TV Series Review: Spider-Noir (2026) *No Spoilers*

I'm like a lot of people whose first experience of Spider-Noir was in 2018's, Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse animated feature film, where the character was voiced by Nicolas Cage. Prior to that I'd never heard of Spider-Noir.

While the character was good in that movie I wasn't so impressed that I was clamoring for any kind of movie or TV series featuring the character.

However, the moment I heard Nicolas Cage was doing a live action TV series based on Spider-Noir, I was in. Cage is one of those actors who always goes all in on a role, with interesting ideas that can be hit or miss, but you appreciate his commitment, even when it's a miss. 

Thankfully in Spider-Noir (Amazon Prime) Cage, who is a fan of old Noir films and Comic books, doesn't disappoint.

For reasons that are explained over the course of the series, this isn't Peter Parker Spider-Noir (known as just 'The Spider' in the show). Instead we get Ben Reilly (Cage), a seasoned, down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city's one and only superhero.

You can watch the show in 'Authentic Black & White' or 'True-Hue Full Color'. I watched all but one episode in color because, if there is a color option, that's my preference. Watching the one episode in black and white didn't seem any better or worse to me. It didn't seem like it was lacking anything without color, and color didn't make so much of a difference that I would say it is the better way to watch. I just prefer color as a visual artist who uses bright colors a lot.

The story itself is very well constructed, which you would expect to play out as a mystery to be solved, but it's not really that. Things do get revealed but not really in relation to solving a mystery, we're more piecing together, and learning new things about each character, their backstory, and their motivation.

Nicolas Cage's take on Spider-Noir is not unlike the version from Into the Spider-verse but you get a lot more nuance, backstory, and character development. Cage is entirely believable as the live action character even though you know he's probably not in the suit for most of the action pieces.

The supporting cast are all very good, with stand outs for me being Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson, Ben's reporter friend, Karen Rodriguez as Janet Ruiz, Ben's Assistant, and Brendan Gleeson as Silvermane, probably one of Marvel's most intimidating villains to date.

Overall it's a fun watch with a series finale that I found to be mostly satisfying. There's one or two loose ends that may give rise to a second season if they wanted to continue this story but the could easily start with a whole new adventure too.

In interviews Nicolas Cage has said this, his very first TV Series, was overall a good experience and he plans to do more TV. Let's hope, this does well, because I would certainly be there for Cage and the core cast for a second season, should Sony or Marvel confirm it.