While there, Stan Edgar schemed to betray Soldier Boy to the Russians, with Countess and the rest of Payback being tired of Soldier Boy's abuse and agreeing to the plan.
Soldier Boy arrives, and we quickly learn that it was none other than Crimson Countess and the other members of Payback who betrayed Soldier Boy and turned him over to the Russians. Fueled by vengeance, Soldier Boy asks her how much the Russians paid her. To his shock, she tells him that they didn't pay her anything.
As her annoyed ex-boyfriend demands answers, the Countess reveals she "hated" Soldier Boy, and claims those sentiments were shared by the other Payback members. She didn't even receive payment in exchange.
It all started with Soldier Boy interfering with the chance of the masked fighter playing the role of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. After learning that he missed the role because Soldier Boy convinced producer Don Simpson against taking him, Black Noir confronted the leader.
While The Boys' “evil Superman” Homelander was the show's most odious villain for a long time, Soldier Boy soon proved he might be even worse than Homelander. This made it all the more surprising when The Boys season 3 revealed that, as a first-generation supe, Soldier Boy was Homeland's absent father.
The original Soldier Boy is later revealed to have been mercy killed by Mallory during his first mission at the Battle of the Bulge, after his "Avenging Squad" inadvertently caused Mallory's men to be massacred, and been replaced by the second for the remainder of the war.
However, Noir's fear of Soldier Boy is surprisingly bigger than his loyalty to Homelander. When Noir escaped from Vought due to the news of Soldier Boy returning, Homelander was genuinely distraught over the news as he believed Noir always had his back.
Additionally, rumors started to spread that Soldier Boy molested Gunpowder under his care, but the latter states that his mentor didn't touch him like that. Despite being abused, Gunpowder idolized Soldier Boy, and was the only member of the team to remain loyal.
While initially an enigma, it is revealed at the climax of the series that Black Noir is actually a clone of the Homelander, developed by Vought-American as a contingency, in case the leader of the Seven became a liability, and as such, has all of his powers, including heat vision, super strength, durability, flight, ...
During Payback's fight against Soldier Boy, Black Noir received catastrophic brain injuries that left him both unable to verbally communicate and saddled with bizarre hallucinations of cartoon animals.
Kimiko is hit with one of his blasts before he runs off and is badly injured. Come the end of the episode she is bleeding out in the back of a van, unable to heal herself like usual because she has no more Compound V in her body.
In 1984, Countess was stationed at a military camp with the rest of Payback in Nicaragua to aid the U.S. government in Operation Charly. While there, Stan Edgar schemed to betray Soldier Boy to the Russians, with Countess and the rest of Payback being tired of Soldier Boy's abuse and agreeing to the plan.
When Soldier Boy retaliates against Ryan, Butcher switches his allegiance, fighting off Soldier Boy in order to protect Ryan.
On a side note, the WWII version of Soldier Boy is an actual villainous parody of Captain America while the present-day Soldier Boy is a comedic spoof of Captain America. It has been noted that Jensen Ackles is portraying the original Soldier Boy instead of the current, incompetent one.
Maeve was eventually killed while protecting Starlight from Homelander and Black Noir, though Homelander easily overpowered her after she struck him on the head with her sword, shattering it in the process. He then flung her decapitated head at Starlight as she flew away from The Seven's headquarters.
A riff on Marvel's Scarlet Witch, Crimson Countess is a powerful supe who possesses the power of pyrokinesis, and unlike Season 2's Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore), she can actually generate the fire she controls.
Queen Maeve
Maeve has an Amazonian look and super strength—it's clear that her parallel is Wonder Woman.
The Deep is a villainous parody of Marvel's Namor and DC's Aquaman.
Powers. Superhuman Strength: Black Noir is strong enough to kill Homelander, needing just one punch to completely destroy his jaw. He is stronger than Homelander, who could hurl a fighter jet with one hand and kill Queen Maeve with just one punch.
When Black Noir confronted Soldier Boy for his actions in front of the rest of the team, the Payback leader didn't appreciate that and beat him down before threatening to kill him if he moved out of the line again. Stan Edgar then informed Black Noir Vought was on board with taking Soldier Boy out of the game.
Cowardice: Soldier Boy is a cowardly and naïve individual who mindlessly sucks up to other well-known superheroes. It seems that he commits crimes such as mass murder to please Homelander so that he could get a spot in The Seven.
His powers are standard leading man abilities in the comic world: superhuman strength, superhuman speed, and superhuman longevity. He can move as quickly, punch as hard, and age as slowly as Homelander. In the comics, he can also generate powerful energy blasts.
In Herogasm #3, he is sexually assaulted by Black Noir when the Boys infiltrated the titular event.
The grand finale of The Boys comic book series confirms that there is only one hero who is actually stronger than Homelander, and that's his (even more) evil clone, Black Noir. Created to be an upgraded version of Homelander, Black Noir proves his superiority in the final battle between these two deranged powerhouses.
Yup, Soldier Boy is Homelander's biological father. Suddenly all these daddy issues make a lot more sense. This character element isn't from the original The Boys comics, but was something Kripke and the writer's room came up with for the show.