Who Is Black Noir: 5 Supes Who Could Be Under The Mask In The Boys Season 4
The first teaser trailer for Season 4 of "The Boys" has arrived in all of its costume-wrapped carnage, teasing the roles of two dangerous new Supes, Firecracker (Valorie Curry) and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), but the biggest mystery comes from a new member of the Seven who's actually an old one. Somehow welcomed back with open arms is the silent assassin Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), who dies after getting his organs aggressively handled by Homelander (Antony Starr) in Season 3. Keeping that ever so slightly small detail in mind, how in the heck is he up and about, and is the former teammate he betrayed cool with it?
While it's nothing new for former members of the Seven to return to the team after various heinous events that unfold away from the public eye (we're looking at you, Deep), we've never seen a "hero" who is well and truly dead make a comeback, so what's going on with Noir? It's here where we ask the mega-cape-controlling corporation in our best Homelander voice, "What have you done?" Have some monstrously scientific advances been put into play? Has someone else taken up the Black Noir mantle? Or has the future of "The Boys" taken a daring turn by veering into the past of the comic book it's adapted from? Here are five ideas on who this new Black Noir might be. Brace yourself, though — things are about to get dark.
Is Black Noir back from the dead?
It's got to be pretty difficult to keep on ticking without a heart, Supe or not. That being said, this is "The Boys," of course. It's a world where babies with laser vision have been used as weapons and super-shrinking heroes have gone places no mere mortal should see. Keeping this in mind (as much as we'd rather block it out), there's no reason Black Noir couldn't have been brought back to life thanks to some off-the-books biology experiments.
While it hasn't been done on the show just yet, the original comic book series sees Lamplighter die only to be resurrected, courtesy of Compound V. The only setback for this super miracle is that Lamplighter isn't himself anymore and becomes a mindless zombie that the CIA eventually recovers in "The Boys" #66. Could this have had the same effect on Black Noir on the show, only with Vought able to get a little more of a handle on the situation, turning him into even more of a puppet than before?
Is Black Noir Soldier Boy in secret?
Should Vought have decided that bringing Supes back from the dead is a step too far, another out-of-action hero could be getting put into the Black Noir suit instead of its previous wearer: the old-school American a-hole of a hero Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), aka Homelander's only true competition. Although this antithesis of Captain America gets put back on ice after being defeated by the reluctant teamwork of Butcher and Maeve (Dominique McElligott) at the end of Season 3, that doesn't necessarily mean he's out of action.
Could it be possible that following his incapacitation, Vought has had its best and brightest tinkering away at trying to get control of the legendary Supe and broken him mentally in the process, leaving him so subdued that they've reprogrammed him to do their bidding while wearing brand-new black threads? So far, there's been no confirmation of Soldier Boy's return, but as revealed by Ackles himself to Awards Radar, "Soldier Boy is not dead. Thank God." Of course, whether Homelander or Butcher will be thankful for that is another matter entirely.
Has Gen V's Sam taken the Black Noir job?
Since Black Noir is the oldest member of the Seven in Season 3, it would make sense for Vought to get some fresh blood into the black suit. And what better place to look than to one of the Guardians of Godolkin, Sam Riordan (Asa Germann)? After being praised for his bravery in the final moments of "Gen V" Season 1, there's every chance that he might've been bumped up to the big leagues under the mysterious moniker of Black Noir.
It's an easy bit of team management on Vought's part. Fresh from the fallout of an event where this out-of-control monster is remolded into a hero, he'd be an easy option for a member of the Seven who has very little say but does exactly as they're told, especially if Maddie Phillips' mind-controlling Cate is still involved. More importantly, though, it would work as a compelling link between the two shows, which take place months apart.
Is Black Noir the Homelander clone from the comic books?
It might sound like a bonkers idea, but fans of the original "Boys" comics know that throwing clones into the mix isn't that much of an out-there concept, especially when it comes to their most feared character. Near the end of the series, Black Noir reveals that he is a clone of Homelander and has been framing him for some nightmarish activities all along, including the rape of Butcher's wife, Becky, leading Butcher to take him out instead. Now, given that a mysterious Black Noir is back on the show, history might be about to repeat itself.
It's a last-minute switcheroo that could become one of the show's boldest and most brilliant story choices. As it stands, Homelander is on the verge of being entirely out of Vought's control, so what better countermeasure than going back to the drawing board and making one of their own with a few adjustments? Fighting fire with fire is certainly a tried-and-true tactic and is exactly the sort of move Vought would make. The only problem is that Butcher and the Boys are only just managing to handle one Homelander. Having two might make for a world-ending development.
Is the new Black Noir a new Supe altogether?
Despite all of these intriguing options, there's always the possibility that it's the simplest: What if this Black Noir is just a brand-new stand-in Supe? No clone, no mind-controlled former foe, but a brand-new hero wanting to either make a difference or reach the top tier of heroes. While viewers know after three seasons of "The Boys" that getting a seat on the Seven really isn't worth it, up-and-coming heroes might still be deluded into the idea of it.
It's not like Vought would have struggled to find one either. Quashing the PR nightmare at God U and turning Sam and Cate into Guardians of Godolkin may have created a surge in Supes wanting to make a difference. Who even knows just how many rotating Black Noirs we could get through Season 4? For now, the most replaceable member of the Seven is back in, and we'll just have to wait and see who's under the mask when "The Boys" returns.