Gen V is a spin-off series from The Boys that follows a group of college-aged superhumans at a school specially designed for them. As the show progresses, the audience learns there’s more than meets the eye to the school. One of the stars of the show is Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) who has a unique powerset and a troubled past. When her abilities first manifested, she was unable to control them and mistakenly killed her parents. This traumatic event landed her in the Red River Institute, an orphanage for children with superpowers.

While it’s clear that Marie is a bright and gifted person, it’s made clear that it’s incredibly difficult to get out of Red River and have a fulfilling life, but an acceptance letter from Godolkin University sets her on a trajectory she never expected. Episode five reveals that a benefactor is watching out for Marie, and episode seven introduces Marie to her benefactor. However, it goes further than that. The episode shows a deep connection between the characters and puts some points in perspective for the audience.

What are Marie Moreau’s Powers on Gen V?

Marie Moreau, or Bloody Marie as Andre dubs her, is a unique “supe” on Gen V. Her powers are unlike anything audiences have seen in the world of The Boys. Where everyone values superstrength and invulnerability at the top, Marie’s powers initially rank lower on the proverbial totem pole of super powers because “they’re disgusting.” However, Marie might be one of the most powerful students at Godolkin or even in the mythos of The Boys.

As Avatar: The Last Airbender called it, Marie is a blood-bender. She manipulates blood to her will, primarily using it as a weapon. She’s not limited to using only her blood, either. She can do as she pleases with any blood in her vicinity. Gen V has shown her also to heal wounds and return blood to a person’s body, which is what landed her in the spotlight at the beginning of the season. It’s unknown what the range is with her abilities, but it might be as far as she can see.

There have been hints that Marie can also sense a person’s blood. She was able to determine that the blood underneath Sam’s fingernails wasn’t his and when a character was going to have her period. It proved to be even more powerful when she detected a subdermal tracker in her shoulder. The blood manipulation allowed her to remove it without any tools, and she did the same for her friends. As the season’s penultimate episode revealed, Marie’s blood sense was even more fine-tuned as she detected the existence of Compound V in Victoria Neuman’s bloodstream.

All indications point to Marie being a top-tier supe who people might come to fear in the near future. If her encounter with Neuman is any indication, even Homelander might have an issue with her breathing.

The Big Revelation About Marie’s Powers

The penultimate episode of Gen V’s freshman season brought a familiar face from the flagship series. Vice President hopeful Victoria Neuman shows up at Godolkin University to promote herself and her running mate, invigorating the student body to protest because they don’t see humans as their peers. Of course, what nobody on the campus knows is that Neuman is a super-powered person, too, with a considerably powerful ability to make heads erupt. However, Gen V dives deeper into Neuman’s powers, character, and her connection to Marie.

When Marie catches up to the politician to warn her about the virus Shetty has been cooking up below the school, Neuman reveals that she’s Marie’s benefactor who got her into Godolkin and out of the Red River Institute. Neuman met Marie during a visit to Red River and didn’t want her to squander her potential as so many kids who go through the system do. The show decides to expand on Neuman’s powers within the same scene, revealing that she’s capable of a lot more than simply popping heads like a pimple. She and Marie share the same blood-manipulating power as she borrows Marie’s knife to cut open her palm and manipulate her blood. Neuman simply favors head explosions.

TVLine spoke with co-showrunner Michele Fazekas about the connection between Marie and Victoria Neuman, saying, “It really started out with Eric made a pitched, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be cool if Victoria Neuman came and spoke on campus?’ So that was the beginning of the pitch. The connection to Marie and the interest in Marie, that came out of the room, sort of the question like, ‘Well, how can we make this not just, oh, she’s here speaking on campus? Like, how can we really connect this with our characters?'”

The connection to Marie and the interest in Marie, that came out of the room, sort of the question like, ‘Well, how can we make this not just, oh, she’s here speaking on campus? Like, how can we really connect this with our characters?’

This seems like a significant retcon to The Boys, but it makes logical sense. Giving someone with a basic ability like exploding body parts, while dangerous, is amateur-level character creation. Building on that by showing she’s actually manipulating her target’s blood makes a character truly powerful. Knowing what Victoria Neuman can do with her powers gives fans a good idea of Marie’s potential. Marie’s preferred method of fighting might be blood whips and darts at the moment, but down the line, she might force a person to bleed from every orifice—maybe even Homelander.