their boys.
  • Sometimes in HarĂ©+Guu; even though HarĂ© often gets fed up with his Hard-Drinking Party Girl mother, he is still quite devoted.
  • Greece from Hetalia: Axis Powers remains devoted to the memory of his mother long after her death, working to excavate the ruins and pass on the myths she left behind. This is not portrayed negatively (his mother was the great Ancient Greece, after all) and while some fanfics have his Sitcom Archnemesis Turkey mock him with this trope, it's usually presented as just a petty insult and Greece's relationship with his mother is usually portrayed positively/sympathetically in them.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Joseph Joestar acts like this towards his grandmother Erina, while he's a jerk to everyone else he's fiercely loyal to and caring to his granny, Joseph has beat men up for ruining a coat Erina gave him and punched a man who had distressed Erina with grim news. Ironically Joseph isn't nearly as much a Momma's Boy to his actual mother Lisa Lisa (thanks to not knowing she was his mom) though Joseph still likes Lisa Lisa greatly... perhaps too much.
    • Jotaro is even more of a delinquent than his grandfather Joseph was but nevertheless, Jotaro still loves his mother Holy greatly and goes on a journey to Egypt to stop DIO's in order to save her when she becomes ill. It's also thanks to his Disappeared Dad that Jotaro is protective of his mother.
    • In what must be a running theme, Josuke is also very close to his mother Tomoko and his anger towards his illegitimate father Joseph stems from the neglect Joseph gave his mother after he was born.
  • Maria no Danzai: Kiritaka Nagare’s very close to his mother, as his father is not home a lot due being more focused on his job in the police force. Despite all the bullying he’s put through, he’s hesitant to expose said bullying as he doesn’t want to trouble his mother.
  • My Hero Academia:
    • Midoriya and his mother are very close and her words of encouragement are just as important to him as All Might's. When he gets his hero costume upgraded, he makes it a goal to keep the base as close to the original as possible, because that was the costume his mother gave him.
    • Todoroki acknowledges that his mother is the one responsible for the burn scars on the left side of his face, but feels that the act was caused largely by his abusive father, Endeavor, and sympathizes with her.
  • Naruto:
    • Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara put up tough acts, but will change their attitudes quickly when their badass mothers, Tsume and Yoshino, come calling.
    • Gaara originally thought he was the cause of his mother Karura's death and she died hating him, but upon learning that his dying mother actually put all her Chakra into his sand powers (meaning she'd been protecting him the whole time), Gaara was overwhelmed and broke down in tears.
    • Naruto never knew a mother's love, but got some idea of it when he bonded with Tsunade. He finally met his mother Kushina when her sealed spirit came to help him tame the Nine-Tails and while he didn't recognize her at first, upon finding out, he quickly turned on the water works and cuddled his mother's spirit. This loving care helped Naruto to finally control the Nine-Tails.
    • Naruto's son, the eponymous protagonist of Boruto, can be pretty spiteful towards most people, but he loves his mother Hinata and sister Himawari dearly. This aspect of his personality only accentuates his aggravation with his increasingly busy father. He feels that Naruto is not only neglecting his children but also his wife, and that annoys Boruto.
  • Takashi in Nicoichi is extremely attached to his mother such that when she passed away in a traffic accident when he was two, he kept on clamoring for her without knowing she could never return, forcing his new guardian (and protagonist of the series) to assume the role of a mother and kickstarting the plot.
  • One Piece:
    • Usopp, for a very good reason. His badass super dad Yasopp left the village after Usopp was born, so course Usopp would be attached to his ill mom Bachina and deeply shaken when she fell ill and Usopp desperately tried to make her feel better on her deathbed. This included yelling to the whole village and her that his father had returned when he hadn't, making him a boy who cried wolf for good reasons.
    • Chopper has shades of this towards Dr Kureha who took him in after his previous surrogate parent Hiluluk blew up. Kureha even acts like an overprotective mother when Nami tries to persuade Chopper to be Straw Hat's doctor and though she throws stuff at him, Kureha had some Tender Tears when Chopper left her. Chopper himself growled at the man who insulted Kureha and he has flashbacks about Kureha more than once.
    • Donquixote Doflamingo is a more bitter, sadistic one. When Donquixote family lost their nobility and were thrown out on their asses, the young Doflamingo's mother fell sick and despite her sons trying to bring food to make her feel better, she died. This caused the already unstable Doflamingo to go crazy and blow his father's brains out in revenge, as he blamed him for her death. Considering Doflamingo would later also shoot down his Double Agent younger brother Rocinante (even if he wasn't too happy about it), it can be said that Doflamingo’s only actual loved one was his mother.
    • All 46 sons of the insane Pirate Emperor (Yonko) Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin can be called this. They're all fiercely loyal to the fat old hag and are all ranging in personalty, from the pathetic and cowardly 5th son Opera to Reasonable Authority Figure 16th son Moscato, to unadulterated badass 2nd and 10th sons Katakuri and Cracker. All of them call her "Mama", and it's anything but sweet.
    • And of course there's Sanji, though many might have guessed it from the start due to his underlining care for all women. Sanji loved his mother Sora deeply, and for good reason as his father King Judge is a huge asswipe and his brothers were even bigger bullying assholes, with only Sora and his sister Reiju (who coincidentally looks a lot like their mom) being kind to him. Sanji brought his ill mother food he made himself, despite being knowing nothing about cooking (at the time) but Sora loved his effort and ate it all up, and when she died Sanji decided to become a chef for her. When he learned Sora had taken a drug before his birth that had led to her death, Sanji was horrified... but Reiju explained she had done it in an attempt to make sure Sanji and his brothers would turn out normally, as Judge had experimented with them while they were still in Sora's womb. Sora's gambit worked, but only partially: out of the four boys only Sanji was born with humanity, while his brothers Ichiji, Niji and Yonji became almost completely amoral killing machines. The anime makes it even more of a Tear Jerker with kid Sanji crying over his mother’s grave before being attacked by his brothers and father.
  • Ash Ketchum from PokĂ©mon: The Series. Why wouldn't he be one? His mother is the only family he has, and he understandably flips out if something bad happens to her (see also: the third movie, Spell of the Unown). To be fair, even a non-Momma's Boy would flip if their mother was in mortal danger.
  • Vash the Stampede from Trigun based his entire pacifistic, peace-loving life around his beloved surrogate mother Rem, and choose to wear a big red coat because Rem loved the color of Roses. Even Vash’s iconic towering Anime Hair was a result of Rem cutting it into the same hair style as her dead boyfriend Alex and Vash was okay with it purely because it made her happy. In the anime SEED crew members even explicitly called Vash this as a child, as he wouldn’t leave Rem’s side.

    Comic Books 
  • Asterix: In Asterix At The Olympics, the ginormous athletes from Rhodes are still very obedient to their mother.
    Rhodesian (asked if the whole family is that strong): Oh no, our older brother is much stronger... but he couldn't make it: he hasn't recovered from the smack our mother gave him!
  • Batman has zig-zagged this over the years:
    • Initially, Bruce Wayne was depicted as loving both parents and missing them equally after they were gunned down, without particularly favoring one over the other. In the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Batman: Year One, however, Thomas Wayne became the predominant parent figure, to the point where many of Bruce's Inner Monologues are half-delusional conversations with Thomas' ghost. Year One being a massive trendsetter in the industry, subsequent authors took it to the point where, as one reviewer put it, "Bruce's thoughts are so daddy daddy daddy-centric it's easy to forget he even had a mother attached to that precious string of pearls."
    • Since then, however, other authors have tried to swing the pendulum back. Neil Gaiman's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?", for one, portrays Martha's spirit as the one that appears to comfort Bruce when he (possibly) dies, and tell him that his reward for being Batman is of course: Being Batman again (cue resurrection).
    • Inverted in Flashpoint, when Bruce is killed in the alley instead of his parents, and Martha goes insane with grief and becomes The Joker of this alternate universe. Thomas (who is the AU Batman) gives her hope saying that Bruce is alive and "well" in another world but when she unfortunately asks what he's like and Thomas informs her that Bruce turns out like him, Martha commits suicide in horror.
  • Captain America: Steve Rogers loved his mother Sarah Rogers deeply, as she's the one who gave him his Determinator nature in the face of her alcoholic and abusive husband, Joseph. Steve's greatest shame is that he was unable to protect and save Sarah from the pain she went through.
  • In Cerebus the Aardvark, the pub owner Pud Withers is very devoted to his mother, to the point that his diary entries are addressed to her even though she's dead. He even apologizes to her as he's praying to Tarim for forgiveness for almost forcing himself on Jaka.
  • Barry Allen/ The Flash is certainly an example of this trope.
  • Chas Chandler in Hellblazer.
  • The Incredible Hulk: Bruce Banner was this to his mother Rebecca due to Brian Banner being a psychotic, abusive asshole as while Brian hated his son, Rebecca adored Bruce and lost her life protecting him from Brian. In a Battle in the Center of the Mind, Rebecca again tries defend her son but Bruce, being the goddamn Hulk, assures his dear mom that nothing can hurt him now.
  • Iron Man: Tony Stark is in the same boat as Cap and Hulk, as while his adoptive father Howard treated him harshly and put heavy expectations on him, Maria conversely adored Tony and often protected him from Howard's abuse. When Tony meets his actual mother Amanda, he accepts her immediately and hugs her.
  • Jean Grey has two in Cable and Nate Grey, who are (broadly) positive examples. They certainly have their flaws, being a future soldier dedicated to stopping Apocalypse, and an intermittently dying Physical God with an occasional messiah complex and a single-minded obsession with preventing the 616 universe from becoming like his home reality, and both tend to want to protect the world their way, whether the world wants it or not. However, one thing that Jean invariably does is bring out their better natures, and both of them a) want to make her proud, b) get their great (sometimes excessive) compassion from her, c) almost invariably at least listen to her. The latter doesn't seem like much until you realise that it's more than they do to to literally anyone else.
  • Spider-Man: Perhaps the ultimate example in comics is Peter Parker, although to be pedantic he really is an Auntie's Boy. But when his mother "comes back", he is overjoyed and trusts her and his father with his identity as Spider-Man. Unfortunately (and inevitably), it turns out they were not his parents at all, but robots built by the Chameleon. That said, his robot mother truly believed she was Mary Parker and fought against her robotic husband to protect Peter.
  • Garfield "Beast Boy/Changeling" Logan of Teen Titans and Doom Patrol. He is a complete and utter wiseass to everyone but his adopted mom, Rita. Justified as Rita was one of the first people since his parents died to not treat him as a freak. He even took up acting to follow in her footsteps.
  • Superman is very much a momma's boy and will proudly proclaim to anyone who asks (and those who don't) that his mother made his costume for him. (Though in the New 52 era it looks like some kind of Kryptonian armor.)
  • The Viz character Sid the Sexist — also a grown-up virgin and ashamed of it, hence constant crass attempts to get laid
  • War Machine has some characteristics of this trope. He tries to do good deeds like stopping acts of genocide and thwarting likes of Norman Osborn so his mother can be proud of him.
  • The Whizzer and Chips character Mummy's Boy, but he is only a boy, there's time.

    Fan Works 
  • In The Boy Without a Fairy, Link very clearly looks up to Saria to the point he practically gushes about her whenever he has to describe her, thinking that she's an amazing person and unknowingly seeing her as a mother. He slowly develops a similar outlook to Navi.
  • In the Harry Potter story Cruciamentum Eternus, Draco is so much a Mamas Boy that when he dies, he's so focused on her he becomes a ghost instead of moving on.
  • Child of the Storm has Harry as a positive example towards his godmother, Wanda Maximoff, since his mother is (mostly) dead. After an initial rough patch, he adores her, and they spark off each other very well, with plenty of affectionate banter. Plus, she's one of the few people he invariably listens to. Hell, he'll even lie to Hermione, his friend and Wanda's biological daughter, for her — though he makes it clear that while he understands the logic behind her choice/why he has to lie, he is not happy about it. He then defends Wanda from an enraged Hermione after the latter finds out the truth. While that's probably because Wanda is unwilling to defend herself, feeling she deserves her daughter's fury, it's still striking.
  • Old West has Teddy Glossy with his mother Grace Glossy. She has been Teddy's only caregiver for all ten years of his life because his father ran off before Teddy was born. Teddy loves his mother more than anything in the world and would do anything for her.
  • The Bridge has a positive example with Azusa Gojo and her adoptive son, Godzilla Junior. After hatching at Kyoto Institute and imprinting on Azusa thinking she was his mother, the upbringing and love she showed him is what made him grow up into a protector of mankind and the Big Good for his setting. Twenty years later and despite Junior being well aware they are different species, they still consider each other mother and son respectively. Enough that bringing her in to talk to her son face to face was intrumental for his emotional arc.
  • Naruto is this for Kushina in Do Over, with Jiraiya outright calling him the trope's name, which is something Kushina is awfully pleased with. Justified by the fact that Naruto originally didn't grow up with parents, and now that he's been given a second chance, he's not wasting it.
  • Cole is this to some extent in the Skyhold Academy Yearbook series. It's worth noting that Cole has suffered from Parental Abandonment for as long as he can remember, and is adopted as a teenager; he is absolutely devoted to both of his adoptive parents, but his mother in particular, since she was the one to decide to adopt him even before she was in a relationship with her eventual husband. She's also the source of his Trauma Button, since after the events of the first story he's severely uncomfortable with the idea of anything happening to her.
  • Sun Quan is very much his Aunt Stepmom's Boy in Farce of the Three Kingdoms.
  • I am [REDACTED]: The nail of Izuku going to a private hero institution in America instead of UA is motivated by the love he has for his mother, after All Might tells him he would have to distance himself from her when he became an official pro-hero. By studying in America, Izuku would be able to keep his real name confidential, and would be able to adopt a Secret Identity when he finished his schooling and returned to Japan, allowing him to remain close to his mother. He even goes as far as to tell Inko about One For All in order to convince her to let this happen — which leads to her following him to America for his studies. Ironically, this opportunity allows them to reconnect with Izuku's father and Inko's husband Hisashi, who is also told about One For All and returns to Japan with them before the start of the main story.
  • Yamujiburo: Cane is much closer to his mother Misty than his father Ash because he relates to his mom more. He and his mom both love swimming, but he can't bond with his dad because he isn't into PokĂ©mon.
  • Naruto's life in A Mother's Knight centers around his mother's so much that he's developed a Blue-and-Orange Morality, discarding regular morals to better ensure her safety and happiness.
  • Drew from Total Drama Legacy. He adores his mother Courtney, and is very close to her. Especially when compared to his relationship with his father Duncan, whom he dislikes and hates being compared to.
  • In Ma Fille, Aran Ryan (and by extension, his sister Brigit) is very attached to his mother, her being one of the few people he openly shows affection to.

    Films — Animated 
  • Manolo Sanchez in The Book of Life. He and his mother Carmen had a close relationship.
  • Brave: The triplets tend to listen to their mother more than their father.
  • Frozen: According to the Tie-In Novel A Frozen Heart, for all the crimes he commits and as much as he likes to appear as The Sociopath, Prince Hans does care for his mother and is probably one of the few who still does so. Despite being regularly humiliated by his father and mocked by his brothers for being a momma's boy, he is still willing to attend her birthday.
  • Happy Feet: Mumble adores his mother Norma Jean, even as a little chick as he is so impatient to meet her he rushes ahead of the flock of males even as Memphis screams for him to stop. As he grows up, Norma Jean is extremely defensive of Mumble's feelings and his "disability", insisting that there's nothing wrong with him and that the elders are jerks for shunning him. When Memphis comes clean about dropping Mumble as an egg, which led to his inability to sing and his natural tap-dancing ability, she's clearly horrified and immediately feels sorry for Mumble. When Mumble hallucinates in the penguin exhibit at the conservation center, Norma Jean is the first one he sees and talks to. He has a much more strained relationship with Memphis, primarily because Memphis had been hiding his guilt and shame at dropping Mumble, and blames himself for the famine because, while the elders blame Mumble for it because of his dancing, Memphis is the reason Mumble can dance but not sing in the first place, which he also felt would ruin Mumble's life because he can't find a mate if he can't sing.note 
  • In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, after going back in time to prevent his mother's death The Flash ended up becoming this in the new timeline. He spent all his time with his mother and never pursued romance, leading to him never meeting his wife Iris and being Mistaken for Gay by his mom (who reassures him that she'll love him no matter what).
  • Nuka from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is a very dysfunctional example (imagine Disney meeting Norman Bates). It doesn't matter how much his mother Zira mistreats him, he's constantly craving for her approval and affection. He even tries to kill Simba to impress her and dies in the attempt, spending his last breath to apologize for his failure to Zira.
  • Prince Charming's Establishing Character Moment in Shrek 2 is getting cut off in the middle of a rant about all the shit he went through to reach Fiona's tower (only to find her already gone) by his mother, the Fairy Godmother, so she can do it for him.
  • Peter B. Parker from a different universe of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was close to his mother figure, Aunt May, who died in his universe and he eventually gets to meet another version of her in an Alternate Universe, who in turn has lost her own Peter. Their meeting is played as a Heartwarming Moment.
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Heavily implied with the SMB Plumbing website. A five-star review in the testimonials section comes from the user "BrosMama", who describes the plumbers as "polite, professional, adorable, and treated me like family!" Despite the clear bias bordering on Nepotism, the brothers seem to be fine with it, although Mario is visibly embarrassed when Luigi proudly boasts to Spike how their mother called to tell them that their commercial was great. Luigi seems to be the stronger example of the two, with his character splash in the end credits featuring his phone with his ma's call notification up.
  • A rare gender-flipped and deconstructed version of this trope in Turning Red. Mei is the apple of her mother Ming's eye and the two can be described as joined at the hip. While Mei loves her mom to pieces, she admits that she's always felt pressured by her to perfectionism and is dismayed by how Ming blames Mei's friends and peers for Mei's choices and how her mother's side of the family tries to force her to seal away her panda spirit against her will. After a massive fight with her mother when she transforms into a kaiju-sized red panda, both of them reconcile after Mei learns what Ming went through in her teen years, having also been a Momma's Girl herself.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Assassin's Creed (2016): When his execution is faked and Callum Lynch has flashbacks to his childhood, they are mostly happy memories with his mother. If one thing can be said to solidify his allegiance to the Brotherhood, it is seeing his mom wearing Assassin robes and telling him that he's not alone.
  • Lionel from BrainDead is a perfect example. He's so emotionally dependent on his mother that after she gets zombified he hides her in the basement, unable to bring himself to destroy her. That is, until he learns she killed his father for having an affair. That knowledge lets him break free just in time for the final battle.
  • Cassandro: SaĂşl adores his mother due to being her only support after his father abandoned them. It helps that she supports him even after he came out. Part of his motivation early on is to provide for her.
  • The title character in Cyrus is one... except that he's the one that's manipulative and controlling.
  • Charly (2002): Sam Roberts is very close to his mother. He visits her frequently and he often turns to her for life advice. It's only after his mother calls him out for refusing to overlook Charly's past that Sam is able to get over himself and resume his courtship of Charly.
    • This contrasts him with his romantic rival, Mark Randolph. Mark doesn't keep in touch with his mother, much to her annoyance.
  • In Deewaar, Vijay and Ravi both love their mother very much. Vijay buys her a new home, and Ravi dedicates an award he got as a police officer to her. When she gets sick, Ravi stays with her in the hospital, and Vijay –- who's wanted by the police and therefore can't go to the hospital where they're waiting for him -– goes to a temple he had previously refused to enter, and asks Shiva to let his mother live.
  • Daniel Torrance in Doctor Sleep, while he was always close to his mother Wendy, their ordeal in the Overlook Hotel brought them closer. Although due to the trauma she received at the hands of her husband Jack, Wendy had trouble looking her son in the eye without thinking of him. This forced Dan to use his power on Wendy to help her cope and watched helplessly as she died slowly to lung cancer. In the finale as the Overlook burns around him, Dan gets a vision of his mother whom stares directly and lovingly into his eyes. This is kinda ironic considering Danny was explicitly a Daddy’s Boy in the book.
  • Final Girl: Jameson teases Nelson for being so close to his mother as the guys pick him up for a new "hunt".
    Jameson: What, is she not coming?
  • Friday the 13th: The main reason why Jason Voorhees became a serial killer.
  • Home Alone: In spite of how they bicker at times, the one person that Kevin McCallister seems to be the closest to within his entire family is his mother.
  • James Bond:
    • Interestingly, Bond as portrayed by Daniel Craig can be seen as this towards his superior Judi Dench's M, as in spite of their grievances, both Bond and M care deeply for each other, which is seen best in Skyfall. Mallory even accuses M of favoritism, and the first time we see Bond cry is when M dies in his arms in the climax.
    • Raoul Silva is a villainous example towards M, he alternates between wanting to destroy M for abandoning him and having a bizarre affection for her, he even outright calls M "Mommy" or "Mother" multiple times. When Silva sees that's M wounded his Sanity Slippage become worse and he tries to force M to kill herself and him.
  • Joker (2019): Arthur is this towards his mother Penny, taking care of her in their apartment they live in, dancing with her, and watching The Murray Franklin Show together. This all changes, though, after he learns she adopted him and abused him along with her boyfriend; he murders her via Vorpal Pillow in response to this.
  • In The Mansion, Bruno is so devoted to his mother that his first impulse upon finding he has cell phone bars after they've been stalked by a killer, is to call his mother.
  • Ernest Borgnine's title character in Marty. His cousin Tommy is one too.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Thor: The Dark World: Frigga seems to be the only member of the family that Loki can tolerate after all that's happened, which makes seeing his reaction to her death even more crushing. He is also shown to be his mother's son, as Frigga is the one who taught him magic, he shares her guile (she defies Odin's orders to not visit Loki behind her husband's back, and she fools Malekith) and her graceful bearing, and his combat style is very similar to hers. After Odin commutes Loki's death sentence to life imprisonment, he knows that the best way to hurt Loki is to deny him visits from Frigga and to bar him from attending her funeral. It's lampshaded by Thor when he asks his brother, "You think you alone were loved of Mother?"
    • Thor: Ragnarok: Four years after Frigga's death, Loki still clings to his mother's memory. It's alluded to when Odin tells his sons that Frigga is calling to him from the afterlife; he's looking directly at Loki, knowing that his adoptive son adored Frigga the most in the family, and asks him, "Do you hear it?" Loki then glances towards the horizon and tries to listen for his mother's voice. Loki misses her so much that for a split second, he wants to believe that he might be able to hear her, too. Furthermore, Odin adds that Frigga would've been proud of how powerful Loki's spells have become, and it's obvious from Loki's facial expression that this comment means a lot to him.
    • Avengers: Endgame: In a surprising (but heartwarming) twist, Endgame shows Thor is as much a Momma's Boy to Frigga as Loki was. Seen when Thor travels back in time to Asgard (during the events Thor: The Dark World), where instead of wooing his Old Flame Jane Foster in order to get the Aether/Reality Stone from her, Thor chooses to go see his mother, knowing she's going to die that day. Once Thor is face to face with his mom, he breaks down completely while Frigga accepts him instantly and hugs her future son. While Frigga refuses to learn her fate, she's grateful for the opportunity to comfort Thor in his depression, and she is the one to inspire him to become the badass god of thunder once again.
    • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) gives us Peter Quill aka 'Star Lord', which was originally his late mother's nickname for him. Years after her tragic death, it's clear that Peter still adores her. His most treasured possession is the Walkman and mixtape she made for him, and he does not react well to people trying to take it from him. When he learns in the sequel that his father, Ego the Living Planet, deliberately planted the brain tumour that killed his mother, Peter doesn't hesitate to pull out his blasters and fill Ego with so many holes that he would have died if he'd been a lesser being.
    • As per usual, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man is this to his sweet Aunt May as seen in Civil War, Homecoming and Far From Home. Interestingly while Peter dislikes May's coddling, he's actually protective of her too, trying to save her distress by keeping his arachnid alter ego secret, and gets pretty annoyed when other men flirt and hit on his aunt. Becomes a Tear Jerker in Spider-Man: No Way Home as poor Peter loses his dear auntie to the Green Goblin and his bewildered grief as May passes away in front of him, leaving him all alone in the world is so heartbreaking child-like.
  • Alex Sebastian from Notorious (1946). He's not as obvious an example as Norman Bates, but his mother still has her hooks in good and deep. Alex manages to stand up to her by marrying Alicia. Unfortunately, Alicia turns out to be an American spy, and so Alex's mother is able to step in and exert control again
  • German comedy Ă–dipussi. He gets better, which is symbolized when he pulls down his mother's hat over her face.
  • Norman Bates from Psycho must be the creepiest and most dominated example of this in film history. Even though he killed his mother, she still dominates him from beyond the grave.
  • Shaun of the Dead: While something of a low-life, Shaun is very close to his mother. She often refers to him as "Pickle". It becomes a massive Tear Jerker when he's forced to kill her after she gets bitten by a zombie.
  • Bruno Anthony, from Strangers on a Train, is another dark Hitchcock example.
  • The Suicide Squad: The Polka-Dot Man was experimented on by his abusive mother in an attempt to turn him into a superhero, and this affected him so bad that he sees everyone around him as his mom! Bloodsport even weaponizes this in the climax, telling Polka-Dot Man that Starro the Conqueror was his mom. Cue attack of the fifty-foot mother.
  • The Viral Factor: The hero, Man Jon, was betrayed in a Downer Beginning, his entire team including his fiancee killed, and himself receiving a bullet in the temple and realizing he still have two weeks remaining. He decides to spend the two weeks with the last person he cares about the most, his mother who still lives in the city's outskirts, but it was there Jon finds out from his mother that he have an illegitimate half-brother living somewhere in Malaysia, at which point Jon then decides to use the two weeks he still have to locate and reconcile with his brother, what his mother really wanted.
  • The Wasteland (2021): Diego is shown to be more open with his mother Lucia than with his father Salvador. Of course, the beast's presence quickly strains it.
  • Bobby Boucher in The Waterboy. Even though she's extremely controlling and overprotective, he still cares deeply about her, even holding off going to his team's big game (at first) towards the end.
  • You Were Never Really Here is one of the more positive depictions of this trope. Vigilante Man Joe is a middle aged man living with his mother, who is old enough that he will soon need to start looking after her, but their relationship is not shown as controlling or exploitative from either side. The only time in the film that Joe laughs is when his mother pranks him.

    Literature 
  • In A Cry in the Night, Erich was extremely close to his now-deceased mother, aided by the fact his father was rather aloof and not the affectionate type. One of his best works is "Memory of Caroline", which he painted in her memory and refuses to ever sell. Unfortunately, Erich takes his love for Caroline to the point of obsession; he's still not fully come to terms with her death even though it happened over two decades ago and he keeps everything in the house exactly as it was when Caroline was alive. He even marries a woman who bears a resemblance to her.
  • Similar to Percy, Nick Gautier in The Dark Hunters is a troubled magical teen who loves his mother to death, and insulting/harming her is his one Berserk Button — though comparing him to his scumbag of a dad comes close, too.
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
    • Manny is clearly Susan's favorite son, probably because he's the youngest.
    • Rowley's mother is overly loving and protective towards him. This may explain Rowley's Kiddie Kid behavior.
    • Old School: Julian Trimble was very attached to his mom as a kid. One time, in second grade, he clung to his mom so tightly that the vice principal had to come down and peel them apart.
  • The Doctor Who Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Blue Angel is an Alternate Universe in which the Doctor is kind of one of these. (He's also Ambiguously Gay — Freud wouldn't have been surprised.) He's about forty and she's still trying to meddle in his personal life. To be fair, she's a mermaid who lives in a normal house in a nice little village and is therefore stuck in a wheelchair, and he's pretty far off his rocker — it makes sense they'd need each other's help. He lampshades it — as he has a bad leg when he goes to visit his mother, he comments on being reminded of Oedipus Rex. Interestingly, even in the several paragraphs of Backstory about his childhood, his father is never mentioned, although an ex-boyfriend of his mother is.
  • Earth's Children: Although he loves all his family, Durc is particularly close to his mother (especially as his father is absent from his life; considering what an asshole Broud is Durc isn't missing much). He's able to vocalise like Ayla due to being half Cro-Magnon and they sometimes play a special game where they make nonsense sounds together (that the rest of the Clan are incapable of). He is understandably distraught when Ayla is forced to leave him.
  • Christopher in Flowers in the Attic will not tolerate any criticism or questioning of their mother, no matter how terrible things get as they spend years locked in the attic. It carries over into the second book, where he still makes lame excuses for her (despite the irrevocable proof of her abandoning them) and blasts sister Cathy for her obsession with destroying her. Not until he overhears her admit to poisoning them does he finally face facts. And even then, in the third book, it's he who has managed to forgive her to some extent and chastises Cathy for not doing so.
  • Maia Drazhar in The Goblin Emperor was very close to his mother, the Empress Chenelo, and still misses her ten years after her untimely death. A positive example, as Chenelo was by all accounts a loving and supportive parent, unlike Maia's neglectful, contemptuous father and abusive Resentful Guardian.
  • In John Gardner's Grendel, which is Beowulf told from the monster's point of view, Grendel was quite the little Mama's Boy as a lad.
    • It includes hurling himself at his mother when he became frightened (or when he feels horribly displaced or 'obscene'), followed by a very vague implied comfort-nursing. Since Grendel is recalling it in first-person, he remembers this.
      • His traumatic growing up scene begins with straying out too far into the morning, following the scent of a newborn calf. He finds it to be "as sweet as his mama's milk". Once again, he remembers. How old was he when this happened... eleven, maybe?
    • In his adult life, he drifts from being a Mama's Boy a little, despising his mother's apparently inability to speak or desire to leave their cave. And yet he always returns to her, with Mama trying to keep him from leaving her until he actually picks her up and puts her aside. Literally and figuratively. She didn't react well to "being put aside" and never tries to stop him from leaving again. Which is where Beowulf later kills him.
  • Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter. Since his mother Alice has been mentally broken for many years and so has his father Frank, his grandmother Augusta raised him. She has him completely under her thumb, but while that is played for laughs, he eventually gains courage and his grandmother's pride during the Grand Finale.
  • In Death series: Bobby from Memory In Death is this for his mother Trudy Lombard. He is told by Eve at the end that his Manipulative Bitch of a wife killed his Manipulative Bitch of a mother, and she would have killed him too. He knows that she is giving it to him straight, but he is unable to accept it. He is a victim to Eve cannot reach, and is clearly pitiable.
  • Eddie Kaspbrak from Stephen King's IT is a former Momma's Boy with a domineering wife but manages to be kind of a hero too.
    • Another King example would be Larry Underwood from The Stand, though to a lesser degree.
  • Just So Stories: The Mariner from How the Whale Got His Throat. He only went to sea after first receiving his mothers permission to do so. And after he escapes the Whale's belly the first thing he does is go home to see her.
  • Raymond Shaw from The Manchurian Candidate is controlled utterly by his mother, to perhaps the most frightening possible degree.
  • Oblomov shares many characteristics with them, although his father isn't absent and also never shown to be a typical Henpecked Husband.
  • In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Percy Jackson adores his mother Sally and would do anything for her. This is portrayed in a very positive light and doesn't detract from his badassery at all, as she raised him single-handedly after his dad left and the first book has him protecting her from his abusive stepfather. It also helps that Sally is a kind, selfless, and all-round awesome person. Their closeness really stands out from the other demigods' less positive relationships with their parents.
  • In Return to Neverend, David Inari's reaction to his mother's death caused him to withdraw from society at large and stop visiting the land he and she had created. His fixation is responsible for creating the White Queen.
  • The Rifter: Fikiri. Represented as being very attached to his mother at a young age, and not growing away from her, and also being cowardly and petty. She is burned as a witch, and Fikiri blames John, whom he already hated, but this cements an undying enmity. Not that it's shown to be wrong, in general, to love and look up to your mother: the warm relationship between Saimura and his mother Ji demonstrates that.
  • The Silmarillion: FĂ«anor. He never knew his mother, but was ferociously devoted to her memory; he took personal offense when people mispronounced her name.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire has a few, in a number of flavours.
    • In the outright creepy corner, we have Robert "Sweetrobin" Arryn and his Epic-class My Beloved Smother Lysa — this pair manage one of the most horrible takes on the trope you'd ever hope not to meet — the poor boy is so smothered, his physical health is directly impacted, not just his mental.
    • In the mixed-bag section, we have Cersei Lannister and her two boys. One isn't what you'd expect in a typical Momma's Boy at all, except she went out to emotionally cripple our impulsive Joffrey quite handily without gaining any control over him at all. Tommen, however... is the trope played both sweetly and very, very straight, poor boy.
    • For more marginal examples, there are Brandon Stark and Samwell Tarly. Deliberate it wasn't in either case, but they're both their mothers' darlings. Thankfully, they are among the most lightly smothered you'll find still kind of meeting this trope. And, as far as Sam is concerned, it's unclear how much is actually a case of "really didn't get along with Monster Dad, so had only one other option". Most of their sufferings have little to do with this trope, in fact. There are a few more knocking about the series, both in the backstory and the main one, but these are the big ones.
    • In the backstory, there's all of Rhaenyra's sons who went to war for her throne because they loved her. Her son, Aegon, in particular adored her and never got over her traumatic death.
  • In Spoonbenders, Buddy thought of his mother Maureen as "the World's Most Powerful Psychic", so when she gives him a medal declaring him the World's Most Powerful Psychic, he treats it as Serious Business even into adulthood.
  • Trapped on Draconica: Kalak idolized his mom as the ideal warrior. She's the main reason he wants Gothon's head on a stick.
  • As revealed in a fan letter for Warrior Cats, Erin Hunter confirms that Tigerstar really did love his mama Leopardfoot over his dad Pinestar.
  • In P. G. Wodehouse's work, usually a sign of Wrong Guy First — though he can also be the hero of the Beta Couple.
    • Derek in Jill the Reckless.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Textbook case: Buster Bluth from Arrested Development. This provides fertile ground for a lot of incest jokes. (For instance, his first girlfriend is a woman of his mother's age with the same name.)
    • Also when Buster refuses to go to the thirtieth annual dinner-dance with his mother — an event named "Motherboy XXX".
  • The Big Bang Theory:
    • Howard Wolowitz. In fact, this is what elevates him from merely practicing Informed Judaism.
    • To lesser degrees, there's also Sheldon, whose mother still treats him like a child and is the only person who can tell him what to do, and Raj, who is frequently lectured via web-cam by his parents in India, who he still calls mummy and daddy.
  • Homelander from The Boys is most definitely a squicky variation of this, befitting his Psychopathic Manchild nature. His sexual relationship with his mother figure Stillwell is highly twisted, especially since he drinks her frigging breast milk after killing her. His sickening obsession with motherhood in relation to himself is seen later with Becca who birthed his son Ryan after he raped her and in season 3 he gets a Stalker with a Test Tube obsession with fellow Supe/ex-girlfriend Queen Mauve wanting her to bear his children and threatens to harvest her eggs if she kills herself.
  • In the episode where we meet his mother, Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine is revealed to be a mild one of these; while he's clearly functional in her absence, he's nevertheless very close to and protective of his mother Karen, reacting with over-defensive fury when his Disappeared Dad shows up and it's revealed that they've started dating again.
  • William, later known as Spike, in flashbacks on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is devoted to his mother as a human (and it's his first defining relationship), and turns her into a vampire after Drusilla turns him because she was dying of tuberculosis. She, however, becomes extremely cruel post-transformation and comes onto him, which horrified him so much that he staked her.
  • Richard Castle in Castle plays with the trope; he's clearly close and devoted to his mother Martha and still lives under the same roof as her despite being a grown man, but it's actually her having moved in with him after she lost all her money, and far from her trying to dominate his life, it's usually more that he's trying to keep her out of trouble, since she tends towards being rather flighty and irresponsible (which says something, given that Castle himself isn't exactly a pillar of maturity or anything). Nevertheless, the two are clearly quite close.
  • Cliff Clavin in Cheers. Over the age of thirty, and he still lives with his mother and does as she demands. Several episodes have creepy oedipal overtones to the mix at the very least (suggestions that Cliff was breastfed past infancy, and some kind of roleplaying game to help Cliff get to sleep), and the relationship being horrifically co-dependent (Cliff mentions at one point they've both faked heart attacks during arguments). Cliff's manchildish nature comes to the fore whenever around her, complete with strops and sulks.
    • Lampshaded by Frasier Crane when he meets Cliff's mother in one episode:
      "I suddenly have this image of Cliff as being heroically well-adjusted."
  • Doctor Who: "The Vampires of Venice" has the villain's son as this. When Rory insults his beloved mummy, he goes after him with a rapier, eventually turning off his perception filter so he can rip him apart.
  • Fellow Travelers: Hawkins Fuller keeps in touch with his mother, but is estranged from his homophobic father. On his deathbed, Hawk's dad tells him it was a mistake that he allowed his wife to "make you a mama's boy."
  • Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me: Frankie and his mum are very close. His dad isn't on the scene because his mother threw him out when he discovered that he was a child molester.
  • Hell's Kitchen: Surprisingly, Chef Gordon Ramsay. Yes, Gordon Ramsay. His mom raised him alone after his father ran away, and he deeply respects her and will clean up his language around her.
  • Tiberius from I, Claudius is his mother's favourite. Unfortunately, this means that his life is not his own, and he is the constant focus of her manipulations. He may say that he resents her actions, and sulk a lot, but he goes along with her schemes.
  • Lucifer (2016): The second season centers around the Goddess of Creation, mother to the angels. Lucifer had been keeping her locked up in Hell until she escaped at the end of the first season. As it turns out, he was always closer to her than he was to God, and she always doted on him. Notably, the name he uses, "Lucifer Morningstar," is the name she gave him; his father called him Samael.
    Goddess: That's my Lightbringer! That's my Morning Star!
  • Dabney from Malcolm in the Middle takes this trope to a hilarious extreme when Dabney says "I know you think I'm a momma's boy", in which Malcolm replies "No, the momma's boys are laughing at you with their mothers!"
    • Malcolm and Francis have been accused of being momma's boys by several different love interests. For the latter, this is a Berserk Button, thanks to his very rocky relationship with Lois.
  • Vinton Harper in Mama's Family. Despite being a grown adult, he still lives in the basement of his mother's house with his wife and always succumbs to his mother's strong iron will and a stronger temper. Even on the few occasions where he does back talks to his mother, he later feels guilty about it.
  • The Mandalorian: Seemingly of the positive variety; Pershing cared very deeply for his mother and her death of a heart attack, a death that a cloned organ transplant could have prevented, motivated him to become a geneticist in hopes of creating cloned organs to save lives. She was a doctor, and this inspired him to follow her into medicine even before she'd died of her condition.
  • A M*A*S*H episode finds Frank Burns wigging out after sometime-girlfriend Hot Lips announces her engagement to another man. He cries it out to his mother over the phone.
    Hawkeye: Nice work, Radar.
    Radar: Thanks. I figured sometimes a guy's just gotta talk to his mom.
    • Frank was also frequently depicted as regarding Hot Lips herself as a kind of surrogate mother figure ... making their relationship more than a little Squicky.
    • When Frank's wife finds out about his affair with Margaret and wants a divorce, Radar doesn't understand why Frank is panicking.
      Radar: Well, won't this make him happy? Now he's free to marry Major Houlihan.
      Hawkeye: Radar, Major Burns doesn't want to leave mommy. There's a 10,000-mile umbilical cord between here and Indiana.
    • Radar has shades of this himself. His father died when he was a baby, and he has no siblings.
  • Modern Family:
    • Mitchell is said to be this by his partner Cameron.
      Cam: There's a fish in nature that swims around with its babies in its mouth. That fish would look at Mitchell's relationship with his mother and say, "That's messed up."
    • Cameron's not one to talk though, as he's very close to his mother. To the extent that he doesn't believe Mitchell when he says she's always inappropriately touching him.
  • The 2009 NBC reality dating show called, appropriately enough, Momma's Boys, centered around three momma's boys whose mothers were along for the ride as the young men took part in the game to find a girlfriend. The show had many notable moments, among them:
    • One of the frontrunners for firefighter Michael was Erica Ellyson, the 2008 Penthouse Pet of the Year. Erica was terrified to tell Michael and his mother, Lorraine, about this fact, but she eventually came clean to both. Ironically, Michael was the one who expressed doubt as to whether or not he should choose Erica, while Lorraine actually encouraged him to choose her! Michael ended up not choosing Erica, but Erica and Lorraine had become close in spite of this. After the show and after the expiration of her contract with Penthouse, Erica went to Florida to visit Lorraine.
    • Jewish real estate broker Rob was clearly smitten with Camilla and was shown to have plenty of chemistry with her, but his mother, Esther, disapproved because Camilla was black. Though she did not explicitly mention Camilla's race, Esther strongly hinted her disapproval of such by telling Rob, "Think of what the Passover table will look like," and tried to press him to choose a girl named Lauren. Esther demanded that Rob "make her happy," and when he asked her, "What about my happiness?" she coldly replied that she didn't care. Rob eventually caved in to his mother and chose Lauren to go with him on a romantic island trip, but was reported to have returned home from the trip after just one day, and without Lauren.
    • Khalood, mother of hockey player Jojo, famously insisted that her potential daughter-in-law not be black, Asian, Latino, "fat butt," Jewish, and so forth; Khalood wanted a girl who was "white, petite, and do what I tell her to." Her litany upset many of the girls, and created tension between them and her. When Jojo went on a date with African-American Misty, Khalood demanded to be allowed to spy on them. Upon seeing Jojo and Misty in a hot tub embracing, Khalood became enraged. When the time came for the mothers to choose between two girls for one of their sons' two final dates (their sons would choose a different girl for the other final date), Khalood decided to deny both girls the final date and punctuated her decision by ripping up the plane ticket that was meant for whoever she had chosen. During her "final date" with Jojo, Khalood gushed to the camera about "her" Jojo being handsome and sexy. Jojo, much to Khalood's disappointment, chose to go away with Mindy instead of going home with her. Khalood was offered counseling by the show's producers, which she rejected. She's since made multiple appearances on Dr. Phil, showing she's just as bad with her daughter's husband.
  • Once Upon a Time: Henry and Regina have this, though not to a creepy level. They do argue and he doesn't seem accepting of her in the first two seasons, but after that he is very protective of her. She calls him, affectionately "my little prince".
  • Brutus on Rome is controlled and manipulated by his mother Servilia, to the point of betraying his father figure to his death. However, at one point in Season 1 he goes against her wishes, and sides with Pompey in the civil war.
  • Luke Smith from The Sarah Jane Adventures absolutely adores his mother. The adoration is mutual and not in any way creepy. In fact, their relationship is the heart of the show. Even sweeter because Luke is adopted.
  • On Schitt's Creek David Rose's closeness to his mother Moira is portrayed as a positive thing for both of them. David is influenced by his mother in terms of his own flamboyant fashion sense, and he's more than once shown to be willing to go out of his way to help or protect his mother, even at the risk of humiliating himself.
  • Jason Teague of Smallville's fourth season is a scary example, functioning as his Evil Matriarch of a mother's Dragon. She's more or less destroyed his self-esteem to the point where he can't do anything else.
  • Ronnie Corbett's solo sitcom Sorry, which had Ronnie playing the mild-mannered character Timothy Lumsden: Timothy was in his forties and still living at home with his overbearing mother refusing to accept he wasn't a little boy any more.
  • Star Trek:
    • The Ferengi is an entire race of momma's boys. Due to the extremely misogynistic culture of Ferengian society, mothers were expected to dote on every single aspect of their male offspring. This resulted in the children growing so attached to their moms that it even became a law to never insult one.
      Rules of Acquisition #31: Never make fun of a Ferengi's Mother.
    • The turning point in the Dominion War on Deep Space Nine came when barfly Morn was rushing home to his mother's birthday and had so many gifts he could easily smuggle a critical message.
  • Stranger Things:
    • Jonathan and Will Byers to their dear mother Joyce, perfectly justified as their father Lonnie was an utter douchebag who abused them frequently before the divorce, therefore they love Joyce way more as a result. Joyce, of course, cherishes them as well, often to Mama Bear extremes.
    • Dustin is actually like this with his mother, though it's a more stereotypical example.
    • Tear Jerker example with Billy. He loved his mother dearly, having happy memories of being on the beach with her in California, and then his abusive scumbag dad drove her away, causing his Start of Darkness. This also explains why Billy was so attracted to the married mother Karen Wheeler.
  • Scott McCall from Teen Wolf is the poster boy for a healthy version. Much like Percy Jackson above, Scott adores his mother Melissa McCall and would do anything for her; their relationship is portrayed in a very positive light and doesn't detract from his badassery at all, as she raised him single-handedly after kicking out his complete dick of a dad. Doesn't hurt that Mama McCall is a kind, selfless, brave, badass, and just an all-round awesome person. Also heartwarming: Mama McCall is a nurse, and Scott works as a Veterinary Assistant, studying to become a vet — showing he clearly wants to be like her, saving lives and helping people/animals. And this is how he looks at her: (takes out twin alphas that are fused into 1 giant alpha, nbd) (just saved life of a friend, nbd).
  • In That '70s Show, just like Eric Foreman's big sister Laurie is the apple of her father Red's eye, Eric himself is extremely close to his Almighty Mom Kitty.
  • Jack from Three's Company. Although his mother only ever appears on the show once, his catch phrase is practically "Mommy!"
  • An exaggerated example with Konstantinos from To soi sou, who is the Trope Codifier in the Greek Media. He's a grown-up man who still refers to his mother as "manoula" (greek for "mommy"), visits her on every occasion, is the only one who likes her cooking, comes first for the Sunday table and always agrees with her and takes her part, even when she's clearly wrong. This, sometimes, leads to arguments with his brothers who, even though they do love her, admit she isn't right all the time.
  • The Twilight Zone (1959): In "Young Man's Fancy", Alex Walker had an incredibly close relationship with his mother Henrietta growing up, seemingly because his father abandoned them only two months after he was born. He was so completely devoted to her that Virginia Lane had to wait twelve years, including a year after Henrietta's death, before they could marry. Alex's love for his mother is so strong that he becomes a young boy again and Henrietta's ghost returns to mother him once again.
  • Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. According to Damon, Stefan was very close to his mother Lillian and he even called Stefan a "mama's boy" himself.

    Mythology and Religion 
  • In many European folk tales (for instance among the Romani), The Devil is sometimes described living in hell together with his mother and grandmother. (Since he can't be a married man obviously — marriage is a Catholic sacrament.) That makes this also a case of The Devil Is a Loser.
  • Greek Mythology
    • More "heroic" example: the demi-god and hero Perseus was very protective of his beautiful mother, Danae. His adventures kickstarted when she was courted by an evil king who wanted her as his wife and him dead, so he tasked the guy with bringing him the monster Medusa's head, and thus began Perseus' Coming of Age story...
    • Another example from Greek Mythology is Hypnos, the god of sleep. He once sent Zeus to sleep so Hera could dick with Heracles without her husband finding out. When Zeus woke up, he was understandably pissed, so Hypnos ran off and hid behind his mother, Nyx, the Anthropomorphic Personification of night, and one of the few things in creation more powerful than an angry Zeus.
    • A third example would be Dionysus, who went to the Underworld to save his mother (and wife).
  • In Norse Mythology, Loki is closer to his mother than his father, as Loki uses the matronymic Laufeyjarson.

    Music 
  • The Suzi Quatro song "Mama's Boy"; she wishes he was more manly.
  • The Wilco song "Misunderstood" has the line You know you're just a mama's boy.
  • Kanye West is famously this. He frequently references his mother Donda reverentially across many of his songs throughout his career. His song "Hey Mama" was one of the first rap songs he wrote, writing it in 2000, five years before he released it officially on his second album Late Registration.
    • This becomes sad when she passes away in 2007 from heart failure, something from which he never recovered from and still blames himself to this day for. His fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, was primarily written in response to this (as well as a failed engagement with a fiancee that dissolved not long after his mother's passing_.
    • He also named his creative content company after her, as well as his tenth studio album, released in 2021.
  • Britney Spears' song "Dramatic" has the lines "go run to your mama, see if she can save you", essentially calling him a mama's boy after their split.
  • The Evillious Chronicles' character Hansel is a rare Played for Drama example: His Mommy Issues make him obsessed with anyone who looks like his mother. He also...isn't the sort you'd expect for this trope.
  • From the World War One era, the song "I Want A Girl Just Like the Girl (That Married Dear Old Dad)."
  • The Ramones' song "Mama's Boy" may be a subversion; the lyrics rant more about stupidity and alienation.
    "Couldn't keep a secret
    Got a concrete skull
    You couldn't shut up
    You're an imbecile
    You're an ugly dog
    There's nothing to gain
    You couldn't shut up
    You had a bad, bad brain"

    Radio 
  • Arthur Shappey of Cabin Pressure:
    Mr. Burling: You're twenty-eight, you have a ridiculous job, and you still live with your mother.
    Arthur: Well, yeah, but not in the "ooh, still lives with his mother" way people are thinking when they laugh about it. I just live with her because we get on really well, like friends, so why pay rent?
    Mr. Burling: That is precisely what people are thinking when they laugh about it.

    Theatre 

    Video Games 
  • In Baten Kaitos Origins, one of Sagi's defining character traits is his love for his mother, and many of the decisions he makes throughout the game are attempts to help or please her. It later leads to one of his best moments.
  • In Borderlands 2, Psychos have some... interesting things to say about their mothers. Hell, the challenge for killing certain numbers of them is even called "Mama's Boys". From the Assassinate the Assassins mission:
    Psycho #1: I can still taste her lovely sweatbox! She fed me such tears of ecstasy!
    Psycho #2: LIAR! I ripped out her bumpy tummy, and her hot screams were for ME!
    Psycho #1: Mommy bled for us both! She bled for us both!
  • The Castlevania series' resident Dhampyr Alucard is one of these. Most notably, the only time we've seen this normally stoic and absolute gentleman get not only angry but actually turn cruel is in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night when the Succubus impersonates his mother, reenacts her murder, tries to use it to manipulate him emotionally, and then mocks him for it. Seriously. Do NOT mess around with this man's mother.
    Alucard: You deserve worse than death for this. Death in the dream world will set your soul wandering for eternity, demon.
  • In Devil May Cry, it's strongly implied that Dante and, to a lesser extent, his brother Vergil were Mommas Boys towards Eva; Dante keeps a photo of her on his desk at all times, has mercy upon Trish because she looks like Eva and genuinely resents his father Sparda for not being there to prevent Eva's death from Mundus's demons. Vergil also loved his mother deeply, given he recklessly attacked Mundus in revenge, and in MVC3, he is disgusted by Trish, seeing her as a sick copy of his mother. Then again, DMC5 reveals that Vergil's Start of Darkness stemmed from Eva dying to protect Dante, while he seemingly was neglected, causing Vergil to resent his brother and mother. However, Dante carefully explains that Eva went looking for Vergil, shouting his name before she was killed. One unlockable image after beating the main story campaign of DMC5 also shows that Dante and Vergil were close to Eva since they were toddlers.
  • Male Hawke in Dragon Age II can be played this way; despite the cynical setting, there's nothing preventing him from being devoted and kind to his mother Leandra. Hawke's best friend Varric had a Lady Drunk for a mother, and his youth was spent taking care of her since she couldn't take care of herself, but some of his dialogue implies that he doesn't resent her for it and still managed to be quite fond of her.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Would Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII be a twisted take? Thanks to Advent Children, it's even more twisted!
    • Extra credit for being a more spiritual sort of "motherhood" courtesy of the Jenova cells Sephiroth was originally infected with, and also courtesy of Jenova not even being determinately female or necessarily even fully aware of it. It's definitely how Sephiroth acts about the whole affair, though.
      • He might just have delusions that his imaginary Mother loves him and would like him to turn the planet into their own personal family barbecue, then using it as a transport to go to new planets to eat at, as it is unknown how Jenova can even communicate with him.
    • Cloud is a positive take on this trope, having been raised by a single mother.
    • Good ol' Seymour Guado from Final Fantasy X. The guy's got some massive Oedipal issues. Though the hate he has of his father completely overrides the love for his mother. Unlike a certain other Final Fantasy Momma's Boy...
    • Hope Estheim from Final Fantasy XIII.
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Pelleas from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn would probably qualify, if he were actually Almedha's biological son. Tibarn even calls him a Momma's Boy.
    • While Brady of Fire Emblem: Awakening loves his mother Maribelle dearly, he criticizes her at some point because, since she once was a My Beloved Smother to him, he turned out to become this and couldn't save her from death.
    • Fire Emblem Fates has Prince Takumi, who used to be extremely timid as a child and would cling quite a bit to his mother Queen Mikoto. Or better said, his Parental Substitute since she was his father's second spouse. He was hit the hardest out of the Hoshidan siblings when Mikoto died in an Heroic Sacrifice for the Avatar, tends to have nightmares about it, and one of his reasons to attack Nohr in Conquest is that he's incredibly angry after seeing the Avatar side with the nation who caused such a terrible incident which makes it very easy for the Big Bad to apply Demonic Possession to him as the game goes on.
  • Scary Black Man Sig in the Jak and Daxter series, who reminisces about his mother telling him stories and handing him warm milk and his "little Poopsie Bear" when he was a child. (He's about the only character whose mother has even been mentioned besides Keira, which puts him one up on the rest of the world.)
  • In I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, one of Cal's earliest scenes has his mother Tirah tending to a bump on his head, which he gladly thanks her for. Sol even comments on Cal's love for her in their narration.
  • League of Legends has a few instances of this being played positively, and funnily enough, both of them happen to be incredibly strong, manly men.
  • The Prince of Neksdor in Miitopia is seen by most as an extremely unlikeable one: as haughty and boasting as he is, he will flee crying out for his mother at every difficulty he comes across. He seems also extremely worried about how his mother will be reacting to the cancellation of his Arranged Marriage with the Princess of Greenhorne.
  • One staple of the Mother series is that the protagonists all have really, really good relationships with their moms. In EarthBound (1994), Ness might get homesick and lose the will to fight until he either visits or calls his mom. In the third game this gets Played for Drama. Poor Lucas...
  • Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4 is even able to take down an entire biker gang just so his mother can sleep well at night.
  • In Shop Heroes, Gauvin (a squire aspiring to be a Knight in Shining Armor) sometimes mentions having to consult his mother when you're selling him things. Also, some of his personal quests are to get her presents.
  • In Team Fortress 2, about half of the Scout's lines that aren't insults are related in some way to his beloved 'ma... The other half is bragging.
  • Walter Sullivan, the Big Bad from Silent Hill 4: The Room, believes that an apartment is his mother. It only gets weirder from there.
  • Tekken:
    • Jin Kazama is this to his mother Jun who raised him in the wilderness. Notably while Jin acts like a jerk to most people (even those close to him), Jun is the true exception being the only one who can make him smile. Jun’s apparent death at the hands of Ogre motivated Jin to train with his grandfather Heihatchi to take Ogre down and he did so. In the non-canon Tekken Tag Tournament 2 upon discovering that Unknown that she is actually Jun after beating her and seeing her vanish in his arms, Jin activates his Devil-form, screams in despair and flies off.
    • Steve Fox is a one-sided example. He cares greatly for his mother super assassin Nina Williams, who wants nothing to do with him since Steve was born synthetically from her egg while she is was a Human Popsicle and didn’t consent to it. Despite this, Nina has hesitated when tasked to assassinated him and Steve protected her from the pursuing Tekken Force.
    • In Tekken 7 it is revealed that Kazuya Mishima of all people was this as the death of his mother Kazumi at the hands of his father Heihachi was his Start of Darkness and was one of the reasons why he loathes his father (apart from the whole getting thrown off a cliff thing). Even years later as a Corrupt Corporate Executive, Kazuya refuses to believe that Kazumi tasked Akuma to kill him and his father Heihachi.
  • In Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, it turns out B.J Blazkowicz is devoted to the memory of his gentle and kind Jewish Mother, Zofia. No, it's not Played for Laughs and it doesn't dent his status as an extreme tough guy who can make the impossible, possible in any way — this aspect of Blazkowicz's character is heartbreaking. B.J had a horrific childhood with his abusive father Rip and his mother often caught a black eye trying to protect him. When B.J heads back to the Blazkowicz residence and finds out that Rip sold Zofia out to the Nazis for money and because she called him out for being a horrible father and a bad businessman, B.J kills the bastard on the spot.

    Visual Novels 
  • Teruteru Hanamura from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair really loves his mom and it's even stated to be one in his profile. This is what drives him to murder because he wants to get out of the island so he can find out if she's okay, since she's also an ill girl and a Workaholic. He also he has a brief flashback after the first trial as he tells how he is worried about her declining health due to overwork in her restaurant, and he screams for his mother before the execution starts.
  • Masaru from Spirit Hunter: NG is a dark version — his utter devotion to his mother highlights his general psychopathy, and when she passes away, he murders twenty people in order to try and bring her back.
  • Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side's flamboyant artist, Mihara Shiki, loves his mommy and doesn't mind saying so. In this case it's not exactly presented as a negative so much as simply an indication of his quirkiness — for example, in one of his events he drapes himself against a bust he made of his mother, lamenting that she's not there right now, giving the heroine the impression that his mother is dead... but no, she's at home making dinner.

    Webcomics 
  • The Signless/Sufferer from Homestuck, who was stated to have been extremely, lovingly close with his surrogate mother, the Dolorosa. This relationship is mirrored by their descendants, Karkat Vantas and Kanaya Maryam, although their relationship is more Like Brother and Sister.
    • Dave later shows signs of being this to Roxy, despite their technically being the same age and her having had absolutely nothing to do with his upbringing. He even has difficulty not referring to her as "mom".

    Web Animation 

    Web Original 
  • Zaboo from The Guild is this trope to the comic extreme. The last few webisodes of the first season center on the guild helping him break free of his mother, treating her as the most scary and powerful boss of all time.
  • The Nostalgia Critic has a massive case of The Dutiful Son-slash-Stockholm Syndrome.
    • Played even sadder with Donnie's love for his mom in Demo Reel. Why? Because she committed suicide when he was a kid.
  • Silverwing of the Whateley Universe. He even let her pick out his courses when he went to Superhero School Whateley Academy, which is why he's a sophomore only now taking freshman martial arts.
  • Regular Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series.
    "My mummy says I'm a good boy!"

    Western Animation 
  • Stan Smith from American Dad! is so much of one that he kidnaps any guy his mother goes out with just before their third date and abandons them on a deserted island. Steve is also one.
  • Bob's Burgers: Gene loves both his parents, but is clearly closer to Linda than he is to Bob due to their similar Cloud Cuckoo Lander personalities and shared love of and aptitude for music. Unlike other examples on this list, Gene is just as strong-willed as his mother and sisters, and can even get away with ribbing Linda from time to time.
    Gene: Mom and I shop together! We have no secrets!
    • There are some instances where it's implied Gene is in love with his mother, to the point of giving her a a heavily detailed Valentine and once insisting she be his wife in stories his sister and father told him while he was sick on Thanksgiving. Linda thinks it's sweet, while Bob and the girls often find it disturbing (Bob: We all need to have a talk as a family). Louise has joked about going to Gene and Linda's wedding.
      Gene: Mother, I have never been more attracted to you!
  • Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!: Bruiser, the Betelgeusian Berserker Baboon is an unrepentant momma's boy. However, it takes on a darker note when you remember that Bruiser's brother Bruce was also in the Navy (warp drive engineer rather than Space Marine, but still), and died serving under the officer who is now Bruiser's CO.
  • DuckTales (1987) has plenty of examples. All of the Beagle Boys are under the thumb of their fierce mother, Ma Beagle. Fenton Crackshell is also very devoted to his mother, with whom he lives in a trailer park.
  • DuckTales (2017): Dewey is the most driven out of his brothers to find out what happened to their mother. In "Last Christmas!", he isolates himself from his family due to depression over his mother not being here, and he stows away on Scrooge and the Spirits' trip to the past so he can at least meet her younger self. When Della finally returns on Earth, Dewey is the first to run up to and hug her. Then when she continually screws up motherly tasks, he's the one who keeps encouraging and complimenting her while defending her to the others. That said, later episodes such as "Moonvasion!" show that his support for her has its limits.
  • Walt, Larry and Igner of Futurama are a trio of this trope. They allow themselves to be entirely dominated by their mother, Mom. Igner is implied to be mentally challenged, Larry is a coward, and Walt has the worst Oedipus Complex you'll ever see.
    Walt: (right after being insulted and slapped by Mom) "Some day I want to marry a girl like her."
  • In Mickey MouseWorks and House of Mouse (the latter recycling many shorts from the former), it was a Running Gag for Professor Ludwig Von Drake to be intimidated by his mother yelling at him from offscreen.
  • Johnny Bravo still lives with his mother, and even though he wants to be seen as a tough macho man, he and his mom adore each other and could never function in life without one another.
  • The Loud House: Lincoln Loud seems to be this to his mother, Rita since he and his father don't have much in common. Lincoln acts like his Cheerful Child self whenever he's around her, and she even took him to her workplace in the novel episode.
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes: K.O. has a very close relationship with his "mommy" Carol and doesn't deny that he's a mama's boy when Fink teases him for being one (mainly because he doesn't know why it's an insult).
  • Ready Jet Go! has a positive example. Sean is very close to his mother, Dr. Rafferty, especially considering how we never see his father.
  • Heffer from Rocko's Modern Life is this to his surrogate mother, Virginia Wolfe. In "Gutter Balls", Mr. Bighead hires him, Rocko, and Filburt to play against his bowling team, the Gutter Gals. When Mr. Bighead insults Virginia for her poor bowling skills, Heffer gets angry at him for this. A later episode of the series is named for this trope. In this episode, Heffer becomes tired of Virginia babying him because of his lazy and spoiled lifestyle and tries to prove to her that he can take care of himself.
  • Principal Skinner in The Simpsons, even drawing references from Psycho. Also, Bart Simpson to a lesser extent. (it's a more My Beloved Smother kind-of thing.) Smithers is also shown being this to an extent.
  • South Park: Kyle is constantly berated by his stereotypical Jewish Mother Sheila, and it's even made into a plot point in the movie.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: Brad Boimler adores his mother because he has composed at least two violin tunes about her ("Essence" and "Requiem for a Hug").
  • WordGirl has two examples:
    • Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, who lives in his mother's basement.
    • Tobey, a young Evil Genius who can bring his city to its knees with his large robots and gives the title heroine a run for her money...but is very often thwarted when his mother appears, snatches away his controls, and drags him away by his ear.
  • Zeroman: Leslie Mutton continues to live with his mother despite being 63 years old. She's not happy about it.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Mummys Boy, Mamas Boy

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James "Jim" Lake Jr.

With his father absent and his mother working long shifts at the hospital, Jim dedicates himself to taking care of her.

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