Ahead of the release of Nic Cage’s Spider-Man spinoff Spider-Noir, Prime has officially revealed a new look at the show’s iconic Spider-Man villains. The first looks at Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson), Tombstone (Abraham Popoola), Sandman (Jack Huston), and Megawatt (Andrew Lewis Caldwell) offer radical redesigns of the Marvel Comics originals, with an obvious slant to fit into Spider-Noir‘s hard-boiled genre.
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Another version of Tombstone is set to appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and of course Sandman has appeared in both Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and in the MCU’s Far From Home, but the other two are first-timers in live-action. The featurette also includes new footage of Cage’s Spider-Man Noir, a different variant of whom has just been confirmed to return in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Interestingly, star Li Jun Li (Sinners), who plays Cat Hardy, says, “I know it sounds kind of corny, but no one is a villain. Everyone has their motives. Everyone is there, including Cat, to get what [they want]. And she will do everything in her power to be as convincing as possible.” The first look was exclusively revealed by IGN, and you can watch it below:
Here’s each of the villains, who will face off against Cage’s Spider-Man Noir – who is, in this universe, Ben Reilly, as opposed to the Peter Parker of the Spider-Verse. The teaser makes it plain that this is a different universe (though that does introduce the delightful possibility that the two different Spider-Man Noirs could actually meet one another.
Silvermane – Played by Brendan Gleeson
The series’ main villain is Brendan Gleeson’s fearsome Silvermane, a crime boss who runs The Alcove club where singer Cat performs. IGN characterize her as central to the plot, as she brings the characters together, along with her boyfriend Flint Marko (who you’ll recognize as Sandman – more on him soon). It’s also revealed Silvermane killed her previous lover. In the comics, Silvermane is an Italian mobster called Silvio Manfredi, who Gleeson is playing Irish for the show. He’s famously obsessed with extending his life, forcing Curt Connors to develop a youth serum that backfires and eventually turning himself into a cyborg, which granted him enhanced powers the presumably human version in Spider-Noir won’t have.
Tombstone – Abraham Popoola
Alongside Sandman, Tombstone is a war veteran, and looks strikingly different from the version in Marvel Comics. He’s not albino, as the original was – a change co-showrunner and executive producer Oren Uziel says was rendered necessary because of the show’s black and white aesthetic. Instead, this version of Tombstone has distinctive facial markings, and is evidently super-strong, as the footage shows him ripping a prison door off its hinges.
Uziel discussed the changes to the character with IGN: “We’re in a world now where you can take the best parts of these characters and the characterizations that have come through Marvel and make them your own. So working with an actor as talented as Abraham Popoola, I mean really the entire cast, but with Abe, he loves comic books, [is] deeply honored to be playing the part, and is a strong enough figure and voice to make him his own. And we work together on, again, finding the humanity in that Tombstone character who, in the comics too, is a bit of a tortured soul.”
Sandman – Jack Huston
Spider-Noir‘s answer to Flint Marko – previously played by Thomas Haden Church, of course – is a close friend and fellow veteran to Tombstone, and a loyal employee of Silvermane, despite his relationship with Cat and her issues with him. His powers – the ability to morph his body thanks to being made of sand – appear to be the same as the comics iteration of the character. Uziel reveals he’s also not unlike Haden Church’s tragic version of the character: “He’s really a bit of a tortured soul. And for me, those make kind of the best villains. I really liked his struggle, and his particular powers, I think, are always compelling and sort of fun to watch as a viewer too.”
Megawatt – Andrew Lewis Caldwell
Initially (wrongly) reported as playing a new version of Electro, Andrew Lewis Caldwell is playing Dirk Leydon, AKA Megawatt, a more obscure electro-powered villain from the comics. The original was an Australian convict with the power to absorb and reuse electrical charges, who wore a fetching Lycra singlet. Spider-Noir’s version has a completely different origin – he’s a failed Broadway actor, who occasionally peppers his speech with quotes from famous plays and who is singularly dedicated to “getting his moment at all costs” according to Caldwell.
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