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Black spiderthe live-action television series about a different version of Spider-Man in the 1930s, premieres Wednesday on Prime Video. Led by Nicolas Cage, who voiced Spider-Man Noir in the animated Spider-Verse films, the show delves into Marvel comic book lore and focuses on a very different version of the web-slinging hero. that it no An alternate version of Peter Parker, who is this universe’s Ben Reilly – also known as Spider-Noir.
It’s a unique, standalone story helmed by showrunner Oren Uziel that’s separate from all the other Spider-Man movies and shows that already exist (no, it’s not a spinoff of any kind). This gave the creative team the opportunity to introduce Spider-Noir’s multiversal cast of characters. While Cage brings a sense of familiarity to the show in a new way, the series also includes Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy, Jack Huston as Sandman, and Abraham Popoola, who plays Tombstone.
Spider-Noir leans heavily into the mystery crime drama style of noir, and lets viewers get to know villains and heroes whose names might ring a bell thanks to Sony films or Marvel comics. However, after watching all the episodes, I can say that, despite some familiar character names, it’s a take on something we haven’t seen before – it’s mature and suspenseful, with complex relationships and conflicted criminals.
However, it’s another way to see Marvel characters and legends brought to life on screen, and Li, Popoola, and Huston had distinct reasons for being drawn to their roles.
Abraham Popoola as Tombstone, Jack Huston as Sandman, and Andrew Louis Caldwell as Megawatt, three of Spider-Noir’s hired employees.
“The writing. It’s the grounding of this world that makes every character in this series so human,” Lee explained. “Even at the limits of their powers, they’re still human, being dealt a really tough card.”
Set in New York City during the Great Depression, Spider-Noir weaves period elements into its plot. World War I and Prohibition are part of the series’ conversations and story, and Popoola is fascinated by the history.
“For me, that was the era,” he said. “It’s a historically rich era. Very interesting, very complex, very elegant, very fun. To throw a character that everyone knows and identifies with, for decades now, into this situation is a real joy and a real joy.”
Houston echoed his colleagues and added, “It’s a real joy to do something that I think has never been done before.” The representative noted that the show will be offered in two visual viewing formats, which Prime Video calls “Authentic Black & White” and “True-Hue Full Color.”
“To be able to offer this in black and white and in color, this has never been done before,” he said. “It’s very difficult to do something unique and innovative, and that’s exactly what happens. I feel very special to be part of the whole process.”
Spider-Noir is broadcast in color and black-and-white formats. In true noir style, Huston and Li’s characters are tangled in a web of secrets.
Rewind to 2023, when it was first announced that a new Spider-Noir story would be coming to the screen with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller on board with the project. Along with Amy Pascal (producer and executive director of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films, the Venom series and the Spider-Verse films), the duo teamed up with Uziel to adapt Spider-Noir into a television production.
I mentioned to Uziel that instead of surprising us with a lot of action scenes, the series is more about smartly paced mystery and drama. What inspired the storytelling in Spider-Noir and even the character choices we see in Tombstone, Flint, Silvermane, and Cat Hardy? Turns out Humphrey Bogart and Cage had something to do with it.
“When I first sat down with Nick (Cage), and we talked a lot about it, we realized that we both had a real love and a kind of encyclopedic knowledge of film noir,” he said. He explained how this sparked the story with a lot of discussion about “What if you could make a Bogart movie where Bogart happened to be Spider-Man?”
Nicolas Cage plays Spider-Man in Spider-Noir.
The duo appropriated these themes, drawing energy from the vaults of their cinematic minds (Ozil cited The Third Man, Double Indemnity, Miller’s Crossing, L.A. Confidential, and Casablanca) to create a vision for the series. Overlaid with mysterious imagery, the show has all the ingredients of what you’d expect in the genre: a pessimistic detective, a femme fatale, backstabbing, and flashbacks.
While the Spider-Noir name is true, there are some small influences from other Marvel hero films, according to Uziel.
“I grew up respecting the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, so there’s a kind of aesthetic that I love, and I really wanted to incorporate some of that into the old noir aesthetic as well,” he said. “I think there’s a kind of practicality to a lot of what he did there, and the energy that I grew up loving.”
everyone Eight episodes of Spider-Noir It can be viewed on Prime Video on Wednesday, May 27.
