Comic book series In the
comic series, Black Noir is depicted as a member of the
Vought-American-sponsored
superhero team,
The Seven, and the only superhuman created by
Vought-American who can beat the
Homelander in
arm-wrestling. 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, a crime actually perpetrated by Black Noir, who has been impersonating the Homelander during his free time for years. In Issue No. 40, the Boys receive a series of incriminating photos seemingly showing the Homelander engaging in grisly acts of murder, cannibalism, and
necrophilia against men, women, and children. The series eventually reveals that the Homelander cannot remember either these incidents or the rape of Butcher's wife, and suggests that the Homelander has
dissociative identity disorder and may have sent the photographs to Butcher himself. 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
Frenchie decides to keep from Butcher. Concluding he is "damned" for the acts depicted in the photos, the Homelander decides to give in to any
intrusive thoughts that cross his mind. Following
Herogasm, in which Black Noir randomly "
thumbs up"
Wee Hughie's posterior while the latter was infiltrating an
orgy (revealed in
Highland Laddie to have whispered "good soldier" to the deeply traumatised Hughie while doing so), the Homelander resolves to free himself and the superhero community from Vought-American's control. In
Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men, he leads the other superheroes in a ''coup d'etat'' against the United States, 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. During the subsequent confrontation between the Homelander and Butcher, surmising why Butcher must hate him, Black Noir arrives in the Oval Office and reveals himself to be a clone of the Homelander created solely to kill and replace him if he ever went rogue. In addition, he was also enhanced with Stormfront's DNA making him a binary clone. Gradually being driven insane due to not being allowed to kill the Homelander, Noir reveals that he had committed the atrocities documented in the photos amongst other actions (having destroyed the plane during
Herogasm) and raped Becky to set Butcher and the Homelander against one another so that he would be given authorization to fulfill his purpose. Outraged, the Homelander attacks Noir, who proceeds to tear the Homelander apart. Before dying, Homelander manages to seriously injure his former teammate, allowing Butcher to later finish him off with a crowbar, before embarking on his own genocidal plan to kill all superheroes and those "Supes" with the genetic potential to become them.
Television series In the live-action
television adaptation, 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 the
Female 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. In flashbacks to the
Cold War depicted in the
third season, Noir is revealed to be a man named Earving who had begun his superhero career and joined
Payback, Vought's predecessor to the Seven. However, Noir and the rest of his teammates were subject to career sabotage and physical abuse by team leader
Soldier Boy. In 1984 amidst a joint operation with the
CIA and the
Contras to stop the
Sandinista government in
Nicaragua, Edgar secretly assigned Payback to trade Soldier Boy to the
Soviet Union so Vought can eventually replace him with
Homelander, who had been conceived with sperm obtained from Soldier Boy. Throughout, Noir complained about having to wear a helmet that covers his face as he wanted to be the "
Eddie Murphy" of superheroes, though Edgar told him Vought believed a publicly black superhero was neither profitable nor acceptable at the time. Amidst an attack on their camp by
Nicaraguan and
Russian soldiers, Noir led Payback in cornering and attacking Soldier Boy. They eventually succeeded in subduing him, though Soldier Boy left Noir disfigured, mute, and brain damaged. In the present, upon coming out of his coma and learning of Soldier Boy's return to America, Noir cuts his tracking chip out of his arm and hides out in an abandoned Buster Beaver's Pizza Restaurant, where its mascots and his
imaginary friends reenact the abuse he suffered from Soldier Boy to convince Noir to face him instead of running. Upon returning to Vought, Homelander kills Noir for withholding his knowledge of Soldier Boy being Homelander's biological father. Before he dies, Noir sees Buster Beaver and his friends as they mourn his death and state that they are proud of him.
Seven on 7 In the 2021–2022 promotional web series
Seven on 7 with Cameron Coleman, which bridges the events of the second and third seasons of the live-action adaptation, Noir is revealed to have awoken from his coma and been charged by Vought with tracking down numerous Supes that had escaped from a
psychiatric hospital as well as filming
promos for Vought's streaming service, Vought+, on which his film
Black Noir: Insurrection is to be released.
Death Battle! In the 2020
Amazon Prime Video-sponsored
The Boys promotional episodes of
Death Battle!, Black Noir gives up his place in participating in the Seven's
battle royale to
Billy Butcher, in favour of serving as one of the event's hosts alongside Wiz and Boomstick, with whom he communicates via a series of head and hand gestures.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical In
The Boys Presents: Diabolical prequel episode "One Plus One Equals Two", Black Noir is revealed to have been the "Homelander before Homelander", who
Madelyn Stillwell sought to supplant, describing Noir as being built to destroy Homelander. After coming across a then-18-year-old Homelander after he accidentally killed several hostages and eco-terrorists on his first mission as a superhero, Black Noir evades Homelander's attempts to kill him before tricking him into destroying the compound they were in and
mercy killing the last hostage in its aftermath to prevent Homelander from killing them both. Successfully gaining Homelander's trust, Black Noir writes him an excusatory speech to provide to the press outside, claiming the eco-terrorists had a bomb which he tried to stop.
Justin Following Noir's death in the
third season finale of the main series,
Eric Kripke confirmed in July 2022 that Noir's actor
Nathan Mitchell would portray a replacement Black Noir in the
fourth season; describing the character as a "whole new" and "really interesting and hilarious character". The original Black Noir is replaced by an aspiring actor who wears the same masked costume that hides his identity from the public; however, unlike his predecessor he is talkative in private and shown to be both excitable and nervous about his new role. In addition, Black Noir has the power of flight but has
narcolepsy, and admits that he is uneasy with the violence he is ordered to do. Black Noir first appears in the fourth season, where he, the Deep, and A-Train killed three Homelander sympathizers and place their bodies near a riot between the Homelander sympathizers and the Starlighters. After being left out of Tek Knight's party, Black Noir confides in the Deep over his insecurities. The Deep tells Black Noir that he must kill to be equal to his predecessor while bringing up one of Black Noir's previous assignment in Asia. Black Noir and the Deep are dispatched by Homelander to attack the Boys at their headquarters. After briefly nodding off during the fight, Black Noir is shown to both fly and speak, surprising Butcher. When A-Train comes to the Boys' aid, Black Noir and the Deep are repelled. Later that day, Black Noir and the Deep witness Sister Sage leaving Vought International. In the fourth season finale, Black Noir is seen killing
"Also Ashley", the personal assistant of
Ashley Barrett. When the Deep exclaims that Black Noir has killed the wrong Ashley, Black Noir seemingly shows no remorse, completing his transition to the mindset of his predecessor. In the
Gen V season two episode "Trojan", Black Noir is dispatched to intercept Polarity's transportation of Doug Brightbill to the hospital. He kills Doug and apprehends Polarity while doing a selfie of him with a subdued Polarity. While Polarity in his cell, Black Noir talks about the
Alien franchise before being dismissed by Sister Sage. In
season 5, Black Noir goes '
method' and becomes silent like his predecessor. He has become the co-host of a
manosphere podcast alongside the Deep. He, the Deep, Cindy and DogKnott are tasked by Homelander with tracking down and capturing Stan Edgar to learn more about V1, the original variation of Compound V that would grant immortality and immunity to the Boys' Supe-killing virus. However, after Black Noir captures Edgar, The Deep detonates a halothane grenade in his
Cybertruck to knock him out and claim credit for capturing Edgar, which later causes a rift between the two. Additionally, his real name is revealed to be Justin, under which he is secretly acting in stage productions. After The Deep kills his director Adam Bourke using an eel hidden in a toilet, Black Noir and The Deep's relationship is further strained.
Potential spin-off In October 2020, following news of the development of several spin-off series of
The Boys, Black Noir actor
Nathan Mitchell expressed interest in a potential "
Mr. Bean-style
comedy" solo series focused on the character, tentatively entitled
The Secret Life of Black Noir. ==Powers and abilities==