Golden Boy Is at the Center of the 'Gen V' Supe Mystery

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

The following contains major spoilers for the first three episodes of Prime Video's Gen V.

ONE OF THE best things about The Boys—and, now, we assume, its first live-action spinoff, Gen V—is the understanding that this is the kind of storytelling when just about anything could happen. A good guy could really be a bad guy, a bad guy could really be a good guy, and just about any type of guy could become a confetti explosion of blood and guts at any given moment. So, when a new series like Gen V kicks off, we kind of start to get an idea of who everyone is and what their role might be... and then have the chance for the rug to continually be pulled out from beneath us.

It's clear from the jump in Gen V that our central character is going to be Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), a girl with an incredibly sad Supe backstory who, after an early flashback and living much of her childhood as an orphan, finds herself as a new student at the duplicitous Godolkin U (Superheroes are born and bred at God U. Get it?) Like in any good college coming-of-age adventure story, Marie serves as the audience's entry into a whole new world. And while she meets a ton of new and interesting people (her roommate, Emma, is someone who will without question take on a larger role soon), it's clear right away that God U's star senior—a dude named Luke Riordan who tops the "Supe Charts" and goes by the moniker Golden Boy—is someone to keep an eye on.

Luke/Golden Boy is a celeb on campus (and nationally too), catching everyone's attention at school and being a national figure. His name is Golden Boy because he's got pyrotechnic powers of self-immolation, much like The Human Torch/Johnny Storm in Marvel's Fantastic Four, but also because he's very clearly the Golden Boy of the God U staff and the powers that be at Vought; we even see the Brink (Clancy Brown), the head honcho at God U, tell Luke that his ticket to join The Seven has been punched. As famous as Golden Boy already seems, it's about to jump a couple more notches.

That is, well, until things take a turn for the worse, and that rug we were talking about gets totally yanked out from beneath. Given the way Luke was set up (and the fact that he's played by an actor who's been on the come-up for a while now), the general expectation is probably that Luke is going to be one of the principal protagonists (or a Homelander-esque antagonist) for at the very least the show's first season. But Gen V establishes right here and right now that they have no interest in adhering to anyone's expectations.

After a night of partying goes wrong, Luke is dealing with an aftermath when we realize his problems go much, much deeper. He has a vision in some wooded area, responding to "Sam," calling his name and telling him that "It's not a dream—it's real." And that's when things really take a turn. Luke has a full psychotic break, returning to Brink's office, burning him to death, before causing a major scene around the campus, having confrontations with all his friends and fellow Supes, and then flying into the air and fully blowing himself up.

Those of us who thought Golden Boy would be a key hero/villain in Gen V... were certainly mistaken; we'll get some flashbacks and visions from here on out, but nothing more in the present. But there's, of course, more to come with this major, major mystery.

Stream Gen V Here

Where could the Luke/Golden Boy mystery be going from here? What is The Woods?

After Luke's death, Marie, Andre (Chance Perdomo), and the rest of the God U students have been left with quite a bit of trauma—and also a major mystery. Why did Luke do this? What happened in "The Woods?" What did Brink do?

Episodes 2 and 3 establish a bit more of this mystery through pre-recorded messages; Luke recorded a video where he acknowledges that if it's being viewed, things have probably gone very wrong. He knew this was a possibility. And we also learn that a Supe being kept in captivity is, in fact, Luke's believed-to-be-dead brother, Sam. Yes—the same Sam that we saw Luke see in his flashback. Perhaps Luke and Sam were both experimented on as children and then had their heads wiped, and only Luke was allowed to see the light of day, becoming a pawn for the future of Vought.

Sam will clearly be a key to unlocking this mystery going forward—if he can get out of the prison/lab where he's now stuck with Emma (Lizze Broadway) at the end of Episode 3. Gen V is off to a great start, and we can't wait to see where this mystery goes from here.

One interesting ripple in Gen V? It's not based on anything other than the writers' ideas. While The Boys is only loosely based on the comic series of the same name at this point, it does have that source material to follow. Almost everything in Gen V is written new from scratch, so we'll have to guess where things are going together as a team.

Luke Riordan/Golden Boy is played by Patrick Schwarzenegger

Gen V's Luke Riordan/Golden Boy is played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, who, if the name somehow didn't tip it off, is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. His sister is Katherine Schwarzenegger, which makes his brother-in-law Chris Pratt. Quite the family!

Patrick has been acting and making a name for him for a while now, though, even before his role as Luke/Golden Boy. Last year, he did a good job as one of Colin Firth's sons in The Staircase, and also appeared in a few episodes of The Terminal List alongside Pratt. He's had a few major roles in film as well, including as a classic jock/jerk/villain in Netflix's Moxie (directed by Amy Poehler) and the creepy horror film Daniel Isn't Real.

You Might Also Like

• The Best Hair Growth Shampoos for Men to Buy Now

• 25 Vegetables That Are Surprising Sources of Protein