I used to be a massive Marvel fan, but like many people, I’ve found myself burned out by the glut of (often mediocre) superhero media in recent years. It’s gotten to the point where I full-on skip shows or movies entirely when I once would have watched them out of some begrudging “completionist” mindset. And nowhere has this been truer than with Marvel’s Disney+ series, which have felt like messy, overlong movies that were effectively just commercials for other movies.
But after watching the first two episodes of Prime Video’s Spider-Noir, I find myself genuinely looking forward to a superhero show again. Above all else, that’s due to how fresh the series feels within the context of the larger comic book adaptation space. Indeed, while there have been countless Spider-Man media over the years, including the ninth live-action film this year, Brand New Day, Spider-Noir is unique not only because it doesn’t star Peter Parker, but it’s also an unabashed homage to classic hard-boiled detective stories.
The series follows P.I. Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage, reprising the role from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) in 1930s New York as he’s hired by the mysterious Cat Hardy (Sinners’ Li Jun Li) to tackle a case that gets him embroiled with the local crime syndicate. Along the way, he’ll have to become the Spider once more after hanging up the webs years prior.
Sure, in many ways, Spider-Noir isn’t exactly original. In particular, it leans heavily into the tropes of noir fiction, from Reilly having a dead wife to Hardy being a classic femme fatale. But that’s very much a feature, not a bug, with the series having a clear winking self-awareness, in no small part due to the always-committed Cage, who naturally can go big and (web)swing for the fences with tongue-in-cheek dialogue but also convincingly play the subtler, more tortured moments. His banter with his secretary, Janet (Karen Rodriguez), is especially fun, with the latter never letting him off the hook for being a pretty terrible boss.
And in the context of the many, many other superhero movies and TV shows out there, an unabashed love letter to the classic Humphrey Bogart-era noir stories gives Spider-Noir a refreshingly unique identity. That feeling of novelty extends to how Spider-Noir handles the Spider-Man mythos. As a lifelong Spider-Man fan with an admittedly cursory knowledge of the Spider-Man Noir comics, I really loved the clever riffs the series makes on the Web-Head’s classic characters. Take Robbie Robertson, who’s generally depicted as an older, kinder Daily Bugle boss but is seen here as a young, suave freelance journalist played by New Girl‘s Lamorne Morris. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Cat Hardy is, naturally, a cute twist on Felicia Hardy, AKA the Black Cat. The way the series reimagines classic Spidey characters adds to the intrigue as the show goes on.
The series’ sense of style also goes a long way towards making it feel distinct as a piece of superhero media. That’s because the entire eight-episode run can be watched in both black-and-white and Technicolor-esque coloured versions. It’s a smart way to both embrace the visual style of the media that inspired it while also giving an alternative to younger audiences who are perhaps not used to black-and-white. That said, black-and-white is absolutely the way to go, as it brings an immersive atmosphere to the series, from the richness of each ray of light shining into Ben’s eerily empty office to the striking beauty of Cat during a close-up of her singing in a nightclub.
With all of that said, there are a few gripes so far with the series. For one, crime boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson) is a pretty generic mobster villain, making little of an impression at this point despite the Irish actor typically being a commanding screen presence. What’s more, the action can occasionally be spotty. While Ben’s actual brawls are undeniably entertaining, especially with the scrappy, devil-may-care way he punches and webs as he dispenses with corny quips, the occasional shot of him swinging can feel artificial and weightless, presumably due to the confines of a TV budget.
But those absolutely aren’t major issues, and on the whole, I’m loving Spider-Noir so far. Its delectable noir tone and visual style mixed with unexpected takes on classic Spidey characters has me hooked so far, and I can’t wait to watch more.
All eight episodes of Spider-Noir will premiere on Prime Video on May 27.
Image credit: Prime Video
