Cate Dunlap

―Cate Dunlap to Marie Moreau.[src]

**Cate Dunlap** is a main character-turned-antagonist of the Amazon series *Gen V*, a spin-off series of *The Boys*, where she served as the primary antagonist of "Guardians of Godolkin."

A popular junior at Godolkin University and Golden Boy's girlfriend while he was alive, Cate eventually develops a resentment towards non-powered individuals, fueled by the mistreatment she endured from ordinary humans. This resentment escalates, eventually leading her to lead a riot against innocent non-Supes.

## Background

Like other Supes, Cate was injected with Compound V at a young age which granted her superpowers.

When she was 9, she went on a camping trip with her family. Her little brother Caleb was irritating her, so she grabbed his arm and told him to leave and never come back. Unbeknownst to her, she used her powers on him causing him to actually walk into the woods and not return. Despite the efforts of multiple search parties, he was not found.  Her mother was horrified at what happened and distanced herself from Cate, asking a police officer to escort her away as she felt unsafe.

Cate felt immense guilt over her brother's presumed death. The incident prompted her parents lock her in her room for nine years and force her to wear gloves, also conditioning her to habitually keep her distance from others so she could not use her powers intentionally or accidentally. She also had online tutoring to keep up with her education. At some point during her time in her room, she developed an intense attraction towards Soldier Boy who she idolized to guide her sexual desires.

Sometime later, Indira Shetty visited Cate. The latter was initially reluctant to engage with her due to the mindset her parents instilled in her, but Shetty calmy told Cate that she was not afraid. She comforted her by removing her gloves and helped her control her powers by giving her specialized pills, also using her position to get her admitted into Godolkin University.
During one of her specialized classes, she met Rufus who allegedly sexually assaulted her via keeping her enthralled in a hypnotic trance over the course of 3 days.

As an older Cate pursued her education there away from her family, she met Golden Boy during one of her crimefighting lessons, who complimented her intelligence and asked if he could cheat off of her. She later became his girlfriend. Initially enrolled in the Lamplighter School of Crimefighting, she shifted her major to Hero Management. Her ambition was to become the future manager of her boyfriend before his demise.

## Personality

―Andre Anderson[src]

 Although Cate presents herself as being a kind, empathic and compassionate girl, she is a deeply flawed and highly complicated individual. Cate is one of the few students who doesn't have high aspirations of being drafted or getting accepted into the Seven, instead being content with being the girlfriend of Golden Boy.

Cate, due to her past trauma as child and isolated upbringing, proved to be easily manipulated and was willing to control the minds and manipulate the memories of her friends and partner under her savior, Indira Shetty, the first person who was able to physically have skin to skin contact with and helped her live a life of freedom in Godolkin University, orders. After being taken in by Indira Shetty, she became a co-conspirator for The Woods and while somewhat hesitant, she ultimately repeatedly used her powers on her boyfriend and his brother, who were being experimented on. Due to her sense of gratitude towards Dean Shetty and her being manipulated that her actions were ultimately for the greater good, both for her and her friends, Cate would assist both Dean Shetty and Richard Brinkerhoff in their illegal operations and controlling the powerful supes enrolled in Godolkin, reporting what she learns to them and using her powers to earase the evidence of their crimes, effectivelly helping them to keep The Woods a secret. Under the belief of it was all ultimately for the best, Cate would repeatedly erased the memories of her friends and boyfriend when they started to unravel and learn more secrets, However, as shown, Cate harbored doubt at the rightousness of her actions and this only continued to grow as the consequences of her mental manipulations began to adversely affect her victims, as shown where she showed active worry for her boyfriend when Luke’s suppressed memories slowly began to come back to him and began to destablize him psychologically.

Ultimately, after the secrets of her actions was revealed, Cate harbors immense guilt and self loathing for all the harm she caused and helped cause to her friends. However, any sense of guilt about misusing her powers seems to have eroded away after she kills Shetty. After this, she deliberately uses her powers to control other "Supes" into killing innocent human beings, justifyiing her behavior based on what Shetty was doing. Cate herself causes the death of one human and made another eat their hands. Despite being pleaded to stop by her friends, she instead uses her powers to make Maverick attack Marie and attemped to use her powers on Jordan.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

―Marie Moreau[src]

* **Telepathy**: Cate possesses powerful telepathic powers encompassing a diverse array of mental capabilities.
	+ **Persuasion**:     By combining tactile contact with verbal guidance simultaneously, Cate is able to assert authority over others which she refers to as "pushing". By making them stand still and thereafter issuing instructions, she compels them to act in accordance with her commands. Though the full scope of her capabilities remains uncharted, she exhibits the power to convince people to carry out actions, even those contrary to their best interests.
		- **Emotion Manipulation**: Through "pushing", she is capable of subtly manipulating the emotions of those around her, influencing their feelings and altering their behavior. During the fight on God U campus, she erased all of Sam's emotions, effectively turning him into a killing machine.
		- **Sleep Induction**:     Cate has the ability to induce sleep in individuals when pushing, aiding in calming or subduing them.
		- **Memory Erasure**: Cate can erase or manipulate memories, removing or altering specific recollections in the minds of others.
	+ **Mind Reading**: Cate has the ability to inadvertently reads the thoughts of individuals in close proximity to her, gaining access to their unguarded or unspoken mental content. She can also apparently hear thoughts from a distance; an ability that she suppresses with meditation. She can listen to the thoughts of multiple individuals at the same time, although it can be challenging for her to control this ability.
	+ **Astral Projection**: Cate was able to make Marie Moreau, Andre Anderson, Jordan Li and Dusty unconscious and enter shared psychic plane, in which everyone relived their past traumas, including Cate's past with Shetty, this ability is dangerous enough to cause someone's death, since Dusty was killed in the astral plane and died in the real world.
* **Superhuman Durability**:     Cate possesses superhuman durability, making her more durable than humans. She is able to withstand being forcefully thrown into a table by Sam Riordan, getting back up without any injuries.
* **Regenerative Healing Factor**: Cate possesses a limited but rapid, accelerated healing factor. After using her powers, she can quickly recuperate the burst blood vessels in her eyes.
* **Superhuman Hearing**: Like all Supes, Cate has better hearing beyond that of a humans. She is able to hear certain frequencies that humans cannot.

## Weaknesses

### Biological

* **Tacticle Contact and Verbal Guidance Required**: For Cate to exert her "pushing" abilities on others, she must establish physical skin-to-skin contact with them and issue verbal instructions. To date, she has only demonstrated the ability to push through hand contact. The use of gloves nullify the effectiveness of her touch-based persuasion.
* **Blunt Force/Limited Durability**: Although Cate is much more durable than any human being, she was scared of Tek Knight, who threatened to take her hand if she took off her glove, and by Sam Riordan, who was going to break her arm at any moment before being calmed by Emma, indicating a limited durability.
* **Overexertion Consequences**: Using her powers excessively can lead Cate to suffer seizures and eye bleeding. Safe parameters of power usage and the necessary resting period for her to employ them without harm remain unstated. While the pills prescribed by Shetty appear to be the primary factor for said overexertion, Cate has exhibited fatigue and eye bleeding even in the absence of such medication.
* **Medication**: The pills administered to her by Shetty diminished her abilities and caused Cate to have nausea, bleeding and seizures; however, upon discontinuing their use, she displayed a heightened power, evident in her ability to read minds, make several people unconscious on an astral plane, and control many people, including supes, in a single day.
* **High Frequencies**: Due to being a Supe, Cate is able to hear certain frequencies that humans cannot. When a specific frequency is played, it can induce immense pain and temporarily neutralize her. While leading a murderous rampage towards humans at Godolkin University, she was momentarily neutralized through the use of high frequencies.

## Relationships

* Mrs. Dunlap - Mother
* Caleb Dunlap - Brother and Victim †

Allies* Godolkin University
	+ Richard Brinkerhoff †
	+ Golden Boy † - Ex-Boyfriend
	+ Sam Riordan - Attempted Killer and Thrall
* The Woods
	+ Sweaty Supe †
	+ Distressed Supe †
	+ Shredded Shirt Supe †
	+ Bleeding Ears Supe †
* Homelander - Savior

	+ Rufus - Sexual Assailant and Former Thrall
	+ Andre Anderson - Ex-Boyfriend
	+ Jordan Li - Former Friend
	+ Marie Moreau - Former Friend
	+ Emma Meyer - Former Ally
* Tek Knight
* The Woods - Former Allies
	+ Indira Shetty † - Victim
	+ Edison Cardosa †
	+ Jeff † - Victim

Victims* Caleb Dunlap - Brother † (Unintentional; persuaded into committing suicide; unaware of her powers)
* Dusty - GOD U student † (Unaware; consciousness killed by Golden Boy in her astral plane; unaware)
* Indira Shetty - Mother figure † (Intentional; persuaded into slitting her own throat; for manipulating her)
* Woods Guard - victim † (Intentional; persuaded to eat his hands; anti-human motivated)
* Social Media Jeff - victim † (Intentional; persuaded to blow up his head; broadcasting a message)

## Trivia

* Supplementary materials initially indicated that Cate was enrolled as a student in the Performing Arts program at Godolkin University. However, this information conflicts with the established narrative in the series, where her major is stated as Hero Management.
* Cate's telepathic abilities through physical contact with her hands and needing to wear cloves most of the time to avoid accidentally hurting someone are based on the X-Men member Rogue, while her mind control powers are similar to Mantis from Marvel Comics, with shades of Kilgrave from *Jessica Jones*.
	+ Cate Dunlap's powers is also similar to those of the telepathic character Andy McGee from Stephen King's 1980 novel (as well as the 1984 film adaptation starring Drew Barrymore) *Firestarter*. Like Dunlap, also described his ability as "pushing" and excessive use of it caused headaches and bleeding of the eyes or nose.
* Cate's backstory is similar to another X-Men member, Jean Grey, particularly the version from the *Dark Phoenix* movie. Both characters developed telepathic abilities later in childhood and accidently cause lose of one their family members with their newfound power; this results in their parents fearing and resenting them for the tragic accident. Then they are adopted by a "kind" headmaster that tries to help them control their telepathy with suppressions.
* Cate's personality and more ruthless use of her telepathy is similar to yet another X-men member, Emma Frost, who uses her powers in a much less restrained way than Jean Grey or Charles Xavier. Her views on humans and supes is similar to a young Emma Frost's views on humans and mutants, before Emma Frost's reformation and redemption.
* Soldier Boy appears in Cate's mind as his true self: a rude, vulgar, and arrogant individual. How Cate knows of Soldier Boy's real personality is unknown, as he was portrayed to the public by Vought as a charismatic and selfless superhero.

## References

1. ↑ Gen V Season 1 Episode 3: #ThinkBrink
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gen V Season 1 Episode 6: Jumanji
3. ↑ Bob in *First Day*: *"Did you know Supes have a wider range of hearing than us? Like dogs."*