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News from October 15, 2025

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Gen V Season 2's Ultimate Villain Is A Sinister Take On Marvel's Professor X
Technology

Gen V Season 2's Ultimate Villain Is A Sinister Take On Marvel's Professor X

This article contains spoilers for "Gen V" through season 2, episode 7, "Hell Week." I called it! "Gen V" season 2 episode 4, "Bags," revealed two important details about the villainous Godolkin University Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater). One: His superpower is telepathy, even though the blood-controlling Marie (Jaz Sinclair) sensed no Compound V inside of him. Two: Cipher was caring for a burned man in a hyperbaric chamber. That man was implied to be Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater), the assumed dead founder of God U and the Odessa project that birthed Homelander (Antony Starr) and Marie. After "Bags," I predicted that Cipher (whose name refers to a system of hiding numbers/letters/symbols underneath different ones) would be revealed as Godolkin's puppet. There is no "Cipher," just Godolkin psychically speaking and acting through him. This season's penultimate episode, "Hell Week," revealed I was exactly right. Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas), a supe whose magnetic powers can disrupt Cipher's telepathy, knocks him unconscious. At the same time, Marie uses her blood powers to heal Godolkin's burned body, thinking he'll know how to stop Cipher. Except, as she and her friends realize, Godolkin is Cipher. Who is Linklater's character, then? Just an average guy named Doug, who Godolkin abducted and has been using like a parasite controlling a host body. There's no V in Doug's blood because he doesn't have psychic powers, Godolkin does. The latter was burned to near death in a lab accident started by Compound V, but he took some himself to survive. Everything Cipher has done or said this season, like tutoring Marie in her blood control or starting a "seminar" death match to weed out the strongest God U students? It was really Godolkin. That's why Cipher had sex with Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) while Godolkin watched and vicariously experienced it, Godolkin's self-loathing for being "useless" is why he had Cipher yell in his face, etc. Godolkin's contempt for the weak is also the root of his master plan. He wants to retake control of his school and cull God U's student population. The first student he meets can only turn his big toes into opposable thumbs, so Godolkin kills him. ("We want gods to walk this Earth, not circus freaks.") Stop me if you've heard this one before: There's a psychic teacher with a disability who runs a school for supes. If that sounds familiar, that's because Godolkin is a parody of Marvel Comics' Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men. Professor X is paralyzed and used a wheelchair, so he can't physically fight with his students. His psychic powers leave him far from helpless, though. One of Xavier's signature moves is telepathically summoning his students to him: "To me, my X-Men."

Devin Meenan
Disney Spent Nearly $600 Million Making The Most Divisive Star Wars Movie - Was It Worth It?
Technology

Disney Spent Nearly $600 Million Making The Most Divisive Star Wars Movie - Was It Worth It?

Although it came out nearly six years ago, we've only just learned how much money Disney spent making 2019's "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker." While the original estimated budget for the "Star Wars" trilogy capper was in the $275 million range (which is still an eye-popping amount of money), it turns out the cost was actually much, much higher. A report from Forbes has revealed that Disney spent nearly $600 million making the intensely divisive "Rise of Skywalker." However, the actual budget was lower than that, relatively speaking. Per the report, the gross spending by Disney was $593.7 million. But that was before tax credits from the U.K. kicked in. That's where things get interesting. Disney was ultimately reimbursed $103.8 million in tax credits from the U.K. government, bringing the net budget to $489.9 million. Assuming that's accurate, "Rise of Skywalker" is, indeed, one of the most expensive movies ever made, right alongside director J.J. Abrams' "Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens" ($447 million) and "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" ($465 million). Again, assuming those numbers are accurate. Studios go out of their way to hide budgets from the public. It's easier to do in the U.S. since they're generally folded into a company's total expenses for an individual quarter, as opposed to an individual basis. However, to get these coveted U.K. tax credits, everything must be documented. Hence, studios set up companies for each production, allowing them to do precisely that. The reports are then revealed, slowly but surely. That's where we get this utterly absurd price tag for "Rise of Skywalker." Granted, franchise budgets have been spiraling out of control for years now, but this is egregious even in an era where we hardly bat at an eye at a $200 million budget.

Ryan Scott
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