Please note: this article contains major spoilers for the entirety of season 2 of “Gen V”.
Creating a hit streaming series like “The Boys” that taps into both current politics and broader trends in entertainment is incredibly difficult. Launching a new series about kids at a superhero school with entirely new characters and without living entirely in the shadow of the parent series might be even more difficult. But to pull off a double-take with a second season that is not only more heartfelt and heartfelt than the first (as I reviewed for /Film here), but also fulfills a storyline that several big-budget films have tried and failed to do in previous years? It’s the kind of balancing act that “Generation V” has made its bread and butter.
We’re not exactly stepping on a ledge here when we assert that “Gen V” tells a better X-Men story than (then-named) 20th Century Fox did with its “X-Men” films. For as much nostalgia and rose-tinted memories as audiences may have towards this franchise, to the point where the Marvel Cinematic Universe saw fit to bring back much of its cast and characters (with more to come in “Avengers: Doomsday” and presumably “Avengers: Secret Wars”), there’s no denying that these films left a lot to be desired. Common complaints from diehards included the elevation of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to leading man status at the expense of James Marsden’s team leader Scott Summers/Cyclops, those woefully unflattering black leather uniforms, and storylines that aimed for the biggest, most memorable comic book arcs… but missed out on recreating a real family dynamic between the mutants.
Without ever hanging a lampshade on it, both seasons of “Gen V” accomplished all of the above and more — and it’s high time we recognized it.
Like the best of the X-Men, Generation V remembers that the whole is everything
Let’s put it this way: When the “Twilight” films inadvertently created a more faithful X-Men moment than any of the actual “X-Men” films by bringing together a group of super-powered people playing baseball together amid life-and-death stakes, something is wrong. Under Fox’s direction, the original films and prequels generally found themselves revolving around very specific characters or couples: Logan, Logan and Jean Grey, Logan and Charles Xavier, Xavier and Magneto, etc. As a result, much of the supporting cast found themselves sidelined (or, worse, treated like glorified window dressing), with some semblance of an idea that these characters actually considered each other family or even loved each other.
From this point of view, “Gen V” almost couldn’t help but pass this test with flying colors. The main ensemble of protagonists – Jaz Sinclair’s bloody Marie Moreau, the untrustworthy and borderline villainous duo of Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) and Sam (Asa Germann), shapeshifting Joker Jordan Li (played by Londor Thor and Derek Luh), and Lizze Broadway go-getter Emma Meyer – all embark on their own unique thrills. travels throughout both seasons. Sometimes they love each other, other times they hate each other, but they’ve been through things together and, based on the events of the Season 2 finale, they seem ready to form their own supergroup. In the span of just over a dozen episodes, they’ve demonstrated more growth, development, depth, and pathos than anyone without adamantium claws ever has. 13 films in total.
Like the best of the “X-Men” comics and cartoons, “Gen V” still focuses on these potential heroes (and villains).
Generation V is taking kids to school (literally) in a way the X-Men movies rarely did
At /Film, we’re big proponents of valuing individual education, but that’s nothing compared to how “Gen V” is taking on one of the X-Men’s main tenants. While Xavier’s school for gifted young people has been featured in several films, perhaps only the 2000s “X-Men” truly integrated this setting and its students into its plot. The super-team is otherwise too busy dealing with end-of-the-world threats, temporal intrigue, and any other excuse to take action in more exciting locations. Meanwhile, “Gen V” not only embraced its superhero school premise, but actually retconned its own Season 1 finale to bring things back to the bewildering confines of Godolkin University in Season 2.
This shared school setting is not just a superficial similarity either. By taking place almost entirely on the God U campus, “Gen V” becomes a coming-of-age story about the social aspects of these characters. Too many “X-Men” films were content to simply allude to the students and teachers who make up the X-Mansion, assuming they represented them. (Is anyone Really I feel like these films successfully sold us the idea that someone other than Xavier is teaching full time while they’re not saving the world?) “Gen V”, on the other hand, lives this reality and brings it to the forefront for every character.
Of course, “Gen V” has plenty of X-Men analogies: Marie is Jean Grey, Jordan is Cyclops, and Ethan Slater’s Thomas Godolkin (through his “meat puppet,” Hamish Linklater’s Cipher) is the twisted Professor X to Polarity’s heroic Magneto (Sean Patrick Thomas). But by fully embodying the themes and ideals that the soon-to-be-defunct “X-Men” franchise was content to gesture toward, the series finally delivers the X-Men story fans have been waiting for.
“Gen V” is streaming on Prime Video.
