As is so often the case with science fiction and fantasy, “The Boys” universe has a foot firmly planted in the here and now, wrapping TV’s most overtly political franchise in the colorful trappings of a superhero show.
While those politics have long been clear, they land differently and more pointedly during this second Trump administration, as the spinoff series “Gen V” premieres its second run on Amazon’s Prime Video on Wednesday in advance of the flagship show’s final season next year.
Perhaps the most jarring part of watching “Gen V” now is that despite its over-the-top bursts of gore and kinky sex, the world of “The Boys” feels less outlandish and cartoonish with each passing season. While it’s possible to enjoy its sly satire of superheroes (see “The Boys’” take on Batman, for starters), it’s increasingly difficult to divorce the series from a reality whose absurdities appear to be rising to meet the show on its terms.
“The Boys” and “Gen V” aren’t the only shows to sound the warnings about our dystopian present through science fiction. “Alien: Earth” has plucked at similar threads, while “The Handmaid’s Tale” struck a nerve with its vision of eroding women’s and reproductive rights, only to see the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the right to an abortion bring that closer to reality. Emmy nominee “Severance” incorporates growing unease about technology, large corporations and how far they’ll go to achieve what they consider an acceptable means of work-life balance.
“The Boys” and “Gen V” nevertheless stand apart by so directly leaning into politics within what is, at its core, an anti-superhero show, taking Americans to task for gullibly believing lies from a “hero” with a well-edited narrative.
There is, admittedly, more than a little irony in a show that so searingly indicts President Donald Trump, his MAGA minions, rampant corporate greed and media manipulation playing on Amazon, a company whose billionaire founder Jeff Bezos has joined fellow members of the oligarch class in cozying up to the president.
Chalk that up to the perverse glee in Hollywood when it comes to biting the hands that feed you, with “Gen V” not pulling any punches with its image of an America sliding into authoritarianism, under the thumb of massive corporations and a populace beguiled by evil that hides in plain sight.
The most intriguing wrinkle in the spinoff emanates from its demographic skew, focusing on college students at Godolkin University, a training ground for future superheroes that goes by the appropriate nickname “God U.”
While the student body at God U engages in the usual college hijinks — pushing standards on sex and violence to beyond-R-rated extremes — they also speak the language of youthful influencers, urging their followers to “smash the like button” (or in the case of a reptilian character, “lick” it) and to Make America Super Again.
“Gen V” operates on a parallel track to “The Boys,” which concluded its season last year with the Superman-like Homelander seizing control of the government. As series creator Eric Kripke noted in a 2022 interview, and has reiterated since, Homelander has “always been a Trump analogue for me,” reflecting the disturbing trend that “the more awful public figures act, the more fans they seem to be getting.”
Like “The Boys,” “Gen V” doesn’t bother with much subtlety in evoking those real-world echoes. The superhero/right-wing media host Firecracker derides the “woke” agenda, while seeking to tar political opponents as pedophiles and labeling “supes” who would stand against the excesses of their kind as “race traitors.” Political enemies are demonized and falsely accused of violence.
While obviously exaggerated, in such sequences it’s hard not to hear echoes of those seeking to make political hay out of tragedies and crises, underscored by some of the incendiary rhetoric regarding conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death. In addition to pundits, that’s included Trump and top advisor Stephen Miller laying blame on the “radical left” before all the details emerged.
“The Boys” universe also features a very particular kind of insidious corporation in Vought International, which creates and controls superheroes while marketing them across its media holdings, which include everything from movies to a very Fox-like conservative TV network, all blurring the lines between fact and fiction.
It’s easy to get carried away finding messages within popular entertainment, and as one of Amazon’s most popular and valuable franchises — Season 4 of “The Boys” cracked 1 billion minutes viewed, according to Nielsen’s streaming charts, ranking first among Prime Video series — the show works strictly as a commercial proposition. Small wonder another spinoff, the prequel “Vought Rising,” is also in the works.
Nor should it be lost that “The Boys” made its debut in 2019, introducing its jaundiced universe a few months after “Avengers: Endgame” closed that chapter of superhero-movie box-office dominance. Perhaps appropriately, the apex of the superhero experience on the big screen paved the way for a darker view of caped crusaders that feels very much in step with the cynical nature of the times.
According to Amazon, viewership of “The Boys” has grown each season, with more than 55 million viewers worldwide for the fourth season, tops among the streamer’s series. More than half of that audience comes from outside the U.S.
Still, if “The Boys” and “Gen V” have leaned into politics, they have been abetted by the extent to which politics has veered toward their unnerving reality.
While that might represent a distraction for those watching these shows seeking a sense of much-needed escapism, for those who don’t mind encountering a little political messaging with their superhero action, sex and violence, it’s one more reason to lick the like button.
“Gen V” Season 2 premieres Sept. 17 on Amazon’s Prime Video. (Disclosure: Lowry’s wife works for a unit of Amazon.)
