Nicolas Cage swings back onto our screens as Spider-Man Noir in Prime Video’s new show “Spider-Noir”, arriving in May. A trailer was posted last week, giving a first look at the show.
In “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, Cage played a variant of Peter Parker from a 1930s crime world. Here in “Spider-Noir”, he plays Ben Reily, who in the Marvel comics is a clone of Peter Parker, but here it is far from that complicated. Showrunner Oren Uziel and creators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have stated this change is to differentiate from the high school Peter Parker of the Spider-Man movies. This change will also be addressed in the show, but the creators are coy to say how it plays into the story.
“Spider-Noir” will follow a down-on-his-luck private investigator, Ben Reilly, in a 1930s-era New York as he grapples with his past superhero life as The Spider. Reilly gets involved with a gang boss known as Silvermane, played by Brendan Gleeson, who has been the subject of recent assassination attempts and must once again become The Spider.
As I just stated, Reilly’s superhero alias will be The Spider instead of the usual Spider-Man. This is to match the noir setting and also serves as a callback to heroes of the era like The Spirit and The Shadow.
Joining Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly’s friends are Larmorne Morris and Karen Rodriguez. Morris will be playing the Daily Bugle journalist, Robbie Robertson. He’s Reilly’s friend and collaborator, and as opposed to Reilly, an optimist. Rodriguez will be playing Reilly’s secretary, Janet. While she does not stem from the Marvel comics, Janet comes right from noir tradition as the character the P.I. can lean on.
Li Jun Li plays the femme fatale, Cat Hardy. She helps lure Reilly into the underworld conspiracy at the heart of the show. Comic fans will notice her name is similar to that of Felicia Hardy, aka the Black Cat. Another character part of the underworld is Flint Marko, played by Jack Huston. In the comics, Marko is the villain Sandman, but it is unclear whether he will have powers in the show.
In the trailer posted last week, Reilly can be seen fighting some crime and swinging around New York. Alongside the first look at the show’s Flint Marko, many villains received small looks, including Electro, Molten Man, and what fans are speculating could be Vulture and Mister Negative. It also looks like the show will be delving more into The Spider’s powers and how he gained them.
Prime Video released the “Spider-Noir” trailer in two versions, one in “Authentic Black & White” and another in “True-Hue Color”. The show can be watched in either of these two ways, giving the viewers a choice on how they want to enjoy it. The “Authentic Black & White” gives the show that noir feel with its stark lighting and dark shadows, while the “True-Hue Color” evokes the more lighthearted and colorful feel of the Marvel comics. While “Spider-Noir” seems like it’s going to be very different from the typical Spider-Man story, it still looks rather interesting to me. I will personally watch the show in black & white first before watching it in color a second time. Check out the trailers to choose a look for yourself before all eight episodes land on Prime Video on May 27.
