History Characters / TheBoys

-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JasonIssacs

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"All right, boys. Let's give 'em a fuckin' spankin'."'']]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"I've been walking down this road since 1944. Kim and Kara died last week, do you really think that's what burned me out?"'']]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''Terror, mate!'']]

* BewareTheSuperman: This guy has all the powers of Superman, but none of the heart, which is bad news if you find yourself in his crosshairs.

[[folder:Black Noir]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:''"Hheeehhhhnnnhhh..."'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote: Unmasked (MAJOR SPOILERS)]]\\
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* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Of Franchise/{{Batman}}. [[spoiler:Or more accurately, [[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]], given his true nature as a clone of the Homelander.]]
* AlwaysABiggerFish: Is even stronger than the Homelander, because [[spoiler:he was created to kill him.]]
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:During TheReveal, he freely admits that he enjoyed committing the atrocities that he used to gaslight Homelander.]]
* BatmanParody: His status as the member of the Seven who's a dark, brooding vigilante clad in a black costume makes him an overt pastiche of the Caped Crusader. At one point, Vought executives are even trying to get him to fly a plane like the Batwing to satisfy the merchandising. In addition, ''Herogasm'' reveals that one of the villains he fights is named Sexface, a riff on how many of Batman's enemies have a codename ending with "face" (e.g., Clayface, Two-Face, the Ventriloquist's dummy Scarface). [[spoiler:Even though he's later revealed to be an {{Expy}} of Bizarro due to his status as Homelander's clone, he still fits within this trope due to him being a contingency to the other superheroes (especially Homelander and himself) if they ever went rogue, tendency to be BeneathNotice, and is cunning enough to implement a long-term BatmanGambit to gaslight Homelander into becoming a threat and practically [[PlayingBothSides manipulated both Vought-America and The Boys into conflict with neither side being the wiser till it was too late]].]]
* BedTrick: One of the first clues that [[spoiler:he's a clone of the Homelander]] is when the Homelander convinces him to switch out when he's screwing Maeve, citing their similar builds.
* BewareTheQuietOnes: Even the other members of The Seven are scared of him, excluding [[FlyingBrick Homelander]], obviously. [[spoiler:And Queen Maeve.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:He's the TRUE main villain of the superhero subplot, having gaslit Homelander into insanity by framing him for various atrocities. He's also the one who raped Butcher's wife, sparking Butcher's homicidal crusade against the hero community. Even after he dies and Butcher takes the role of the main villain, Noir's influence still remains.]]
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:After his fight with the Homelander, he has his intestines hanging out, is missing about a quarter of his head, has a thoroughly scorched lower half of his body, and is missing a lot of flesh on his left arm. He's ''still laughing''.]]
* ConflictKiller: The revelation that he is [[spoiler:the true rapist and murderer of Billy Butcher's wife]] unites [[spoiler:Butcher and the Homelander]] against him, although the former hauls butt out rather than trying to intervene when he and the latter start going at it.
* CorruptedContingency: [[spoiler:Black Noir is a clone of Homelander, created to stop the latter if he were to go rogue. Unfortunately, Black Noir grew bored with waiting for a reason to take Homelander out and decided to engineer the scenario he was designed to prevent by committing a spree of horrible crimes and gaslighting Homelander into thinking he was the one who committed them. This resulted in Homelander further embracing his already cruel and depraved nature, escalating to him leading an attempted coup. However, despite everything he did to frame and corrupt Homelander, Vought-American never does give him the order, showing if there ever ''was'' a line, Homelander either never crossed it in their eyes, or they did not actually care.]]
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Noir means 'Black' in French. In other words, his name is basically "Black Black".
* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler:Vought thought that Homelander was too powerful so they created a contingency, but they didn't consider that creating an even more powerful clone as said contingency might be a stupid way to go. This is especially apparent when they basically left him to his own devices aside from never letting him fulfill his life's purpose, leading to him going insane. Predictably it made things MUCH MUCH worse.]]
* EatsBabies: [[spoiler:He literally ate a baby and took photos of himself doing it to convince everyone it was actually Homelander who committed the depraved act]].
* EvilLaugh: [[spoiler:when he finally reveals himself to Homelander and Butcher and speaks, he is constantly laughing, literally up until the second Butcher opens his skull up with a crowbar]].
* TheFaceless: His costume consists of a black full-body suit with a completely blank facial mask, giving this effect.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Black Noir is even more powerful than the Homelander and far stronger than Butcher, though he remains on the sidelines for much of the plot, happy to have taken the actions to drive both insane while he watches their direct villainy move the plot.]]
* HateSink: The worst acts of evil [[spoiler:everyone believes to be committed by the Homelander were actually his doing]]. He's [[spoiler:murdered, raped, and even eaten babies]] all just so he could do the one thing he was [[spoiler:created]] to do. There's nothing even pitiable about him, he's just pure evil on wheels.
* LaughingMad: [[spoiler:Is a constantly GigglingVillain once TheReveal occurs.]]
* LetsGetDangerous: Threatens Starlight when she refuses to accept her new makeover and origin. [[spoiler:Also kills Homelander, which was his very purpose.]]
* NoLoveForTheWicked: Over the course of the story, he forces Starlight into oral sex, shoves his thumb up Hughie's ass, pulls a BedTrick on Maeve, and [[spoiler: rapes Becky]]. Starlight, however, notes that he doesn't show much pleasure in sex acts. His only real pleasures come in humiliating and screwing over others.

* PowerfulButIncompetent: Played with, as he is the most powerful supe on the planet and seemingly too stupid to be taught how to fly a plane but [[spoiler:reveals himself at the end to be the most cunning member of the Seven with his scheme that manipulated both Butcher and the Homelander. He is also even stronger than Homelander, can break his jaw in one punch and kill him, but he has still been visibly mutilated by his inferior prototype after the battle]].
* PerpetualSmiler: [[spoiler:He's shown to sport a near-permanent SlasherSmile under his mask. It only disappears after Butcher pries his brainpan open with a crowbar and pulls his brain out with his bare hands.]]
* TheQuietOne: Until [[spoiler:his final big reveal]], he only spoke in ''one'' instance, and that's when [[spoiler:he was at Herogasm and shoved his thumb up Wee Hughie's ass, saying "Good soldier, good soldier" after catching him]].
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:He's a Homelander clone, and behind most of his atrocities, including raping Butcher's wife. Worse: The fact that Homelander thought he was doing those deeds himself and couldn't remember it wreaked such havoc with his brain that he, as Butcher put it, basically turned into "a complete fucking psychopath by mistake". Oh, and the entire reason for his existence is that he's the only supe with the power to end The Homelander. Not being permitted to do so whenever he had the opportunity is what made him completely insane.]]
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:Being forbidden from [[UnfulfilledPurposeMisery fulfilling his life's purpose]] for an unclear amount of time despite being so close eventually drove Black Noir completely insane, to the point of utter depravity.]]

** [[spoiler:NotSoStoic: However, when he finally reveals himself to Homelander, he just can't contain himself and giggles without end as he describes how he framed Homelander, describing every atrocity he committed with a massive smile across his face. He literally doesn't stop giggling until Homelander's dead, his own body is all but destroyed, and when Butcher kills him]].
* TykeBomb: [[spoiler:He was created for the sole purpose of terminating Homelander should Homelander ever go rogue. Homelander never fully crossed the line, though, and Black Noir ended up going mad from spending decades pretending to be Homelander's friend while being unable to fulfill his sole objective in life. So, [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming he took it upon himself]] to start gaslighting Homelander to drive him over the edge so that Vought-American would finally give him the go-ahead to take Homelander out]].
* UnfulfilledPurposeMisery: Created in order to [[spoiler:take out the Homelander if he grew uncontrollable.]] When that didn't happen, [[spoiler:he started taking steps to ensure the Homelander ''would'' become a liability]] and finally be able to fulfill his purpose.
* WalkingSpoiler: Anything beyond "he's a mysterious Batman {{Expy}}" is a big spoiler, considering his role as being [[spoiler:the one behind Homelander's evil and Butcher's quest of revenge against the Supes]].
* WhoWatchesTheWatchmen: Similar to Batman, he watches the other heroes for signs of instability and makes contingency plans (including for himself) in case Vought-American needs to dispose of one of their useless superheroes. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:being indoctrinated to concentrate on finding corruption in Homelander, and then wasting decades waiting for TheParagon to snap drove him to insanity first, and he ''intentionally'' framed Homelander as a supervillain (and accidentally turned him evil for real) just so he could finally fulfill his purpose]].
* WorfHadTheFlu: [[spoiler:After his victory over Homelander, he has lost a chunk of his body and his sanity. As a result, Butcher and the military can now beat him.]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"Carpo!"'']]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"Mah fellow 'Mirkins... ah want mah dicky suck."'']]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"You dare to lay your mongrel hands on me? I will end you!"'']]

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"GONNA!!!"'']]

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* CrisisOfFaith: Seeing what The Seven (and the rest of the supes) are really like, Starlight begins to seriously doubt there's any kind of benevolent God paying attention to what's going on.

* NobleBigot: Constantly mocks gay and transgender people, calls Americans "Septics" (Septic Tank = Yank), and (like many Brits) refers to Chinese food as "Chinky", but doesn't actually ''hate'' anyone based on who they are other than supers – after all, he's happy to work with the Japanese Female and African-American Mother's Milk. Despite his sociopathic tendencies, he has an easy charm that allows him to get on well with almost anyone. He actually despises Rayner because he sees ''her'' as racist toward Middle Easterners.

* BigBad: After the deaths of [[spoiler:the Homelander and Black Noir, he becomes the main villain of the series]].