Entertainment
Spider-Noir Reinvents Superhero Television For Casual Viewers
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been slow-dripping Spider-Noir into my veins like some sort of antidote, and it’s only solidified something I’ve been saying for years about superhero media: the less worldbuilding, the better. I don’t read comics. I gave up on the MCU about five years ago. I prefer standalone properties that are one-and-done because I don’t want to spend the rest of my adult life unpacking Easter eggs and lore, or latching onto media that no longer serves me simply because it’s the devil I know and I don’t want to move on.
I’m not trying to throw shade on my fellow comic-reading cohorts, but we’re just built differently. I want to watch the thing and get on with my life. If it’s good, great. If it’s terrible, I never have to think about it again.
I had my reservations about Spider-Noir, but they were quickly squashed when I realized how expertly it blends my two favorite things: pulpy crime noir and Nicolas Cage. I’ve never read the Spider-Man Noir comics, nor do I have any plans to. The best part is that I didn’t need to. You can go into the eight-episode run completely green and walk away feeling satisfied with its storytelling. And isn’t that what watching TV is all about?
Even better, the fact that the show is available in both black-and-white and full color is an added bonus, and there are actually some pretty fun ways to mix up your playback to enhance the experience.
Spider-Noir! Spider-Noir! Does Whatever A Spider-Noir Does!
Here’s all you need to know about Spider-Noir. Nicolas Cage plays the titular web-slinger, who’s now well into middle age and prefers to go by Ben Reilly. He has retired his mask and vigilante lifestyle, much preferring to spend his days investigating small-ball cases involving marital infidelity in exchange for a meager payout. He’s happy with this so long as he has enough scotch to get him through the day.
Working alongside his ever-faithful secretary Janet (Karen Rodriguez) and longtime journalist friend Robbie (Lamorne Morris), Ben sleepwalks through life, forever haunted by the inciting incident that made him walk away from the superhero lifestyle for good: the death of his wife, Ruby (Amanda Schull).
While pounding the pavement trying to make an honest living, Ben forms a semi-romantic relationship with femme fatale nightclub singer Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li), who reluctantly works for unhinged Irish mob boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson). Through her, and a myriad of other inexplicable situations, Ben finds himself caught in the middle of the crime lord’s wheelings and dealings, which involve a bunch of superpowered gangsters, like the amphibiously armored Tombstone (Abraham Popoola), the shape-shifting Sandman (Jack Huston), and the ever-so-electric Megawatt (Andrew Lewis Caldwell).
Staring down his Spider-Noir mask, and sometimes into his own soul, Ben Reilly realizes he’s the key to saving New York City from certain destruction because of his history with these men, which can be traced all the way back to experimental procedures conducted on them during World War I. Caught between his past life and the one he’s currently living, Ben can either hang it all up or return to the life he once abandoned, sacrificing his sanity for the greater good.
A Wild, Web-Slinging Ride
I think it goes without saying that Nicolas Cage was born to play this role. We’ve seen him on the neo-noir grind with films like Bringing Out the Dead and 8MM, but nothing quite like this before. He brings that same kind of manic energy to the mix, but leans into camp by celebrating every tried-and-true, hard-boiled private dick trope you could think of (Seeeee?!). His performance is surprisingly subdued, making his inevitable “Cage Rage” moments all the more impactful.
I need to be very clear here and let you know that this isn’t the kind of Cage Rage you’ll find in films like Mom and Dad or Matchstick Men. It’s more of a semi-manic, always cynical, world-weary way of chewing the scenery. Cage excels here by playing a reluctant hero who can’t deny his gift, but remains conflicted by the responsibility his powers force upon him when the going gets tough.
The Color Swapping Method
The best part about Spider-Noir, though, is the fact that you have the option to switch from black-and-white to color ahead of each episode. The entire eight-episode run can be viewed either way, and fans have come up with some pretty neat watch orders, though I can’t vouch for every one of them.
The watch pattern I adopted while watching Spider-Noir went like this: episodes one and two in black and white, episodes three and four in color, then alternating between each viewing method for the remaining four episodes. Some people say to watch the first four in black and white and the last four in color, and I’m sure that’s fine too. What I noticed with my particular arrangement is that the episodes I chose to watch without color leaned more into the noir and detective plots, while the action was found mostly in the color episodes. Obviously there is some crossover, but this was a neat way to compartmentalize.
I’m not sure if this is coincidental or intentional, and I don’t really care. It made for a great viewing experience. At least there was never a point during the season where I felt like I’d made the wrong choice in my color, or lack thereof, preference.
Spider-Noir is the best superhero series I’ve watched in a minute because I was able to go in blind, watch some incredibly talented actors commit to the bit, and never needed decades of lore or hours of homework before hitting play. I only watched it because I’m a Nicolas Cage fanatic, and I have zero regrets. Not just because of Cage’s magnetic performance, which earns every bit of its 92 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but because the storytelling is on point, the action is breathtaking without being over the top, and it knows exactly when to pivot from pulpy and campy to semi-serious.
Spider-Noir holds up not only as a solid superhero entry, but as a straight-up mystery that anybody could sink their teeth into. If you have your reservations about tuning in, take it from me, a guy who couldn’t care less if the MCU and DCU imploded overnight and we never got another superhero movie again: this show is straight-up gas, and I can’t see a crime thriller fan not enjoying it.
Spider-Noir is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
