The Boys Fan Theory That Could Reveal Black Noir's Real Identity

The Amazon Prime original series The Boys tackles the superhero TV genre in a unique way, showcasing a diverse — but still very white — ensemble of powered individuals. Some are good, some are bad, and others are a healthy mix of both. Superpowers and fame can get in the way of a hero's daily life, and The Boys addresses that as well. Many of the characters are spoofs of mainstream heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman, but there's also a real enigma in the mix: Black Noir.

The character never speaks on the show, nor does he remove his enigmatic mask, and it's pretty obvious that this is a purposeful move. The mystique surrounding Black Noir is that we don't know his real identity. The big reveal is bound to happen at some point, maybe during the current second season, and will inevitably serve as a big twist in The Boys' storyline. Some fans think they've already figured out who's hiding behind the mask.

Massive spoiler alert for The Boys comics ahead. Proceed with caution if you don't want to potentially have future plot twists spoiled.

He may not yet have spoken on show, but Black Noir does eventually start talking in the comic book source material. In fact, Black Noir's real identity is already known by readers of the comic, in which he's revealed to be a clone of Homelander. Shocking, right?

Homelander, as far as we know, is the most powerful character in the show's universe, and seems to get more out of control with each passing day. Since Homelander could become an unstoppable problem, the comic book iteration of Vought International was smart enough to hide in plain sight the only thing they believed could stop Homelander: Homelander himself. Because this system of checks and balances is already known among die-hard fans of The Boys, it's possible it won't even make it into the show.

Just because Black Noir might not be Homelander's clone doesn't mean we should rule out the whole clone idea. At one point, the YouTube show Heavy Spoilers looked at some hints dropped on The Boys that could very well suggest that the TV version of Black Noir is actually a clone of Billy Butcher. Of course, a Butcher clone would have to be pumped full of Compound V, the drug used to create superheroes, or he'd never had made it into the Seven. The series has already made passing reference to the fact that Black Noir used to work for the CIA — so did Butcher. Noir pulling off his mask to reveal Butcher's face be a seriously shocking twist for fans both new and old.

The clone theory isn't entirely necessary to explain Black Noir's real identity, but it would be an all-in-one package for providing a twist, countering Homelander's psychotic impulses, and staying true to the comic while still surprising readers. It's possible, though, that The Boys is taking a completely different route, and some fans think they know where it's heading.

The season 2 episode "We Gotta Go Now" delves heavily into the backstory of Billy Butcher and his brother. Lenny Butcher supposedly died a while back, and Billy eventually took Hughie under his wing because he reminded him of his deceased brother. All of this took place while Black Noir was attempting to assassinate Butcher, leading fans to connect the dots, as explored in the same Heavy Spoilers episode that explored the clone theory. Now, those dots might turn out to be a distraction meant to through us off the trail, or Lenny may actually have survived. He could've easily been taken to a secret facility where he was brainwashed and treated with Compound V before being inducted into the Seven.

Of course, we don't really have any reason to think that Black Noir has been brainwashed, so the Lenny theory is still up in the air. When we've seen Noir, he's been on an assassination mission at the behest of Vought. The show makes him out to look like a mindless killer, except for that time after the news about Compound V broke and we saw Noir crying in a hallway.

Maybe Noir is a clone, maybe he's Lenny, or maybe he'll end up being a different character entirely. If he is a clone, the reveal would probably put Nathan Mitchell, the actor who's been inside that suit thus far, out of a job.