The Boys: Who is Black Noir?

Black Noir is the most enigmatic character on The Boys. Who is he really? What can the original comic book tell us…and what can’t it tell us?

Amazon has a hit on its hands with The Boys, its adaptation of Garth Ennis’ savage superhero satire. Ratings are through the roof and it’s already getting a spinoff; we have a franchise on our hands, people.

But we can worry about that later. For now, we’re all wondering how the show is going to wrap up its banner second season. Will the Boys finally take down Homelander, the world’s most powerful and corrupt superhero? What about his Nazi girlfriend Stormfront? And what’s the deal with Black Noir, the superpowered ninja and by far the most enigmatic member of the elite superhero group known as the Seven?

Well, we know he’s played by actor Nathan Mitchell, but since he literally never takes his mask off, you wouldn’t really know unless you looked it up. He’s super-fast, super-strong, and super-stealthy, and seemingly impervious to damage; he’s taken a couple of explosions point blank in the face and come out without a scratch. He has literally never said a single word during the show’s two seasons, although we did see him crying in a hallway when it was revealed that Vought International creates superheroes through the use of the chemical Compound V. Before that, he and most other superheroes assumed they were born with their powers, and it looks like learning otherwise hit Black Noir pretty hard.

We also know that, despite whatever misgivings he may have about being lied to, Black Noir is incredibly loyal to Vought in general and to CEO Stan Edgar in particular. Also, we know he has a great name.

But who is he? What does he look like under that mask? Well, Ennis’ original comic has an answer, but we warn you: it involves heavy SPOILERS.

Okay, still here? In the comics, Black Noir is actually…a clone of Homelander.

Pause for gasps.

The idea is that Vought cloned Homelander because they knew they would need a failsafe mechanism should he ever become too difficult to control, and knowing Homelander, that definitely seems like a possibility. In that instance, Black Noir’s job was to kill Homelander.

But the plan didn’t work great. Homelander is mentally unstable, but Black Noir is straight-up insane. Just look at his face in the comics once his mask comes off:

Image: The Boys

Eeep.

So in the comics, Black Noir gets tired of waiting to serve his purpose. He puts on Homelander’s outfit and takes pictures of himself killing and eating people. He then sends these pictures to Homelander, who is unraveling mentally at that point and assumes that they show something he did but just forgot. Deciding to just go all in on crazy, Homelander attempts to take over the U.S. government. Then, in the climax to the series, Black Noir reveals who he really is, kills Homelander, and then is killed in turn by Billy Butcher and the military.

So…that could be where this is going.

HOWEVER, there are reasons to taking that The Boys TV show is taking Black Noir down a different route, since there are several things that don’t line up with the “clone of Homelander” idea. For one, there’s the scene of him crying above. In the comics, Black Noir is aware of his nature and insane to boot, so the revelation of where superheroes really come from probably wouldn’t bother him.

Then, in the most recent episode, “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker,” the superhero Queen Maeve is able to subdue Black Noir by shoving an Almond Joy into his mouth, explaining to Starlight that he has a tree nut allergy. That doesn’t seem like something the mighty Homelander would have, and neither would his clone.

Or Homelander does have a tree nut allergy and it’s his kryptonite, I dunno; that part’s up in the air.

Finally, when Maeve has to lift Black Noir’s mask to feed him the Almond Joy, we get a brief look at the lower half of his face. At a glance, it doesn’t look like actor Antony Starr, who plays Homelander. It looks like Nathan Mitchell.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 19: Nathan Mitchell attends 2019 Comic-Con International – Red Carpet For “The Boys” on July 19, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

While we can’t know anything for sure, my bet is that Black Noir will not end up being Homelander’s clone on the show, although I wouldn’t put it past Homelander to try taking over the government, especially with the fascist Stormfront at his side.

As for Black Noir’s true nature, perhaps we’ll find out more in the season 2 finale, “What I Know.”

It drops on Amazon Prime Video this Friday, October 9. See you then.

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