This text comprises spoilers for “Gen V” season 2, episode 1, “New Yr, New U.”
It was hardly a shock that “Gen V” season 2 would throw in a number of “The Boys” cameos. In spite of everything, followers have been already accustomed to the fixed barrage of main and minor “The Boys” characters who waltzed throughout Godolkin College’s halls and garden in “Gen V” season 1.
The season 2 trailer had already revealed that Annie “Starlight” January (Erin Moriarty) can be becoming a member of the social gathering, and the season premiere, “New Yr, New U,” would not waste any time exhibiting us how. Because of her prolonged assembly with Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) and the shorter, much less pleasant one with Homelander (Antony Starr) in season 1, Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) isn’t any stranger to interacting with characters from “The Boys.” This time round, although, she meets Starlight, who enters the scene by casually defeating the supe bounty hunter Dogknott (Zach McGowan) simply as he is about to beat and seize the fugitive Marie. The assembly just isn’t a coincidence, both: Marie has been in contact with Annie, who’s right here to persuade the younger bloodbender to change into a spy for her Starlighters group.
Named after Annie’s Starlight Home non-profit group, the Starlighters have been round for some time, however they have not obtained all that a lot consideration within the grand scheme of “The Boys” issues, the place colourful personalities like Billy Butcher (Karl City) and Homelander hog a lot of the eye. Now, evidently Annie has been constructing the Starlighter forces into the franchise’s equal of the “Star Wars” Insurgent Alliance … and with Marie now within the combine, it is excessive time to take a more in-depth take a look at who they’re.
The Starlighters are a grassroots motion with some very acquainted real-life connections
The Boys” season 4 accomplished Homelander’s prolonged transformation into Donald Trump, Vought represents the worst features of conservative and company America, and Vought Information Community is principally Fox Information at its most weird. By the point “Gen V” season 2 takes place, these forces have successfully taken over the U.S., pushing their very own narrative and slandering their opponents each which means they will.
Because of their extremely public variations, Starlight has organically change into the general public face of Homelander’s opponents, and Starlight Home and the Starlighters have change into the present’s reply to Trump’s most vocal grassroots opponents — left-leaning protesters, activists, and common folks. As “The Boys” season 3 (the place Homelander pulls a Pizzagate on Starlight Home by claiming it is a entrance for a trafficking ring) and the information clips in “Gen V” season 2 illustrate, this has had the unlucky facet impact of creating Starlighters a de facto persecuted minority within the present’s universe, in addition to a typical goal for smear campaigns and Qanon-level conspiracy rhetoric.
Nevertheless, that is nonetheless a superhero present, and each “The Boys” and “Gen V” are strolling towards a full-on conflict between supes and non-powered people. To revisit the “Star Wars” analogy, Annie’s request that Marie dig into Venture Odessa to discover a potential strategy to defeat Homelander is a transparent indicator that the Starlighters are actively taking the Insurgent Alliance function towards Homelander’s Imperial forces. Marie’s new Starlighter standing might additionally transform a very powerful connection between the reveals since “The Boys” season 4 hinged on a key “Gen V” plot level — Dr. Cardoza’s (Marco Pigossi) supe virus – and it will likely be fascinating to see the way it impacts the sequence’ endgame.
“Gen V” season 2 is streaming on Prime Video.
