Spider-Man is a character with decades of history. And it is because he is very much liked by the public. Everything related to Spider-Man sells and is liked, which is why he remains as popular as on the first day. Therefore, it should not surprise us that Sony wants to expand its Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, the SSU, thanks to that success. And they have a clear roadmap: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
The popular film by Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, and Bob Persichetti offered us a multiverse with countless different Spider-Men, each with their own peculiarities. Something that allows Sony to do exactly what they want: have a Spider-Man for every person. And in fact, that is what they are going to do. Because one of the most beloved Spider-Men we saw in the movie is going to have his own series. And it has delighted critics. Because Spider-Noir is coming to streaming services to show that we have Spider-Man for a long time for good reasons.
A Spider-Man that has nothing new
Spider-Man Noir, although he first appeared on the big screen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is not a new character. Although he doesn’t have a history as extensive as that of the original Spider-Man. His first appearance was in February 2009, and since then his popularity has only grown. His origin lies in a unique initiative: Marvel Noir.
This is an alternate universe, that of Earth-90214, where everything is in black and white, defined by the tropes of film noir and set during the Great Depression. This means there are few superheroes and their powers are more limited than usual, detective work, thuggery, and gangster roles are especially sought after, and disappearances, thefts, and gruesome and seemingly impossible murders are the order of the day.
Spider-Man Noir was part of this initiative, created by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky, as a version of Peter Parker more focused on confronting crime in the city, the Nazis, and of course, doing detective work. All of this in a very close interpretation to the original, except that now he carried a revolver in addition to being dressed entirely in black and having much less patience with criminals.
The Marvel Noir initiative was not a resounding success, except for Spider-Man Noir. Which has ended up having several series over the years, appearing in movies and series, and even being one of the chosen ones for one of the latest video games of the character, Spider-Man: Shattered Memories. This explains why they specifically chose this Spider-Man to make a series: he is already one of the most popular Spider-Men among the audience.
A series that has captivated critics
The series, which a select group of critics have already seen, has captivated the press. Highlighting especially Nicolas Cage’s role as Spider-Man, who does an excellent job as a hard-boiled noir detective, they have also noted that the visual aspect of the series and its serialized tone are very well achieved, managing to create something very unique with the character. Making it feel different from the classic Spider-Man stories.
With a 91% on Metacritic, a rating of 7.7, and a 72 out of 100 on Metacritic, the series has a more than notable score for the standards of this type of production. Proving that they seem to have hit the mark by choosing Spider-Man Noir to continue expanding the SSU.
If you’re interested in Spider-Noir, you won’t have to wait to see it. The series premiered on May 25 on MGM+ and will be released on May 27 on Prime Video. So there’s no excuse for missing it if you’re a fan of your neighbor and friend Spider-Man, even if he’s a bit different, with that whole fedora and black-and-white thing. But we promise that he is still, at heart, the same good guy as always.
