Everyone’s favourite madman is back and moodier than ever.
In his TV debut, Nicholas Cage reprises the role of Spider-Noir, taking on the grimey 1930’s streets of New York.
Having originally voiced a version of Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the upcoming Amazon Prime TV show Spider-Noir reveals the origins of his character, providing the much-needed extra screen time to Cagey.
A down on his luck private investigator named Ben Reilly (Cage) grapples with his dark past as New York’s only superhero, The Spider.
Accompanied with a deliciously gloomy black and white treatment, the show aims to capture the pessimism of early noir films.
Cage appears to be channeling the greats; Bogart in Casablanca, Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, but knowing him, perhaps a touch of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, too.
Executive producer Christopher Miller has said deciding to make the show “was a no-brainer.”
Following the success of the Spider-verse films, as both box office and academy award hits, Miller teamed up with Phil Lord to produce, and contacted Oren Uziel, “the biggest noir aficionado we knew,” to develop the story.
Spider-Noir aims to capture the energy of the early Marvel comics on which it’s based, but with a misanthropic touch.
Spider-man is shortened to just The Spider, he’s having a mid-life crisis, and he’s wearing a fedora.
Miller describes him as being “older and jaded” than Peter Parker, “and not afraid to punch a guy in the face drunkenly.”
A startling new tone for a character typically seen emblazoned on children’s backpacks and pencil cases.
It seems noir has seriously come back in fashion for adaptations, ever since Christopher Nolan unleashed The Dark Knight on film bros in 2008. Most recently being Netflix’s Ripley and HBO Max’s The Penguin in 2024.
Spider-Noir continues the trend, but successfully? We’ll have to wait until later this year to find out.
I just hope Niccy says “my spidey-mask is a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.”
