The upcoming Spider-Man spin-off TV series Spider-Noir is already setting itself apart from other iterations of the Wall-Crawler, as a new poster for the MGM+ series teases that this version of the character won’t be Peter Parker and will instead be Ben Reilly. When it comes to live-action versions of Spider-Man, audiences have only seen Parker taking on the mantle of the hero, but thanks to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, more casual fans learned about the extensive roster of alternate heroes who were bitten by a spider. Still, with the original comics depicting an alternate version of Peter Parker as Spider-Noir’s alter ego, the upcoming series is going a different route.
The poster was revealed at CCXP in Brazil, as confirmed by Collider, and features the door to a detective agency that reads “B. Reilly.” Nicolas Cage reprises his role from Into the Spider-Verse in this live-action version of the character. The new TV show also stars Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, and Li Jun Li.
Who Is Spider-Man Noir?
Spider-Man fans met Spider-Man Noir back in 2009 as part of Marvel Comics’ Noir universe of books. Daredevil, Luke Cage, The Punisher, and Wolverine were other notable entries into this universe, which took Marvel’s street-level heroes back to the 1930s. With these figures often earning grittier, more grounded storylines, the Noir universe further expanded on that notion by having these heroes face off with real-world threats as opposed to world-threatening supervillains.
Spider-Man Noir was introduced to all-new audiences with Into the Spider-Verse, in which he stood alongside Miles Morales’ Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, and more.
Who Is Ben Reilly?
Spider-Man fans have a bit more complicated history with Ben Reilly than with Spider-Man Noir, with some fans hating what he symbolizes while others consider him an underdog.
Ben Reilly was officially introduced in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the mid-’90s that he played a major part of a divisive Spider-Man storyline, the “Clone Saga.” In the storyline, Ben Reilly appeared and stood alongside Peter Parker to fight against more clones of themselves and other villains. One issue readers took with the story is that, due to how well the book sold, the series was prolonged, despite being conceived of as a limited storyline. Understandably, many readers were irritated by all the filler chapters in the saga that complicated the whole saga.
Another issue readers took with the Clone Saga was that it revealed Reilly as the “real” Spider-Man and that Peter Parker was actually the clone, only to then reverse this concept by the story’s end. In the 2010s, Reilly was brought back as the Scarlet Spider, and even earned an appearance in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse where he was voiced by Andy Samberg.
With this new take on Ben Reilly being different from Spider-Man Noir’s origins and different from the previous history of Ben Reilly, it’s unknown how this new Spider-Noir series will handle the backstory of the character.