Based on the comics of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Eric Kripke’s The Boys is known for its shockingly graphic violence and outrageous fun. But if you thought the Seven and other thirtysomething supes were wild, prepare yourself for the unhinged youngsters of Gen V, who are more tech-savvy, meaning most of their unsavory actions end up online.
Gen V, developed by writer-director Craig Rosenberg (The Boys) and with Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Emergence, Agent Carter) serving as showrunners/executive producers, introduces a new collection of supes trying to be the best while also juggling classes and getting to the bottom of a conspiracy on campus.
We enter the world of Gen V with a young blood-bender Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), who is unfortunately on the right track to superheroism as a traumatized orphan. After spending years at the Red River Institute (as seen in The Boys Presents: Diabolical), 18-year-old Marie is accepted into Godolkin University, the Hogwarts of higher education for superheroes. With dreams of becoming the first Black woman in the Seven, she’s determined to stay focused at school. Too bad she faces nothing but distractions.
Marie’s roommate Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway) has the power to shrink and goes by Little Cricket in her tiny form. If everyone wasn’t also hilarious, I’d say Emma is the comic relief. But she’s just fun in general, immediately forcing Marie out of her shell.
Elsewhere on campus, there’s the Human Torch-like Luke Riordan (Patrick Schwarzenegger), the school’s literal Golden Boy. His glove-wearing girlfriend Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) is an empath who can “push” others to do things against their will via touch. Luke’s best friend is Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), the Magneto-esque magnetic manipulator and son of Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas).
The other member(s) of their hero clique is Jordan Li (Derek Luh and London Thor), a gender-shifter with two different power sets. As a female (Thor), they can deliver energy blasts, and as a male (Luh), they’re indestructible. With their seamless shifting, Jordan’s fight scenes are the coolest to watch.
Like everything in The Boys universe, Vought International owns and operates God U, so there’s something seedy beneath the surface. The mystery of the Woods consumes Marie and company, sending them on a path of very dangerous sleuthing expeditions. We first hear mention of the Woods from a fleeing Sam (Asa Germann), a supe with more power than his mind can handle. He’s extremely strong and mostly indestructible but also has to deal with an implied mental illness that causes hallucinations, a bit like Legion’s David Haller sans psychic powers.
Since the students experience their fair share of PR crises, Vought’s acting CEO Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) makes an appearance to do what she does best, which is yell at people over the phone and figure out how to capitalize on tragedy. Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) and the hack director of the fictional Dawn of the 7 movie Adam Bourke (P. J. Byrne) briefly pop up at the school along with former and current Seven members Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), and the Deep (Chace Crawford).
As previously revealed, the Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne parody character Tek Knight (Derek Wilson) makes his live-action debut in this series. There’s also a bizarre and delightful cameo by “Television’s Jason Ritter” as an in-universe version of himself hosting a puppet show called Avenue V, which may or may not exist.
As we’ve seen in The Boys, drug-fueled supes with god-like powers mean all kinds of trouble. But as celebrities and products, Vought’s heroes get away with it. Make them ten years younger and more reckless and you’ve got Gen V. Even at college, the superhumans have to deal with establishing and maintaining their brand, always looking for ways to rake in millions of likes and followers. Young supes are groomed by parental figures, mentors, and professors including Professor Richard “Brink” Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown) and Dean Indira Shetty (Shelley Conn), who essentially prime them to be easily exploited by the media (which has a significant presence on campus).
Whether it’s externalizing unresolved trauma in a dramatic scene or excellently delivering a sarcastic comment, the ensemble cast absolutely kills it. They’re given a range of heartbreaking, hilarious, and action-packed scenes and manage to nail all of them.
Jaz Sinclair plays the lonely, determined, and somewhat naive Marie to perfection. Speaking about her character, she told EW, “She has moments where she has to decide, do I want to look like a hero or do I want to be a hero?” Almost all of them face this dilemma in the series, sometimes more than once. Each actor embodies the internal struggle so well that they don’t even need to vocalize it because we can see it on their face.
With the laugh-out-loud moments come scenes that’ll hit you right in the feels, particularly when it comes to the backstories of Marie and Sam. Each young supe grapples with many a trauma because you don’t get injected with an experimental drug as a baby and not become utterly messed up. And in the age of social media, everyone is one click away from having their personal struggles broadcast to the world. Emma really goes through it, and Lizze Broadway’s performance, especially when Emma’s at her lowest, easily gets the tears flowing. But before you know it she’s making us laugh again.
Fans of The Boys will be satisfied with the amount of exploding body parts, exposed (mostly male) genitalia, and Herogasm-esque antics. Gen V goes a step further with a few mind-bending moments similar to Black Noir communicating with his animated friends. The series trailer offers a glimpse of the bonkers massacre bursting with glittery puppet guts like something straight out of Doom Patrol.
Gen V is a blood-soaked coming-of-age drama, dark collegiate comedy, and superhero satire just as irreverent, explosive, and ultraviolent as its raunchy, over-the-top predecessor. The series recontextualizes real issues in a world of superheroes, continuing The Boys’ satirization of celebrity culture and hero worship but with the added pressures of college life. They may be powerful in their own ways but it doesn’t protect them from insecurities, relationships, or hangovers.
The first three episodes of Gen V hit Prime Video on September 29, followed by weekly episodes through November 3.
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