If you're familiar with my blog, you'd know I'm a big fan of Spider-Man Noir, having covered the character's original story and its sequel. So you can imagine my level excitement when a live-action series was announced. But given Sony's recent track record of live-action Spider-Man properties outside the MCU, there was also legitimate concern. But it was getting a touch from the "Spider-Verse" films with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller producing and Nicolas Cage jumping mediums to play the character (albeit a different version using the Ben Reilly name and his alias simply "The Spider") so there was hope to be had. I thought if anything, Cage's involvement guaranteed some entertainment either way. Thankfully the final product swung (pun intended) in the right direction.
Since the character's appearance in "Into the Spider-Verse", creators in the comics have leaned somewhat into that private investigator depiction though not as exaggerated. "Spider-Noir" continues that trend while trying to keep it as gritty and grounded as the original comics. That being said, the show isn't shy about having superpowered villains for the Spider to face, including Sandman (Jack Huston), Tombstone (Abraham Popoola), and lesser-known villain Megawatt; I guess they couldn't use Electro, but in any case, Andrew Lewis Caldwell steals the show whenever he's on screen. The interesting part though is that superpowers can be seen as a metaphor for PTSD for soldiers (in this case post-World War I), just one of many themes explored in the series in addition to political corruption and gatekeeping.
Since the series does its own thing compared to the comics, the best way to describe it is that we take the Spider-Man mythos and filter it through the lens of classic film noir. The experience is greatly enhanced in the black and white setting (especially with the classic horror aspects of episode 6); I may still watch the colorized version since it's supposed to be as vibrant as the films of the time, but it felt right to lean into the noir of Spider-Noir. Many of the characters represent the tropes one would see in a noir film. You have the grizzled detective with a tortured past in Ben, the femme fatale in Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li), the sassy secretary in Janet (Karen Rodriguez), the crime boss with an iron grip on the city in Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson), the reporter best friend in Robbie Robertston (Lamorne Morris), and the streetwise kid in Frankie (Cary Christopher, another show stealer).
While much of the cast is entertaining, this is of course Nicolas Cage's show. As the Spider, he brings his own style of quippage one would expect from the web-slinger. Mix that with the personal flair Cage is known to bring to his performances and there's no shortage of fun to be had. I also enjoyed his chemistry with Li Jun Li's Cat Hardy. Along with the "will they/won't they" plotline, their banter is right at home in the film noir setting.
The suit is absolutely perfect. Though if I had to nitpick, I feel they could have gotten a better stuntman to match Cage's body. Like, I don't expect Cage to do the big action scenes (though lord knows he could try), my suspension of disbelief is hard to maintain when it feels like someone other than Ben is in the suit, entertaining as they are.
Overall, "Spider-Noir" is a bet that paid off. Cage leads a well-rounded cast in a series meant to throw back to a classic era of cinema mixed with the modern aspects of the superhero genre.
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