Top 10 Differences Between Gen V and The Comic
The differences between the "Gen V" comics and the hit TV show will shock you! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the biggest changes between “Gen V” and the comics.
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00:00 I doubt I was gonna be so jealous that I met the Guardian of Gdalkin today.
00:03 Welcome to WatchMojo!
00:05 And today we're counting down our picks for the biggest changes between Gen V and the comics.
00:11 Spoilers ahead for the show and its source material.
00:14 If Bob gets wind of this, the Supes will crush you and everyone you care about.
00:18 Too late for that.
00:19 Number 10.
00:21 Hughie doesn't go to God-used parties.
00:25 A few of us are going on a field trip.
00:28 Off campus, Golden Boy, myself, a few others, you should come.
00:31 The storyline from the Boys comic that inspired Gen V is called "We Gotta Go Now."
00:36 This plot revolves around Hughie going undercover at Gdalkin U.
00:41 Although it's a pretty clear spoof of Charles Xavier's school for gifted youngsters,
00:45 the comic version is far from a university.
00:48 Hughie learns that while the higher-ups in the team spend most of their time training,
00:53 the college-age adults apparently do nothing but party.
00:56 Yes! Yes!
00:59 Now let's dance!
01:00 Come on!
01:02 The Supes in the show actually do balance partying with real studies.
01:06 Instead of calculus or biology, they're majoring in crime-fighting and performing arts.
01:11 And Hughie notably isn't around to hang with the kids.
01:14 Overall, the TV characters are a bit more prepared for the real world than their comic counterparts.
01:20 No, but I have to take intro. Everyone who majors in crime-fighting takes intro.
01:26 Number 9. Indira Shetty
01:28 I know you monitor Supes.
01:30 Their team affiliations, their whereabouts.
01:32 You know where to find all of them, even those that aren't under Vought's thumb.
01:35 We'll be able to neutralize them once and for all.
01:38 Although the comic has its fair share of deceitful and manipulative characters,
01:43 Dean Shetty was invented just for Gen V.
01:46 Like many of the key players in this franchise, it's unclear at first where her loyalties lie.
01:52 We later learn that she has a truly diabolical plan up her sleeve.
01:56 Fortunately, neither the boys nor Gen V has time for one-dimensional characters.
02:01 We eventually find that Shetty's dark goals are driven by a genuinely tragic event caused by Homelander.
02:07 When I lost my husband and my daughter, I lost my entire world.
02:13 Every day I ask myself why am I still here.
02:17 Like Billy Butcher, we might not agree with how far she goes to avenge those she's lost,
02:22 but we can at least understand why Shetty became so morally gray.
02:26 Trust me, you don't want to go down that path.
02:29 I'm doing this with or without you.
02:33 With you would be easier. Together we can end it. Finally.
02:37 Number 8. Brink replaces Gadalkin
02:40 I think it's safe to say that I know more about Supes than just about any soul alive.
02:46 And they are something.
02:47 Professor Richard Brinkerhoff is another character who appears only in the TV series.
02:52 In the Boys comic, John Gadalkin himself runs the Supes school.
02:56 He serves as the twisted father figure to the young Supes who live there.
03:00 In the show, Thomas Gadalkin still helped found God U, but wasn't directly involved in the show's events.
03:07 Dean Shetty oversees the school while Brink fills the role of professor confidant to the students.
03:12 See, Golden Boy, Andre, Jordan, they're going all the way.
03:16 They could save thousands of people, but not if TMZ finds out that they almost let a woman bleed to death.
03:22 Like many authority figures in this franchise, the latter mentor turns out to be untrustworthy.
03:28 We soon find out that he's involved in the horrible things going on in the basement of the school.
03:34 In the end, Golden Boy makes Brink pay for his lies and deceits in brutal fashion.
03:39 You don't know about the woods.
03:40 What?
03:42 Okay, please, he fell asleep with a camel lit in his mouth and he burned himself.
03:45 Yeah.
03:46 Number 7.
03:48 Tech Knight originally had no powers.
03:50 I'm Tech Knight, and I won't stop searching until I've found...
03:54 the whole truth.
03:58 The comics version of this character was a parody of Batman and Iron Man.
04:03 While he didn't have superpowers, he did have a lot of very cool gadgets and a fancy suit that enabled him to fly.
04:09 In Gen V, Tech Knight gets incredible powers of observation that basically turn him into a detective.
04:15 Maybe not the world's greatest, but still a pretty darn good one.
04:19 His skills could allow him to solve cases faster than the world's greatest detective.
04:23 However, he chooses to host a true crime show where he's willing to do anything to get compelling footage.
04:29 You wanted what Golden Boy had, his girlfriend, the number one spot.
04:33 He found out about you and Kate, cracked. Am I right?
04:36 No, no, no, that didn't happen until...
04:38 So it did happen.
04:39 The TV and print versions of Tech Knight do have one thing in common.
04:42 They both have a brain tumor that gives them a not-safe-for-work compulsion.
04:47 As long as you're off campus by end of day, this video stays off Instagram.
04:51 Number 6.
04:52 Soups in the comic can be brought back from the dead.
04:56 This was definitely one of the creepier elements of the books.
05:00 While undercover at Gadolkin, Huey runs into Nubia, a parody of X-Men Storm.
05:05 Looks like you could use a hand.
05:08 Nice moves. You're...
05:10 Nubia, Queen of Thunder.
05:12 After she was covertly killed by her own organization, she was forcefully resurrected.
05:17 When Nubia returned, she was essentially a borderline mindless zombie who felt nothing like herself.
05:23 Her only desire is that someone would end her resurrected existence.
05:28 Despite her bad reactions, John Gadolkin demanded that Vaught bring back another recently deceased G-Man.
05:34 I want you to bring my sister back to life.
05:37 No.
05:38 You took her life away from her. It is your obligation to bring her back.
05:42 Although he knew it would likely have the same effect, he couldn't stand to let her go.
05:47 Gadolkin is so possessive of his young soups, they can't even escape him... in death.
05:52 I suggest you prepare yourself for the worst.
05:55 Number 5.
05:59 Madeline Stilwell.
06:01 It is a whole new world now.
06:04 And there is only one company that has the product to fight back.
06:10 In both the comics and the series, this character is a powerful and important figure inside Vaught.
06:16 But there are major differences between the two versions of Stilwell.
06:19 And it's not just the fact that the TV variant died long before this story arc.
06:24 The comic version of the character, a man named James Stilwell, had more influence in Vaught than Madeline did.
06:30 He essentially carries the weight that Stan Edgar does in The Boys.
06:34 You are under a misconception that we are a superhero company. We are not.
06:39 What we are, really, is a pharmaceutical company. And you are not our most valuable asset.
06:45 James also came off as much more ruthless.
06:49 To cover up all the shady things John Gadolkin did, he had every member of the G-Men massacred.
06:55 While Madeline Stilwell was cutthroat and manipulative, we think that even she'd hesitate to execute an entire organization of Supes to cover up secrets.
07:05 While you're preening at the Golden Globes, we are busy running around like maniacs trying to clean up the mess you made.
07:12 Number 4.
07:14 The Supes in the comic were kidnapped.
07:16 Could they do that to us? Are we in danger? I mean, should we tell someone?
07:19 I don't know what we'd say.
07:20 The students who attended the TV's God U applied and were accepted just like a normal college.
07:25 But the comics' G-Men have lived at Gadolkin's since they were kids. How'd they end up there?
07:30 It turned out that John Gadolkin captures young people, injects them with Compound V, and ensures the survivors remain fiercely loyal to him.
07:39 And that's just the tip of the iceberg of the terrible things he's done to the Supes underneath his control.
07:45 To be fair, the horrible acts that Supes are subjected to underneath TV's God U aren't pretty either.
07:52 I have a beanbag.
07:54 Okay, beanbag is not a compelling reason to stay captive, Sam.
07:57 I've tried, I've tried to get out before, but people get hurt.
08:00 But while some students get away unscathed, every school attendee in the comics suffers.
08:06 It's tragic that neither university is truly safe for the young people who trusted it.
08:11 So what are we gonna do?
08:13 For now, nothing. We lay low.
08:17 Number 3.
08:18 Gen V introduces all new young Supes.
08:22 I was coming up with your superhero name, you wanna hear it?
08:24 Bloody Marie.
08:27 That's terrible.
08:28 Most of the powered people in the Boys TV series came straight out of the comic.
08:33 But the God U students of Gen V were created just for the show.
08:37 The writers could have adapted some of the comics' G-Men like Critter, Randall, or Bluchowski.
08:42 And if they put Groundhog from the Boys' Diabolical in live action, Gen V and the comics would share a character.
08:49 But I can't let you do this.
08:51 Stop now.
08:53 However, the writers chose to come up with a totally new squad of Supe characters with unique powers.
08:58 Both mediums are obviously inspired by superheroes in other franchises.
09:03 While Andre Anderson takes a page out of Magneto's book, Kate's psychic powers make her feel like Emma Frost.
09:10 Despite power similarities, the comic and TV characters definitely feel original.
09:15 This woman appears, she saved the girl's life.
09:17 Okay, sure, you're the hero, but I'm the one who made you go, so in a very real way, I'm the hero.
09:22 Number 2. Newman is a much bigger threat.
09:25 And I get it. The superhuman community wants to make sure that the government is treating them fairly and addressing their unique concerns.
09:33 When the vice presidential hopeful arrives on campus on the show, hero Marie Moreau is excited to meet the politician.
09:40 But the optimistic Supe soon learns that Victoria Newman is extraordinarily dangerous.
09:45 Not only does the politician have blood-controlling superpowers,
09:49 but she's also been the mastermind behind complex and corrupt schemes behind the scenes.
09:54 You and I, we have the same goals, right?
09:57 Compassionate control.
09:59 That is such a great phrase. Do you mind if I steal that?
10:03 By contrast, the comic version of Newman is, well, a complete idiot.
10:08 The only reason he became the VP and eventual president in comics is because Vought wanted someone they could easily control.
10:16 Judging on what Victoria has accomplished so far, we're guessing she'll be the one in control of everything soon.
10:22 Look, you have to tell everyone what Vought is doing.
10:26 I'll handle it.
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10:43 Number 1. Gen V adds a viral story.
10:49 What would happen if you told Vought you created a virus that kills Supes?
10:54 I didn't... I... I didn't know. I never signed on for any of this.
11:01 Throughout Gen V's first season, it was unknown why God U kept so many Supes isolated in a basement.
11:07 It was eventually revealed that scientists were working on a virus that could weaken or outright kill those with Compound V in their blood.
11:15 Meanwhile, the characters in the comic don't get so much as a cold because there's no mention of a virus on the page.
11:21 But this TV plot point might go much further than a simple difference between mediums.
11:26 We found out she has some kind of virus to kill the kids in the woods.
11:30 She wants to make it more contagious.
11:32 She wants more than that. Don't you?
11:35 I want it to spread across the globe.
11:37 While the Supes in the comic are more vulnerable to ordinary weapons, the ones in the show tend to be much more durable.
11:44 Whoever ends up holding the keys to the virus in the end will truly be the most powerful person on Earth.
11:50 Is this all of it?
11:51 Yeah.
11:52 And you're the only one who knows how to replicate it, right?
11:59 We'll make sure this stays out of the wrong hands.
12:01 Which character from the boys would you love to see in Gen V? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
12:07 Two paths, Marie. You have to choose. You can't have both.
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