‘Gen V’ Isn’t the First Time Marie Has Appeared in ‘The Boys’ Universe – Armessa Movie News

While we eagerly await Season 4 of The Boys, the folks at Vought, er, Amazon, have blessed us with the series’ first spin-off: Gen V. Gen V is set at Godolkin University, the feeder school for Vought where only the best of the best Supes can make it onto The Seven. What makes Gen V so intriguing is that it gives us a fresh perspective. We’ve seen the world through the lens of the likes of Homelander (Antony Starr) and Vought, and we’re very familiar with the way The Boys like Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Butcher (Karl Urban) see the world, but never have we seen it from this level. These Supe-students are unaware of Vought’s lack of morals and hold The Seven in high esteem like any other non-Supe civilian. But they all have the potential to join The Seven and have powers of their own, which separates them from the rest of The Seven’s doting fans.

And with a fresh perspective comes new eyes. We are introduced to new characters in The Boys universe, college students all vying to maintain their prestigious high ranking at Godolkin. Our protagonist, Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) soon finds herself at the top of Godolkin’s ranking, making history as the first freshman to do so. Marie possesses the ability of blood manipulation, and while she may seem like a new character, it isn’t the first time she’s appeared in The Boys universe.

There’s a “Blink-and-You’ll-Miss-It” Marie Cameo in ‘The Boys’ Season 3

In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment back in The Boys Season 3, Episode 2, “The Only Man in the Sky,” Hughie visits the Red River Institute to investigate Nadia Edgar’s (Claudia Doumit) past before she made her way to Congress and rebranded herself as Victoria Neuman. While Hughie is scrolling through a database of all the Institute’s residents it is clear that one of the orphans listed is none other than one Marie M. At this point in The Boys Universe, Marie would still be a minor, 17 years old as stated by the database, and therefore still housed by the Red River Institute (something we get flashbacks to in Gen V). But as we come to learn about Marie, there is nothing she wants more than to attend Godolkin University and make her way to The Seven. In her mind, it would be the very least she could do to make up for the tragic death of her parents, which happened at her own hands in a freak accident when her powers first manifested.

Like many of the characters on The Boys and now Gen V, it’s tragic to think that Marie’s well-intentioned aspirations — similar to Starlight (Erin Moriarty) — are all a falsity and that reaching The Seven won’t be the solution she’s spent the last several years of her life promising herself it would be. But unlike Starlight, considering the mystery Marie is caught up in at Godolkin, she’ll likely discover the sinister intentions of Vought before she gets close to joining The Seven.

RELATED: ‘Gen V’ May Have Just Introduced a Way to Beat Homelander

‘The Boys’ Understand How to Execute a Spin-Off

In a world where every IP is connected and each film or TV series leads to the next, there is a lot hanging on the continuity. If Marvel plants a reference in Movie ‘X’, they have to make sure to follow through with it on TV Show ‘Y.’ While this works most of the time, with different creatives on every series, it’s not always a perfect system and can lead to some confusing follow-ups. Though The Boys is a considerably smaller universe than the decade-spanning MCU, it is already proving to understand the ropes, as Marie’s cameo in The Boys proves. When “The Only Man in the Sky” dropped on Prime Video, Gen V hadn’t even been announced to the public and yet, showrunner Eric Kripke already had Sinclair inserted into The Boys as Marie, primed and ready to go for her own spin-off even though we wouldn’t be able to recognize the Easter egg until now. It is that subtle level of detail that makes this world-building so special.

The Boys has also done some prep work by preparing us for some of the zanier and downright unexpected moments in Gen V that could arguably rival the scenes of its predecessor. Introducing us to a size-shifting character like Termite (Brett Geddes) in The Boys Season 3 and showing us just what Ant-Man could do if he was raunchy enough was pretty much just a warm-up for Marie Moreau’s roommate and one of Gen V‘s best characters, Emma (Lizze Broadway), who is also able to shift her size. While we’ve seen people use Emma to fulfill their sexual fantasies (as Termite does during that moment in The Boys), we have also seen what size powers can truly allow for when leaning into the R-rated aspect, like crawling straight through a dude’s brain — using the ears as doors — making for one of the most brutal deaths across both shows.

With another looming threat from the endlessly sinister Vought and great new complex characters like Marie, Gen V is a major success. It proves that not all spin-offs are low-effort cash grabs to expand on IP and demonstrates just how much the creatives like Kripke care about The Boys universe, as we’ve seen with their meticulously crafted Easter eggs. With four episodes left, who knows what other hidden connections to The Boys are waiting to be found?