Like most other fans, I suspect, I became a fan of The Boys through Prime’s excellent TV adaptation of Garth Ennis’ graphic novels. I was instantly captivated by this insane and extreme modern twist on the superhero formula and the kinds of monsters you can create when you mix heroism with capitalism. I liked how satirical and scarily accurate to real-life it was. I liked Hughie’s story and the idea of grappling with how pitifully human you are when you’re standing next to a bunch of supes.
Gen V, on the other hand, seemed like it’d just be a watered down version of The Boys that I surely wouldn’t enjoy. Teenagers? No stacked cast? No Karl Urban? Lowered stakes? It was giving Marvel’s Runaways, and I do not mean that as a compliment. After bouncing off the show about midway through the first episode two years ago, I decided it wasn’t for me. Then the suggested Reddit posts started filtering into my algorithm. It got renewed for a second season. There were Gen V cameos in The Boys Season 4. People online were saying that it’s actually a really good show with fantastic characters.
Alright, internet, I get it already. I’ll give Gen V another shot. This time around, I got three episodes in, and I’m pleased to report that I may just be a convert.
Unlike The Boys, Gen V narrows its focus a little and zooms us into the lives of the lesser-known supes of the world. It primarily takes place on the campus of Godolkin University, a Vought-sponsored school for supes to learn crimefighting and brand management. It embodies everything I loved about The Boys on a micro level: the PR, the brand management, the social politicking, the works. Except this time, we’ve got a bunch of teenagers doing all that stuff instead of adults, and that somehow makes it even more insidious.
Lest you forget, the supes were borne out of parents choosing to inject their kids with Vought’s Compound V at a very young age in the hopes of one day giving those kids superpowers. You could get lucky and end up with a Starlight or Queen Maeve, or you could end up with a total dud like Love Sausage. Or worse, a kid who has absolutely no control over their powers and ends up being sent to a supe asylum. Whereas The Boys‘ cast skews older, where the characters have already more or less processed their Compound V trauma and are coping with it in their own ways, Gen V shows us a more immediate impact of Compound V on more malleable minds.
Gen V opens with a scene of protagonist Marie first awakening to her powers. She’s a young girl who’s just gotten her first period so she’s already dealing with a lot of confusion and discomfort. Couple that with the fact that her power allows her to manipulate blood — something she’s also discovering for the first time — and you’re in for a very nasty shock. Not knowing how to deal with both things at once, she loses control of her powers and accidentally kills both her parents in one fell swoop. It’s a truly horrific scene that rivals even some of the more distressing bits we’ve seen in The Boys.
Again, I’m only three episodes in but I’m willing to bet good money that a decent portion of the show will spent on Marie coming to terms with what she did and how she can reconcile her guilt and resentment towards her parents for forcing Compound V onto her in the first place. The implication of Marie’s powers requiring her to literally cut her hands with a blade to draw blood isn’t lost on me either.
We see that through-line with other characters, too. Golden Boy, though his reign was short-lived, was clearly forced to deal with a lot of pressure in being the best supe of his generation to rival Homelander. His friend, Andre, deals with similar issues as we see his father constantly trying to manage his brand and push him into the limelight after Golden Boy is gone. There’s Jordan, whose powers straight up gave them the ability to be gender-fluid, and their parents are conservative Asians, so you can imagine how well that went down. And then there’s Emma, whose power also ties in with an eating disorder that was somewhat inflicted onto her by her own mother.
In some ways, the stakes are a lot lower in Gen V. It’s inevitable, though. You don’t have Homelander breathing down everyone’s necks all the time threatening to destroy the world. At the same time, the stakes also feel a lot more personal because of how young the cast is. Their problems feel more relatable, and I can appreciate the show’s efforts to provide a more intimate look into the lives of budding young supes.
For now, Gen V has my undivided attention. Let’s hope it sticks the landing.
Gen V is now available for streaming on Prime.
