The Deep & Black Noir’s Sibling-Like Rivalry In The Boys Season 5 Explained By Chace Crawford

The bromance between the Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) appears to be dead, with tensions reaching a boiling point in The Boys season 5, episode 5.

Though they began the final season of the hit Prime Video series with a comedic manosphere podcast storyline, in which Noir could only communicate by pushing buttons to maintain the facade that he couldn’t speak, episode 3 flipped their dynamic on its head. The Deep stole his friend and teammate’s thunder by claiming credit for the capture of Stan Edgar, allowing him to rise in Homelander’s esteem while Noir was left in the dust.

Such a betrayal of the bro code caused Noir to lash out, though his pettiness amounted to not much more than “talking” back on the podcast and showing up Deep in front of Oh Father. But by the end of “One-Shots”, the Deep has killed Noir’s director via eel, and their once oddly lighthearted friendship is no more. In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Crawford broke down exactly what was behind Deep’s animosity.

Homelander Is At The Root Of The Deep’s Noir Insecurities

If Deep and Noir’s rivalry is sibling-like in its nature, which Crawford readily acknowledges, then it is Homelander who serves as their mutual father figure.

Chace Crawford: I think that Deep has probably a hard time keeping and hanging on to close friendships in general. Anytime he gets close to somebody, it becomes like a sibling rivalry, you know what I mean? You end up hating the people you love and hurting the people you love.

And he just gets so irritated by Black Noir! There’s this brotherly bond now that they’re working together all the time on the podcast, and he just probably can’t stand him breathing. They are trying to get each other back a little bit, until I think it all comes to a boil.

If Deep and Noir’s rivalry is sibling-like in its nature, which Crawford readily acknowledges, then it is the leader of the Seven who serves as their mutual father figure. And though Homelander is more powerful than he’s ever been in The Boys season 5, thanks to his self-appointed God status, he’s also more distant than ever from his so-called team and more in need of validation.

Validation is not something he’s seeking from Deep, whom he clearly views as lesser, which leaves the latter to fend for his own little scraps at Homelander’s table. Crawford expanded on this point with gusto:

Deep’s just really desperately clinging onto [the Seven], and he has been for the past three seasons. He’s trying to appease Homelander and be a sycophant. He’s just hanging on to the fast life that he’s got and trying not to lose that.

In fact, Homelander’s relationship with his father is also an underrated sore point that has left Deep feeling somewhat stranded as the season progresses. As Crawford pointed out, seeing that duo interact has to be disconcerting for those who have to grovel at their leader’s feet. It may not be fair or obvious that Homelander’s trickle down to his followers, but that’s family.

Homelander almost sucking up to Soldier Boy is weird for him in a way. It’s like, “Dude, I thought you were this figurehead…” To see the cracks in Homelander is probably kind of scary.

While it feels like Noir is pretty defeated after The Boys season 5, episode 5, it’s unlikely that the rivalry between him and the Deep will cease to be relevant in the final 3 episodes of the series. Whether they reconcile or get even more aggressive, there’s plenty of ground left to cover.

Check out our other The Boys season 5 coverage here:

Release Date

2019 – 2026-00-00

Showrunner

Eric Kripke

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