This post-credits scene, according to Kripke in an interview with Men’s Health, serves as the “ground zero” moment that sets the stage for The Boys Season 4:

“The Homelander stuff felt, to us, like a culmination of this season of ‘Gen V,’ and I would say the Butcher cameo is more than anything else what sets up Season 4.

Butcher, heading into Season 4, is well aware that there’s this virus out there that can kill superheroes. So, we wanted to see the ground zero of that moment, which is what we did in the very, very last moments of this season of ‘Gen V’….”

Watching Gen V’Aids in Understanding The Boys Season 4, but It’s Not Necessary

The next season of The Boys, which picks up only a few days after the events of Gen V, is expected to tackle the supe-killing virus as a key worry. This method does away with the strange temporal folding that characterizes certain other comic book universes and guarantees a clear and linear growth. As Kripke has stated, they aim to keep everything simple and modular, akin to “cars on a train”.

“In our minds, it’s only a couple of days after whatever the events are of Gen V. We try to keep the timeline super simple because all that folding-in-on-itself timeline stuff that I think other comic book universes find themselves having to do is just bewildering for me as a viewer. So it’s all very modular. It’s like there’s Season 3 of The Boys, and then after that Gen V takes place, and then after that The Boys Season 4 takes place. And then after that, Gen V Season 2 takes place. It’s all more like cars on a train than it is a plate of spaghetti.”

However, it is not absolutely necessary to watch Gen V before diving into the next season of The Boys. Kripke stated that while elements from the spin-off series set the stage for Season 4 and can provide additional context and depth, viewers can enjoy each series independently.

“The virus is a big concern of Season 4. I think a lot of things in ‘Gen V’ set the table for Season 4, and I think we’re trying to keep with the same rules that we kept for ‘Gen V’—it would be helpful to see ‘Gen V’ to understand Season 4, and provide a little more context and a little more depth. But it’s by no means necessary.”

“If you just want to watch ‘The Boys’ without watching ‘Gen V,’ that’s great, if you want to watch ‘Gen V’ without watching ‘The Boys,’ that’s great too. If not both of these shows, we just want you watching one of them, and not have it feel like homework.”

Gen V consists of a total of eight episodes, which are currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.