The Boys Fans Are Bracing Themselves For Gen V's Bloody Puppets

As Royal Deluxe's "I'm Gonna Do My Thing" throbs in the background, the first trailer for "The Boys" spinoff "Gen V" reveals a cascade of fresh-faced young supes to consider along with a few familiar characters and, yes, puppets. As the trailer opens, a soothing voiceover intones, "Welcome to Godolkin University. A safe place for you to thrive," with an aerial view of the tidy academic campus quickly replaced by a shot of a hallway with the word "Murderer" scrawled in blood.

So, the anything-but-subtle foreshadowing here lets us know in uncertain terms that the homework for the new class of superheroes-in-training at Godolkin U is gonna be pretty hard-core. As the imagery in the trailer plays out, we see more blood, actually lots more, like requires-a-floor-mop-quantities of additional blood. In between the bits dripping with Type-O, we also get some inkling of the spectacular powers being wielded by the newly enrolled wanna-be supes. So, how are loyal fans of "The Boys" reacting to the initial trailer for "Gen V" and its revelation that simultaneously adorable and creepy puppets will be part of the mix when the new show finally drops next year?

One of the puppets fans can expect to see make an appearance on "Gen V" is a familiar face from "The Boys." Seen early on in the trailer is what appears to be a disturbingly Muppet-like, felt-and-stuffing version of Chace Crawford's The Deep. Pictured sitting amid a very "Sesame Street"-like set, next to Jason Ritter in a cardigan, Deep's puppet impersonation is authentic right down to his little nightmare-fuel belly gills. Then, later in the trailer, a puppet whose identity is tough to discern — possibly the same character — has his fuzzy head ripped off in typical 'The Boys" fashion, with bloody ligaments attached.

Fans couldn't wait to comment. Posting on Reddit, u/agentdoubleohio voiced their approval referencing a puppet-inclusive outing featuring David Boreanaz's character Angel on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," writing, "Hell yeah, my favorite thing that shows do is have a puppet episode. The angel episode [of Buffy] where they had puppets is still one of my favorite episodes to date." Another fan of the same "Buffy" installment chimed in on the thread to say they actually had merch from the Angel puppetry interlude, saying "I've got a t shirt with puppet angel on it. Love that episode." It remains to be seen if the puppets in "Gen V" will have as much of a cultural impact, but fans are certainly excited about what they've seen so far.