‘The Boys’: Is Black Noir Homelander’s Clone?
Amazon’s series, The Boys, has become wildly popular. The twisted superhero tale is based on the comic book series of the same name. The story is pretty dark and takes us to places we never imagined going with superheroes.
The gritty series is filled with memorable characters, from angry ex-CIA operatives to flashy speedsters. Fans are loving the character Black Noir, a mysterious, lethal ninja who never speaks or takes off his mask.
Many fans are asking whether this beloved character is going to follow his comic book counterpart’s path, or forge something entirely new.
What is ‘The Boys’ about?
Yes, The Boys is a show about superheroes, but not like the ones you’re used to seeing. The Boys explores a side of superheroes that is pretty hard to imagine. A depraved, seditious, downright loathsome side, in fact.
A vigilante team known as The Boys are on a secret mission to expose a particular group of superheroes. These popular heroes–The Seven–engage in some shockingly nefarious behavior on a regular basis. The Boys are led by Billy Butcher, a former CIA operative with a personal vendetta against the leader of The Seven, Homelander.
Billy Butcher’s hate of The Seven is fueled by the fact that he believes Homelander was responsible for his wife’s death. He later discovers that his wife is alive, however. She was placed in witness protection after giving birth to Homelander’s son, who has powers like his father.
The rest of the group is made up of an interesting array of characters, including Mother’s Milk, Frenchie, The Female, and Hughie. Mother’s Milk (a.k.a. Marvin T. Milk) is a former field medic who initially leaves The Boys to live a quieter life with his family, but ultimately returns to the team. Frenchie is the hot-tempered jack-of-all-trades who used to be a hit man.
The Boys find The Female locked in a cage in a shop basement. She was experimented on with a chemical used to enhance superheroes’ powers. The experiment left her with superhuman strength and an awful temper, which results in a lot of dead bodies. Hughie is the tech-savvy member of the team, joining them after his girlfriend was killed by a superhero named A-Train.
Who is Black Noir?
The Seven is a team made up of the world’s most popular superheroes. They don’t do a heck of a lot in the way of “hero” duty, however.
They really only care about creating a super image and reaping the benefits. Their actual lives are sordid and messy and they’re basically a bunch of delinquent criminals.
The team is made up of Homelander, The Deep, Queen Maeve, Starlight, A-Train, Stormfront, and Black Noir. Translucent and The Lamplighter were original members, but were later replaced. The Seven were created by Vought International, who created the heroes by injecting them with Compound V as fetuses.
Black Noir is a deadly foe, with lethal expertise in martial arts. The character never speaks, and never removes his mask. He is incredibly mysterious and possesses a plethora of superhuman abilities, including super strength, agility, and hearing.
The super-ninja is the only person to have defeated Kimiko (The Female), using his incredible dagger-throwing skills. He is an intimidating figure, making criminals flee at first sight. The character has an edgy, dark humor about him, and he’s also an incredibly skilled piano player.
Is the series following the plot from the comics?
As is usually the case, the television version of The Boys is a bit different from the original comics. The most glaringly obvious difference between the two is the lack of superpowers within The Boys’ team. In the Amazon show, The Female is the only team member with powers. In the comics, however, the whole team uses Compound V so they can have powers to match the heroes. Mother’s Milk is even revealed to have had powers since birth.
Another big difference involves Butcher’s wife, Becca. In the show, the leader of The Boys eventually finds his wife and their son–she didn’t actually die during childbirth. In the comics, she does die giving birth to the super-baby, and Butcher kills the child himself.
There are some questions still unanswered in the TV series that could depart quite a bit from the comics. The whole mystery surrounding Black Noir’s identity, to be specific. In the comics, Black Noir is revealed to be a clone of Homelander. He is actually the one that raped Butcher’s wife and the father of the superhuman child.
We know that two different actors are playing the parts of Homelander (Antony Starr) and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), so it doesn’t seem likely that they will be revealed to be clones. The TV series may delve into its own original territory on this subject. One thing is for sure–no matter which way this plot goes, it’s sure to be full of action and mayhem that will keep the audience at the edge of their seat.
