Why Did Black Noir And Payback Betray Soldier Boy?

A good part of season 3 of The Boys explores the life and history behind Soldier Boy and his former team called Payback. However, when Soldier Boy escaped from Russia, one of the things that we learned was that Payback was the one that allowed the Russians to take him and that it was Black Noir who orchestrated the entire plan. So, why did Black Noir and Payback betray Soldier Boy?

Black Noir and Payback betrayed Soldier Boy because he was an abusive asshole that didn’t want anyone else on the team to succeed. He treated everyone on Payback like garbage and often abused them in training sessions. Soldier Boy even sabotaged Black Noir’s movie career.

It really does make sense that Soldier Boy is an asshole, considering that he is actually related to Homelander. That explains why Payback hated him and wanted to do something about the way he treated them. Of course, the fact that Soldier Boy was always idiotic and oblivious to the things happening around him made it impossible for him to see the betrayal coming. Now, let’s look at how much Payback hated Soldier Boy.

Why Did Black Noir And Payback Betray Soldier Boy?

Soldier Boy has actually become one of the most important characters in The Boys after he was revealed to be alive. However, fans of the series were made to believe that it was all the Russians that orchestrated his capture in Nicaragua in 1984, based on Grace Mallory’s story. What happened, according to Mallory’s memory, was that the Russians used a special weapon strong enough to kill Soldier Boy and took off with his body. The world assumed that he was dead.

However, when Butcher and The Boys went to Russia to find this weapon, they found an alive Soldier Boy instead, as he had been kept by the Russians in a lab for nearly 40 years while experimenting on him. Soldier Boy eventually found his way back to America, where he quickly tried to find Crimson Countess.

When Butcher and Hughie got to her first, Crimson Countess quickly said that she and Payback were the ones that allowed the Russians to take off with Soldier Boy. And Soldier Boy knew that when he confronted Crimson Countess, who said that she never loved him and that he always hated his guts.

Meanwhile, when Soldier Boy found the TNT Twins during the Herogasm event, they told him that they just went with the plan and that it was all Black Noir’s idea to betray him. Mindstorm, when Soldier Boy found him, told him as much but with the additional information that Homelander was his son. But, basically speaking, Black Noir was the one who orchestrated the entire plan.

So, why did Black Noir and Payback betray Soldier Boy? Basically, they betrayed him because all of them hated him. Crimson Countess said as much when Soldier Boy confronted her. She told him that they always hated him, and that led to their eventual plot against him.

Why Did Payback Hate Soldier Boy So Much?

Before episode 7 of season 3 of The Boys, we only saw glimpses of what kind of a person Soldier Boy is. Yes, he was an idiot and a bigot whose mind was still trapped in the past because of the fact that he was a Boomer in every sense of the word in terms of the way he saw things. But we already knew that he wasn’t exactly the nicest person.

Early in season 3, Butcher confronted Gunpowder, who used to be Soldier Boy’s sidekick. He told Gunpowder that he knows about the complaints of abuse that he had against Soldier Boy man years ago when they were still teammates. That means that Gunpowder, although he didn’t join the plot to betray Soldier Boy, also had every reason to hate him because of the way he treated him.

However, it was only during Black Noir’s cartoonish flashback scene that we were able to see just how big of an asshole Soldier Boy was to the rest of Payback. That scene made us understand that Payback had every reason to hate him.

In that scene, Soldier Boy was seen beating Gunpowder up in training as Crimson Countess tended to him. Meanwhile, Black Noir stormed the training facility and was seemingly angry at Soldier Boy.

Gunpowder said that he always wanted to play the role of Axel Foley in the 1984 Beverly Hills Cop movie. However, Soldier Boy told bad things about Black Noir to the producers of the movie so that they would have every reason not to cast him for the role. Of course, we all know that the role went to Eddy Murphy, who rose to fame thanks to his portrayal of Axel Foley.

Nevertheless, Soldier Boy justified his actions by saying that he didn’t think that Black Noir was a star and that he wasn’t fit for the role because he wasn’t funny. He proceeded to beat Black Noir up in training and told him that he could never be him because he wasn’t a star. Soldier Boy also told Black Noir that he would put him in his place the next time he tried to move on up as a rising name in the supe industry.

In many ways, Soldier Boy didn’t want anyone else to share the spotlight with him because he wanted to be the one at the top. Meanwhile, he made sure that all of the other members of Payback were beneath him and didn’t have a chance to move on up as stars that could make their own names in the industry. In that regard, Black Noir had every reason to hate him, and so did the rest of Payback.

This eventually led to the plot to incapacitate Soldier Boy long enough for the Russians to take him. We also learned that Vought actually gave the green light to the plan to betray Soldier Boy because they wanted to replace him with a newer, younger, and stronger supe that could fly. Of course, that supe was Homelander, who turned out to be worse than Soldier Boy.

How Did Payback Defeat Soldier Boy?

As powerful as Soldier Boy may be, Payback was able to defeat him in that incident in Nicaragua because of their teamwork. Black Noir was the first to confront him one-on-one after the TNT Twins were able to put him on his back and just after the rest of Payback tried to pin him on the ground.

However, Black Noir was no match for him because Soldier Boy was simply too strong for him to overcome. In fact, the injuries that Black Noir sustained were all because of Soldier Boy. Essentially, the reason why he has a disfigured face, cannot speak, and has seemingly suffered from brain damage was due to the fact that Soldier Boy burned his face and beat him so hard that he smashed his brains out.

Still, Mindstorm was able to use his powers to incapacitate Soldier Boy long enough. His psychic powers were not entirely enough to keep the supe down, but Crimson Countess eventually used a Russian nerve agent called Novichok to put him to sleep. And Soldier Boy was asleep long enough for the Russians to take his body back to Russia and keep him there for nearly four decades.

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