'Gen V', Amazon's superhero college spinoff of 'The Boys,' fails to get a passing grade

College life is supposed to be all about fun, parties and making bad decisions involving Jell-O. But in the superhero world of “The Boys,” it’s just kind of a drag.

A coming-of-age spinoff of Amazon's delightfully dark action comedy series, “Gen V” (★★ out of four; streaming first three episodes Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT/5 PDT on Prime Video, weekly thereafter) centers on a bunch of powerful kids reliving their traumas and Scooby-Doo’ing their way through a central mystery. Like the playfully bonkers "Boys," it drenches its audience in ultraviolence and exploding private parts and features a strong crew of characters. But “Gen V” takes itself way too seriously, especially at the start, and struggles mightily to find a consistent focus and tone.

In the “Boys”-verse, where superheroes are mainly corrupt jerks and dangerous psychopaths under the banner of the evil corporation Vought International, folks don’t get spiffy abilities thanks to radioactive spider bites or gamma radiation accidents. Instead, the powers come via a drug called Compound V, and a new generation of super kids given this serum by their parents matriculate at Godolkin University (aka God U), hoping to nab endorsement deals and become iconic members of the supergroup The Seven.

Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), who can wield her blood as a weapon, is an incoming freshman trying to put a tragic childhood behind her. She has a cool roommate, super-shrinking Emma (Lizze Broadway), but has trouble impressing crime-fighting professor Brink (Clancy Brown) and fitting in at college, where fiery Golden Boy (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is the Big Superman on Campus and rivals fight to move up the list of top students.

After an incident in which one of her fellow up-and-coming “supes” dies in public fashion, Marie reluctantly finds herself in the spotlight. With a new group of friends, she begins to uncover Godolkin’s biggest and most nefarious secrets. Hookups, betrayals, a whole lot of drama and even some strange puppet antics ensue.

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Things get weird and frisky at a dorm party, and while it’s nowhere near as jaw-dropping as a “Boys” superhero orgy, it’s when “Gen V” feels more naturally a part of the bigger landscape. Some familiar faces from the main show pop up – Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy has an awesome cameo – while other adult characters from the original "Boys" comic books debut, including Tek Knight (Derek Wilson), a loathsome cross between Batman and Sherlock Holmes.

In the comics, the Godolkin superteam – known as the G-Men – was based on the X-Men, and "Gen V" invokes that whole Marvel X-vibe, from the theme of disparate kids coming together for the greater good to its social commentary. The only way Emma can become tiny (and snag important social likes) is to purge. Fellow student Jordan Li can switch between female (London Thor) and male (Derek Luh) personas, each with its own set of powers, but their conservative parents don’t approve when Jordan “chooses” to be a woman.

Most of the main characters are marked by some sort of tragedy or familial issue. Marie’s life was changed violently when her powers manifested themselves during her first period. Cate (Maddie Phillips) can make people do whatever she wants if she touches them – which contributed to her own trauma growing up – and magnetic-powered Andre (Chance Perdomo) feels the pressure of living up to his super-dad Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas).

All this would work better if “Gen V” was a straight superhero drama. But forcing in a wild sense of humor and over-the-top shenanigans creates problems that “The Boys” doesn’t have: The original series weaves enjoyable gore and perversion while insightfully exploring deeper themes like white supremacy and fascism.

In that sense, “Gen V” has some homework to do.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Gen V' spinoff of 'The Boys' sputters, feels like an off-brand X-Men