The upcoming Spider-Noir television series, featuring Nicolas Cage as a superhero private investigator, has unveiled two trailers—one in full color and one in black-and-white. The show, based on the Marvel comic series Spider-Man Noir, will premiere on MGM+ on May 25 and arrive on Prime Video on May 27, offering streaming viewers the choice between both formats.
Plot and Cast
The series follows Cage as Ben Reilly, a private investigator in 1930s New York City who becomes a superhero after a deeply personal tragedy. The cast includes Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Jack Huston, and Karen Rodriguez. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, the show is executive produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, known for their work on the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse franchise and Project Hail Mary.
Character Inspiration
At a Deadline event, the filmmakers revealed that Cage decided to portray the character as 70% Humphrey Bogart and 30% Bugs Bunny. Chris Miller explained, “One of the things that you don’t think about with Noir is that you’re like, ‘It’s super serious.’ But Bogart always had a twinkle in his eye and he was always doing something clever, and he and Bugs Bunny have more in common than you might think.” Phil Lord added, “There’s a playfulness to it, right? And there’s a playfulness to Nic – I think that’s why he’s so iconic and there’s a playfulness to showrunner Oren Uziel. The idea is that the show is a big character drama, an amazing mystery, big event television, but it’s also light on its feet.”
Development Background
The series was developed as a stand-alone project after Cage originally voiced the character in the first Spider-Verse movie. Miller noted, “When the idea of us making a live-action Spider show came up, this was the first idea that we had. Because it felt like it was a contained universe. It was its own thing.” Lord emphasized the noir elements, saying, “The thing that I love about a noir is it’s about people in impossible situations, and the thing that Amy Pascal always taught us about Spider-Man is it’s not about flying around. It’s about what’s going on inside these guys and how challenged they are trying to live their lives as human beings and also live their lives as heroes at the same time.”
