Gen V Season 2 Has A Hilarious Wolverine Parody, But The Comic Version Is Even Stranger

This article contains spoilers through the first three episodes of "Gen V" season 2: "New Year, New U," "Justice Never Forgets," and "H Is for Human."

We'd already caught a few glimpses of him in the marketing material for "Gen V" season 2, but the three-episode opening salvo confirms it: Zach McGowan's Dogknott is to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine what Homelander (Antony Starr) is to Superman. Granted, he hasn't whipped out any metal claws just yet, and he seems to draw his animalistic traits from dogs instead of wherever Wolverine's similar qualities come from. (Surely, at this point, it's not actual wolverines?) Still, the way Dogknott looks, carries himself, and wears his skin-tight leather getup is proof enough that "The Boys" really wants you to know who's in its parody crosshairs this time. Amazingly, the franchise isn't content with just introducing a Wolverine expy. It also manages to make Dogknott a parody of Dog the Bounty Hunter, because ... well, he's a growly bounty hunter who carries around a ton of bounty hunter gear, and his name is ... you get it.  

Even by the property's lofty ridiculousness standards, a Wolverine-Dog the Bounty Hunter mashup who's also way too into actual dogs is a decent flex. All the same, Dogknott somehow isn't the cruelest Wolverine parody the franchise has introduced. That honor belongs to Groundhawk, a member of the G-Men, i.e. the "Boys" comic's brutal grooming cult parody of the X-Men. Groundhawk's stature, costume, and aggressive demeanor make him immediately recognizable as a Wolverine expy, and to take things even further, the comic also makes him feral and borderline incapable of intelligent thoughts. Oh, and instead of claws, he has hammers for hands, and to underline his gruffness, he's only ever heard spouting the vaguely threatening catchphrase "Gonna." It's not a subtle comic, okay?

As if two separate Wolverine parodies weren't enough, both Dogknott and Groundhawk also have alternate and noticeably different versions running around in other corners of the "Boys" franchise. The comic version of Dogknott is a rowdy teenager with dog-like physical traits and has more in common with the X-Men's Beast than Wolverine. He and his "darker and edgier" superhero group, Teenage Kix, also end up in the Boys' crosshairs early in the story, with results that are as depraved as they are violent.

Groundhawk (voiced by "Futurama" star John DiMaggio) actually receives an upgrade on "The Boys: Diabolical." While he still has hammers for hands, his design isn't really reminiscent of Wolverine. Here, he's technically a supervillain who faces off against the hero couple Nubia (Aisha Tyler)  and the Nubian Prince (Don Cheadle). Secretly, however, he's good friends with them. Their entire antagonistic dynamic is engineered by Vought, and Groundhawk is actually a pretty nice and supportive dude when you get past his rough exterior.  

Since "Diabolical" already tells Groundhawk's story, it's understandable that "Gen V" has chosen to redesign Dogknott (a minor character who's extremely likely to appear on the parent show at this point of the game, what with "The Boys" ending after season 5) as a replacement Wolverine parody. It's still unclear how big a part he's going to play in the show going forward, but judging by his immediate defeat at the hands of Starlight (Erin Moriarty) in "Gen V" season 2, he has at least one distinct difference from Wolverine: In contrast to the X-Man, Dogknott is very unlikely to hijack the entire story.

"Gen V" season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.