Gen V Season 2, Episode 4 includes several major twists about Dean Cipher, from an apparent reveal of his powers to the fact that he is keeping a severely burned old body in his house. It’s the former that is the most attention-grabbing, and not just because it comes at the end of the episode. Cipher’s powers have been a mystery in the early stages of Gen V Season 2, and this somewhat resolves them. It shows us he has the ability to control people, including other Supes: their minds, their actions. But that only raises more questions, because Marie Moreau doesn’t detect any Compound V in his blood, believing him to be fully human.
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Quite how Cipher has powers without Compound V remains to be seen. It may be linked to Project Odessa, or even that he was a natural-born Supe. But going back to the old man in his home… could those two things be connected? Cipher tells Jordan Li and Cate Dunlap that the body is his father’s. That could be true and, hey, maybe the Dean really is just keeping his old (burned) man alive, and there’s nothing more to it. But this is The Boys universe, and there has to be a good reason for introducing that character. And given the reveal of Cipher’s powers, it seems likely they are related in a way that’s even greater than being father and son.
The Burned Old Man in Gen V Could Be The Source Of Cipher’s Powers
If we work on the idea that Marie is somehow wrong, and Cipher is a Supe and the powers we see are his own, then what does that mean for his father? Cipher would need a reason to keep him alive, and doesn’t seem like the kind to do it out of love or familial loyalty. It’s possible that the Dean’s powers somehow allow him to “feed” on the old man, which could even be why he’s aged so much, and keeps him alive as a power source, draining him whenever he does need to use his abilities (which may also be why he seemingly utilizes them quite sparingly). His father could even still be a Supe himself in this scenario, with the Dean drawing on his powers – or the Compound V in his system – to fuel his own.
The alternative to this is if Marie is right: that Cipher is human, and does not have powers. Then, the possibility becomes that his father – or whoever this burned man really is – is the one with the powers. That would be a game-changing twist for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it means Cipher might not even be who he says (or thinks) he is, which itself is already supported by his being at Marie’s birth as a “doctor.” But it would also mean that the old man is one of the most powerful Supes we have ever seen.
He’d have to be capable not only of controlling or possessing Cipher, but then projecting his abilities through him to use on others. This would also alter the dynamic quite a bit: it’s not Cipher willingly keeping him alive, but the person in the chamber forcing him to. That could then mean none of Cipher’s actions are his own, and that it’s the old man who is pushing his work at Godolkin University and training of Marie, Jordan, et al.
Another theory is that this is Thomas Godolkin himself. He was briefly seen at the very beginning of Gen V Season 2… in a lab where a fire broke out and killed everyone inside. That was in the 1960s, so the timeline and circumstances do line up for him to be both old and burned, if he is indeed still alive. This could also tie back to Project Odessa and looking to finish his work, though it’d be interesting to see if Cipher is really his son or not in this case. This would be the most dramatic twist of them all, but just about anything is possible in the world of The Boys. Cipher is set up as the main villain of Gen V Season 2, so presumably, we’ll be learning a lot more about his powers and who this old man really is.
New episodes of Gen V Season 2 release on Wednesdays on Prime Video.
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