Spider-Man fans have been eating well the past decade. There’s been no shortage of Spider-Man projects in the 21st Century, but there’s been a sort of Renaissance lately. In addition to the Tom Holland films, fans have been treated to multiple Spiderverse animated films, spinoff films that we’ll pretend never happened, and award winning video games. Last month, Spider-Noir was added to the mix, and it might be the most ambitious project yet.
The first time I ever heard of Spider-Noir was when Nicholas Cage voiced the character in Into The Spiderverse. Then it was announced that Cage would reprise the role in a live-action show. At first, I didn’t think it was going to work at all. The character is significantly older, the show takes place a hundred years ago, and the violence was super dark. It just didn’t sound like something that could be done.
But then all eight episodes dropped last month and I was proven wrong. After watching the first episode, I was thoroughly invested. I don’t usually watch new TV shows, but I made an exception for this one. Why? Because it did something that I haven’t seen from a superhero movie in years. It was fresh.
Many superhero movies now survive on the success of other superhero movies. They rely on sequels, spinoffs, cliffhangers, and characters to put butts in seats. But outside of a few character names, Spider-Noir is completely fresh and original. It wasn’t bogged down by a dozen hours of other content. It was independent and exciting because there was nothing I was expecting or hoping for.
In fact, if someone were to watch scenes from the show without context, they might not even be aware that it takes place within the Spider-Man universe. The fourth episode does this very well. Outside of the opening credits, the episode takes 20 minutes before there’s some reference to this being a Spider-Man project. The show focuses way less on “The Spider” and focuses on Ben Reilly, those around him, and the state of New York itself.
Ben Reilly is a private investigator, and a very good one at that. He used to be The Spider, but he retired after losing the one person he loved five years before the start of the story. He gets roped back in after a ruthless crime lord begins taking advantage of him and those around him. At the same time, other people with superpowers begin popping up and wrecking havoc on the streets of New York.
The show perfectly balances multiple storylines throughout the season. The Spider comes out of retirement, Ben Reilly’s personal struggles, the rise of the superpowered beings, the criminal mastermind Silvermane, and smaller stories revolving around a displaced reporter and the political landscape of New York. I loved this because it’s way more involved than the standard Spider-Man saves the city while Peter Parker does Peter Parker things.
The Tom Holland iteration of Spider-Man was more involved than his predecessors because his movies were on a global scale. But since Spider-Noir is given more than five hours of runtime, so many different aspects get to marinate at their own pace. This creates a far more investing world than Spider-Man and Peter Parker ever could. Or even just Ben Reilly and The Spider for that matter. The first two episodes prove this very well.
It takes more than an hour for Ben to put on the suit. The early moments focus on Ben’s struggling personal life, and we learn so much about what it’s like behind the mask. But we also learn so much about Cat Hardy, Flint Marko, Silvermane, Winston, and Ben’s work friends in just two episodes. You don’t get that luxury in a movie, and the payoff is great. You grow to love many of the characters, even the villains.
Take Silvermane for instance. He became my favorite villain since Raul Silva in Skyfall. He’s terrifyingly brutal and just has no humanity. Winston was also a very compelling villain. The speech he gave to Silvermane where he goes into his job description was fantastic. The acting from Li Jun Li, Lamorne Morris, and Cage was great too. Their chemistry helped balance the humor, action, and darker themes perfectly.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of action. But Spider-Noir is way more than just punching bad guys. The story is really compelling and the characters are great. Spider-Noir has quickly become one of my favorite Spider-Man projects, and you need to watch it too.
10/10