Spider-Noir is now streaming on Prime Video, and while the series hasn't made the biggest cultural impact, reviews from fans and critics have been very positive. With the entire season available to watch, there's also plenty of time for people to discover Nicolas Cage's Ben Reilly.
It was always unlikely that the show would make as significant a splash as the live-action Spider-Man movies, but Cage now joins a very exclusive club of actors who have played the wall-crawling superhero.
During a recent interview with Complex, the legendary actor danced around a question about whether he's watched all of Spidey's movies, but did make a point of naming his favourite Peter Parker actor.
"I thought Garfield was a really great Spider-Man. I thought he did a really terrific job. He’s a marvellous actor," Cage said, adding that he is, "in my view, the best Spider-Man of cinema."
That's a bold proclamation, particularly given how beloved Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland are in the role. Still, nearly every fan out there has a favourite of the three, and Cage is now part of the conversation, despite not playing Peter.
In related news, Slash Film caught up with Spider-Noir co-showrunner Oren Uziel, who revealed that a cut Season 1 storyline could factor into a potential second batch of episodes.
"There's a character, shoot, I'm hoping I'm going to remember his name, called Styx, I believe, who, when he touches you, you die," he explained. "And I love that idea, and I loved it for 'Noir,' and maybe I'll use it in Season 2 if we do one."
Asked why Styx didn't make it into the series, he noted, "It was cool, but it was just kind of its own story that was overpowering the other stuff we were trying to tell. And also I think, it's kind of a pain in the a**, as a guy who can just touch people and you die. I'm not sure how to, that might be a challenge for the next season."
Styx was created by David Michelinie and Todd MacFarlane, and first appeared in 1988's Amazing Spider-Man #309. There's not that much more to him in the comics than what Uziel describes above, making him a fitting choice of villain to be reimagined in Spider-Noir.
Spider-Noir is a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. It tells the story of Ben Reilly (Nicolas 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.
The cast also includes Lamorne Morris, Li Jun L, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, with Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson. Guest stars include Lukas Haas, Cameron Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice, Amanda Schull, Andrew Caldwell, Amy Aquino, Andrew Robinson, and Kai Caster.
All episodes of Spider-Noir are now streaming on Prime Video.