Gen V: Season 1 Finale's Nail-Biting Homage To A Classic X-Men Antihero Explained

Contains spoilers for "Gen V" Season 1, Episode 8 — "Guardians of Godolkin"

There's a lot to pick apart from the "Gen V" Season 1 finale, and we're not just talking about the unidentified meaty matter that's scattered across campus. Chaos reigns in "Guardians of Godolkin," partly thanks to Cate (Maddie Phillips), whose drastic side-switching is not unlike that of a favorite Marvel character with similar powers, just the other way around.

It's nothing new for superpowered people in the "Boys" universe to resemble twisted reflections of more well-known heroes of the genre. Homelander (Antony Starr) is your psychotic Superman, the Deep (Chace Crawford) is the kind of joke Aquaman used to be, and the doe-eyed Cate Dunlap has become as chilling as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Emma Frost.

Frost is introduced in 1979's "X-Men" #129 as a powerful and incredibly duplicitous world-class telepath who can control weaker minds and have them do her bidding. Similarly, Phillips' blond, siren-like Cate is capable of getting anyone to do whatever she wants as long as she makes direct skin contact. But while Emma Frost eventually sees the error of her ways and becomes an important member of the team she'd spent so long battling over the years, given how things have ended on "Gen V," it's a big question of whether Cate will walk a similar path.

No matter how absolutely monstrous some of the Supes on both "The Boys" and "Gen V" are, others have tried to put things right. For all their past mistakes, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) and Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) attempted to make amends, so there's no reason that Cate couldn't do the same in the future. It's just that, given her current state, the road might be longer than it otherwise would've been.

There's no doubt that the telepath has a massive score to settle with Marie (Jaz Sinclair) given that the latter has blown Cate's arm apart, and whether their rematch arrives in the next season of "The Boys" or the next season of "Gen V," it's sure to be a big one. Could their reunion push Cate even further over the edge, or like the character she's so strongly reflecting, might she see the error of her ways and fight the good fight?

"The Boys" fans already have a theory that Cate might have the power to stop Homelander, so wouldn't it make for a massive game changer to see her get her hand on the head of the Seven and do what the Boys couldn't? Go on, Cate, make Emma proud, and show us what this new generation is capable of.