Nicolas Cage To Reprise Spider-Verse Role In Spider-Man Noir Live-Action Series
Spider-Man Noir may have spent the past few years off somewhere staring at matches as they burn, but the hilariously melodramatic Spider-Verse character played by Nicolas Cage will officially return in a new show on MGM+ and Amazon's Prime Video, according to Variety. What's wilder: the show will be live action.
The new show will be called "Noir," and this isn't the first time we've heard about it: the show was first announced back in February 2023, but Cage's casting wasn't confirmed at that time. In fact, a month earlier the beloved actor actually told ScreenRant that he wasn't going to be included in "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse," a decision he seemed bummed about. "You'd have to ask Sony," he told the outlet when asked about the future of his character. "No one's spoken to me about that ... I wish they would. I love Spider-Man Noir, too. I think that's a great character."
Thankfully, something even better than an animated sequel has come along, and as he so often is when it comes to inexplicable, entertaining roles, Cage is apparently down to get involved. Amazon made the announcement about Cage's return in an upfront meeting with investors today. "We are absolutely thrilled to have Nicolas Cage starring in this series! No one else could bring such pathos, pain, and heart to this singular character," Sony Pictures Television Studios president Katherine Pope said in a statement shared by Variety.
Cage will play Noir in his first-ever starring TV role
"Spider-Verse" helmers Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, and Amy Pascal will executive produce the show about the Noir-era version of Spider-Man, who in comics is a brooding private investigator who's older than the high schooler Spidey portrayed in most of Marvel canon. Cage praised the character in his interview with ScreenRant last year, saying, "Spider-Man's the coolest superhero. And then you combine that with Cagney and Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, come on, it's a great character." As we know from "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," the black-and-white antihero's favorite pastimes include punching Nazis and drinking egg creams.
As of press time it's unclear which Spider-Noir comics, if any, the show will directly pull from, but it's worth noting that David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsk created the character for Marvel in 2009. Oren Uziel ("The Lost City") and Steve Lightfoot ("Hannibal") will reportedly co-showrun the show and serve as executive producers. "Enola Holmes" director Harry Bradbeer will direct the first two episodes and executive produce.
Though Cage may not be anyone's first thought when asked to picture typically teen hero Spider-Man, he was incredible in the voice role, and the Marvel comics character's covered-up costume (he tends to wear a black trench coat, hat, mask, and costume) makes him virtually ageless. Plus, this is an exciting career milestone for Cage: he's won an Oscar, starred in dozens of movies, and appeared on screen for five decades and counting, but this will be the first time he's ever starred in a TV show.
"Noir" does not yet have a release date, but when it does debut, it will premiere on MGM+ Channel before streaming on Prime Video.