Sister Sage

For the Dynamite version of the character, see Jessica Bradley.
Jessica Bradley, better known as Sister Sage, is the secondary antagonist in Season Four of the Amazon series The Boys.
She is a Supe from Detroit, Michigan who is known for being the smartest person on the planet. She was recruited by Homelander to join The Seven.
==Background==
Shortly after Jessica's birth, her parents accepted Vought's offer to inject her with Compound V, subsequently transforming her into a Supe and granting her superhuman intelligence.
Sage appears to have no pictures of her family in her apartment, which could indicate that she may not be close to them, possibly due to the deal they made with Vought at her birth. Despite this, Sage implies that she loves and deeply cares for her grandmother.
When she was 11, her grandmother was diagnosed with stage 3 leukemia with no cure. The doctors, not caring about saving "some old ex-Black Panther," told her parents there was nothing to be done. She stayed up for three nights researching a cure. After this, the young Sage presented her research to the doctors. However, they disregarded her work and laughed at her, saying she was adorable and patted her on the head. As a result, her grandmother died a painful death. This experience made her develop a hatred toward humans.
Sage eventually became a superhero, and at some point in her career, she became a member of Teenage Kix. However, A-Train said she was barely on the team for a year before quitting altogether.
==The Boys Series==
===The Boys: Season 4===
===="Department of Dirty Tricks"====
Sage's first appearance in the series took place in her apartment, which was filled from top to bottom with books. When Homelander visited her, seeking advice on how to fill the emptiness in his life, she suggested allowing humans to tear themselves apart so that he could then swoop in and save the day. Impressed by her inhuman intelligence, Homelander invited her to join The Seven. Although she initially declines, Sage later agrees, seeing it as an opportunity to publish her theories worldwide. 
Sage goes on to orchestrate and assist in the murder of three Homelander fans. Later, after Homelander is found not guilty of a crime, she disguises herself as a Starlight fan and incites a brawl between the Homelander and Starlight supporters.
===="Life Among the Septics"====
During a pitch meeting for a new movie starring Homelander's son, Ryan, Sage voices her concerns about the plot, predicting the movie's failure. When Homelander questions her motives, she calmly explains that she is genuinely trying to help him and his son, displaying no fear of him whatsoever. Later, when Ashley confronts her, Sage is puzzled by Ashley's fear of Homelander, insisting she was merely speaking the truth. 
After Ashley rejects The Deep again, Sage persuades him of his superiority, boosting his confidence. At a Supe event, she encounters Firecracker and promises her a spot on The Seven in exchange for her help eliminating Vought's enemies, The Boys.
Subsequently, Sage confronts Frenchie, Kimiko, and M.M. She reveals that she knew they were tracking her and leaves them to be killed by Splinter and Firecracker, who were unsuccessful.
===="We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here"====
Sister Sage makes her first public appearance as part of The Seven. She convinces Homelander that they need Firecracker on The Seven to take down Starlight. She points out his pettiness for pushing her into the media’s view after she openly criticized him at the pitch meeting. During a meeting of The Seven, Homelander appoints Sage as the CEO. She promptly fires The Deep from Prime Analytics after discovering one of the employees leaked valuable intel to Starlight. 
Later, Sage assists Homelander in interrogating Anika, a worker at Vought, until she admits that she had been talking to Starlight. However, before they can extract more information, Homelander, in a fit of rage, lasers Anika through the head. Sage shows annoyance at losing the chance to gather valuable information, but Homelander dismisses her frustration.
Sage and Homelander then confront Victoria Neuman, negotiating a trade to prevent her from defunding Supes and forcing her to grant them legal authority over the police. During the episode’s climax, Sage watches in shock as Homelander attempts to kill Hughie, resulting in the deaths of several bystanders.
As the episode closes, Sage, acting strangely relaxed, is met by The Deep in her tower apartment. They share a Bloomin’ Onion, leading to an intimate encounter involving food-play. The episode ends with the camera panning to a blood-covered metal rod, suggesting that Sister Sage has lobotomized herself.
===="Wisdom of the Ages"====
During this episode, Sister Sage officially launches the premier of a new show centered around Firecracker. She then offers Firecracker information on Starlight and the abortion that she had a couple of months prior. After Firecracker herself thanks her, she tells her that as the newest members, they have to help each other out. We see her later watching the show at the tower. Later, after Firecracker reveals that Starlight had an abortion, Sage watched as Annie flew in on stage and beat Firecracker to a pulp, she refers to it as the “first pebble down the mountain”, hinting to how Sage may have planned for Annie’s outburst and attack and to have it be published across the internet.
Near the end of the episode, Sage greets The Deep with takeout, asking for a favor. She explains how her brain never stops growing and that no matter how much damage is done to it, it always seems to grow back. Eventually she realized that by giving herself a frontal lobotomy, she is able to negate her powers for a short amount of time, allowing her to live as a normal human temporarily. 
She eventually convinces The Deep to perform the lobotomy on her after she promises to have sex with him. Once it is done, Sage slips into a more relaxed and carefree mood. The scene closes with both The Deep and Sage to enter a make out session.
===="Beware the Jabberwock, My Son"====
At the start of the episode, Sage is seen at the backstage of some sort of late night show along with Homelander. She is seen later in the same location, watching a memorial video for the late Ezekiel. She talks with A-Train about how she had been trying to figure out where the missing date had went. She makes it a point to say how it couldn’t have just walked of by itself, implying that Sage was aware that A-Train had taken it
Back at the tower of The Seven, Sage is confronted by Firecracker about how she set her up to get beat down by Starlight. Sage however, shows no guilt or remorse for what had happened, only seeing it as an opportunity for Firecracker to become an actual victim in the eyes of the public
Nearing the end of the episode, Sage attends a meeting of The Seven along with Cate Dunlap and Sam Riordan. She is seen talking to Tek Knight and offering him a notepad. Sage watches as Cameron Coleman is dragged into the room, having been believed to be the one who leaked The Seven. She stands of to the side of the room as the Supes close in on Cameron and beat him down, possibly to death
===="Dirty Business"====
Sister Sage is seen in the episode, having attended a gathering between the Supes and other people of power including Victoria Neuman. She confronts Ashley, telling her that she wasn’t welcome in which Ashley informes her that Tek Knight had invited her. She then enters a confrontation with Victoria along with Homelander, with both actively pressuring her to reveal herself as a Supe. 
Later, she was engaged in a conversation with Victoria, telling her how when she was a kid, her grandmother was diagnosed with stage 3 Leukaemia. After the doctors failed to provide a solution, the young Sage took matters into her own hands and created the cure. Presenting her discovery, the doctors laughed at her brushed off her world-changing discovery. 
Her grandmother later died in a horribly painful death. She explains that she sees no point into helping humans as they are “animals” who don’t deserve for her to help them. She points out that the only way for women such as Victoria and Sage to gain what they deserve is for them to manipulate and control the other powerful people around them. 
In the upstairs library of the mansion, Sage runs into both M.M. and Kimiko who threaten her with a gun. Sage then begins to talk about Milk’s daughter, Janine, and about how if he killed Sage, he would mess up her life even more than it already is. As Milk becomes more enraged by Sage’s words, she taunts him further and further about Janine’s anger issues and her early signs of OCD. As she reaches for the alarm button, the now rage blinded Milk, shoots Sage through the head. Even as she drops to the floor, Sage’s words are still ringing thought Milk’s head, causing him to have a panic attack before he passes out 
As A-Train is dragged into the room by Kimiko, she checks back to see that Sage has disappeared, presumably already healed from her brain wound. We see Sage later attending to the hole in her head and attempting to stop the bleeding. Homelander confronts Sage on what was going on only for Sage, now in a delirious state, to respond with how she once ate an entire bag of candy corn. 
As Homelander tries to make a statement to the other in the room, Sage is seen stuffing her face with cake. After Victoria stands up to Homelander and gains the trust of the guests, she looks back to Sage as they both exchange a nod of approval numerous times. 
===="The Insider"====
Sister Sage is summoned on the meeting, only to arrive late and see her seat being taken by Firecracker. She is confronted by Homelander on her failure to discover who the leak on Vought was. After confronting Homelander's choices to send The Deep and Black Noir II after The Boys, Sage reveals how she was always aware that A-Train was the leak and that betrayal was all part of her plan. She tells Homelander that she needed The Boys to figure out the information in order for her plan to work. However, Homelander allows for his emotions to take over and he kicks her off the team. Sage states that without her, he will never be able to get what he wants. Sage leaves, dropping her journal on the way out.
On her way out, The Deep and Noir question why she is in such a rush, with her explaining how she was fired. Noir retorts by yelling that he loves her, revealing that Sage had been using Noir through the use of sexual acts just as she did The Deep, with the exception of lobotomizing her, implying Sage requires lobotomy to be attracted to The Deep.
===="Assassination Run"====
As Homelander lays himself out on the floor of the Seven’s tower, now in shambles, Sage is enters with a balloon, congratulating his victory. Homelander tries to explain that the plan didn’t work but Sage quickly retorts by saying how this was what she was wanting all along. She then shows him a live news feed showing Annie, Butcher and Hughie as responsible for the deaths of Victoria Neuman. This allowed for Sage to permanently eliminate all possible consequences enemies formed against the Seven.
Sage then offers Homelander a call from the soon to be President who has decided to pledge his allegiance to him. When he asks her why she would do all of this, Sage reply’s that it was only to see if she could actually pull it off. She thanks Homelander saying that the experience was enjoyable for her, this showing the darker and more twisted side of Sage’s personality. She warns him that next time he should listen to her.
When Homelander questions what she means by next time, she tells him to “buckle up for phase two”, and exits the building.
== Personality ==
Sister Sage is confident and self-assured thanks to her extreme intelligence. She is one of the few people not afraid to tell Homelander the truth and give him constructive criticism. She also supported the Deep when he let Ashley abuse him, stating he's a genetically superior being, showing a bias towards superhumans. Her misanthropy was later expanded upon in a conversation with Victoria Neuman, where she expressed her hatred towards humans, telling Neuman how her grandmother died because of the negligence of a racist doctor. Despite being biased and favoring supes over regular humans, Sister Sage has shown a strong aversion to any form of racism, especially that expressed by white people towards black people. This is evident in her first meeting with Homelander, where Sage expressed her disgust at Vought’s treatment of her due to her race and her disapproval of Stormfront, considering her ideas to be old-fashioned and outdated. This is shown when she mocked Stormfront’s idea of building a super-powered army as being “So German.”
Later, upon meeting Firecracker and recruiting her into the Seven to advance her plans, Sage expressed her disgust and dislike of her due to her blatant racism. She also showed her distaste for having to attend the Truth-Con convention due to the generally racist mindset of the individuals who gather there. After arranging Firecracker’s live beating to discredit Starlight and being confronted by her for it, Sage made it clear that she had always disliked Firecracker and considered her a hypocrite and a faker. This is evident when she told her that instead of pretending to be a victim for her podcasts, she actually was now, and later clarified that while she didn’t think Firecracker was poor, she did think she was white trash. This made it clear that Sage was just using her and had little actual care or even like for her as a person. Later, when she was fired by Homelander, Sage made her disgust and hatred for Firecracker known to her face before walking out, with Sage clearly implying her uselessness in helping Homelander with his “plan.”
As implied when Homelander recruited her, where he promised to listen to her and put her theories into reality, that despite her misanthropy, Sage possess the deep desire for human connection and to actually put her intellect into something she considers worthwhile. This is seen when Homelander fired her, where Sage was notably hurt by him reneging on his promise to listen to her, showing how much her enhanced intelligence has alienated her from others and her desire to be understood. 
Sage, befitting her high intellect, has a preference for staying in the background and run things from behind the scenes. As shown where she typically orders others to do her dirty work and she generally avoids or at least tries to avoid, getting into the limelight or become the center of attention. As shown where she initially tried rejecting Homelander’s offer to join the Seven.
She has been shown to lobotomize herself on a regular basis to enjoy activities normal people enjoy. As shown after being temporarily lobotomized, Sage becomes much more relaxed and carefree, as she is no longer over-burdened by her extreme intelligence. As admitted by Sage, while with her full intelligence, she deeply dislikes and is disgusted by The Deep. But when she is lobotomized, she likes him considerably more and enjoys having sex with him. 
Sage herself also revealed that she wasn’t above using her sexuality in order to manipulate others. Having affairs with both the Deep and Black Noir II. Evidently manipulating them both into thinking she loved them, when she was in truth using them for her own ends. Furthermore, unlike with the Deep, it was clarified the she wasn’t lobotomizing herself to sleep with Black Noir II, hinting that her enhanced intelligence did not prevent her from developing romantic or sexual interest in others while with her full intelligence.
She is shown to be sinister and manipulative towards her enemies, seen when she was at Mother's Milk's gunpoint when she started talking about his daughter's life, even her most recent activities, implying that she keeps an eye on The Boys' family members.
In Sage’s final appearance of season four, she shows the true side of herself. She explains that her entire purpose on the team and as an ally of Homelander was all part of a plan she made. She wanted to see if she could successfully pull it off, with her thanking Homelander for giving her the opportunity. She seemingly has no regard for the damage that she has caused and ignores the countless lives that she has now destroyed. This showing the darker and more twisted side of Sage and fully cementing her true hatred for humanity and her thriving off of its impending destruction.
==Powers and Abilities==
===Powers===
*Superhuman Intelligence: Sister Sage possesses unspecified superhuman intelligence powers, making her the smartest person in the world.https://ew.com/the-boys-season-4-sister-sage-firecracker-details-exclusive-8647433 Sister Sage Exclusive Details One example is how she was able to accurately deduce that Homelander had an enlarged prostate by observing how clean his hands were. She also successfully created tension between Starlight fans and the rest of the world after she orchestrated the murders of three Homelander fans, instigated a brawl between the opposing sides, and had the bodies planted to frame the Starlight fans for the brutal deaths. Given her power, Sage managed to discover the cure for Stage 3 chronic lymphocytic leukemia in three days when she was a child. She later admitted that if she wanted to, she could cure cancer and stop global warming through her intellect, but due to her misanthropy, she doesn’t even bother. It is shown that Sage can induce stress through psychological manipulation and her heightened observational skills, such as when she causes Mother's Milk to have a panic attack. 
**Empathic Accuracy: Due to her immense understanding of psychology, she was instantly able to deduce that Homelander was concerned about his aging body and that he required her help. She would later use this ability to figure out the psychological stress that Mother's Milk was under and induce a panic attack in him to create an opportunity to escape.
**Hypercognition: Sage can process information much faster and more efficiently than normal humans, allowing her to take in seemingly all the information she is presented with. This is demonstrated by her ability to simultaneously speed-read a book while listening to a sped-up lecture. She also noticed that Homelander was dyeing his hair more often, despite presumably never having met him in real life. Sage was able to piece together Mother's Milk’s psychological state by observing him and later managed to induce a panic attack in him by psychologically attacking him.
*Regenerative Healing Factor: Officially classified by Vought as "moderate," Sister Sage's regeneration abilities allow her to regularly lobotomize herself to enjoy activities that normal people do, temporarily lowering her intelligence level before it gradually returns to its superhuman state. Additionally, any damage caused to Sage’s brain is not fatal, as it will simply regenerate, including being shot in the head. Her regeneration is likely either limited to her brain (and head in general) or less potent in other body parts, as Sage admitted that if she was injured through the heart, she would die. Her skin and skull also quickly regenerated from the bullet wound.
*Superhuman Hearing: Sister Sage possesses superhuman hearing, allowing her to hear better than humans. Like all Supes, she can hear higher frequencies that humans cannot.Bob in First Day: "Did you know Supes have a wider range of hearing than us? Like dogs."
===Abilities===
*Advanced Engineering: Sister Sage's profile lists that she has great engineering skills.
*Photographic Memory: Sister Sage's profile lists that she has a photographic memory, allowing her to recall the past in incredible detail. Since most of her superhuman abilities are mentally based, it is unclear whether this ability is related to her being a Supe.
==Weaknesses==
===Biological===
*High Frequencies: Due to being a Supe, Sister Sage is susceptible to high frequencies. When a high frequency is playing, it can induce immense pain and temporarily neutralize her.
*Temporary Brain Damage: Sage occasionally lobotomizes herself for recreational purposes, temporarily lowering her intelligence to average or below until her healing factor repairs her brain. This can also occur from brain damage, sometimes causing her to speak incoherently and ad-lib sentences. If a project she's managing goes catastrophically wrong while she's in this state, she cannot correct it, potentially leading to disastrous consequences, especially if those following her orders are unaware of her condition. A notable example is when Mother's Milk shot her in the head during Tek Knight’s party. Homelander needed her help to manipulate and convince the affluent guests to support their cause, but Sage was unable to assist, leaving Homelander to improvise until Victoria stepped in to save the situation.
*Human Durability: Unlike her teammates in the Seven, Sage is only as durable as a normal human, leaving her vulnerable to conventional means of assassination, except for her head, which she regenerates.
===Psychological===
* Mental Exhaustion: Since she lobotomizes herself to relax, it can be assumed she often finds her superhuman intelligence overwhelming.
==Relationships==
===Allies===
*Vought International
**The Seven - Former Colleagues
***Homelander - Former Leader
***Firecracker
***The Deep - Affair
***Black Noir II - Affair
**Teenage Kix- Former Teammates
***Popclaw † - Former Teammate
***Mesmer † - Former Teammate
***Big Game - Former Teammate
***Shout Out - Former Teammate
***Hyperion - Former Teammate
**Ryan Butcher
**Ashley Barrett
**Tek Knight †
*Splinter †
*Victoria Neuman
*Godolkin University
**Cate Dunlap
**Sam Riordan
===Enemies===
*The Boys
**Billy Butcher
**Mother's Milk - Attempted Killer
**Frenchie
**Kimiko Miyashiro
*Anika †
*Cameron Coleman †
*A-Train - Former Colleague
===Victims===
*Todd † - Indirect Victim (Intentional; ordered the Supes to kill him)
*Dirk † - Indirect Victim (Intentional; ordered the Supes to kill him)
*Greg † - Indirect Victim (Intentional; ordered the Supes to kill him)
*Cameron Coleman † - Indirect Victim (Intentional; let the Supes kill him even though she knew the truth)
==Trivia==
*It's possible that Sister Sage is a parody of Marvel's (Emil Burbank), who, after being exposed to a retrovirus, became the "Smartest Man in the World".
**Master Menace is also considered to be a pastiche or analogue of DC's , bearing similarities with their genius intelligence. However, Luthor's intellect is natural, while the version of Burbank was enhanced by a retrovirus.
**It is also possible that she is a parody of Watchmen's Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt), who is also known as the "Smartest Man in the World". This is further evidenced by the similarities in their costumes, namely the golden Eye of Horus, worn by Ozymandias due to his penchant for Ancient Egypt.
**She could also be a parody of Moon Girl (Lunella Lafayette), considered the smartest person in the world in Marvel Comics, also an African-American person, although Moon Girl is much younger.
**Sister Sage powers and appearance also bears similarities to Marvel's Sage. A mutant with a supercomputer-like brain who often wears shades that help interfaces with other computers.
**The power of being the smartest person in the world and having an ever-growing brain is similar to Dr Vegapunk, who has eaten the Brain-Brain Fruit from the One Piece series.
*On August 1st, 2022, The Boys' Instagram announced Susan Heyward as Sister Sage.
==References==
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