Gen V Season 2 Teases a Wild Dean Cipher Twist

This article contains spoilers for Gen V season 2 episodes 1-3.

After something of an extended hiatus, Gen V is back for season 2. Hoping to tide fans of The Boys over until its fifth and final season, while also expanding the Vought lore ahead of Vought Rising, Prime Video’s X-rated answer to the X-Men is back in bloody style. Featuring a first episode dedicated to the memory of Chance Perdomo, a three-episode drop of Gen V season 2 brings back the rest of the old guard and some potentially dangerous new foes.

While Gen V season 1 followed the vengeful Indira Shetty (Shelley Conn), trying to eradicate supes from the face of the Earth with her experiments in “the Woods,” season 2 introduces a very different kind of Dean to Godolkin University. Midnight Mass’ Hamish Linklater enters the fray as the mysterious Cipher. Similar to the likes of Antony Starr’s Homelander and Aya Cash’s Stormfront, Cipher sees supes as a master race, while referring to Erin Moriarty’s Starlight as a “race traitor.” This becomes evident in his “Hero Optimization Seminar” where he forces students to unleash their full potential or be tossed aside. 

Still, three episodes into Gen V, and apart from a reveal that Dean Cipher loves chicken and peanut butter smoothies, we’re no closer to figuring out his backstory or his real name. Aside from the confirmation he was there while Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) and co. were imprisoned at the Elmira Center, his motives remain unclear. In terms of Cipher’s powers, one popular Reddit theory from long before the season released reiterated how names of supes in The Boys typically relate to their powers. 

As “cipher” translates as a code, the OP suggested that he can code his DNA to the powers of another supe, meaning he’s able to replicate their powers. The Boys already included the Shapeshifter who went physically undercover as Starlight, but the idea of being able to copy another supes’ powers is an interesting one. Elsewhere in the thread, someone pointed to a moment in the trailer where a shocked Marie sees a goat explode into a bloody mess while looking like Cipher could’ve caused it.

An altogether more underwhelming reveal would be that Cipher has some sort of durable skin akin to X-Men’s Colossus. Alongside a line in his seminar where he said the class is necessary because “not all of us are bulletproof,” the first episode features Cipher appearing to stab a knife into his hand without reacting. Whether able to mimic powers, boasting bulletproof skin, or being immune to pain, it’s clear Cipher isn’t scared of much. Whatever abilities it’s hiding, it might be tied to Cate (Maddie Phillips) finding his secret vault in episode 3. Note how the incoming God U overseer was quick to divert her attention away from it, suggesting it either holds the key to his power or a possibly kryptonite.

Elsewhere, others are convinced Cipher is a resurrected Thomas Godolkin. The first episode opened with a flashback to 1967, where the God U founder warned a team of scientists that Compound V wasn’t ready. A seemingly dying Godolkin hasn’t been seen since, but as we’ve learned too many times before, that doesn’t mean much in The Boys. The Godolkin theory would also lead into episode 3’s big reveal that Cipher was the one who delivered Marie and his ties to the restarted Project Odessa. Someone on X gushed, “He’s the original godolkin guy, somehow switching bodies or just changing his appearance,” while another added, “Calling it, the dean is the Liberty-Stormfront situation all over again Cipher is Thomas Godolkin.” Even though he could be using an alias, this theory might’ve already been debunked thanks to Marie’s aunt referring to Cipher as “Doctor Gould.” 

The final option loops back to the Godolkin idea, but merely pitches Cipher as another member of the family. While it’s admittedly strange that it doesn’t seem that Cipher has aged since the photo of him holding Marie as a baby, one solid Reddit theory claims that Cipher is the son of Thomas Godolkin. The Redditor pitched the idea that Cipher’s power is the ability to “decipher” any problem that runs with the “final solution” idea of supes/Nazis. Finally, him getting Compound V from his father would fit the Gen V theme of inheriting powers. 

Whatever is going on with Cipher, he has that same unnerving temperament as Homelander. If anything, he could be even more terrifying as he seemingly has no fear of Homelander. Considering Homelander might be the first success story of Project Odessa, and Marie another win, the idea that Cipher turns ‘supes into soldiers’ means he could be crucial in helping raise Homelander’s supposed super army as we head into The Boys’ endgame.

The first three episodes of Gen V season 2 are available to stream on Prime Video now. New episodes premiere Wednesdays, culminating with the finale on October 22, 2025.

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