Spider-Man turns on the dark in new look at Spider-Noir

The alternate Spider-Man universe that’s been swinging around Hollywood since the mid-2010s is getting another webhead. Though he’s more inclined to hide in the shadows. In his first live-action TV series, Nicolas Cage stars in Spider-Noir, an adaptation of the Spider-Man Noir comics and a spin-off of Cage’s character from 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse. However, along with new photos from the Dashiell Hammett-inspired series that puts tangles in Spidey’s web in a Depression-era film noir pastiche, Prime Video released new clues about the show. 

For one thing, Cage isn’t playing Peter Parker or Spider-Man. His character is Ben Reilly, a downtrodden PI who, in another life, was a superhero known as “The Spider.” After a personal tragedy, likely one that teaches him what accompanies great power, Reilly puts the mask back on and begins wall-crawling around Manhattan again. He’ll be joined by best friend and hard-nosed journalist Robbie Robertson (Lamorne Morris), a beautiful femme fatale Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li), and, of course, Janet (Karen Rodriguez), Reilly’s unflappable secretary. Longtime Spider-heads will recognize these names. Ben Reilly is the secret identity of the Spider-Man clone, The Scarlet Spider. In addition to sharing a name with the late, great Band songwriter, Robbie Robertson is one of Peter Parker’s editors at the Daily Bugle. Cat Hardy is a play on Spidey’s off-and-on love interest Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. Black Cat. Finally, there’s Janet, which one might think is a reference to The Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, who Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed in the Quantumania films, or that the writers simply needed a woman’s name and “Janet” was a great one. Speaking to Equire, showrunner Oren Uziel explained that she’s an original creation and Reilly’s Girl Friday.