The Boys Season 4 Just Brought A Character Back From The Dead – Kind Of

Spoilers for the first three premiere episodes of "The Boys" season 4 follow.

When "The Boys" season 4 begins, The Seven (a superhero team and Homelander's (Antony Starr) crony squad) is down to just The Four. Starlight (Erin Moriarty) quit for good last season, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) is presumed dead, and the seventh slot is like a rotating door of short-lived supes. Aside from Homelander, The Seven is now just A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), The Deep (Chace Crawford), and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Wait, what?!

Black Noir met his end in "The Boys" season 3 finale, "The Instant White Hot Wild." A long time ago, Noir was on the superhero team Payback, led by the thuggish Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) — basically Captain America with a realistic outlook for an early 20th century white man. Noir helped bury Soldier Boy, but in "The Boys" season 3, Johnny came marching home and looking for payback. Soldier Boy and Homelander discovered they were (biologically) father and son, something Noir knew all along. For this betrayal of trust, Homelander (who always wanted a real family) gutted Noir. 

So, how is Noir back in "The Boys" season 4 and working for his murderer? Is his healing factor just that good? Nope: this isn't the same Noir as before. As "The Boys" creator Eric Kripke previously confirmed (and which becomes apparent across these three new episodes), it's a new character in the old costume.

Since Noir's costume completely covers his body and face (a holdover from the days where Black superheroes were a no-no), it's easy to slip someone new in with the public none the wiser. Plus, as Homelander killed the original Noir, Vought International has a vested interest in covering up his death by pretending he never died.

In the original "The Boys" comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Black Noir is just as silent and even more mysterious than in the show. In issue #65, he reveals himself as a clone of Homelander, designed as a failsafe against the real thing. It was Noir who committed Homelander's most heinous crimes (such as raping Becca Butcher), which in turn drove Homelander evil because it convinced him that he had done those things. (This twist is superhero metatext, specifically how dark 'n gritty Batman has "corrupted" Superman in his image.)

Will the new Black Noir take off his mask and reveal Antony Starr's terrifying grin staring back at Homelander? Sorry, "The Boys" comic fans, but no. Kripke has said in the past he isn't a fan of how the comic's Black Noir twist "marginalizes" Homelander and that the show probably won't adapt it. "The Boys" season 4 stays true to Kripke's word.

In season premiere, "Department of Dirty Tricks," Noir II initially stays silent like his predecessor, amping up the mystery. After he and the Deep kill Todd (Matthew Gorman) for a frame-up job against Starlight, he exclaims, "Yo what the f***?" In the opening of episode 2, "Life Among the Septics," Noir II asks A-Train if murder is something the Seven does regularly.

Black Noir II is just a supe actor who accepted the role of a lifetime. He struggles with the part, though, because Noir is a silent cipher. He can't find his motivation and his teammates (who barely knew Noir I) aren't forthcoming. 

The new Noir is actually played full-time by Nathan Mitchell (that's his voice you hear when Noir speaks). The previous Noir, Earving, was played by Fritzy-Klevans Destine when we finally saw his face under the mask in "The Boys" season 3.

Kripke has said that when making "The Boys" season 3, killing off the OG Noir was a late call. That might explain his decision to keep the character around in spirit (without having to let Mitchell go). Even so, this "resurrection" works because it satirizes how superheroes can never truly die. 

In "The Boys," supes are brands and celebrities, not heroes. "Life Among the Septics" even shows how Vought preps most of The Seven's public heroism ahead of time with green screens and stuntmen, a la how Marvel Studios digitally designs its movies' action scenes years in advance. The Black Noir IP is valuable, so why would Vought let it go to waste just because someone died wearing the costume?

The same logic follows in comic books. It's pretty common these days for superheroes to die for a few years of publication then return. In that interim, another character almost always picks up their mantle. After Steve Rogers was assassinated in 2007's "Captain America" #25 (by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting), Bucky Barnes briefly became the new Captain America. The Marvel Cinematic Universe did a similar trade over so Chris Evans could bow out as Cap; Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is the leading man of "Captain America: Brave New World" instead.

The mantle of Robin has been passed along from Boy Wonder to Boy Wonder. During Grant Morrison's "Batman" run, the first Robin — Dick Grayson — got to wear the cowl after Bruce Wayne was lost in the past. Dan Slott's "Superior Spider-Man" features an audacious version of this; a dying Doctor Octopus swaps bodies with Peter Parker then sets out to achieve the ultimate victory by being a better Spider-Man than his nemesis was. 

We'll see how well Black Noir II can live up to the original.

"The Boys" is streaming on Prime Video, with new episodes released on Thursdays.