The third season of The Boys tried to explore Black Noir’s arc as a character, but his fate ultimately ended in tragedy when Homelander killed him in cold blood.
Fast forward to The Boys Season 4, and we see that Noir is back and walking around like nothing happened, so what happened? Did The Boys just revive Black Noir?
[SPOILERS FOR THE BOYS SEASON 4]
Noir’s Death in The Boys Season 3
Though Black Noir is mostly a source of comic relief, the third season of The Boys had decided to flesh out his backstory a bit more, making him one of the team members of the OG superhero in The Boys universe, Soldier Boy.
Noir spends the majority of Season 3 going through the trauma of having to work with SB, but his arc ends in tragedy when Homelander decides to kill him for keeping the secret that Soldier Boy is Homelander’s father.
We don’t get a scene depicting the aftermath, but it definitely looked like Black Noir is dead.
Black Noir in Season 4
Enter the fourth season of The Boys, and we see that Black Noir is up and walking around. Fans were definitely shocked that he would be back after seeing him die in the hands of Homelander in the last season, but it’s later revealed that it isn’t Black Noir, but an actor that’s been hired to play him.
The first hint was Noir suddenly talking after he was ordered to kill a bunch of people by Homelander; then this was further emphasized when he goes to A-Train to further talk about his character, only to be shot down and told to keep his mouth shut.
Who could This New Black Noir Be?
Though we know that this new Black Noir is an actor playing a part, his identity is still completely secret. Based on the strength he’s shown, he could still very well be a supe; but seeing that he has a tendency to mouth off, it won’t be surprising if he would suddenly find himself getting killed and they would have to replace Noir again.
If the comics are any source of inspiration, Noir was originally a clone of Homelander who was put in the team as a deterrent should HL need to be put down. It’s possible that this new Noir could be a clone of the original without the memories.
So far, only three episodes have been released, but it’s likely we’ll get to see a new arc play out for this new Noir.
Catch The Boys Season 4 now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.