‘The Boys’: Eric Kripke on Black Noir’s “Classic Disney” Animated Origin Story

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For three seasons, the whole joke with Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) on The Boys has been that he doesn’t say a word. Turns out, there’s been a lot more going on in the Supe’s broken head, as we found out on this week’s episode, “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed”. Spoilers past this point, but as we discover, this whole time Black Noir has been getting advice from a bunch of animated characters straight out of a Disney movie — or at least, straight out of a Chuck E. Cheese.

“We needed to understand how to get inside Noir’s head, from a guy who is completely silent and mute and nobody knows who he is,” The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke told Decider. “It’s just started from like, okay, he’s going to need maybe someone imaginary to talk to, and so who is this going to be? Then we landed on that he’s had these animated characters that are his friends.”

On the run after discovering his old teammate Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is hunting him, Black Noir has ditched his tracking chip and is hiding out in the dilapidated wreck of a restaurant chain called Buster Beaver’s. There, while he prepares a disgusting meal of piled up beans, the animated character sneak out of the woodwork and confront Black Noir; or rather, they make him confront his own past.

Over the course of several animated scenes, we get a few gaps filled in when it comes to not just Black Noir’s history, but what’s been going on behind the scenes throughout Season 3 of the series. Turns out that Soldier Boy used to abuse his old team Payback during training sessions, and Black Noir in particular, mocking his ambitions of becoming a famous actor while physically beating him to a pulp. Later, we discover that Black Noir was goaded into attacking Soldier Boy and selling him to the Russians by a young Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), an event that left Black Noir mutilated and nearly lobotomized.

In order to nail the style in classic The Boys fashion, Kripke and company worked with an animation company called Six Point Harness, which has worked on everything from black-ish, to the Oscar winning short Hair Love.

“My note to them was I want this as frankly, as like classic Disney as possible,” Kripke recalled. “I want these characters to be adorable and really sweet and I want the animation to have that Snow White fluidity to it, and then have it be super violent. I kept saying, if Martin Scorsese made Snow White, that’s what I want that to feel like. It just becomes so brutal. And they did such an amazing job. I love it. It’s just such a fun way to do a backstory.”

By the end of the episode, Black Noir is at a crossroads, with animated birds telling him to “finish what you started” — meaning don’t just send Soldier Boy away this time; face him down, and kill him. But if he does, will the ‘toons come back for a rousing song and dance number?

“I love the implication that for the last three seasons, he’s just been regularly seeing these animated characters,” Kripke added. “I love that.”

The Boys Season 3 finale premieres next Friday, July 8, on Prime Video.