The Boys universe suffers from a terminal case of tunnel vision. No matter what interesting ideas the Prime Video series comes up with, they all inevitably come second to the franchise’s main villain: Homelander (Antony Starr). Both The Boys and its college-set spinoff, Gen V, are doggedly focused on the threat the nationalistic supe poses to the world, to the point where any challenge to his reign, however promising, is ultimately cut down before it reaches its full potential.
Such was the case with Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), the former vice president who came the closest to presenting an actual threat to Homelander himself. At the end of The Boys’ fourth season, she was unceremoniously murdered to make way for a much less interesting showdown, that between Homelander and Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). To call the loss of her character frustrating is a massive understatement — but above all, it’s emblematic of The Boys’ fatal flaw. It plows over the new to double down on the same tired conflicts, but Gen V presents a glimmer of hope with its new villain, Cipher (Hamish Linklater). The new dean of Godolkin University was presented as an unknowable force in Gen V’s first batch of episodes, but Episode 4 offers a huge revelation about the character, and the threat that he might eventually present to Homelander.
Spoilers ahead for Gen V Season 2 Episode 4.
Episode 4 follows Cipher in his efforts to shape Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) into the supe she was born to be. He’s taking over for Neuman in a lot of ways: in Gen V Season 1, Neuman revealed that she and Marie have the same kind of power, which proved that she could be just as formidable if she found a way to control her blood-bending powers. Cipher galvanizes Marie similarly — he shows her that her ability shouldn’t begin and end with her cutting herself to use her own blood. She can also manipulate the blood of others and sense enhancements or substances, like Compound V, in their veins.
Marie tests this theory on Cipher, seemingly without his knowledge, and realizes that he doesn’t have any V in his bloodstream. Her intel inspires her friends to get true dirt, or at least a confession, out of the dean. They use the cover of Marie’s televised fight against the bigender supe Jordan Li (London Thor and Derek Luh, respectively) as a means to catch Cipher unawares — but their efforts don’t bear the result that anyone hoped for.
While Cipher doesn’t deny that he has no V in his blood, he does prove that he has powers regardless. His are similar to those of the telepathic Cate (Maddie Phillips), but where she has to make physical contact with someone to “push” them, Cipher seems able to enter someone’s mind at will and take over their body. He demonstrates this power on Jordan in the middle of their fight with Marie: it’s a frightening show of force, but also another, more sadistic lesson designed to push Marie to her full potential.
How Cipher has any powers without Compound V is a mystery that Gen V has yet to answer. Is he a “natural born superhuman,” like Homelander’s son, Ryan (Cameron Crovetti)? Was he granted abilities through some other form of experimentation? We’ll learn the truth sooner or later, but even without concrete answers, Cipher might just be the most powerful supe in the Boys-verse. His obsession with control has made it impossible for our heroes to find any weaknesses; now that he’s revealed his abilities, it’s pretty clear why. The scope of his body-snatching power remains to be seen, but he might be able to control someone as powerful as Homelander. Granted, he’s pledged his allegiance to Homelander’s new “supe first” regime — but it’s clear he’s playing by his own rules.
Maybe Cipher wants to be the next leader of the Seven; maybe he has much bigger goals in mind. Either way, his interest in Marie is also telling: together, they could be a formidable, even unstoppable team. Together, they could absolutely take down Homelander. For the first time in a while, this franchise feels bigger than the uphill battle against its Big Bad. Cipher could be the key to bringing fresh blood into Gen V, and even to The Boys. As long as his story doesn’t end the same way Neuman’s did, the Boys-verse could finally be heading in a fresh direction.
