The Boys Season 4's Most Exciting Black Noir Replacement Theory Just Took A Big Step Forward

Summary Trailer footage for The Boys season 4 strongly suggests Sam Riordan is the new Black Noir.

Sam and Cate standing with A-Train at Vought HQ hints the two Gen V characters play key roles in the new season.

The trailer proves Black Noir II has more or less the same powers as his predecessor. Sam fits that bill perfectly.

A huge Black Noir replacement theory that was already gaining momentum ahead of The Boys season 4 is made even more likely by two key moments from trailer footage. While the original Black Noir was ruthlessly killed by Homelander in The Boys season 3's ending, the silent Seven supe is nevertheless confirmed as appearing in The Boys season 4. Vought has hired another character to secretly replace Noir and hide his death from the public, but the new face behind the mask is becoming a growing mystery for Amazon's superhero franchise.

One popular theory suggests Gen V's Sam Riordan will be the new Black Noir in The Boys season 4. Sam possesses broadly the same powers as Black Noir, with both supes chiefly relying on super-strength and durability in physical hand-to-hand confrontations. Additionally, Gen V ended with Homelander bringing Sam and Cate into his inner circle of supes holding a grudge against non-powered folk. Due to their similar Compound V powers, the notion that Sam could be Black Noir's replacement arose, and that theory now seems even more likely thanks to trailer footage.

Related All 23 Supes In The Boys: Gen V Ranked By Power Gen V follows the students of Godolkin University, and it introduces many new Supes whose powers range from almost useless to super strong.

The Boys Season 4's Trailer Reveals A Lot About The New Black Noir

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Two key moments from The Boys season 4's trailer support the theory that Sam is Black Noir II. First, a brief shot shows Gen V's Sam and Cate standing alongside A-Train and other members of the Seven at Vought HQ. Not only does this confirm Sam and Cate play key roles in the upcoming season, their presence in the main hub of Seven Tower is indicative of Homelander placing complete trust in them. Homelander is pursuing a violent supes-first agenda in The Boys season 4, and clearly believes Sam and Cate can help him achieve that. The supervillain teens are not peripheral figures in Vought's hierarchy; they are major players in Homelander's plot.

The new Black Noir is a Compound V user with very similar powers to his predecessor.

The second clue is Black Noir II's fight against Billy Butcher inside the Boys' Flatiron Building base. Noir takes a crowbar to the face like nothing, shrugs off a round of shotgun blasts, and knocks Butcher across several desks with minimal effort. When it became clear Black Noir would appear in The Boys season 4, one theory posited that Vought could take advantage of the supe's obscured identity and hire an ordinary actor to be "Black Noir" in public. Noir's death would go unnoticed, but the replacement would be a Seven member in name only - useless in an actual battle.

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The Boys season 4's trailer debunks that idea, conclusively proving the new Black Noir is a Compound V user with very similar powers to his predecessor. Taking into consideration Black Noir's powers and Sam's involvement with Homelander's inner circle in The Boys season 4, it seems perfectly logical to conclude that Sam himself is replacing the deceased original Noir. Indeed, that explanation has now edged ahead as the most plausible solution to explain The Boys' Black Noir identity mystery.

Why Sam May NOT Be The Boys Season 4's Black Noir Replacement

Two Counterpoints To The Boys Season 4's Black Noir/Sam Theory

One detail of Sam Riordan's crossover from Gen V to The Boys counters the theory that he's replacing Black Noir in season 4. As highlighted by both Gen V and promo videos for The Boys season 4, Vought is marketing Cate and Sam as the "Guardians of Godolkin" following the big battle at Godolkin University from Gen V season 1's ending. If the company plans to secretly zip Sam into Noir's empty suit and pretend the original version never died, it makes no sense to begin promoting "Sam Riordan - Guardian of Godolkin" as a separate hero in his own right.

Related How The Boys Season 4 Connects To Gen V Confirmed By Butcher’s New Plan Against Supes There was an air of ambiguity surrounding The Boys' season 4's links with Gen V, but Butcher's new plan against supes confirms how the shows connect.

It should also be noted that Nathan Mitchell will continue playing the masked Black Noir in The Boys season 4. Primarily a stunt performer, Mitchell was the real-life figure behind Noir throughout The Boys' first three seasons, but the character was recast with Fritzy-Klevans Destine for unmasked flashbacks. When The Boys' showrunner, Eric Kripke, confirmed Mitchell's return (via EW), he hinted the stunt performer would get a larger role, claiming, "We have Nathan playing a really interesting and hilarious character who wears the suit next season. We'll explore it as the season goes on, but Nathan plays a whole new character."

Kripke's quote leans toward Nathan Mitchell becoming more than just Black Noir's stunt performer and actually portraying the character unmasked in season 4. If so, Black Noir's replacement would have to be an entirely new addition to The Boys' cast and certainly not Sam from Gen V.

Neither of these counterpoints, however, quash the theory that Sam is the new Black Noir in The Boys season 4. It's possible that Ashley Barrett is behind Vought presenting Cate and Sam as the "Guardians of Godolkin," but Homelander will take charge in season 4 and demand Sam replace Black Noir, explaining the abrupt change of marketing. Eric Kripke's Black Noir comments, meanwhile, were made over a year prior to Gen V's premiere. Sam Riordan's role in The Boys season 4 may not have been fully cemented at that point, and even if it was, the plan might have always been for Nathan Mitchell to stand in as Sam in the masked Black Noir suit.

Sources: EW