“The Boys” season 4 introduces world's smartest supe and alt-right Firecracker to the Seven

Showrunner Eric Kripke gives EW the scoop on new supes Sister Sage and Firecracker, and confirms Black Noir actor Nathan Mitchell will still wear the suit.

There's a running joke on Amazon's The Boys about how the Seven, America's premier team of superheroes, never actually consists of seven members. "There was for a total of two episodes over the history of the show — episode 1 and then the one moment that Supersonic was in the Seven in season 3 — and that was it," showrunner Eric Kripke tells Entertainment Weekly. "Every so often one of my writers will say, 'Can we please bring in another character to join the Seven?' But it's so funny to me that there's never seven members."

Season 4, premiering on Prime Video with three episodes on June 13, is no exception. In EW's exclusive sneak peek, Homelander (Antony Starr) introduces the two new supes that will now bring their ranks to six, Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) and Firecracker (Valorie Curry).

Well, technically three new supes. Homelander himself punched a hole through Black Noir last season, but Kripke confirms that Nathan Mitchell, the actor behind the dialogue-less, always-masked supe, will return to play an entirely new character wearing the Noir suit.

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"Beyond that, it would be spoiling some of the fun stuff to reveal who it is and what that person's like," Kripke remarks. "I will say, in a world that is about a certain amount of show business satire, it's funny to go to an anonymous superhero and say, 'We need you to take on this performance and you'll be completely anonymous, but you'll play this other role.' That's a funny challenge for an actor."

As for the other two, Kripke and his team of writers looked at the superhero archetypes they haven't already lampooned on the satirical R-rated drama in their own irreverent way. One was the world's smartest person, who in this case is Sister Sage.

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"It's such a funny power," Kripke says. "A lot of superhero worlds have that character. Whereas most of them are usually really reedy white dudes, we wanted a Black woman who was raised in a low socioeconomic area, so no one f---ing listens to her. It's both commentary and satirical that you have literally the smartest person in the world that could cure all of society's ills, but she just can't get anyone to listen to her. So then she becomes a bitter misanthrope."

The world's loss in that regard becomes Homelander's gain. As perhaps the most dangerous supe on the planet, who killed someone in cold blood in a crowded park at the end of last season and was praised by his zealout supporters, he is the only one actually listening to Sister Sage. "We've always said one of Homelander's biggest problems is he's surrounded by idiots," Kripke adds. "Therefore, if you could actually bring in someone who's a tactical genius, that would make Homelander much more dangerous."

As for Firecracker, you can probably guess the inspiration by her costume's red-white-and-blue color palette and her love of guns. If Matthew Edison's Cameron Coleman is the Tucker Carlson-esque anchor behind Vought News, Kripke alludes to Donald Trump VP contender Kristi Noem when talking about Firecracker — meaning, the kind of extremist political personality who might declare openly that she shot her pets.

Related: The Boys season 4 sets June premiere date, drops new teaser photo

"It turns out, there's always crazier," he explains. "Firecracker represents both members of the conspiracy-minded movements and the super extreme right-wing news media. That character has some surprising backstory that connects her to some of the characters in our world that it was just interesting to bring in one of those pistol-packing 'I shot my puppies' type of characters."

In short, everyone is bad news.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.