The Boys' top supe before Vought introduced Homelander probably isn't who you think. Garth Ennis' original The Boys comic books and Amazon's live-action adaptation both put one man, and one man only, atop Vought's superhero hierarchy. By every conceivable measure, Homelander is the company's top dog. He's their most powerful weapon, the leader of the Seven, their most marketable asset, and an unrivaled political bargaining chip. Homelander clearly isn't a newcomer when The Boys begins either - he's lauded over the pack for a decade or so, if not longer. Based on dated footage from his childhood, we can roughly guess Homelander debuted sometime around the early-mid 2000s.
Vought, we know, has existed far longer, churning out Compound-V heroes since the Second World War. So, who was the company's highest-ranked supe before Homelander came along? For most The Boys viewers, imagining anyone other than Homey in that position feels wrong, but one leading candidate must surely be Soldier Boy. We know Soldier Boy was active from WWII to the 1980s, starred in numerous movies along the way, and has a statue erected in his honor. Debuting in The Boys season 3 and played by Jensen Ackles, Soldier Boy has also been described as something of a "proto-Homelander," bearing the same patriotic, all-American message.
The Boys now reveals Vought's top supe before Homelander was, in fact, Black Noir. In The Boys: Diabolical's "One Plus One Equals Two" episode, Homelander's (or "The Homelander," at this point) Vought debut is shown for the very first time. He's assigned Black Noir as a mentor, describing the silent supe as a man he's admired his entire life. This must mean Black Noir served under Vought's employ since the early 1990s, at least. The interior of Vought tower is visibly covered in "Black Noir" merchandise material, and Madelyn Stillwell even warns Homelander that Noir wouldn't want a competitor for his "number one spot."
Black Noir isn't exactly the first supe you'd imagine topping Vought's company-wide ratings. For a start, he doesn't even talk. That means no interviews, no proper media appearances, limited charismatic appeal. Black Noir's powers are fairly standard too - superhuman strength, agility, durability, etc - nothing like Homelander's impressive flying and laser eyes. Black Noir is as close to a polar opposite of Homelander as you'll find on Vought's books, so the fact Homey replaced Noir as Vought's biggest star instead of Soldier Boy, Lamplighter or Mister Marathon is certainly a shock. Perhaps The Boys: Diabolical's Black Noir popularity riffs on the real-world DC rivalry between Superman and Batman. If Homelander is Supes, Noir sits closer to the Dark Knight, and DC's top stars have endured a (mostly) friendly popularity contest for almost a century. Their real life feud might've informed the decision to make Black Noir Homelander's immediate predecessor.
That's not to say Soldier Boy wasn't Vought's top supe before Black Noir. From his statue, we know Soldier Boy retired/died in the 1980s, so maybe he dominated the company's charts from the 1940s until then, at which point Black Noir came to prominence. Noir's strong, silent appeal propelled him to stardom, but Vought wanted another patriotic supe in the Soldier Boy mold, thus Homelander was introduced, stealing Noir's mantle. Particularly interesting is how Black Noir doesn't particularly care either way. Rather than viewing Homelander as a threat to his throne, Noir goes out of his way to help the inexperienced newcomer. Maybe that's just the kind of chilled-out guy Noir is, but this immediately friendly relationship between Seven heroes could also factor into The Boys season 3 - especially if, as rumors suggest, Noir is secretly replaced by a Vought impostor.