Summary
- I'm excited to see a different side of Spider-Man with an aging, down-on-his-luck portrayal in the upcoming Noir TV series with Nicolas Cage.
- Spider-Man movies and TV shows have mostly featured a young Peter Parker, but Noir will finally explore a veteran, adult version of the hero.
- Cage's unique acting style and the 1930s New York City setting of Noir promise fresh and thrilling storytelling possibilities for Spider-Man fans.
I've been watching Spider-Man movies and TV shows for 30 years, and Noir is finally about to give me the Marvel story I've been patiently waiting for. There's little doubt that, as far as movies and TV shows go, Spider-Man fans have been incredibly spoiled. While a few other heroes - namely Batman, Superman, and the X-Men - have enjoyed equally prolific adaptations over the decades, none have been as consistently well-done as Marvel's iconic wallcrawler. Except for a few significantly older Spider-Man projects, I genuinely enjoy watching and rewatching all of Peter Parker's movies and TV shows.
However, going all the way back past the iconic Spider-Man: The Animated Series in to The Amazing Spider-Man (1977), Marvel media has largely focused on one specific version of the Webhead. With only a few exceptions, Spider-Man has been consistently stuck in his high school and college years. As such, I'm elated that the upcoming Nicolas Cage-led Noir, a live-action TV series about Spider-Man Noir, will explore a veteran, adult Spider-Man in depth when it comes to Prime Video and MGM+ at a hitherto undisclosed date.
Nicolas Cage's New Live-Action Spider-Man Role Can Redeem His 12-Year-Old Marvel Blunder
Spider-Man Noir is perfect for Nicolas Cage to redeem himself as a live-action Marvel hero over a decade after the last time he played one.
Noir Will Focus On An Older Spider-Man (With A Twist)
The confirmation that Cage will be putting on the Spider-Man Noir mask in live-action following his time voicing the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (and, presumably, the upcoming Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse) was immediately exciting for me because it's just so different than what's been being done with the character in other media portrayals. Cage is a veteran actor whose animated and unique style of line delivery and full-body acting is perfect for Noir, which will follow the hero in his 1930s version of New York City. More than that, though, I'm excited to see Spider-Man as a full-fledged adult.
While plot specifics remain largely under wraps, an initial synopsis describes this Spider-Man as "aging and down on his luck ... forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero." High school and college-aged Peter Parkers are great, but a Spider-Man at the end of his career opens the door for some fresh and exciting stories I've been waiting to see adapted. However, the synopsis is notably absent of the name "Peter Parker." Regardless, even with a change to who's behind the mask, it's time for an older Spider-Man to shine.
Noir's official press release describes the series as part of Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters, which is the older name for the SSU franchise containing Venom and its sequel, Morbius, and Madame Web. However, given it's set almost a century before the other projects in the franchise, it's unlikely there will be any crossover.
Spider-Man Movies & TV Shows Almost Exclusively Feature Young Peter
Though Spider-Man has spent plenty of his time in Marvel Comics as a full-grown adult, he's been perpetually stuck in his younger years on the big and small screens. Every live-action Spider-Man so far has portrayed a version of the character in his teens or early 20s, even if the actors to play them are markedly older. The first live-action Peter Parker was Nicholas Hammond in 1977's The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel projects in which Parker is in college (Hammond was 26 or 27 when the project was released).
From there, Tobey Maguire's trilogy saw the character start out in high school and end somewhere around 22, Garfield's Peter in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel graduates high school in the second film, and Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man has just finished high school in his most recent movie. On the animated side, the most notable versions of the character are Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse movies (high school) and Peter from Spider-Man: The Animated Series (college). While each adaptation is great, they haven't been able to tell the stories of a more experienced Spider-Man that I can't wait to see.
Spider-Man: No Way Home and the two Spider-Verse movies do feature older Peter Parkers, but each has a younger Spider-Man as the narrative lead.