Should You Watch Spider Noir in Color or Black and White?

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Spider-Noir is finally out and you can watch it in color or in black and white, but the question remains, which one should you choose? Welcome back everyone. We are here today to talk about Spider-Noir episode 1. I have watched it in color. I have watched it in black and white and I am here to tell you my thoughts on this first episode as well as tell you what I think is the better option for how you should be watching this show. Before we get into this, I want to know when it comes to the Spider-Verse, are there any other characters that you would like to see a spin-off of, like we're seeing the Spider-Noir? And how did you feel when this was first announced? Because to be honest with you, when I heard about Spider-Noir, I was like, that's really weird, but really interesting. And usually when shows hook me like that, when I think they're really strange or bizarre ideas, but also fascinating, I think it can go one of two ways. We can either have a show that is absolutely terrible and it just doesn't work, or you can have something like what we saw with the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters, which on paper sounds so wacky, but in execution was perfection. So, when it comes to the show Spider-Noir, which you can find on Amazon Prime, where are we at with this?

[00:01:15]Well, I've watched it both ways and I have to say, regardless of how you're watching this show, I think it's so unique and so creative. It's something that I haven't seen anywhere else and that is something that I really like about this show. If you are like me and you love classic films, you love the noir era, I think there's going to be a lot for you to get out of this series.

[00:01:43]Personally, it feels like a period piece to me. It feels like I have been transported back in time and although we obviously have color blind casting here, I still feel that everything is so grounded in the time period that it's it works. It all works. And in fact, our cast is perfect. Everyone that's been cast here, I think is doing a great job, and they're doing some really creative twists on characters that still stay true to who that person is. Now, when we do variations on comic book characters, like what we've seen with ultimate or what we've seen with absolute, I think it is important to maintain the core of the character. You can kind of get as creative as you want with any character, but heroes do very much live in this place of archetypes. So, it's important that you understand what they represent, what they're fighting for, and just who they are at their core. And something that I love about this show, it gets that. Yes, we have Black Cat here. Yes, we have Sandman here. But, at their core, they are still the characters that you know and love from the comics. We're just doing something a little bit creative with them here. We're playing with them in a different time period.

[00:02:58]And of course, Spider-Noir is a character that does come from the comics. He is an alternate version of Spider-Man in the Spider-Verse, but he is also his own character. And what I love about this show it understands who the character is from the comics and that creative twist on the character and what makes them unique. It embodies all of that with our Ben Reilly who we get here played by Nick Cage. Flawlessly played by Nick Cage, I must say. Nick Cage very rarely disappoints me. Even when he's in movies that I really don't like, he does an amazing job. And in this, it's no exception. And it's not just about the performances or the characterizations or the story. All of that works, in my opinion. The story also is a fun mystery, at least what we're seeing from the beginning, the first episode. And while some things are revealed in this first episode, and some of it goes the way that I thought, by the time I clued in, they were about to do reveals for things, and there's still a lot of questions that I have about what's going on in this story that I want to find out as we go through the show. I actually really love that they dropped this show all at once, even though I wanted to reactions to it, so it's going to be a bit of a doozy for me to do all of that. I love that they dropped it all at once because I really want to binge it. It's that good. When it comes to the contrast of color versus black and white, how do we compare those two sides?

[00:04:22]I think either way, there is going to be a lot for you to appreciate in the cinematography in this project. There's a lot of practical effects. There's a lot of creative stuff that they just do with how it's shot in terms of showcasing the action. That is very old-school Hollywood, and I love the old-school Hollywood vibes that this has down to its bones. Down to I can imagine when they were just mapping out these shots and they were doing their storyboards.

[00:04:53]It evokes that era, and it's not afraid to give us an almost modern take on that, which is something that I like.

[00:05:02]So, while there are a lot of shots here that feel like they're from a different era, everything is so crisp and so clear. The colors are so rich when you're watching color, and in the black and white, our contrast is so deep.

[00:05:16]There really is a lot of layers to the black and white, the grayscale, the way we play with light, shadow, absence of light, that there is a lot for you to appreciate whether you are someone that loves classic Hollywood and classic film, or whether you are someone that is more a fan of the modern style of film these days. I think that this is really cool because it's going to maybe bring back a love of that era and get people exploring historical films, which I think would be really amazing. And I feel like having it in color and having it in black and white is a smart move from Amazon. There are some people online that are saying, "If you do both, you're not really doing either." Which historically, in terms of how things were filmed, and the fact that when you're filming black and white, so much of your colors are thinking about how will that show up in black and white on screen. So, I understand where purists are coming from when they're saying that, and I think they do have some points. But, the colors are so beautiful, and they still have leaned, I think, a little bit into that more black and white palette for the colors you are choosing.

[00:06:31]There's a lot of deep, dark, rich colors, a lot of maroons in this. And I feel that when you watch in the black and white, it still holds up because of that. Because they were thinking about the black and white when they were filming the color. And yet, the color is very vibrant, very It's honestly what I feel we've been missing from a lot of modern film, which has felt so flat lately. This has a bit of a grain to it.

[00:06:59]It's got a bit of texture. It's got a richness. And so, for me, I think you could go either way and still really enjoy it. But, because they're considering all of that when they're filming in the color, I think the black and white really pops. And what the black and white really shows you a lot more of is those more iconic film noir moments in terms of shots, and just in terms of our lighting. And the lighting in this show is really good. And I will say, I recently watched a few other projects that had lackluster lighting, and watching Spider-Man Noir just made me go, "Light is so important in film."

[00:07:36]I mean, it is how we literally see pictures. So, light is vital. And when you understand how to play with that to create a mood, to allow you to see the character's journey and go on it with them, using the light to literally illuminate or obscure their path, there's a lot of fun that I think they're having with this project. So, I'm very curious to see where it goes next. I love the characterizations. I was so surprised by everything they did in this first episode, and I was amazed at just the level of commitment of our cast, of the production, of our crew, to bring this vision to life. And it really does feel like a project that has a cohesive vision and is here to give us a story that is allowing us to escape, but also safely allowing us to explore what it means to be a hero and all of the different ranges of that, the nuances of that, the grayscale of what that means.

[00:08:39]So, I think it's a really neat project, and I definitely think it is something that is worth your time, very unique. I would recommend the black and white over the color just slightly, but honestly, if you are watching color, you're going to love this, too, I think. I think this is just a masterpiece of a production.

[00:08:55]Now, granted, this is just my thoughts on episode 1, and I do think that some of the effects have a little bit of a almost cartoony feel to it, but because of the tone that we're going with, because of the period this is set in, I think that all really works. So, I'm curious to see if I'll continue to be as in love with this as I go through the rest of it. I just wanted to wait to come here to give you my first thoughts before I continue. So, now that I'm done, I'm going to be doing that. I will also be filming some reactions for you, which you can check out here for my members on my YouTube channel, and also over on my Patreon. Thank you so much to everyone that is watching this video. I hope that you love this show as much as I do. Let me know your thoughts on episode 1 down in the comments below.

[00:09:39]Let's try to keep it a little spoiler light. I tried to keep it spoiler light for this video, but we are going to go into the intricacies of the plot a little bit more as we go on. What I'll say for now is there's lots of fun twists and turns, and I think that everything they're doing with Ben Reilly is really nuanced and very interesting, very intriguing. I can't wait to see how many layers to this character there are. That's all I have for this one. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to watch this video. I'll see you down in the comments, and until next time, friends, as always, stay nerdy. Bye. And if you love when I talk about Spider-Noir and other superhero things, you need to check this out.