Spider-Noir is AWESOME | Series Review

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]I'm Spider-Man. You understand? I'm Spider-Man.

[00:00:09]>> That's right.

[00:00:09]>> My apologies. What a horrible impression. Today, we're talking Nicholas Cage as Spider-Man in Spider Noir, the brand new show on Amazon Prime. I have seen all eight episodes, and let me tell you, it's a lot better than that impersonation. This is genuinely one of the most fun superhero shows I've watched in quite some time.

[00:00:31]And maybe not for the reasons that you think. So, I'm going to tell you why here in just a second. I need to know.

[00:00:35]Are you excited for Spider Noir? Are you a fan of this character within the Into the Spider-Verse universe? Is it the same character? We'll talk about all those things right now. So, this is not Peter Parker. Ben Riley is 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. It's a period piece also an investigative thriller with the backdrop of the Marvel universe. And again, we're not telling the old story that we've seen a thousand times before.

[00:01:15]I really like that they made this Ben Riley who again, you know, it's not the Ben Riley some comic readers are used to and obviously it's not the story the retread of Peter Parker. We're kind of telling our own contained version of how Spider-Man in this time period in this universe is born, but we're taking what we loved about Spider Noir in Into the Spider-Verse, the animated series or movie. I guess it's a series of movies at this point and we're kind of bringing that to life in live action surrounding him with numerous interesting supporting characters that are plucked from the comics in their own way, but they're given very different personalities and characteristics and especially the villains. I think some people are going to watch this and say, "Ah, it's not the it's not the Flint Marco, the Sandman that I'm used to." Yeah, it's cuz we're in 1930s New York. It's a very different time period dynamic the way that people talk. You've got a little bit of this going on here. See, a lot of people in the show sound like they're in 1930s New York. They're actually, you know, kind of staying true to that time period. And for the most part, they they nail that.

[00:02:26]Especially Nicholas Cage, who I think is so ridiculous, man, because I've given Cage so much flack in the past for just being so over the top, exaggerated, like utterly ridiculous at points. He's had some horrible movies as of late. One of my worst movies of last year. He was in for some reason and it was tragically bad. Albeit he was entertaining in that movie and he's bringing it again. Now I will say the guy commits regardless of the role or the quality of the movie he commits. And when the movie's good surrounding Cage, then usually it's amplified by his performance. And he has been in some of the better movies of the last 10 plus years. It's just those aren't movies that people are talking about cuz it's always overshadowed by the ridiculousness. I loved how over the top he was in Long Legs, good in Dream Scenario. Pig was one of my favorite movies of that year. I genuinely believe this series and this character in general again playing the same versionish slightly modified. I think this is a lot more serious and obviously it's a lot more grounded. I would say this version of Spider Noir is less comedic even though this style of comedy a and still what he's able to bring to the table from that standpoint here is awesome.

[00:03:50]But the grounded nature of the more intense storytelling makes it less cartoonish, even though he's still kind of cartoonish and more in the vein of what you would expect Spider Noir and live action to be. And that is at times kind of this gritty investigative thriller, this mystery of sorts that he's trying to solve about all of these superpowered people popping up where they are coming from because the spider has always been the only guy. but he's disappeared for quite some time. This tragedy of sorts has really started to eat him alive. And we saw in Across the Spiderverse, all of these Spidermen, they have that one thing that utterly destroys them inside and it leads them sometimes down a path of darkness. And that's kind of where Ben Riley is at points in this show. And I like that it got that gritty, man. It's not just Nicholas Cage being over the top in 1930s New York. He's bringing that to the table and it's awesome. And there's plenty of comedy here. Some of this dry humor. What the heck is this, man? It is ridiculous that this worked as well as it did because it uses this pure unadulterated noir vibe, but it complements the humor and the humor complements the mystery and all of it comes together so well. to make such an entertaining and unique comic book show that admittedly in the first episode I was a little nervous about the pacing because I'm thinking I don't know if it's the editing or kind of the vibe of the show if it's all you know not coming together perfectly but it wasn't quite clicking for me in the beginning even though I was interested I'm like okay this is cool I like what they're doing I like the the tragedy of the story that we're telling for Ben Riley but how that is also leading him into trying to figure this whole thing out that's happening with Silver Mane Silver Mine by the Oh my god. Let's talk about the supporting cast. Brennan Gleason as Silverman. This is one of the cooler darker comic book villains we've seen in a TV show in quite some time. And while you know by the end I did want a little bit more from that character when it comes to that penultimate showdown. Most of it lands. I mean he has that mob boss mentality that you absolutely want. He's like the kingpin of this universe but uh operates a bit differently and has this control over the city and over the mayor and over everyone involved that you can feel it. It almost had this Gotham City feel of obviously 1930 so a little different Gotham City feel to it where the underbelly of New York and the crime riddled streets and how they have a strangle hold on everything. It's like Moroni and Falco. It's like all of those things work extremely well in the Spider-Man universe, but you're able to amplify that because it's not a ton of super villains running around. Again, there's no Green Goblin, no Doc O. It's we have to deal with the the crime on the streets. Spider Noir is struggling.

[00:06:54]It's almost a Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2 type thing where not fully losing his powers, but where everything's not quite working on the level that it once was because all of this pent up emotion he has in sight. And Cage handles that big responsibility, pun intended, phenomenally. I mean, I felt his pain. I I felt the sadness and the sickness that he feels from what happened. We get those flashbacks. We also get flashbacks of how he came to be the spider in New York and how that plays into the story with these villains. Now, we do get superpower villains. That wasn't me saying uh Tombstone, Sandman, some of these guys don't show up, but they show up in a very different way. They're still part of that gritty, downto-earth mob that's running the streets, but they have superpowers and everyone else is trying to figure out what the heck is going. First, the guy that's swinging around New York City in the 1930s and now a Sandman and a tombstone. But Jack Hust is Flint Marco. I was unsure of what this was going to be cuz it's not your Flint Marco that we've seen before in live action. is not your Flint Marco that we saw in the '90s animated series or even it's a very different interpretation from the comic books. I really liked this performance and the more I think about this version of Flint Marco that still has a bit of a and that's kind of what we like about Sandman, bit of a redeemable aspect here, I was really impressed with how they brought this to life. He out of the superpowered villains was the most impressive. But uh in terms of villain, Megawatt has to be the one that stole the show. Just like this unprecedented out of control freak of nature that's going to do whatever's on his mind and there's really no filter there. So that was a fun like these villains conveyed in a very different way than what we've seen from Spider-Man before. Very fun.

[00:08:58]Legion Lee as Cat Hardy. Not quite Black Cat, but I can kind of see where they were going with the character. She plays an integral role. And someone that I really like seeing on screen, Lamour Morris as Robbie Robertson, who I've always been a big fan of as a Spider-Man character in general, but he had a lot to do in this show, and they kind of implement the Daily Bugle with that. And Morris, I I really like that presence, not only on screen, but within the life of Ben Riley and how he kind of grounds him and brings him back down to earth when things start to go off the rails.

[00:09:32]And when things start to go off the rails with Nicholas Cage, you know, it's going to be super entertaining. Uh the bar scene later on in the show was awesome. There is an episode that kind of feels out of place because it's where they go back to where all the superpoweress starts. Kind of had a feel of the X-Men movies. people get these powers from something that goes down, but also had like this overlord. You remember that movie that came out a few years ago? Was it Julia Avery? Was that the director?

[00:09:57]You can fact check me on that. I'll fact check myself in editing. That was a really fun movie. That episode has an Overlord vibe to it. That was frankly pretty cool. It is out of place, but it was really cool. Now, there is a black and white, there is a color, admittedly, and I got both. Uh Amazon sent me both.

[00:10:17]I watched about half and half. I did half the show in color, half the show in black and white just to get a good feel for it. A lot of people will prefer color. I believe the superior version is black and white. That storytelling with that format and just kind of the shadow, man, it looks so good. The visuals are great. I mean, there are times with some of the bigger things that happen, some of the explosions, I guess, where it is noticeable or more noticeable CGI, but even when Spider-Man's swinging, I'm thinking, "No, that looks really good."

[00:10:52]And some of the cooler swinging scenes we've gotten from any Spider-Man thing in general, and it's even cooler because it's Nicholas Cage, man. Nicholas Cage, way to crush it, man. Way to take this role. take it seriously, even though he gets a little crazy, and crush it. And he freaking crushed it. Before I give you my score, let me know. Are you excited for Spider Noir? Let me know when you see all of the episodes, are you going to binge this episode by episode? Uh, this is so ridiculously unique in the world of comic book movies. Nicholas Cage turns Ben Riley into one of the more captivating and often quirky versions of the wall crawler we've seen. It's the subtleties and nuances of how he blends perfectly into the time period that stands out and allows him to thrive. It's a fun spin on certain villains that make him feel fresh. The black and white version brings that timely aesthetic. It's a solid score. I I really enjoyed the music. All of this works well. Now, the pacing was worrisome in the beginning, like I said, but overall, this is a fun show. My new favorite cage roles, and apologies for not talking more about the score, uh kind of the look and feel for it. I do believe it's really good. And the introduction, the music's first time I heard it, I'm like, ah, it's I don't know. But then I start to think of the the time period and the fact that it's Nor and I'm like, "No, this actually the vibe is perfect." Uh, and a bit of a Jessica Jones flavor in there as well.

[00:12:14]So, really cool, super fun. One of my favorite Marvel shows I've seen in quite some time. I would probably take it over I would take it over a lot of the shows on Disney Plus. Uh, we may have to do a ranking here very soon. So, thanks so much for watching. I had a good time watching this. I hope you do as well.

[00:12:34]And I'll see you soon.