What Black Noir's Season 4 Return Could Mean For Homelander
By Matthew Martinez
The Black Noir of "The Boys" TV series on Amazon Prime Video is a very different character than in the comics. Season 3 explored his backstory in depth, where we learn that a young Black Noir, real name Earving, was a member of the Payback team headed by Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). He was brutally disfigured by Soldier Boy and left with permanent brain damage after an assassination attempt on the team leader ordered by Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) went sideways. We've seen far too much proof that Black Noir is not a clone of Homelander for the show to retcon that choice to match up with the comic books.
It also seems unlikely that the new Black Noir in Season 4 will be a Homelander clone. After all, as noted above, showrunner Eric Kripke has confirmed that Nathan Mitchell is still playing the character. There is the remote possibility that Kripke intentionally misled fans to avoid further leaks, but that doesn't mean Antony Starr is under that onyx mask.
Whatever's in store for Black Noir in Season 4 of "The Boys," it's almost guaranteed to affect Homelander. The last we saw of Noir, he was disemboweled by him and died on screen. Kripke's promise that this will be "a different character who wears the Black Noir suit" may suggest that Homelander, now acting as CEO of Vought, installed a loyalist to replace Noir. This feels the most likely, as it would not only mean the new Black Noir is the loyalist Homelander desires, but it would give Mitchell a chance to finally shine in the spotlight. Of course, all we know for sure is that anything can happen on "The Boys." Executive producer Seth Rogen promises the upcoming season still finds ways to shock him.
