A version of Black Noir is coming back to The Boys season 4, and his return seems like it officially kills the big twist with him and Homelander from the comics. While Noir was killed at the end of season 3, showrunner Eric Kripke revealed that his actor, Nathan Mitchell, will return in season 4 as a new character wearing the Black Noir costume (via Entertainment Weekly). In that same interview, Kripke also says that the new character Mitchell plays is hilarious, which seems to suggest that his personality will be different from the original Noir.
The biggest takeaway from Nathan Mitchell’s continued involvement with Amazon Prime's The Boys, however, is that it might officially kill the twist with Black Noir and Homelander from the comics. Near the end of the comics, it’s revealed that Black Noir is actually a clone of Homelander meant to kill and replace Homelander if he became a liability, and out of pure sadism, he gaslit Homelander into thinking that he committed multiple atrocities that were really Noir’s doing, including assaulting Butcher’s wife. It was already highly unlikely that the twist would happen in the show thanks to all the changes made to Noir, and while there’s still a way for the show to pull it off, Mitchell playing a new version of Noir makes it even less likely because he won’t look anything like Homelander - whereas if the show was seeking to use this comic plot point, Anthony Starr would've taken on the role in The Boys season 4.
How “Black Noir” Appears In The Boys Season 4
As of right now, it hasn’t been explained how Black Noir in The Boys season 4 will be explained, but there are plenty of ways to justify it. For example, an easy way to explain it would be that the new Noir is someone wanting to continue his legacy following his death, something that happens very often in superhero media. Not only that, but if Noir’s death in season 3 isn’t public knowledge, then the new Noir could be someone who’s being forced to pretend to be the original Noir to uphold the image of the Seven. Homelander was incredibly distraught over having to kill Noir, so something like that could even work as an attempt of his to hold onto the one person he saw as a friend.
The Boys Can Still Adapt The Homelander Clone Twist
While it’s more unlikely to happen now than ever before, it still wouldn’t be impossible for The Boys to adapt the Homelander clone twist from the comics. While Nathan Mitchell won’t look anything like Antony Starr’s Homelander, it could easily be that the new Black Noir is simply a non-identical clone of Homelander, since having Homelander's DNA doesn't necessarily mean being identical to the original. That would eliminate the angle of Noir existing to replace Homelander, but he can still be written as a sadist who wants to torture Homelander as much as possible - and that could still be an interesting angle to explore.
It was already unlikely that The Boys would use the same twist with Black Noir and Homelander from the comics, but Nathan Mitchell being cast as the new Black Noir in The Boys season 4 seemingly puts a definitive end to the idea. Granted, the twist could still be done by altering certain details, but considering how different Nathan Mitchell's Black Noir has already been from the comics, that’s very unlikely to be the case. The Boys has made itself vastly different from the original comics since the beginning, and with this news about Noir, it doesn’t look like that will be changing anytime soon.