Black Noir is the name of three characters from the comic book series The Boys, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the television series and franchise of the same name, developed by Eric Kripke. In both the comic and television series, Noir is a member of the hedonistic and reckless Vought-American superhero group the Seven.
In the comic series arc Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men, Noir is revealed to be a clone of the Homelander and enhanced with Stormfront's DNA, created to replace him if he ever went rogue. Driven insane by a lack of purpose, Noir had resolved to frame the Homelander for various atrocities as part of a plan to gradually drive him insane and replace him. However, after a confrontation with Homelander, he is ultimately killed by Billy Butcher. In the television series adaption, Noir, portrayed by Nathan Mitchell and Fritzy-Klevans Destine, is instead depicted as a brain-damaged African-American Supe named Earving, who is loyal to Vought CEO Stan Edgar; additionally Antony Starr portrays a version of the Homelander responsible for acts Noir perpetrated posing as Homelander in the comic book series. In The Boys Presents: Diabolical, Noir is depicted guiding the Homelander in his early career. Following Earving's death in the third season finale of the main series, starting with the fourth season Mitchell portrays a replacement Noir: Justin / Black Noir II.
Development According to some media outlets, he is a parody of Batman. Per Screen Rant, Black Noir is a parody of Bizarro and not Batman. The official The Boys TV account on Twitter compared him with Jason Voorhees. Fans have compared him with Marvel Comics antihero Deadpool, but per Looper, it "doesn't really seem he bears a direct correlation to any DC or Marvel hero". In the comics, he has a black and featureless bodysuit. In The Boys: Selected Scripts, Garth Ennis wrote: "Where I went wrong, however, was in not asking Russ to change Black Noir's hairstyle; it seems slightly unlikely that he'd have gone quite that far in mimicking his prospective target".
Appearances Comic book series
His first appearance is in The Name Of The Game, Part 1. Black Noir is a member of the Vought-American-sponsored superhero team The Seven. A member since the group's inception,The Boys #19. Dynamite Entertainment. the reason for his presence and backstory are voluntarily left nebulous by Vought-American. Both his appearance and attitude reinforce this: he is clad head-to-toe in black spandex and never shows his visage, never moves unless necessary, barely ever uses his voice but communicates nigh-on exclusively through body language. This tends to severely unnerve whoever is facing him, up to his own teammates. When Starlight becomes a member of the Seven, he sexually assaults her along with Homelander and A-Train. Starlight visibly backs away from him when Noir confronts her about her refusal of wearing her new revealing costume (where she stood her ground before anyone else),The Boys #33. Dynamite Entertainment. and A-Train admits to Jack from Jupiter having been deeply unsettled by Noir's complete lack of other reactions beyond actually 'squirting' when forcing themselves on Starlight.Herogasm #3. Dynamite Entertainment.
Very little is known about Noir and everyone, including his own teammates, believe he is just some sort of superhumanly strong, agile and durable ninja; something Vought-American's "Victory Comics" division plays into giving him a role of mysterious vigilante taking on the worst opponents and the worst situations.Herogasm #2. Dynamite Entertainment. The only details that are 'known' is that he is the only superhuman who can beat the Homelander in arm-wrestling (true) and that he is a fighter jet pilot (false).
The truth of Black Noir's situation is much darker, however: Black Noir is actually an improved clone from the Homelander possessing all of his powers; bred, raised and trained for the specific purpose of killing Homelander should he ever go rogue (because the only other feasible option, nuking Homelander to take him out, was considered too dangerous and bad for business.The Boys #61. Dynamite Entertainment. This however is a closely kept secret, as only people at the level of the Guy from Vought (and Noir himself) are aware of the deception within the society. Noir is skilled in deception. There are only a few incidents that might hint at him having more powers (surviving a thousand-meters free-fall during 9/11,The Boys #21. Dynamite Entertainment. or escaping the burning and exploding wreck of a jet fighter unscathed,The Boys #48. Dynamite Entertainment. or actually some emotions (emitting a soft maniacal giggle when seeing Starlight's new costume,The Boys #32. Dynamite Entertainment. and confronting her to force her to wear it.The Boys #33. Dynamite Entertainment.
This situation ultimately takes a turn for the ugliest, as the stress of living right next to the one he has been bred to kill without ever receiving the order, eventually turns Black Noir insane. Being clones, Noir physically resembles Homelander to the point they can pass for one another (something Homelander himself once comes close to realizing playing a nasty prank on Queen Maeve,The_Big_Ride and at the eleventh hour by the Boys as well,The Boys #63. Dynamite Entertainment. so he starts committing first questionable then more and more depraved acts impersonating him in the hope of getting the order to fulfill his mission. Until the events of the series' climax, it is implied that the Homelander had raped Billy Butcher's wife, Becky, who then died giving birth to a superhuman baby Butcher had then killed;Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #4. Dynamite Entertainment. but that crime was actually perpetrated by Black Noir. At one point,The Boys #40. Dynamite Entertainment. the Boys receive a series of incriminating photos seemingly showing the Homelander engaging in acts of murder, cannibalism, and necrophilia against men, women, and children; but once again, those acts are committed by Black Noir.
In an effort to blackmail the Seven and Vought, the Boys send a copy of the photos to both with the threat of making them public should Vought-American ever try to weaponize 'supes'.The Boys #57. Dynamite Entertainment. This however, erodes Homelander's mental sanity, as he cannot remember the incident. In private, Homelander shows signs of suffering a mental breakdown, talking to his own reflection in a mirror, and having bouts of nausea over the images, genuinely confused and horrified by their contents. Events which a secretly watching Frenchman makes him suggest that the Homelander has dissociative identity disorder and may have sent the photographs to Butcher himself. Concluding he is "damned" for the acts depicted in the photos, Homelander decides to give in to any intrusive thoughts that cross his mind and to finally give free rein to his dream of getting free from under Vought-American's thumb.
Following the Herogasm event (in which Black Noir randomly "thumbs up" Wee Hughie's posterior while the latter was infiltrating the orgy,Herogasm #3. Dynamite Entertainment. who later revealedHighland Laddie to have whispered "good soldier" to the deeply traumatized Hughie while doing so). The Homelander resolves to free himself and the superhero community from Vought-American's control. He eventually leads the other superheroes in a coup d'etat against the United States,Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men launching an attack on the White House and killing everyone inside, including the Vought-controlled Vice President, under the guise of doing so for the Guy from Vought.
Butcher decides to bring the fight to his nemesis and grabs a flight to Washington along with Hughie. In the meantime, Mother's Milk manages to discover and deduce most of the truth, but is too late in warning Butcher.The Boys #63. Dynamite Entertainment. During the subsequent confrontation between the Homelander and Butcher, an unmasked and maniacally grinning Black Noir arrives in the Oval Office and reveals the truth to both of them himself.The Boys #64. Dynamite Entertainment. He is a clone of the Homelander created solely to kill and replace him if he ever went rogue, and he has committed the atrocities documented in the photos and raped Becky so that he would be given authorization to fulfill his purpose. Outraged, the Homelander attacks Noir, who merely smiles even more broadly and proceeds to tear Homelander apart; uncaring of any wounds sustained in the process.The Boys #65. Dynamite Entertainment. Before dying, Homelander manages to seriously injure his former teammate, and when a delirious Noir stumbles out of the Oval Office in pursuit of Butcher; the Marines surrounding the White House open fire on him with heavy machine guns and tank cannons. The gunfire brings Noir to his knees, allowing Butcher to finish him off with a crowbar, crushing his brain. The Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men arc marks his last appearance in the comics.
Television series
In the live-action television adaptation, Black Noir is not depicted as Homelander's clone and there are two characters who operated as Black Noir.
Earving The Boys
The first Black Noir is portrayed by Nathan Mitchell while Fritzey-Klevans Destine portrays Noir in flashbacks. Largely silent, he primarily communicates in a series of silent gestures and intimidating body language, and possesses a healing factor coupled with a penchant for artistic exploits, standing toe-to-toe with Kimiko Miyashiro and effortlessly playing classical music on a piano in the first season. In the second season, Noir is revealed to be the loyal enforcer of Vought CEO Stanford "Stan" Edgar, who directs his every action in combat, including killing the super-terrorist Naqib and tracking down Billy Butcher and the Boys. However, Noir also displays simple, friendly character traits of his own outside of combat, such as giving Naqib's son a teddy bear, befriending a Vought programmer while looking for Butcher, and breaking down in tears upon learning his powers originated from Compound V injections given to him by Vought with his parents' consent as a child. Later, while attempting to apprehend the then-rogue Starlight, Noir is put into a coma by Queen Maeve after she exploits his tree nut allergy by forcing him to consume an Almond Joy and kicking his epi-pen out of reach.
To promote the third season of The Boys, Amazon Prime Video licensed a line of Black Noir action figures from MAFEX, NECA and the Japanese company MediCom Toy Incorporated.