There’s a significant reason Black Noir doesn’t show his face or talk in The Boys, and it’s a plot that will be explosive for the series later.
Black Noir is the ultimate antisocial superhero in The Boys who simply likes lurking in the background. He’s there with the Seven when the action starts. Other times, however, he pretty much keeps to himself or keeps close to their leader, Homelander (Anthony Starr).
According to IGN, Black Noir has a personal mission to shadow Homelander as ordered by Vought. Showrunner Eric Kripke said that Black Noir has more scenes in season 2, but he will not get a backstory.
Kripke has delved away from the comic book source material. However, if the showrunner does follow Black Noir’s biggest secret, then viewers will learn, in time, that Black Noir is actually Homelander’s clone.
The contingency plan
In the comics, Vought created Black Noir as the exact copy of Homelander as a contingency plan. The company is aware that Homelander is a loose cannon and could lose the plot and stray, so to speak, eventually.
Apparently, Black Noir’s mission is to kill the original Homelander if he does lose control. In the comics, that happened when Homelander tried to take over the government, and Black Noir was there to foil his plan.
However, the clone version comes with some faulty programming that Vought hasn’t accounted for. In the comics, he was actually the person responsible for Becca’s rape and death. Thus, the new Homelander ended up being a bigger problem.
It remains to be seen, however, if Kripke will follow this same trajectory in the succeeding seasons of The Boys. Currently, Nathan Mitchell plays the mysterious character in mask, and if it turns out that he is a clone, then it would make sense for Starr to take over the role.
A backstory for Kimiko
Someone who will get a backstory in The Boys next season is Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara). In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kripke said that they have planned out scenes depicting Kimiko’s interests.
“She loves Hollywood musicals. That’s her thing,” the showrunner revealed. “She’ll be watching like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers or West Side Story.”
The Boys hasn’t started filming the third season, though, due to the pandemic. Starr revealed in an interview with British GQ that production will be underway once the COVID situation is clearer. Realistically, he said that they could begin production by early next year.
The Boys season 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Image courtesy of Amazon Prime/YouTube