The Boys Kills Off Black Noir Again — And This Time It Might Stick

If you thought The Boys was running out of ways to surprise (or just outright traumatize) us with major deaths, think again. In the latest episode of Season 5, the show answered the question ‘can a character die more than once?’ with a pretty definitive ‘yes’—but this time, it looks like it’s for keeps.

Black Noir: Out (Again), and This Time for Real

So, here’s the big development, because I know that's what everyone is buzzing about: Black Noir II gets the axe in Episode 6. If your first reaction was ‘wait, didn’t he already die?’—you’re right! Homelander took out the original Black Noir back in Season 3. But now, his replacement, Black Noir II, meets an equally brutal (and probably even more permanent) end, courtesy of fellow supe, The Deep.

If you’re not caught up, here’s the sequence of disasters leading up to this moment (because it’s honestly a saga):

• In Episode 5, The Deep murdered Adam Bourke—the theater director—by unleashing an eel in the poor guy's toilet. Apparently, this was payback for not using The Deep’s improvised lines in the Dawn of the Seven movie, and a preemptive strike against Bourke's interest in mentoring Noir. Real petty, even by Vought standards.
• Black Noir found Bourke bleeding out and actually tried to save him. Too late. Bourke dies, and Noir has The Deep to thank.
• Fast forward to Episode 6: The Deep is suddenly responsible for security at Vought’s shiny new oil pipeline (because why wouldn’t you put an emotional fish-guy in charge of marine life safety?). Noir seizes the moment, sabotages the pipeline, and triggers a catastrophic spill.
• The fallout? 1.4 billion fish are killed. Let that number sink in. They were The Deep’s supposed ‘friends’ (well, we know how much he loves his aquatic pals).
• This is the last straw for The Deep. He confronts Noir, loses it, and fatally stabs him. Noir drops on the spot. No comic twist, no last-minute save—he's genuinely, finally dead.

Countdown to Finale: Who's Next?

With just two episodes left (airing May 13 and May 20 on Prime Video), expect the body count and character drama to stay sky-high. The last episode on the 20th officially brings the series to a close, so nobody—and I mean nobody—is safe.

The show’s still steered by Eric Kripke, adapting the original comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The main crew includes Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Laz Alonso, Karen Fukuhara, and Chace Crawford—all of them excellent at surviving, but, you know, no guarantees.

My Take

Look, if you were betting on which character would bite it next, Black Noir II probably wasn’t high on your list. It’s kind of wild that the show would spend so much time building him up—and then wipe him out in the most dramatic (and ironic) possible way. But that’s The Boys ethos in a nutshell: nobody is sacred, and absolutely nothing is off the table.

‘1.4 billion fish. That’s how mad The Deep got. And that’s how dead Black Noir II is.’

For now, six episodes are streaming, with the finish line in sight. If you’re still expecting a peaceful ending after all this, you clearly haven’t been paying attention.