GEN V: Did You Catch THE BOYS Spin-Off's Not-So-Subtle Dig At WANDAVISION?

GEN V: Did You Catch THE BOYS Spin-Off's Not-So-Subtle Dig At WANDAVISION?

The first three episodes of Gen V are now streaming on Prime Video, and the show carries on The Boys' tradition of taking shots at established superhero IPs with a playful dig at WandaVision...

By MarkCassidy - Oct 03, 2023 09:10 AM EST
Filed Under: The Boys

The Boys aimed quite a few shots (some subtle, others... less so) at the Marvel and DC movie universes over the course of its three seasons, and college-set spin-off series, Gen V, has continued the tradition with a playful dig at Marvel Studios' first Disney+ show - and the streamer itself.

In the first episode, “God U,” Emma (Lizze Broadway) and her new roommate Marie (Jaz Sinclair) decide to speak to famous young actress Justine (Maia Jae Bastidas) and her friends, and we hear some of their conversation as the girls approach.

“So my guys at Innovative are sending me out for this limited series on Vought+,” Justine says of her latest project. “It’s an elevated superhero thing – a meditation on grief told through 70 years of sitcoms. And Zach Braff is directing.”

Aside from the Zack Braff thing (the Scrubs alum just can't seem to catch a break), this is clearly a play on WandaVision, with Vought+ as The Boys universe's take on Disney's streaming service.

Again, this type of thing is nothing new for The Boys. Arguably the show's most notable parody came during Season 2, when Stormfront, Starlight and Queen Maeve posed for an incredibly cheesy "girls get it done" shot while filming Justice League parody "Dawn of The Seven."

Many assumed this was a direct shot at the divisive "A-Force" scene from Avengers: Endgame, which showrunner Eric Kripke later confirmed.

"A lot of that came from our executive producer, Rebecca Sonneshine, who came in after the weekend Endgame opened," he explained to THR. "She was just furious. I saw it, too, and I was like, 'That was the dumbest, most contrived—' And she’s like, 'Don’t get me started.' She found it condescending and I agreed. So that just created for us a target, a satirical target. When there’s something really ridiculous in either superhero or celebrity or Hollywood culture, we’ll immediately go after it. It’s an easy shot."

Have you watched any of Gen V yet? If so, what did you think?

Gen V is partially based on the "We Gotta Go Now" story arc from The Boys comic series, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson. The show takes place between the events of The Boys season 3 and 4, and Jessie T. Usher and Chase Crawford are also expected to reprise their respective roles as A-Train and The Deep, along with cast mates Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and PJ Byrne.

In Gen V, the students at Godolkin will be "put their physical and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the school’s highly coveted top ranking. They quickly come to learn that ambition comes with sacrifice, and the difference between right and wrong is not as clear as they once believed. When the university’s dark secrets come to light, the students must come to grips with what type of heroes they are going to become.”

Gen V also stars Shelley Conn, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sean Patrick Thomas and Marco Pigossi. The series guest stars Clancy Brown and Jason Ritter, while Jessie T. Usher, Claudia Doumit, Colby Minifie, and P.J. Byrne will reprise their roles from The Boys.

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harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 10/3/2023, 9:35 AM
not watching it so no.
Vigor
Vigor - 10/3/2023, 10:17 AM
@harryba11zack - k
LordHarryLatts
LordHarryLatts - 10/3/2023, 9:36 AM
Watched the first three episodes and I'm going to leave it right there.
DiegoMD
DiegoMD - 10/3/2023, 9:39 AM
Such a great show! I was convinced that it was going to be shit, so I was very pleasantly surprised. Especially with the latter episodes. Each episode was better than the last!
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 10/3/2023, 9:54 AM
@DiegoMD - “great”? Come on lol
DiegoMD
DiegoMD - 10/3/2023, 2:54 PM
@TheNewYorker - If you disliked it then you clearly have no taste. Given your trash taste, your favorite superhero show must be FAWS or some other mediocre show like that!
TheLobster
TheLobster - 10/3/2023, 9:39 AM
Don’t know what y’all are talking about Gen V is so far pretty awesome! Definitely better than 90% of Disney+ shit at least.
Vigor
Vigor - 10/3/2023, 10:17 AM
@TheLobster - don't you worry. People here hate Disney plus stuff too. Enough hate to around
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 10/3/2023, 9:40 AM
Gen V takes the worst aspects from The Boys and keeps none of the good bits.
CoHost
CoHost - 10/3/2023, 9:44 AM
It's only recently we've begun to realize WandaVision wasn't any good.
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 10/3/2023, 10:02 AM
@CoHost -

TheLobster
TheLobster - 10/3/2023, 10:39 AM
@CoHost - been saying this from the get go. First couple episodes were alright but the whole “mystery” was [frick]ing stupid since we all knew it was Wanda and the finale was legitimately the worst.

Loki is the only Disney+ series that’s been stellar start to finish. The rest range from decent (Hawkeye, Ms Marvel) to mediocre (Moon Knight) to straight up garbage (She Hulk)
Origame
Origame - 10/3/2023, 10:47 AM
@MosquitoFarmer - sure thing.

?si=OrKGFdVmEj6gseb2
dagenspear
dagenspear - 10/3/2023, 12:28 PM
@MosquitoFarmer - Not wrong.
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 10/3/2023, 12:51 PM
@dagenspear - Nice try, but Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany delivered fantastic performances.
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/3/2023, 9:47 AM
Gen v is a teenaged, diluted version of the boys tv show, which is a diluted version of the boys comics.

Pure crap, and should be only used for torture and interrogation.
Preferably on movie critics.
Origame
Origame - 10/3/2023, 10:49 AM
@r1g0r - ...have you read the boys comic? It's literally just the cool trench coat wearing OCs killing parodies of popular superhero, with the "joke" being they're all sexual deviants.
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/3/2023, 11:39 AM
@Origame -
I've read:
The boys
Preacher
The green hornet

Rogen screwed up all 3, and shouldn't be allowed to touch pulp or comic material again.
Origame
Origame - 10/3/2023, 1:43 PM
@r1g0r - ...dude, what depth did he take from the boys?
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/3/2023, 7:51 PM
@Origame -

The original material explored how NOBODY is exempt from the old adage that power corrupts, albeit in a gross and exaggerated way.
Origame
Origame - 10/3/2023, 8:15 PM
@r1g0r - ...and how isn't that explored in the show?
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/3/2023, 8:42 PM
@Origame -

The show has almost exclusively gone for the gross-out factor.

Did you read the series?
Because your questions feel like someone who hasn't.
There's a difference of night and day.
Origame
Origame - 10/3/2023, 9:22 PM
@r1g0r - ...just because it uses gross out factor doesn't mean they aren't focusing on power corrupting. Literally the whole point of TV homelander is that he's so powerful he can do whatever he wants.

And I definitely did. Need I remind you of the gross out factor of the books? Like when Hughie punched a whole in a super accidentally only for him to learn the guy had a gerbil in his a$$?
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/3/2023, 9:48 PM
@Origame -
We obviously see this in different ways.
Origame
Origame - 10/4/2023, 6:04 AM
@r1g0r - ...you don't see punching a guy in the stomach to reveal a gerbil in the a$$ as gross out? Or do you not see season 3 butcher as an example of power corrupting?
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/4/2023, 8:34 AM
@Origame -
Go argue with someone else.
Origame
Origame - 10/4/2023, 11:27 AM
@r1g0r - ...probably because you can't defend a simple point.

Look, you're welcome to like one over the other. But to suggest one is just shock value gross out content and the other has all the depth of power corrupting, then you better back it up.

Here's some depth you missed from the show that isn't there in the comics. In the show, temp v isn't introduced until season 3. Not only does that mean up until that point the boys had to be clever about fighting supes as opposed to just brute forcing them like in the comics, them getting powers is seen as highly controversial in the group because their whole point of existing is that no one should have these powers. Most of them never took temp v because of the principle of the matter. The reason they were fighting.

Meanwhile the comic version of the boys saw no problem in them powering themselves up enough to take on just about any supe. They didn't even care to ask hughie for consent before sticking him with it.

So when you say the show diluted the comics by taking away the "power corrupts" element, I just provided an example of the show doing something with that theme that was completely ignored in the comics.
r1g0r
r1g0r - 10/4/2023, 1:21 PM
@Origame -
ok.
obviously, you can't take a simple request to go argue with somebody else.
so, i'm blocking you.
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 10/3/2023, 9:53 AM
Oddly enough, the episodes weren’t terrible. Far from good, but a bit better than I thought
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 10/3/2023, 9:54 AM
Guess i'm one of the few who enjoyed the first 3 eps, lel.

Never read the comics and don't care to, but as an X-Men fan i dig the concept.
SATW42
SATW42 - 10/3/2023, 10:04 AM
is there context missing here because:

“So my guys at Innovative are sending me out for this limited series on Vought+,” Justine says of her latest project. “It’s an elevated superhero thing – a meditation on grief told through 70 years of sitcoms. And Zach Braff is directing.”

This isn't a dig. It's literally just a straight up reference...
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/3/2023, 10:12 AM
@SATW42 - Yeah, I was going to ask, was that actually funny in the show? Because that is . . . not great on paper.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 10/3/2023, 10:15 AM
@SATW42 - I mean, given the delivery and the character, it's leaning into the pretentiousness of the concept. But no, it's not a massively scathing take down or anything.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 10/3/2023, 12:26 PM
@SATW42 - I thought similarly.
Drace24
Drace24 - 10/3/2023, 10:06 AM
I don't like the "The Boys" in general. The world seems obsessed with snarky cynicism right now and I don't need that in my entertainment too, honestly. And I just can't unsee the irony of this show being about a evil corporation turning assholes into superheroes, made by an evil corporation turning assholes into superheroes. The constant shots fired at Disney don't really work when they come from [frick]ing Amazon.
nibs
nibs - 10/3/2023, 10:34 AM
@Drace24 - the concept of a supposed anti-corporate tv show having a cash grab spin-off is pretty funny
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