Forget Homelander: Black Noir’s Real Target Is Another Supe

The Boys season 5 is playing a weird little shell game with Black Noir. The guy under the mask has been through more identity swaps than anyone on this show, and the new version might be headed toward killing a major supe — just not the one most people expect.

Spoilers for The Boys comics and season 5, episodes 1-3.

Where Noir is at right now

Quick refresher: TV Noir started as a quiet, terrifying assassin. Then he broke from Homelander, got killed, and Vought slapped the suit on an actor in season 4. Season 5 quietly resets him back to a near-mute, hyper-competent presence — very much not the chatty performer from last year. He has not had a big storyline yet; through the first three episodes he is mostly running missions with the Deep. And the vibe between them is frosty in a way that screams something is off.

The big comic-book theory... and why it does not track on TV

The loudest theory floating around is that Noir will take out Homelander by the end. That is how the comic ends, but the details matter: in the books, it turns out Black Noir is a Homelander clone — stronger, nastier, and the real culprit behind some of Homelander's worst alleged crimes, including assaulting Butcher's wife. Noir frames Homelander for the evil stuff, reveals it all, they throw down, and Noir kills him. He wins the duel, even though he is banged up.

Back when season 1 hit, people assumed the show might run that play. Then the series swerved hard. TV Noir was revealed to be a Black man who had been Vought's tool since Soldier Boy's era. That pretty much killed the clone idea. Later, season 4 stuck an actor in the suit, which made things even murkier. Now, in season 5, it looks like that actor has been replaced by someone who feels more like the original. Could the show be sneaking in a Homelander clone after all?

Here is why that does not really make sense:

• It is a twist a lot of viewers already know from the comics, so it lands predictable instead of explosive.
• The show already did its own parentage shocker with Soldier Boy being Homelander's father. Doing the clone on top of that is overkill.
• In-universe, Homelander basically runs Vought now. Swapping in a clone-level Noir under his nose is a reach.
• If anyone could pull off a secret contingency clone, it is Sister Sage — but that feels like bending the story just to copy the comic ending.

The kill that actually lines up: the Deep

If Noir is going to put someone in the ground this season, the breadcrumbs point to the Deep. These two used to be friendly. Then, in season 4, the Deep played boss over the actor wearing Noir's suit, which flipped their dynamic. Now the current Noir is clearly more capable, and Homelander trusts him more — a combo the Deep does not handle well.

Season 5, episode 3 is the tipping point: Noir bags Stan Edgar, which is basically Homelander's white whale. The Deep knows that getting Edgar is huge, wants the win for himself, and flat-out knocks Noir out to steal the credit. He drags Edgar in and leaves Noir unconscious. That is not just petty — that is a death-wish move when the other guy is a stone-cold killer.

So yeah, something's clearly up with Noir. The show is saving the reveal for later, but the setup feels less like a comic-book clone redux and more like a slow burn to Noir settling a personal score. If he does end the Deep, it would fit the characters, the politics inside the Seven, and the show's fondness for ugly, ironic consequences. Homelander's eventual reckoning — if he even gets one — probably comes from a very different, messier direction as the series barrels toward its conclusion.