The Boys: What The Actor Who Plays Black Noir Looks Like In Real Life

This post contains spoilers for "The Boys" seasons 3 and 4. 

Of all the superheroes (and supervillains) in "The Boys," Black Noir has always been the most mysterious. He spent the first two seasons as a silent, ominous figure; he never tried to help our main characters out, but he also didn't seem particularly sadistic either. He was nice to kids, non-abusive to his Vought underlings, and had a humanizing almond allergy. He also stayed under a mask the whole time, making audiences curious as to what his face looked like underneath.

Season 3 finally answered this mystery, with a flashback to the '80s where we saw Noir in his early crime-fighting days. Here, Noir was portrayed by Fritzy-Klevans Destine, seen in the left picture below. The reason for Black Noir staying behind a mask throughout the whole show so far was answered in the same episode: he suffered a pretty gruesome injury that damaged his face. In order to stay corporate-friendly, that face needed to stay hidden from view. 

Notably, Destine is not the guy who played Black Noir throughout the rest of the series. Instead, older Noir was played by Nathan Mitchell, seen on the right below, an actor who's also played Kelvin in "Supernatural" and Zion Miller in "Ginny & Georgia." Mitchell's role in "The Boys" is pretty unique in that he basically got to play Noir twice; first he played the original Noir who stayed silent. Then, when Homelander killed Noir in the season 3 finale, Mitchell got to play Noir's replacement. The new Noir is meant to be a completely different person who's simply pretending to be the original Noir for PR purposes, but the actor who voices him is the same guy who's been behind the mask the whole time.

Noir's appearance is so significant because the show's source material, a comic series of the same name, had a pretty major twist based around how Noir looked behind the mask. The comics reveal that Noir is actually a clone of the main villain Homelander, designed by Vought as a failsafe in case Homelander went off the rails. Not only does comic Noir prove vital in taking Homelander down, but it's revealed that he was responsible for some of the worst crimes Homelander's been accused of. 

When season 3 revealed that TV Noir was a guy who looks nothing like Homelander, that seemed like a clear sign that the show wasn't planning to go in the same direction. It was a relief for a lot of fans who think the show is far better than the comics; not only is the show more mature in general, but the comics' big Noir twist wasn't actually that satisfying beyond its initial shock value. If Homelander's going to be taken down, most fans want it to be the result of hard work from the Boys, not because of an easy out handed to them by the Vought corporation. 

But with season 4 establishing there's a new Noir, fans are once again wondering if the Noir twist might still happen. The fact that Nathan Mitchell looks nothing like Homelander certainly hurts this theory, but who's to say the show won't pull that same season 3 trick again, giving Noir a completely different actor once it's time for him to take off the mask?

Of course, the clearest sign that there's no big Noir twist coming in season 5 is a line from Homelander back in season 3. In that season's finale, Homelander tells Noir about how he, with his see-through vision, has been able to see Noir's face the entire time. This means there's no reason Homelander won't be able to see through new Noir's mask either, so Noir will never be able to surprise him with a reveal of his face. It seems that if "The Boys" does kill off Homelander in season 5, it won't be taking notes from the comics.