The Boys: Black Noir’s Weakness Makes The Homelander Comic Twist Better

The Boys revealing Black Noir’s allergy to nuts may suggest that the original comic book plot twist that he is in fact a clone of Homelander is still possible on Amazon’s show. Season 2 showed Noir has a serious allergy to tree nuts, proved when Queen Maeve force-fed him them and sent him into anaphylactic shock, which is particularly notable as a departure from the comics that seemed to suggest his story would be different.

Indeed, Black Noir has been a very different character on The Boys from his original comic form, which isn’t unexpected as most of The Seven are different in the Amazon Prime show. Where the comic presented Noir as a sinister figure who took joy in nothing but traumatizing people, the show appears to show him in a somewhat softer light. This version of Noir loves animals, is kind to children, and appears to cry at the revelation that he and other heroes were artificially created. Yes, he’s a killing machine and the mystery of why he keeps his mask on is still involved, but this is just another of The Boys’ changes to the source.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Despite the divergence, some of these changes still seem tailor-made to allow for the big comic reveal about Black Noir to still take place, albeit in a different manner. For example, while Black Noir’s allergy to nuts is something that wasn’t in the comics, it still could be suggested that it supports the idea that he was created to kill Homelander. After all, if Noir is strong enough to kill the most powerful member of The Seven, it stands to reason that Vought would create a way to kill Noir, since this would theoretically mark him as the strongest superhuman ever made by them – even if Ryan may end up actually being the most powerful character on The Boys. By slightly altering Noir’s story in this manner, the Amazon version can actually enhance the overall plot of The Boys, by ensuring that details that felt like plot holes in the original comic are explained and justified in this version of events.

Homelander’s Comic Twist

The biggest plot twist in the comic version of The Boys is undoubtedly the reveal that Black Noir is in fact a clone of Homelander. Not only that, Black Noir is a more powerful clone of Homelander, in actuality, created by Vought to serve as a fail-safe able to kill Homelander should he become uncontrollable. Unfortunately, Black Noir becomes arguably much worse, appearing to be driven insane by having to hold back from the purpose he was made for. This resulted in Black Noir essentially kickstarting the events of the comic by sexually assaulting Billy Butcher’s wife, and then mailing Butcher photographs of himself committing various atrocities, which naturally made it appear as though Homelander was instead doing them.

Black Noir was finally able to make good on his intent to kill Homelander in the final issues of the series, although their battle weakened Noir enough that the combined efforts of the US military and The Boys themselves saw him eventually killed also. While it seems more likely that Billy Butcher may kill Homelander in The Boys season 3, this doesn’t yet mean that Black Noir definitely isn’t a clone, as his new self is far more in line with what Vought would have made were they seeking a figure who could wait in the wings to off Homelander should they want him gone.

Vought’s Superhero Model Only Worked With Failsafes

 

The strange thing about Vought’s plan to create superhuman individuals is that, both in the comics and the current Amazon series, there’s very little in place to control them. When crafting a being that could topple cities if not countries, it doesn’t make sense to not have a back-up plan established just in case they go berserk – especially since the chances of this are demonstrably quite high. The show has already proven that the mental effects of having god-like powers inevitably leads to at least some of these heroes getting serious superiority complexes.

As such, Vought’s method of creating superheroes through Compound V and then controlling them only properly works if there is a failsafe installed when these heroes are created; not necessarily to kill them, but to at least stop them from being able to do whatever they like. This is even more apparent in the show, as Vought grow increasingly desperate to try and control Homelander, and yet find time and time again that he is simply too volatile for them to be able to do so. The end of season 2 did seem to initially suggest he’d be in the control of Maeve and Starlight, because of the former’s blackmailing power over him, but the coda showing him masturbating over the city suggests, if anything, he’s going to be worse still.

Black Noir’s Allergy Fixes The Original Story

 

Black Noir’s allergy to tree nuts seemed both a joke and a deus ex machina when it is first revealed – something to provide a laugh, and to conveniently get rid of a character that could be borderline impossible for the protagonists to beat otherwise. But if it was made artificially, Black Noir’s allergy then takes on a different light altogether. After all, when creating perfect superhumans, things like allergies are not on the list of ideal inclusions, meaning it appears far more likely that this nut allergy instead is a purposeful addition.

But why would Vought go through all the effort of creating a perfect superhuman just to give them one huge weakness? Chances are, in order to utilize it, as were Black Noir to go off the rails there’d be a way to kill him or neutralize him without wasting huge amounts of resources to do so. This actually fixes a confusing aspect of the comics; as instead of Vought merely hoping Black Noir would never go rogue because there was no failsafe create should he do so, a plan is instead already in place to take him down should the need arise.

Black Noir Can Still Be Homelander’s Clone

All of this suggests that Black Noir could still in fact be a clone of Homelander, designed to murder him if he becomes too uncontrollable. This is a theory that season 2 did appear to disprove – as it was revealed that Black Noir is a Black man, proving that the pair do not look exactly the same as they did in the comics. However, given that Black Noir didn’t appear to know he was genetically altered to have powers, it seems logical that Vought would have also purposefully kept him in the dark about being a clone made to kill Homelander. As such, it would be important to make sure the pair looked different, as otherwise it would have been clear they were one and the same the minute there was a glimpse of Black Noir under his mask. He doesn’t need to be identical to be made from the same genetics.

Were Black Noir to still in some way be a Homelander clone, this could open up a series of interesting developments for the character. Though the comics version of someone fully aware they were created to kill another person is interesting, the idea of a version of Black Noir who was made to kill Homelander but who isn’t aware of this fact is levels more interesting again. That said, with Black Noir having reportedly suffered brain damage after his anaphylactic shock, he could revert to a more instinctive figure, and that may in fact be far close to the comics version of the character – though what this says for who would win would a fight between the show’s version of Homelander and Black Noir in a future battle in The Boys isn’t yet clear.

Why Maisie Williams Resented Playing Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark

About The Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *