What Is The Odessa Project On 'Gen V' Season 2?

There are a ton of big mysteries being thrown around in Season 2 of Gen V, even after a mere three episodes on Prime Video. But one of the biggest is: what is The Odessa Project? Somewhat surprisingly we already have at least part of the answer to that, and it’s not a “what” it’s a “who.”

Spoilers for Gen V past this point, but as revealed by Emma (Lizze Broadway) at the end of Gen V Season 2, Episode 2, “Justice Never Forgets,” The Odessa Project is none other than Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair). Emma figures that out thanks to a file she and Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) discover in the Godolkin University library — or more specifically, a secret room in the library archives which is filled with, among other things, Nazi memorabilia.

There, they find a folder for The Odessa Project and what it produced: baby Marie, and we even get to see her parents and Aunt Pam (Judith Scott) in a picture in the file Emma brings to Marie at the end of the episode.

To take a little step back here, there’s actually a bunch more we know about The Odessa Project, and how it connects to Marie — though as of Episode 3, we don’t have the full picture yet. Back at the beginning of the season premiere, we met Dr. Thomas Godolkin, played by Wicked star Ethan Slater. He was indeed working for the Odessa Project, though in what capacity we don’t know. And last we saw of him, it looked like he was consumed in a fire set after a number of doctors, also likely working for Odessa, took some sort of version of the Supe-creating formula Compound V and died in horrible ways.

That was way back in 1967, and unless Marie has some sort of Orphan thing going on, the math isn’t mathing if you think she was born back in 1967. No, Marie is about 18 years old, so some version of Odessa continued after the disaster at the lab seen in the premiere. Cut to the present day, and Annie January (Erin Morariaty) shows up to get Marie to look into Odessa. Annie claims she doesn’t know what it is, but it is pretty weird that she asked Marie to look into Odessa, and Odessa is Marie.

Put a pin in that mystery, because we’ve got some more info to sift through. We find out from Aunt Pam that Marie’s parents thought they were visiting a fertility clinic, and Marie was a sort of miracle baby — they weren’t able to get pregnant until they visited the clinic, so it seems likely that, in some fashion, Marie, along with her blood powers, were crafted by Odessa. Of note, her sister Annabeth (Maria Nash) was not: she was born naturally, years later.

And there’s one more bit that’s pretty important: Cipher (Hamish Linklater), the new Dean of Godolkin University, was at the time of Marie’s birth called Dr. Gold. Yep, he was there, and helped her parents get pregnant. So he’s part of Odessa as well, and that at least in part might explain why he seems so paternal towards Marie — versus literally everyone else at God U.

…And one more teeny, tiny, not-insignificant detail. When Homelander (Antony Starr) traveled, er, home in The Boys Season 4, eagle-eyed fans noted a reference to “Odessa” on a memo on one of the desks in the facility that helped raise him. Could the big bad of The Boys universe also be a product of Project Odessa???

So what is The Odessa Project? The short answer is, it’s Marie. Long answer? We’re just starting to find out, and will certainly know more as the season continues.

Gen V Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:

Gen V season 2 will officially premiere on Prime Video on Wednesday, September 17. The season will be eight episodes long, with three dropping on premiere day.

Here’s the full list of episodes in Gen V Season 2, with premiere dates: