‘Gen V’ Just Introduced Its Twisted Take on Professor X With This New Season 2 Character

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Gen V Season 2 Episodes 1-3.

Gen V, much like its parent show The Boys, tends to put its own dark spin on superheroics, especially the idea of a school for the superpowered. While the concept's been a core part of the X-Men franchise, Gen V takes it to a realistic levels with students using their powers for parties, sex, or social media clout while also trying to find thier place in the world Season 2 takes this to a new extreme, thanks to Godolkin University's new dean, Cipher (Hamish Linklater). Not only does Cipher project equal amounts of mystery and menace, but he seems to share the same views as Homelander (Antony Starr) regarding supes and humans, and is willing to do anything to push his students to the next level. He's effectively become a dark version of the X-Men's mentor, Charles Xavier.

'Gen V' Season 2's Central Mystery Involves Cipher

In his very first scene in Gen V's Season 2 premiere "New Year, New U", Cipher takes part in an advertisement that amplifies the fact that Godolkin University features an entirely superpowered faculty and students. What makes this chilling is the underlying implications in his speech; namely, that the superpowered deserve the right to rule over humanity, urging students to "find freedom from human constraints." This more or less sounds like what would happen if Charles Xavier finally took Magneto's side, but the X-Men parallels don't stop there. In "Justice Never Forgets," Cipher tell the students that he intends to push their powers to their limits, forcing them to battle a immensely strong Viking-themed hero. Once again, this is a nod to the X-Men mythos, specifically the Danger Room — the hi-tech facility that Xavier uses to train the mutant heroes.

Cipher is also extremely menacing, as he seems to be ten steps ahead of every character. When Marie (Jaz Sinclair) comes back to school, he immediately knows there's more to her return than meets the eye, and an attempt by Cate (Maddie Phillips) to telepathically hijack his brain almost sees her getting her hand stuck in a blender. Cipher's also connected to Marie's past, and the central mystery of Gen V Season 2. Marie's returned to Godolkin at the urging of Starlight (Erin Moriarty), who wants her to find out about something called "Project Odessa". Thanks to help from Emma (Lizze Broadway), Marie finds out that not only is she connected to Project Odessa, but that Cipher was the doctor who delivered her! There's also the fact that Cipher seems obsessed with building Marie's powers, which is sure to play into future episodes of Gen V.

‘Gen V’ Isn’t the Only Superhero Series Hamish Linklater’s Been Involved In

Hamish Linklater offers a great performance as Cipher, as he'll be charming in one scene and utterly unhinged the next. Gen V isn't the first superhero series that's featured Linklater in a major role, though. That honor goes to Legion, which itself is based on X-Men comics. Linklater plays Clark Debussy, the mysterious "Interrogator" in charge of studying David Haller (Dan Stevens) and his mutant powers. Like Cipher, Debussy is obsessed with finding out the limits of mutant powers, which leads him to suffer a major injury. Legion also features a major connection to Charles Xavier. Like the comics, Daniel is Xavier's son, and ends up fighting the malevolent Shadow King, the mutant whose presence led Xavier to form the X-Men.

Linklater has also starred in Batman: Caped Crusader, voicing the Dark Knight himself. His take on Batman leans far more into the obssessive, justice-driven side of Batman than most portrayals, facing darker villains...including an actual vampire. He's also working with a trio of powerhouse producers: Bruce Timm, co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series, The Batman director Matt Reeves, and J.J. Abrams. Batman: Caped Crusader is slated to return for a second season, but until then fans can tune in to Gen V to see how Cipher continues to twist Charles Xavier's iconography.