Why Did Homelander Kill Black Noir In The Season 3 Finale?

Among all of the supes in The Seven, the only relationship that seemed genuine was the friendship between Homelander and Black Noir. Unlike the other supes, Black Noir liked Homelander and was not doing things for him out of fear. Despite that, Homelander still ended up killing Black Noir in the season 3 finale, as this surprised not only the audience but also the remaining members of The Seven. So, why did Homelander kill Black Noir in the season 3 finale?

Homelander killed Black Noir because he felt that he betrayed him when he withheld information regarding his father. Black Noir admitted that he knew all along that Soldier Boy was Homelander’s father, and the fact that he kept this a secret angered Homelander, who killed him out of rage.

The fact that Homelander killed Black Noir means that he no longer has a true friend in the world, as all of the other people around him are only there because they are afraid of him. This also proves that Black Noir was never going to be the one to kill Homelander, unlike in the comics. So, with that said, let’s look at why Homelander killed Black Noir and what led to that decision.

Why Did Homelander Kill Black Noir?

When The Boys began, the most mysterious character in the series was Black Noir. That’s because he never spoke a word and was seemingly just in there in the background keeping his face hidden while minding his own business. However, what was clear was that he was always an effective killing machine that did whatever Homelander asked him to do. In fact, throughout The Boys, Homelander and Black Noir were seemingly friendly to one another as the ninja was the only one that the leader of The Seven regarded as his friend.

This relationship between Homelander and Black Noir began when Homelander was still starting out as a supe. This was shown during the final episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical. In that episode, Homelander thought that Black Noir was going to rat him out after he messed up and killed innocent people. But it turned out that Black Noir was on his side and was there to help him cover up the mess that he made.

Since then, Black Noir and Homelander became best friends that respected one another. When Homelander found out that Soldier Boy was still alive, he even told Black Noir that he was the only friend he could depend on, although Black Noir did indeed run off out of fear because of what happened between him and Soldier Boy in the past.

While he was away, Black Noir had a flashback scene with his imaginary cartoon friends as he relived the past when he and the rest of Payback betrayed Soldier Boy and allowed the Russians to take him. It was revealed that he led the plot against Soldier Boy and that he got permission from Vought to betray the leader of Payback when the company was ready to move on from him and focus on Homelander. And Mindstorm later revealed to Soldier Boy that Vought decided to allow them to betray him because Homelander was created from his semen and was going to be the one to replace him.

At the end of episode 7, Soldier Boy contacted Homelander and told him about what he found out. This only caused Homelander’s psyche to become more distorted as he realized that he had a father all along and that Vought kept everything hidden from him. 

The moment Black Noir returned from his short absence, he was seemingly renewed because he had now decided to kill Soldier Boy to take revenge on what he did to him back in 1984. Homelander was happy enough to see his friend back but was quick to talk to him about Soldier Boy because no one knew him more than Black Noir did. Still, Black Noir insisted on killing Soldier Boy because he knew that he was bad.

Homelander, however, asked Black Noir if he always knew that he had a father and that he was created from Soldier Boy’s genetics. Black Noir said that he did know about Soldier Boy, especially because he was the one that Vought told about their plans of replacing him with Homelander. Seemingly distraught, Homelander punched a hole right through Black Noir’s abdomen as he pulled the guts right out of him the moment he removed his arm.

At that very moment, Black Noir was dying after he had been punched through the gut by the man who he always regarded as his true friend. So, why exactly did Homelander kill Black Noir even though he also thought that he was his best friend?

Homelander killed Black Noir because it was a spur-of-the-moment decision that was brought about by his intense feelings after he thought that his friend betrayed him by keeping valuable information a secret from him.

In the meeting with Ashley, A-Train, and the Deep, Homelander told them that he killed Black Noir because he kept things hidden from him even though he always thought that his friend was a lot more dependable than the three of them combined. In that regard, Homelander got hurt by the fact that Black Noir never told him about Soldier Boy, as that was what brought the decision to kill the only person he regarded as a friend.

Did Black Noir Betray Homelander?

Even though Homelander believed that Black Noir betrayed him, does that really mean that the ninja of The Seven really did betray his best friend? Well, we believe that Homelander only saw it as a betrayal from his side and not from Black Noir’s side of things.

Homelander, although he could read through Black Noir because he could see through his mask, never knew what his friend went through all those years ago when he was under Soldier Boy. He didn’t know that Black Noir suffered all of his injuries because of what Soldier Boy did to him. On top of that, because Black Noir couldn’t speak, Homelander didn’t know how abusive of a person Soldier Boy was to the rest of Payback.

In that regard, Black Noir kept the information regarding Soldier Boy a secret from Homelander because he didn’t want to know how horrible of a person his father was. This was not a betrayal on his part, as he always stayed loyal to Homelander and was willing enough to do all kinds of horrible things that his friend asked him to do.

The fact that Black Noir knew about Homelander’s father and was looking to see that he would never become as abusive as Soldier Boy could explain the events in Diabolical when Black Noir told him that he was on his side. Black Noir always knew who Homelander was, and that was probably the reason why he immediately befriended Soldier Boy’s son, who he didn’t want to become as abusive as his father was.

Could Black Noir Still Be Alive?

At this point, it is difficult to see how Black Noir could still be alive after what Homelander did to him. Homelander literally punched a hole through his stomach and pulled his guts out. And Homelander even had enough time to take Black Noir’s mask and was able to confirm that his friend was indeed dead.

This is the biggest departure from the comics because the comic book version of Black Noir was always Homelander’s clone. However, the Black Noir in the live-action series was an entirely different person. In that regard, he was never as important as the Black Noir in the comics, and that makes it hard to see why he could still be alive somewhere and is going to return in season 4.