Cate Dunlap becomes a sinister telepathic villain reminiscent of Dark Phoenix from X-Men.
Cate’s backstory and struggle with her powers parallel Jean Grey’s in the Fox X-Men movies.
Cate’s transformation into a Dark Phoenix-like character is driven by her desire for survival and revenge.

The following contains major spoilers for Gen V Episode 8, “Guardians of Godolkin,” now streaming on Prime Video. This article also contains mention of suicide.

Marie Moreau learns the hard way no one can truly be trusted at Godolkin University in Gen V Season 1. Everyone she met had dark secrets, especially Cate Dunlap. Unfortunately, Cate is the one who ends up mind-wiping Marie’s crew as they investigate Golden Boy’s death and the conspiracy with the Woods.

It turns out Cate is part of the secret lab beneath the campus that’s experimenting on people like Golden Boy, and his brother, Sam. However, there’s something more macabre regarding how Cate has been manipulated by Dean Shetty offering the love and warmth of a mother. Little did Cate know, she was being manipulated and conditioned all along. It results in Cate taking a sinister turn as a telepath at the end, creating Gen V’s take on X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga.

What is X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga?

Marvel Comics unveiled the Dark Phoenix Saga when it had a fiery cosmic force possessing the X-Men’s Jean Grey. Sadly, the being — once thought to be an avatar for life — corrupted Jean with its power, turning her into the hateful Dark Phoenix. Her job was to punish the cosmos and reset it. Unfortunately, Jean destroyed herself, wanting to die a human as opposed to this monstrous god meant to devour planets and empires like the Shi’ar. Since Chris Claremont and John Byrne detailed the story in the 1980s, it’s been adapted by many cartoons and movies.

Bryan Singer’s X2 in 2006 had Famke Jansen’s Jean fall prey to this entity, but it followed the Ultimate Marvel route with a more grounded approach to mental health and depression. Singer’s Jean had mental blocks placed in her by Charles Xavier as he wanted to repress thie darkness he sensed in her. However, after fighting Stryker’s forces, the dark persona came forth. Calling herself Phoenix and would ally with Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants in Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand. She killed many people who wanted to get rid of mutants, subverting her cosmic rampage from the comics. Luckily, Jean’s human side emerged, allowing Wolverine to mercy kill her.

Director Simon Kinberg (who also wrote about The Last Stand) would direct 2019’s Dark Phoenix reboot. There, a younger Jean (played by Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner) had her memories altered by Xavier after her telekinesis as a child caused a car accident that killed her mother. An older Jean learned of her past when a space outing saw the Phoenix choose her as its vessel. This stuck more to the galactic story from the comics, with Jean then becoming a weapon the D’Bari wanted to use for intergalactic conquest. Thankfully, Jean came to her senses and destroyed herself and the alien leader, Vuk. This time, it was more about PTSD and guilt than what Singer and Ratner designed. Unfortunately, neither of these Fox movie interpretations are held in high regard by fans, with many preferring the lore-friendly take X-Men: The Animated Series drummed up in the 1990s.

How Is Cate’s Story Similar to Fox’s Jean Grey?

Throughout Gen V, fans are curious why Cate would make her friends blackout. She dated Golden Boy, after all, and did seem like she wanted to help Marie, Andre and Emma unlock the mystery of the lab. As fate would have it, Cate’s telepathy ruined her childhood. She was a mix of Rogue and Jean, with her power of touch allowing her to make people do whatever she wanted. Sadly, not realizing the power she had within, she convinced her younger brother to run away.

Cate had no clue what she had done, but her mother reacted badly to her all the same. The incident prompted her parents to lock her in her room for almost a decade, forcing her to wear gloves. Cate became detached from humanity, even being shunted into online schooling. In time, Shetty would find Cate like Xavier did Jean and recruit her for Godolkin under the auspices of being a superhero. Shetty, however, gave her pills to suppress her full power.

Cate thought they would help her when she bled out after over-exerting her powers, but in reality, they kept her on a leash. It’s a spin on the mental blocks Professor X used on Jean. Each iteration of the Professor did want to help Jean, but by taking away Jean’s identity, he made her mad and opened the door for the rise of the Phoenix. The same thing happens when Cate learns she never had agency. Furthermore, her guardian was duping her all along as a pawn in a nasty genocidal plot.

How Does Cate Become a Dark Phoenix Pastiche?

In the final two episodes of Gen V, Cate learns how Shetty wasn’t grooming her to be a hero. The dean was planning to study superheroes and develop a virus to kill them. It’s the reason she used Cate to stop the investigation, all while telling Cate the lab was improving the concept of capes. Realizing Shetty wasn’t the mother she desperately wanted her to be, Cate pushed Shetty to take her life. Cate, without the suppressant pills, then unlocks her abilities, freeing the lab subjects to rip the school apart. In time, Gen V’s Cate mind-controls Sam and many others to cause mass carnage. In her case, she’s wiping out an empire the way Jean’s Dark Phoenix meant to.

Cate is very much about her vision of order by resetting a shady Godolkin. Marie and Co. are shocked to see the telepath cutting loose, which very much leaves them betrayed, scared and short of ideas as this Dark Phoenix pastiche aims to reboot the campus, and by extension, America. Cate can tell the negative superhero sentiment is spreading faster than she assumed. Shetty lost her family due to Homelander’s carelessness, and as The Boys’ Season 3 proved, many are lobbying for Cate’s kind to die. As such, Cate decides humanity has to go for her kind to thrive. This has more nuance than a Dark Phoenix just seeking dominion. Cate, as warped as she is, is more selfless, even if she becomes the very monster she hates.

In her eyes, ruthlessly bending her morals, ethics and values is all about survival. It adds to her sympathy factor, which feels more tragic than the Fox takes on Jean. Those versions of Jean were handed off to the X-Men quickly, but Cate suffered immense punishment and torture from her parents for years. This made it easy for Shetty to weaponize her in a way the Professor never did. To that point, one can understand fully why Cate cracks: it’s more about two families hurting her than a story about raw power, death and destruction.

Gen V’s Cate Finds Her Magneto

The comics’ Dark Phoenix was her own boss, while The Last Stand’s was used as a war dog by Magneto. As for Kinberg’s Dark Phoenix, that version of Magneto tried to kill Jean to differentiate itself from the past. In Gen V, Cate finds her Magneto in Homelander himself. He attacks Marie and her allies in Gen V’s shocking ending because he wants someone like Cate as part of his supremacist movement.

Homelander uses Vought Industries to clean the debacle up and paint Cate as a hero, teasing she may well end up being inducted into the Seven. This Dark Phoenix remix could easily see her become a more controllable version of Stormfront, as Homelander can tell he has someone to enslave the population and help him win his war. This has more depth than a Magneto using the Dark Phoenix for physical slaughter. Cate can change ideologies, politics, people’s very way of thinking, and in time, society. To that point, Homelander may not even need his Dark Phoenix to get physical. All he has to do is be her “father” and have her continue messing with the country’s minds.

It’s cerebral, relatable according to Cate’s life story, and something fans can draw compassion and empathy on. That’s not to say, audiences will condone Cate’s actions. But she’s more layered and multidimensional as this Dark Phoenix who just wants the nation to love and accept her kind. Ultimately, The Boys Season 4 will have to address whether Cate can walk her actions back. But as it stands, she’s poised to become a destroyer in the most philosophical sense.