Remember when Nicolas Cage was Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and we all loved it? When he showed up in Aunt May’s basement and said things like, “Wherever I go, the wind follows. And the wind … smells like rain”? Well, now we’re getting more of our favorite noir hero in a live-action series!
Variety reports that Prime Video is working on a Spider-Man Noir live-action series, making it the second series at Amazon based on the Marvel characters that Sony still controls. The other is Silk: Spider Society from former Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang. For the Spider-Man Noir series, Oren Uziel (The Lost City) will be writing and executive-producing the series, which he developed with Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, as well as former Sony co-chair Amy Pascal.
However, you shouldn’t get your hopes up that this is a new Peter Parker story. Reports also suggest it will be very different from the Spider-Man Noir we know and love.
It’s not about Peter Parker
One of the most eyebrow-raising things about the news is that Peter Parker is not Spider-Man Noir. He goes by Peter Benjamin Parker and is still technically the Peter we know and love, but having a noir-esque Spider-Man series without Peter is … well, it’s interesting. How does that technically work? Is it just that a member of the spider-family is in a noir setting? Because then it’s just something you could call Spider-Noir.
Whatever ends up happening, it does make me feel better knowing that Lord and Miller are involved. While the live-action Sony Spider-Verse world has been hit or miss, their foray into animation with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was amazing. Truly, it was a perfect movie. And their take on Spider-Man Noir in that film was hilarious and gritty.
Remember when they all talked about Uncle Ben, but he said “Uncle Benjamin” because he’s Spider-Man Noir? I want that kind of energy in this series. Bonus points if we get Nicolas Cage back as Spider-Man Noir. Right now, we don’t know that much about it—just that it is in development and that Uziel is writing the series. But I do hope it leans into the genre.
The beauty of a noir series
The thing that is going to work with this show is the setting. According to Variety, the series will follow an “older, grizzled superhero in 1930s New York City.” And with how Noir operates in the Spider-Man universe, I can only assume it’d be a detective story.
It would have to lean hard into the genre to really work but it’d be fun to see a Spider-Man story embracing this instead of a straightforward take. I wish it was Peter Benjamin Parker we’d be seeing as Spider-Man Noir, but I trust that the show itself will be refreshing regardless.
Bringing that 1930s noir feel to a television series will definitely work. And I trust Lord, Miller, and company with my Spidey loves.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Animation)
Published: Feb 9, 2023 04:49 pm