‘The Boys’ Differences Between Black Noir In Comics And Show
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Among giants like Marvel and DC, The Boys stands as one of the most popular modern comic book adaptations. It’s certainly not family-friendly like many of its cleaner counterparts either. In the show, the character Black Noir serves as a sort of parody of some of the “edgier” mainstream heroes like Batman. Is that what Black Noir is at the source, though? The answer is fairly surprising. The TV adaptation of The Boys takes quite a few creative liberties from the original comic by Garth Ennis. Black Noir winds up feeling like a different character entirely.
A Very Different Noir
Anyone who’s seen every episode of The Boys currently available has seen the entirety of Black Noir’s arc. At least, that’s assuming they don’t revive him in a future season, something many have speculated. But that isn’t quite how Black Noir ends in the comic. Noir’s backstory is also completely different in the comic, and his original story is somewhat shocking.
In the Garth Ennis comic, Black Noir is a nearly-identical clone of Homelander. He was made for the explicit purpose of being the only thing capable of stopping Homelander should he ever turn on Vaught. In the show, Billy Butcher’s wife Becca is sexually assaulted by Homelander which results in her having a child. In the comic, the major reveal is that it was actually Black Noir who committed that assault. Because he looks identical to Homelander without the black mask on, the connection was never made.
In the show, Homelander kills Black Noir with a gut punch straight through his abdomen. In the comic, it’s actually Black Noir who kills Homelander after a long fight between the two. Black Noir himself is then swiftly disposed of by Billy Butcher who finally gets vengeance for Becca. A very different character than what we got in the Amazon show.
The Future Of The Boys
It’s been nearly a year since the third season of The Boys began airing on Amazon Prime Video. Things were quiet for a while, but more and more news about Season 4 has begun to trickle out. We know Jeffery Dean Morgan is now on the cast for the new season. Showrunner Eric Kripke also put the cover page for the Season 4 finale page on his Twitter account not long ago. Many aren’t hopeful for a 2023 release, but it may be possible at the rate we’re getting new info right now. It will likely be summer or early fall if the season does arrive in 2023, so we’ll have to see if a first teaser trailer arrives between now and then.
The first three seasons of The Boys are available on Amazon Prime Video now. Season 4 is in the process of filming.