The Boys’ Black Noir II was already a symbol of how Vought views their supes as nothing more than assets that can be replaced at a moment’s notice. But his behavior in the first two episodes of season 5 seems to take this idea to its logical (and disturbing) conclusion.
In Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite, Homelander rips The Deep and Black Noir II apart for failing to stop Starlight from leaking the Flight 37 footage. Black Noir II is silent throughout the whole thing, which pisses Deep off as he feels Noir II should have defended him.
“Bro, you’re not the real Noir, okay?” Deep tells Black Noir II later. “You can talk. Look, I get method…but enough’s enough.”
The original Black Noir was Earving, a former member of Payback who was left mute after Soldier Boy beat him within an inch of his life. When Homelander learned that Earving was hiding the fact that Soldier Boy was his biological father in season 3, he killed him.
Vought then brought in an actor to act as a replacement. The new guy was initially talkative and clearly unfit for the role. He kept asking questions about his “motivation” and what direction he should go, treating Noir like a character instead of a real person.
To see Black Noir II go from a talkative, awkward newbie to a cold and silent figure got fans to speculate that the replacement for the original Noir had been replaced himself.
The Most Popular Theories
The most popular theory so far is that Black Noir II could’ve been replaced by a clone of Homelander. In the original, Black Noir was secretly a Homelander clone the entire time as part of a contingency plan by Vought.
Some fans believe we’re seeing a similar story play out in season 5. As Homelander grows more unstable, Vought or Sister Sage may have gotten rid of the actor playing Black Noir II to get the clone close enough to kill Homelander if the situation calls for it. However, it’s worth noting that showrunner Eric Kripke made it clear in an interview with Variety that he was “never really into the clone idea.” So that theory’s out.
The second theory is that one of the characters from the spin-off series Gen V is impersonating Black Noir II to act as a mole for Stan Edgar. Top candidates are Polarity and Sam Riordan, the latter of which having a similar power set to Noir II.
A third theory is that Homelander may have psychologically broke Black Noir II into being silent. Or he could have savagely beaten Noir II until he lost the ability to speak or damaged his vocal cords. Homelander has no problem manhandling the people around no reason other than he can. It’s very possible he wanted to feel closer to his father (who he has very complicated feelings towards) by recreating one of Soldier Boy’s worst actions.
Vought’s Corruption Could Have Changed Black Noir II
Another theory is that the actor is pretending to be Black Noir II but was pressured by Vought into maintaining the facade.
That wouldn’t be surprising because everything about Vought from the executives running the corporation, the supes that are allowed to rise up the ranks, to the culture it cultivates are rotten to the core. Vought doesn’t care about the supes they manage or any of their employees. All that matters is that people are watching Vought News Network and subscribing to Vought+.
Look at A-Train. He originally wanted to do good in the world, but Vought’s influence would gradually strip him of his integrity. By the time he decided he wanted to be a better person, the damage was already done. The same could be said about Queen Maeve, Ashley Barrett who admitted to A-Train that it’s “so easy to become a monster” while working for Vought.
Hell, even Starlight, who quit The Seven in season 3, doesn’t walk away completely unscathed. She’s more cynical than before. She’s also willing to do terrible things in her mission to take Homelander down. Vought doesn’t need to do much to destroy a person or change them over them.
The mystery surrounding what’s going on with Black Noir II is more than wondering who’s under the mask. Whether he’s been replaced or feels pressured to pass himself off as a mute, the message is clear. The brand comes before everything else. To them, “Black Noir” is a product, a role that can be handed to whoever they see is fit.
