diff --git a/Lib/argparse.py b/Lib/argparse.py
index 6b79747572f48f..aa56d30f395cd3 100644
--- a/Lib/argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/argparse.py
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ def __init__(
             width = shutil.get_terminal_size().columns
             width -= 2
 
-        self._set_color(color)
+        self._color = color 
         self._prog = prog
         self._indent_increment = indent_increment
         self._max_help_position = min(max_help_position,
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/gh-141571.bugfix.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/gh-141571.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..360ed5a4954e9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/gh-141571.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix redundant early _set_color() call in argparse.HelpFormatter to avoid double color initialization.