'Gen V' Finale Reveals A Big Compound V Twist That Sets Up The 'Vought Rising' Spinoff

The Gen V Season 2 finale is here, and spoilers past this point, while it spends the bulk of the running time directly setting up the events of The Boys Season 5, there’s also a not-so-subtle tease for the Vought Rising spinoff — one that adds new lore onto the existing info about the franchise’s central MacGuffin, Compound V.

The surprising twist comes early in the episode, while the newly rejuvenated Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater) is enjoying his restored body, thanks to Marie’s (Jaz Sinclair) powers in the previous episode. He’s eating food, having sex with Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), and generally reveling in everything when he drops the — all apologies to Firecracker (Valorie Curry) — #truthbomb. Turns out the reason he survived the lab fire at Project Odessa in 1967, and has lived so long is that the Compound V he injected himself with was V1.

What is V1? According to Godolkin, he doesn’t age, so it makes you functionally immortal. He also mentions two other Supes who used V1: Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and Stormfront (Aya Cash). While the latter was brutally burned, mutilated, and eventually killed, the former is currently locked in cryo-freeze with his son, Homelander (Antony Starr), staring at him in The Boys Season 4 end credits scene. We also know that Soldier Boy will be in the final season of The Boys, though his fate beyond that is TBD.

However, more to the point here, it’s likely no coincidence that Godolkin name-drops that duo, as they’re the anchors of the upcoming prequel series Vought Rising. Set in the 1950s and described as a “twisted murder mystery,” the series also includes a Supe named Bombsight (Mason Dye), alongside Elizabeth Posey, Will Hochman, Cecily Strong, Mark Pellegrino, and others. It’s also hard not to imagine that V1 doesn’t play into the show in some way, drawing a difference between those who took V1 and those who took later forms of Compound V.

In fact, this marks at least the third iteration of Compound V we’ve seen on the show. While not specified, V1 is likely the version created by Frederick Vought during World War II, and given to his wife Klara (later known as Stormfront). Vought defected to the United States when the Germans started to lose the war, and helped create Soldier Boy. Cut to 1967, and Godolkin also injects himself with V1, so chances are Project Odessa was experimenting to create their own version for mass distribution (though that’s speculation). Regardless, the Compound V we know and love does not make Supes immortal, just highly invulnerable and longer living.

The final form of V we’ve seen on the show is V24, aka Temp V. That was a variant that allows users to gain powers for 24 hours, though given the introduction of V1 it’s possible that was also the twenty-fourth variation on the formula.

How much this will play into Vought Rising, we don’t know. But if you look at the name of the series, it’s possible that it could fill in those gaps between Frederick Vought defecting, the company building its name, and the development of Project Odessa — and the regular Compound V we’ve seen on The Boys and Gen V. We’ll know more when that show debuts, which is also TBA as they’re filming now, until December.

Gen V Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:

Gen V season 2 will officially premiere on Prime Video on Wednesday, September 17. The season will be eight episodes long, with three dropping on premiere day.

Here’s the full list of episodes in Gen V Season 2, with premiere dates: