This review is based upon seeing the black-and-white version!
Spider-Man has a weird history when it comes to live-action television. From appearing as a skit in the American educational children’s television series The Electric Company, to having his own show The Amazing Spider-Man that only ran for two seasons. You could argue one of the most successful adaptations was the Japanese show that kept the costume and similar powers but changed so much from the source material whilst inspiring the Tokusatsu franchises in Japan.
As much as comics and other media will forever put their own spin while honoring what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko conceived, some of the best Spidey stories are willing to shake up the mythos to find a fresh new angle for everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, which brings us onto Spider-Noir.
Although he was created by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky as part of the Marvel Noir universe, it was only when Nicolas Cage voiced Spider-Man Noir in the 2018 animated masterpiece Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that he really caught mainstream attention from his distinct monochrome appearance to having one-liners that were even funnier than what Spider-Ham said. While we wait for Cage to reprise his animated role in next year’s Beyond the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man Noir makes his live-action debut in Spider-Noir with Cage himself in his first lead role in a television series.
It is worth noting that the character here is not the same from the Spider-Verse series. Instead of Peter Benjamin Parker, Cage plays Ben Reilly, a down on his luck private investigator from an alternate world based on 1930s New York City. Five years have passed since he gave up the superhero persona of The Spider after a personal tragedy, but when his latest case involves a femme fatale, a mob boss and a bunch of super-powered people causing havoc in the city, Reilly must become the Spider once more.
We may have seen a similar storyline about a former hero learning what it means to wear the costume again in Daredevil: Born Again, but Spider-Noir has a clear narrative that sustains its eight-episode length, even with the obligatory flashback episode that explains the hero’s origin story.
Part of the show’s appeal is seeing aspects of the Spider-Man mythos being re-invigorated in a world that deliberately evokes the Great Depression, seeing characters like Black Cat (Li Jun Li) and Sandman (Jack Huston) given the pulpy makeover. Although some of the cast lean a little too hard into pulp caricatures that could have come from Dick Tracy, the best performances feel more natural like Brendan Gleeson who brings nuance as the Irish mob boss Silvermane.
However, no one understands the power of exquisite acting greater than Nicolas Cage, who has become a meme at this point and makes you wonder if he is aware of his internet status. Although Cage is not without his dramatic moments as Ben, he is constantly grappling with his own past and whether the Spider is actually doing any good – a classic Spider-Man dilemma.
If you want eight episodes where Cage goes full-on Nic Cage, this show really delivers via various comedic situations where he fumbles his way as a private detective, or impersonates the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson to escape a sticky situation. Cage is so much fun to watch that you don’t need to have him dress up as a masked vigilante, though he does deliver the fun Spidey quips.
Considering Spider-Man has always attracted a younger audience, Spider-Noir is not for the kiddies. Since Prime Video seems to be the home of R-rated superhero television, this show feels different from the more graphic content that you see in The Boys and Invincible, which I feel numb towards. Showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot offermore than edginess.
By the choice of watching it in color or black-and-white, I chose the latter and embrace the noir aesthetic – thanks to cinematographers Darran Tiernan and Peter Deming – as well as a touch of Universal Monsters horror, which is enough to disguise most of the limitations of doing superhero spectacle on the small screen.
Stream Spider-Noir on Prime Video.
