Why Black Noir Never Speaks or Removes His Mask?

Black Noir is one of the most popular supes in the entire The Boys story because of his overall coolness as a silent and stoic ninja character. His silence and anonymity add to the coolness factor that this character comes with, but we did get to meet him during the earlier part of The Boys when he was seen without his mask. However, since then, he never talks nor removes his mask. So, why doesn’t Black Noir ever speak or remove his mask?

It is possible that Black Noir doesn’t speak or remove his mask due to the injuries he sustained back in the attack of the Sandinistas and the Russians back in the Nicaragua event. His injuries might have taken away his ability to speak and were certainly serious enough to damage his appearance.

Before the attack on Nicaragua, Black Noir was already ready to expose himself to the entire world because he wanted them to see him. Then again, not wearing his mask during the surprise attack on the Contra base in Nicaragua proved to be a mistake because that was what injured him. Now, let’s take a deeper look into what happened to Black Noir.

What Happened To Black Noir?

All of the members of The Seven in The Boys have their own personal issues and backstories, especially when it comes to how they interact with Homelander on a regular basis. But one of the supes that tend to be quite mysterious and downright stoic in his approach is Black Noir, who was an enigma during the first two seasons of The Boys because nobody knew anything about him.

This was a ninja that did heinous stuff in his assassination missions but still managed to keep his place within The Seven because he is cool, mysterious, and great at his job. But the earlier part of season 3 allowed us to get to know more about Black Noir and who he really is under that mask.

A good part of the early portion of season 3 revolved around Butcher and the rest of The Boys searching for the weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy because they believed that this could be a weapon strong enough to kill Homelander. This led Butcher to Gunpowder, who he beat up while on V24 so that he could extract information from him. After killing Gunpowder, Butcher and the gang visited Grace Mallory because she was allegedly involved in an incident about Soldier Boy back in 1984.

Mallory told them the story about how she was back in Nicaragua in 1984 to assist the Contra troops as a CIA agent. Payback, a supe group led by Soldier Boy, came along because Vought wanted to see how well they performed in an actual war. This was when we saw Black Noir as a member of Payback way before he became a member of The Seven.

While Mallory was walking around the base, she eavesdropped on a conversation between Black Noir and Stan Edgar. This time, however, Black Noir didn’t have his mask on and was quite vocal. He looked like a young African-American adult as he was telling Edgar that he preferred to keep his mask off because he wanted the people to get to know him. However, Edgar told him it was better for him to keep the mask on because people loved mysterious and stoic ninjas. Still, Black Noir was adamant about keeping the mask off for good.

Moments later, the Sandinistas and the Russians attacked the Contra base when they found it because one of the members of Payback, Swatto, flew around and allowed the enemy to spot him. The attack devasted the entire base and resulted in the capture of Soldier Boy by the Russians, who experimented on him and turned him into an even stronger weapon.

Meanwhile, Mallory was walking around the base and found a heavily injured Black Noir, apparently gasping for air and was reaching for his mask. He could barely move back then, but we all know that he survived his injuries because he went on to become the stoic and mysterious ninja of The Seven.

Why Doesn’t Black Noir Speak?

In the flashback scene about Grace Mallory’s experience with Payback, we were able to see Black Noir being a bit too talkative to the point that he was actually arguing with Stan Edgar about his decision of not wearing his mask from then on.

Then again, during his days with The Seven, he became a stoic supe that didn’t talk the entire series. Of course, in the comics, the reason why he never talks is related to the fact that he is actually Homelander’s clone. But that isn’t the case in the live-action series because Black Noir’s identity is entirely different. So, why doesn’t Black Noir speak?

It is possible that the same injuries he suffered during the attack on the Contra base in Nicaragua caused considerable damage that he lost the ability to speak. During the scene where Mallory saw him sitting on the ground, he was struggling to let air out of his mouth as it was possible that his windpipe or some other organ that’s related to speech was damaged.

In that regard, Black Noir doesn’t speak because of the very possibility that he could no longer speak. He must have lost the ability to talk due to the damage he suffered in that attack. As such, it wasn’t his choice to be the stoic and silent ninja that he eventually became. Instead, he just doesn’t talk because he can’t do so anymore.

Why Doesn’t Black Noir Remove His Mask?

Of course, back in the same flashback scene, Black Noir had an argument with Stan Edgar about not wearing his mask. Edgar thought that it was better for him to keep his mask on because it was better for the ratings. However, Black Noir wanted to keep it off for good because he wanted the people to know him.

Nevertheless, it was the fact that he kept his helmet off that prevented him from protecting his face. The attack from the Sandinistas and the Russians damaged his face to the point that he was heavily disfigured. Black Noir’s face was burnt down to the point that it became a horrifying sight to see.

As such, the reason why he no longer removes his mask is most likely related to what happened in Nicaragua. First, Vought wouldn’t want a supe with his horrifying face as one of the faces of the company. Second, Black Noir was now probably too ashamed of showing his face to the public. And finally, he must’ve regretted ever removing his mask at that moment because it was the fact that he kept his mask off that caused those significant injuries.