The Boys season 2 introduced two new supes with incredibly dangerous (and oddly similar) powers, leading many to theorize that Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) and escaped Sage Grove patient Cindy (Ess Hödlmoser) could be sisters. While Victoria Neuman in The Boys season 3 ending was in the running to become the vice president, Cindy wasn't even mentioned in the third season. After The Boys' season 2 finale revealed that Victoria was the supe responsible for many disgusting head explosions, the third season saw Victoria becoming a villain potentially more dangerous than Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) - who could be the father of both Victoria and Cindy.
Cindy was first introduced when the Boys investigated Sage Grove Center, a psychiatric facility where Vought was experimenting with the effects of Compound V on adult subjects, in an effort to stabilize the drug so that anyone could safely use it to give themselves superpowers. Former Seven member Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore) was employed as a nurse at Sage Grove, to dispatch subjects who had outlived their usefulness and burn the evidence. The patients at Sage Grove were sent there due to mental illness, and then cut off from contact with their families, with their deaths officially written off as suicides. After Lamplighter accidentally burned through the door of her cell, Cindy escaped and freed the rest of the patients at Sage Grove. Cindy was eventually knocked out by Stormfront's (Aya Cash) electric powers, but Cindy also quickly recovered and was last seen hitching a ride to freedom.
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has confirmed that Cindy will return in the future, but this hasn't happened yet, and the question of Cindy's relation to Victoria also hasn't been resolved. With uncertain motives and armed with terrifyingly unpredictable powers from the effects of Vought's Compound V, Cindy is a major wild card — and Victoria herself is definitely one of the more mysterious characters in The Boys. Here's why Cindy and Victoria Neuman could be sisters.
Compound V Effects Vary From Person To Person
Compound V was created by Vought founder Frederick Vought. The first willing Compound V recipient was Vought's wife, Stormfront, who developed powers of flight, near-invulnerability, and electricity generation. The drug appears to cause permanent genetic mutation, which is why Homelander's son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) has the same powers as his father despite never being given Compound V. The experiments at Sage Grove were geared towards refining Compound V's effects. Giving V to babies reliably produces supes, but in adults has varying effects. As Lamplighter put it, "Sometimes you get powers, sometimes you get a freak, sometimes you just explode." Sometimes, it results in powerful telekinesis comparable to Eleven and Vecna from Stranger Things — as seen in both Cindy and Victoria.
Notably, the more common effects of Compound V include increased strength and durability. Starlight withstood a .50 caliber sniper bullet to the chest like it was barely an inconvenience, while Black Noir survived an explosion that destroyed most of a building with only a few burns. Kimiko, aka The Female, healed from a wound that should have been fatal in a matter of seconds. Beyond that, there's a great deal of variation. Some supes have unique or unusual traits like Popclaw's bony retractable claws and the Deep's talent for talking to fishes, but others have more frequently occurring powers like super-speed (A-Train is under pressure from being in such a competitive category). Genetics are the most likely explanation for this variation, which means that super-powered siblings could end up with the same abilities.
Cindy and Victoria Neuman Have Similar Powers
Before The Boys' season 2 finale revealed that Victoria Neuman was the supe who had been exploding heads, the popular fan theory was that Cindy was responsible, with Vought perhaps smuggling her out of Sage Grove to do their bidding. Cindy could have simply been introduced as a red herring, but the similarity between her and Victoria's powers is interesting. They're not exactly the same — Victoria specifically targets heads and causes them to explode Scanners-style, whereas Cindy uses her powers to crush people so that they implode (with a similar splattering effect). Given that Cindy is clearly unstable, they could actually have the same powers, with Victoria having learned to control hers better. More importantly, while their powers are similar to one-anothers, almost no supes in The Boys have displayed remotely similar abilities, suggesting Telekinesis isn't a common Compound-V gift.
One potential problem with this theory is that we've already seen one set of siblings affected by Compound V in The Boys — Kimiko and her brother, Kenji. While Kimiko's abilities are limited to super-strength, heightened agility, and durability, Kenji developed telekinetic powers. This could be explained by Compound V only causing similar power sets in siblings in some cases or, alternatively, Cindy could be Victoria Neuman's daughter rather than her sister. The congresswoman mentioned having a daughter during a news broadcast, and Stormfront proved that supes don't always age like normal people, so Victoria could be much older than she appears.
What Are Victoria Neuman's Motives?
After Victoria outmaneuvered and publicly disgraced Stan Edgar in The Boys season 3, it's clear that she has more up her sleeve than just secretly working for Vought while publicly protesting the company. In many ways, Victoria's arc is similar to Stormfront's appointment to the Seven. When the truth about Compound V was made public, Stormfront railed against Vought at rallies - gaining the trust of people who had lost faith in the company itself. Like how Stormfront manipulated the public, Victoria has been doing essentially the same thing, though she's appealing to a very different crowd and has become more successful than Stormfront ever was. An obvious analog for real-life U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Neuman is Vought's way of gaining control over a young, progressive demographic who distrust corporations and sincerely believe in the power of government to change things - people like Hughie, for example.
So, if Cindy is Victoria's sister (or half-sister, to explain why one sister is mixed race and the other is not), does that mean that the congresswoman sold out her own family to Vought? Potentially, yes. Even before one of The Boys season 3's biggest twists, in which Victoria struck a deal with Homelander and publicly betrayed Stan Edgar, Victoria already proved how far she would go to pursue her personal goals. In fact, Victoria was ruthless enough to explode the head of her own staff member during the congressional hearing attack, just to make it look like she was a victim of the attack along with everyone else. Everyone that Victoria has killed so far has moved Vought and herself further away from being exposed. Victoria also killed Susan Raynor (Jennifer Esposito) when she got close to the truth about the emerging "super-terrorists," Jonah Vogelbaum (John Doman) before he could testify against Vought, and also Church of the Collective leader Alastair Adana (Goran Visnjic) after he told her that he had enough dirt on Vought to destroy the company.
Cindy having a personal vendetta of revenge against Victoria Neuman would certainly make things interesting for The Boys season 4, as this would potentially make her an ally to the Boys. Moreover, unlike Kimiko, Cindy doesn't seem interested in limiting the carnage caused by her powers. This means that the Boys may face a difficult choice of whether to put Cindy down, or let her run free to wreak havoc on Vought or Victoria in The Boys season 4.
After Season 3, Cindy Is Still One Of The Boys Biggest Unanswered Questions
The Boys season 3 never mentioned or featured Cindy again, which is disappointing considering how the many promising paths the character can take. The only The Boys episode Cindy featured in definitely gave her way more screen time than seems necessary if she was just a one-off appearance. As Homelander's team in The Boys season 4 is bound to get stronger and even more evil, Cindy would be a fine addition either to The Seven or the Boys. Even if Cindy isn't Victoria Neuman's sister, there's still dire need for some closure with this intriguing and incredibly dangerous supe, especially after viewers last saw Cindy being let loose on an unsuspecting world. Curiously, despite Cindy being seemingly unable to control her powers or have any social skills, sje has managed to keep quiet and out of Vought's radar (as far as The Boys has revealed, at least).
Whether Cindy is in Vought's custody or is still out there somewhere, she's a ticking time bomb that's bound to explode soon. It's possible that The Boys season 3 made no mention of Cindy because her return is being reserved for The Boys season 4. With Victoria potentially becoming the vice president and Homelander's son Ryan conceivably becoming more powerful and even more evil than Homelander, Cindy would be right at home in the fourth season. The Boys season 4 has many questions to answer for both Cindy and Victoria Neuman's characters, and even if they aren't secret sisters fans will still be keen to learn who these mysterious characters truly are.