Nicolas Cage to Star as Spider-Man Noir in Live-Action

Nicolas Cage will reprise his role as Spider-Man Noir — but this time in live action. After months of rumors, the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse actor is now officially attached to star in Noir, an upcoming live-action series from Prime Video and MGM+. The character hails from Earth-90214 in the Marvel Comics multiverse, which is a Depression-era world where Marvel’s superheroes are reinvented to fit into the aesthetic of noir detective movies. Cage, who voiced the character in Into the Spider-Verse, has always been the fans’ pick to star in the live-action series but he isn’t traditionally an actor who has taken on TV roles.

The announcement was made ahead of Amazon’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York today. Variety was the first to report the deal.

“I can say that we have been talking. It’s no secret that I love the character,” Cage said back in March. “I can combine my favorite golden age performances — i.e. Robinson, Cagney, Bogart — with a character that is, I guess, widely considered [to be] Stan Lee’s masterpiece. I see it as a kind of foray into a pop art mash up of, sort of, a [Jungian] Lichtenstein, mash up by way of Bogart and Cagney, but nothing’s definitive yet. It’s just conversation.”

“Expanding the Marvel universe with ‘Noir’ is a uniquely special opportunity and we are honored to bring this series to our global Prime Video customers,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television for Amazon MGM Studios, in a statement. “The extremely talented Nicolas Cage is an  ideal choice for our new superhero and the accomplished producing team with Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, and the incredible team at Sony is dedicated to expanding this franchise in the most authentic way.”

In the comics (and Into the Spider-Verse), Noir was an alternate universe take on Peter Parker, although earlier reporting around Noir suggested that the Spider-Man of the live-action version may be renamed, presumably to accommodate some Sony or Marvel corporate priorities. No word yet on what that name might be, although it wouldn’t be surprising if it was “Benjamin,” since he was referred to as “Peter Benjamin Parker” in Spider-Verse.

Here’s the unofficial synopsis for Noir, which has been circulating since the series was first reported in early 2023: “[Noir] will follow an older, grizzled superhero in 1930s New York City. An individual with knowledge of the project says that the show will be set in its own universe and the main character will not be Peter Parker.”

While it sounds like they might be trying to give the MCU as wide a berth as possible, it seems likely Noir will see Cage’s Spider-man squaring off against noir-themed riffs on traditional Spider-Man villains. In his relatively few comic book appearances, the character has faced off against Noir Universe versions of characters as varied as Kraven, The Chameleon, and even Venom.

Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot will serve as showrunners. They developed the series with Into the Spider-Verse masterminds Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Amy Pascal, all of whom will be executive producers on Noir. Variety reports that Harry Bradbeer (Enola Holmes) will executive produce and direct the first two episodes.