Eight years ago, viewers were introduced to a new noir version of Spider-Man voiced by Nicolas Cage. Now, Spider-Noir is bringing Cage in to play Ben Reilly, a seasoned down on his luck private investigator. Both of Nicolas Cage’s roles in Spider-Verse and Spider-Noir are based on the comic Spider-Man Noir. Produced by Sony in association with Spider-Verse‘s Phil Lord and Chris Miller, this new series is set in a version of 1930s New York in which superhumans have emerged in the days of the Prohibition and at a time when Nazism is on the rise across the world.
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Sony has officially dropped the first trailer for the Spider-Noir TV series, a moody and atmospheric teaser that confirms this is a new character for Nicolas Cage. Known as Ben Reilly rather than Peter Parker, this character is a broken man who’s down on his luck and engaging in drunken bar-room brawls. This is literally a Spider-Man who breaks all the rules – not least because Sony’s original contract with Marvel dictated that any versions of the wall-crawler should not “abuse alcohol.” So who is this unusual new Spider-Man, and what can we expect from Nicolas Cage’s portrayal?
Nicolas Cage is The Spider
Technically, Nicolas Cage isn’t playing a Spider-Man at all; his character is called the Spider. The costume design looks pretty much the same as Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but the character himself appears to be different, a much more downbeat iteration of the wall-crawler. He’s still gained spider powers from a spider bite (like almost all alternate-universe Spider-Men), but he’s using his powers to work as a private investigator rather than an investigative reporter.
In the comics, Spider-Man Noir was raised during the Great Depression and dedicated himself to overthrowing the Goblin’s criminal empire after his beloved Uncle Ben was killed for organizing strikes at a sweatshop. This Peter Parker gained his powers when a spider idol broke open, releasing a horde of spiders, one of which bit him. Granted phenomenal powers, like all Spider-Men he swore to stand for justice and oppose the crime lords of his day – alongside unlikely allies like Felicia Hardy’s Black Cat.
The Spider-Man Noir comics are much darker, which explains why this version of Spider-Man has actually killed on occasion – much to his Aunt May’s disapproval, as she believes doing so destroys an element of his basic humanity. This is a Spider-Man who’s continually pushed to the brink by his experiences, one who struggles to hold on to his morality in a bleak world. Sony may be switching this Spider up a bit, but the basic elements are all clearly there.
The Spider Likely Has All Spider-Man’s Powers, But With a Twist
The Spider-Noir trailer confirms the Spider has superhuman abilities, and he likely shares all the traditional Spider-Man powers – albeit with organic webbing, given it’s unlikely the Spider will have the genius to create his own. Most intriguingly, though, there’s a subtle hint that the spider-bite also gave the Spider violent impulses and instincts; he speaks of trying to “suppress” them, as though struggling to cling on to his humanity. This fits well with the comic book inspiration, and may suggest he’s gone too far and begun to lose himself in his masked, vigilante identity.
The Spider seems very alone in the Spider-Noir trailer, although there are hints of a potential love interest with Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li). Clearly riffing on the Noir version of Black Cat, she won’t necessarily be a helpful influence in encouraging the Spider to cling on to humanity. It’s possible a personal tragedy of some sort has led to the Spider’s isolation, because one shot in the trailer seems reminiscent of the iconic “Death of Gwen Stacy” plot in the comics, perhaps indicating a nightmare that calls back past trauma. If this is true, then the Spider’s powers have left him in crisis.
Why The Spider Doesn’t Call Himself Peter Parker
The Spider-Noir trailer confirms that the Spider’s alter-ego is Ben Reilly, not Peter Parker. In the comics, Ben Reilly – named after his Uncle Ben and with his Aunt May’s maiden name – was the alias of Spider-Man’s clone, the Scarlet Spider. Speaking to Esquire, showrunner Oren Uziel explained there was a strong logic behind this choice; “Peter Parker feels very synonymous with a high school kid,” he observed. “Boyish. On his way up.” They wanted a character who could be older and jaded, Lord and Miller added. “He already had his Chinatown disillusionment moment that happened years and years ago,” Miller noted.
There may well be another reason for the name-change, of course. Marvel has often had very detailed requirements for how Peter Parker could be portrayed, core character elements that must not be deviated from. By using the name Ben Reilly, Spider-Noir becomes a degree more distant from all these requirements, proving an opportunity for the show to do something truly fresh and new.
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