Could Homelander's son take The Boys season 4.
Amazon's The Boys has roughly followed the comic books by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, but the show doesn't seem to be heading towards the original ending. In the comics, Black Noir is revealed to be a clone of Homelander, created by Vought as a contingency plan in case their top supe ever lost control. The later issues show that Black Noir was behind most of Homelander's crimes from the very beginning, including the rape of Becca, and The Boys make a dramatic final stand against the unmasked Noir. In the show, however, during the infamous "Almond Joy" scene, The Boys confirmed that Noir was actually black, which ruled out his Homelander clone twist. Season 3 gave even more insight into the character, whose real name was Earving, before Homelander finally killed him off.
However, The Boys' season 2 and 3 finales teased how Black Noir's role in the comics could be filled by Ryan Butcher in the TV series. During Billy Butcher's tense lunch with Stan Edgar in season 2, the pair acknowledge Ryan as the only possible weapon the world could rely on if Homelander ever went off the rails completely. Ryan's powers suggest as much too, since his laser power could maim Stormfront where Homelander's couldn't. But Ryan isn't just a failsafe anymore; the season 3 conclusion seems to imply that he's capable of committing or at least approving of heinous acts just like his father, which would also make him very similar to the comics' Black Noir.
Why Ryan Is More Like The Comic Book Black Noir Than Black Noir
Where Black Noir was the anti-Homelander weapon in The Boys' original comic series, Ryan Butcher is serving that role in live-action, which makes sense, as Becca's son died during childbirth in the source material. Replacing Homelander's clone with Homelander's son in The Boys show feels like an appropriate change to Ennis' story, but does this mean Ryan could take the same villainous path? The Boys has repeatedly driven home how Homelander's unloving childhood turned him into a villain. This is something Becca was deeply afraid of, and one of the main reasons she was desperate to keep her son close by. But Ryan then found himself at the mercy of the U.S. care system, and while Mallory did her best to ensure his safety, Ryan's rocky relationship with Butcher during The Boys season 3 has clearly taken a toll on his emotional wellbeing.
In the comic books, Black Noir became unstable because he was sick of waiting for the order to kill Homelander and took matters into his own hands. Instead, Ryan could be corrupted by his uncontrollable emotions and a hefty dose of PTSD. The result would be the same - a very angry, very powerful supe going on a rampage. An out-of-control Ryan would be a fun twist in the ongoing saga of Billy Butcher. Having previously been a dedicated hater of all supes, Butcher overcame his rage in The Boys season 2 and 3 and accepted Ryan, defending him from Homelander and later pushing him away on purpose to keep him safe.
The Boys Killed The Black Noir Homelander Clone Twist To Set Up Its Ryan One
The twist that Black Noir has always been a Homelander clone and is in some ways more terrifying than Homelander himself is a great moment in the comics. The show's decision to go in a completely different direction with Noir still yielded some good material, offering a glimpse of Vought's twisted past and creating another sympathetic member of The Seven. But killing off Black Noir and the clone twist left a gaping hole in Homelander's story – one that the writers were probably always intending to fill with Ryan. Evil Ryan could very well be coming in The Boys season 4 if his smirk at the end of the season 3 finale is any indication. Aspects of the comics' Black Noir have been diluted into other characters and Homelander himself, so the duty of being a failsafe who ends up an even more twisted version of Homelander could still fall to Ryan. This would make for its own great twist and will certainly take a heavy toll on Butcher, making for a better-connected web of motivations than the Butcher/Homelander dynamic in the comics.
