What were the corrupt, sociopathic and egomaniacal superheroes of The Boys before being corrupted? How do you deal with superpowers in a world full of competitiveness? And how is it done in that age full of changes and internal struggles that is adolescence? The great success of The Boys led Amazon Prime Video to greenlight a spin-off story — the second after the animated fiction The Boys presents: Diabolical— to tell how a group of young people with powers acquired by the injection of compound V—the one that gives powers to superheroes in this fictional universe based on the comics of the same name—fight with their own demons, those of their classmates and against those they treat to use them for his benefit at a university for superheroes.
Gene V (next Friday its first season will be complete on Amazon Prime Video) begins with the arrival at this exclusive educational center of Marie, a young woman who discovered her power to control blood in the most traumatic way possible: coinciding with her first menstruation. Before the first five minutes have passed, the series makes it clear, with two bloody deaths, in which universe it takes place. Gene V moves in the same world as The Boys, but at the same time, its top managers, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, made sure to give it its own identity, differentiated from the mother series. “Our heroes are superheroes who have not been corrupted yet. They are still young and idealistic, like we are when we start at university and you see the world in black or white, there are bad guys and good guys,” explained Michele Fazekas in an interview by video call last Monday.
They also wanted to mark distances with the original series through the powers that their characters have. “The superpowers of The Boys They are metaphors for fame culture and political issues and capitalism. Those in our series are related to problems that are specifically dealt with by youth,” explains the producer. Thus, the power that Marie’s roommate, Emma, has to change her size is related to an eating disorder. Another character, Sam, deals with mental illness. Jordan can change from man to woman and vice versa, in a metaphor for gender identity.
Fazekas and Butters already had experience when it came to taking charge of a series derived from a universe with a lot of previous history behind it. They were also showrunners of Agent Carter, production linked to Marvel’s Captain America universe. “We always wanted to make sure that even if you’ve never seen a Marvel movie, you can still enjoy the series. And if you have never seen The Boysyou can enjoy Gen V. For that you have to get interesting characters and stories that you can identify with. Then it’s the same universe, so bloody, scandalous and fun,” explains Fazekas. Even some of the most emblematic characters of The Boys, like Profundo or A-Train, appear in brief cameos so that the viewer does not forget that the protagonists of Gene V They share the universe with them.
The tone, character decisions, and stories of Gene V, However, they exude a more feminine and even feminist perspective than The Boys. Fazekas confirms this background, the product of a diverse writing room with a lot of female presence, which is also reflected in other departments of the series, from production to direction. “In the first episode, Marie’s power manifests when she has her period. As I read it, I was very intrigued by this series, because people still feel uncomfortable talking or watching about this topic. We had an interesting conversation in the writers’ room, because some men thought that when a girl has menstruation it’s like her sex life begins, and we women told them that no, in no way, it’s not like when a boy has a dream. wet, it’s a very different experience. That in 2023 we are still having that conversation… That’s why I love that the series starts like this.”
Other sequences show moments of sexual violence towards women. In the first episode, Emma is coerced into having sex after making herself tiny, so on screen we will see a tiny woman holding on to a giant penis. In another chapter, Marie is about to be sexually forced and, without going into details, she will use her power to control blood to defend herself from her attacker. “These are situations that the women in the writers’ room agreed that, if it hadn’t happened to them, they knew people who had been in such dangerous situations with men.”
Although Gene V is inspired by a narrative arc from the comics The Boys, He only does it in a very superficial way. Fazekas explains that they had complete freedom when creating the story and the characters. “I already had the same experience at Marvel. There they have had years of published comics and millions of different versions of the same character, so they never tell you: you have to do it this way. It would not make sense. Plus, it’s a different medium.” They also had no limits on how graphic they could be when showing their numerous bloody and violent scenes. “The only limit is the one we impose on ourselves: we cannot be violent for the mere fact of doing something.” gore. No matter how crazy things get in The BoysThere always has to be a reason for it. If it is not supported by reality, it will remain empty and stupid. Even if Sam visualizes a fight with puppets [como ocurre en el quinto episodio], which might seem ridiculous, makes sense in the series for his character. “Surely Amazon has limits on what you can see, but we haven’t reached them yet,” she explains. showrunner.
In an audiovisual world with so many stories about superheroes, both in film and on television, the great reception of the two series may be surprising. What makes them different? “It’s a good question, because I also believe that there are many stories about superheroes, and it was a risk to make another series about superheroes. I was worried that people were getting tired already. But I think what it does very well The Boys is taking everything you know about these stories and turning it on its head. These people have superpowers, okay, but what are they really like? Because some would be psychopaths, others will be horrible people… not all of them will be people with impeccable morals,” concludes Michele Fazekas.
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