‘She’s Not Neo at the End of The Matrix’ — Don’t Expect Marie From Gen V to Kick Homelander’s Ass in The Boys Season 5

With Gen V Season 2 wrapped up, fans are wondering how the incredibly powerful Marie might fare in a showdown with The Boys supervillain Homelander. Well, according to showrunner Eric Kripke, fans shouldn’t expect Marie to appear in The Boys Season 5 as a Captain Marvel-style deus ex machina who kicks Homelander’s ass.

That’s because Marie still hasn’t mastered her powers, or as Kripke has put it in a number of Gen V Season 2 finale spoiler interviews, she’s not Net at the end of The Matrix.

Warning! Spoilers for The Boys and Gen V follow.

For a much deeper dive on all this, check out IGN’s Gen V Season 2 Ending Explained: How It Sets Up the Final Season of The Boys article, but to summarize, Marie can control blood, which potentially makes her more powerful even than Homelander. Homelander, for the uninitiated, is a sort of evil Superman, a character so overpowered that few rivals dare question his word. But Marie Moreau, played by Jaz Sinclair, has the potential to kill him due to her ability to command and weaponize blood.

But, it seems, Marie hasn’t realized her potential, and won’t have by the time The Boys Season 5 rolls around. Speaking to Variety, Kripke confirmed that The Boys Season 5 picks things up around half a year after the Gen V Season 2 finale, with Marie and co joining Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) in the fight against Vought.

“She’s super powerful, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s amazing at controlling it,” Kripke said. “She’s not Keanu at the end of The Matrix, because — based on the next couple Matrixes — it’s not great for drama. You want a character who’s really struggling and growing, especially a kid like Marie. So even though she has a lot of raw power, she has to learn how to control it.”

It was a similar thought in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in which Kripke said: “… Marie’s still young, and just because she’s incredibly powerful doesn’t mean she has perfect control over it. There’s a journey. She’s not Neo at the end of The Matrix. Those become bummer, boring Messiah characters, and she’s not that. She’s still a person and has a hard time wrestling with the amount of power that she’s finding herself to have.”

And, following the same thread in an interview with ComicBook, Kripke added: “Obviously, what I would like to see is Homelander get his ass kicked. He deserves it. The truth is just because Marie is very powerful, it doesn’t mean she knows how to control it. She is still just a kid. She is not Neo at the end of The Matrix. Marie has a lot of growing to do, and a lot of setbacks and challenges. And she should. That’s what makes the character interesting… the struggle. With all that being said, I don’t know if a direct confrontation with Homelander would go so great. And, there are a lot of people in line and waiting to bitch slap Homelander.”

The big question, of course, is whether Homelander actually dies in The Boys Season 5. Kripke wouldn’t give that away, of course, but did tell THR that Billy Butcher is “front of that line.” But then there’s the likes of Stan Edgar, the aforementioned Marie, Annie, and Huey who would no doubt all like a piece.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.