The fall semester of Godolkin University, a college for young superheroes, is about to begin. Here’s everything freshmen supes (and viewers) need to know.

The powers that be at Amazon recognize the irony of their situation: They’re taking one of their top series, The Boys, which brutally pokes fun at the superhero entertainment complex, and turning it into its own superhero entertainment complex.

“I think it tickles us to no end,” Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon and MGM Studios, remarks of life now imitating art.

The wildly popular R-rated satire starring Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty, Antony Starr, and Jack Quaid has already spawned the animated anthology offshoot series, Diabolical, and now is set to unleash a proper live-action spinoff in the form of the college-set Gen V, hitting Prime Video on Sept. 29. What started as a mere comic-book adaptation has morphed into a full-blown franchise. “I think part of the thing that audiences love is that they’re taking the piss out of all of the exhaustive superhero explorations that we’ve seen and turning it all on its head,” Sanders continues. “But I actually think they’ve done it so well that they have earned the right to expand and explore. So, the same irreverence that The Boys has is in Gen V. And at the same time that we are definitely growing the universe, we’re also unafraid to make fun of ourselves in doing it.”

The Boys, based on the graphic comics from writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, introduced a world revolving around superheroes who are more branded products than people. Vought International is the corporate overlord behind the entire shebang: The executives financially back the Seven, the premier squad of heroes led by the Superman-esque Homelander (Starr), in addition to running their public personas (e.g. movie franchises, endorsements, theme park rides, social media presence, etc.). The titular “boys” of The Boys are a covert group dedicated to keeping these supes, who often act like out-of-control celebrities, in check.

By the season 3 premiere in 2022, The Boys was Amazon’s top show, and the most popular superhero series, according to Nielsen ratings. But the idea of a spinoff began even before the drama’s surprise Emmy nomination for season 2. Sanders recalls showrunner Eric Kripke approaching the executive team shortly after the 2019 season 1 premiere with “his vision for this whole universe that was beyond just The Boys. And he has really stayed true to that vision.” Gen V, a series centered on the students of Godolkin University, the Vought-owned-and-operated college dedicated to molding the minds of young supes, was apparently the first idea Kripke’s team wanted to get up and running. (Craig Rosenberg, a director and writer on The Boys, developed Gen V before passing showrunner duties to Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters.) The goal was to make an authentic college drama, but because these young adults all have immense powers, it makes dorm life much more volatile.

“In The Boys, we’re seeing a bunch of superheroes where they wound up,” says Asa Germann, who plays Sam, one of the young supes of Gen V. “But in this show, we aren’t only following the supes in terms of their journey about becoming supes. We’re following their journey in terms of how they’re becoming people and how they’re growing up and evolving and learning and creating relationships and destroying relationships — and really, at a core, figuring out what it means to be a hero. The thing that I love so much about our show is that we don’t actually really answer that question.”

But if you’re looking for answers, sneak a peek at our cheat sheet. EW can respond to your burning questions surrounding the highly anticipated spinoff: How it blends with the Boys universe, all about the new class of supes, and what plans are in store for Godolkin’s fall semester. Make sure to study up on your A to Gen V.