The Homelander And Black Noir Battle You Probably Won't See In The Boys Season 3

The Boys season 2 left The Seven deeply fractured. Stormfront is incapacitated with Darth Vader-like injuries. Homelander is reeling from the loss of her and his son, while being blackmailed by Queen Maeve. Black Noir is in the hospital recovering from anaphylactic shock after Maeve assaulted him with an Almond Joy. A-Train has come back to the group, but may still have serious health issues. And of course, Starlight hates them all, save for Maeve, but puts on a smile as she plots their demise.

Let's just say, the situation is rife with conflict and it's probably just a matter of time before two or more of them come to blows (again). But there's one battle that we probably can scratch off the list: Homelander and Black Noir's battle to the death in The Boys comics.

Late in The Boys comics' run, we find out that Black Noir is actually a clone of Homelander made by Vought to kill Homelander if he ever gets out of control. After Homelander kills the President of the United States, Black Noir reveals his identity to everyone. Homelander attacks him and the two fight it out in the White House, but Black Noir comes out on top and emerges with the other Supe's corpse. In the comics, Billy Butcher seizes the opportunity to take out Black Noir, thus completing his vengeance-driven jihad against the Supes. 

While this epic throw-down serves as a perfectly effective climax for the comics, events in season 2 suggest this isn't how it's going to play out on The Boys TV show.

When Black Noir is incapacitated by an Almond Joy, we learn more about him than the existence of his nut allergy: The whole Black Noir-is-a-Homelander-clone thing is probably not canon on the show. The peek at his face shows that actor Nathan Mitchell is very much still under the mask, not Antony Starr (Homelander). So without Black Noir secretly moonlighting as Homelander, that comic fight seems unlikely to happen, at least in that context.

We do know that Black Noir will return in season 3. "Absolutely Noir will be back," showrunner Eric Kripke said in a video on Twitter. "He's definitely a fan favorite. And we're actually going to learn more about him in season 3. There might even — might even — be an opportunity for him to take off his mask."

One theory is that Noir will return as a zombie, much like Lamplighter did in the comics. If he's a zombie, he'll certainly have to take off his mask to eat anyone's brains. On the other hand, a zombified Noir seems less likely to reveal details about his past like Kripke suggests. It's entirely possible we should be more worried about Maeve's fate in season 3, as she's the one who's pissed off both Homelander and Black Noir. While we might not get to see Black Noir and Homelander duking it out, Black Noir could take revenge on Maeve. For her sake, let's hope she's replenished her Almond Joy stock.