In addition to two upcoming Spider-Man movies being slated for 2026 and 2027, respectively, fans of Marvel Comics’ web-slinger can look forward to a much different version of the character getting the live-action treatment on TV. The black-and-white Spider-Noir stars Nicholas Cage as a down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York City who once fought crime as Spider-Man. A key detail about this forthcoming MGM+ series has been cleared up, and while I’m pleased about that, now there’s another mystery on my mind.
Let’s start with that key detail first. Thanks to a poster that was shown off at CCPX (via Omelete), we now know that Nicholas Cage is not playing Peter Parker in Spider-Noir, but rather Ben Reilly. That name might not sound familiar if you’re only a casual Spidey fan, but longtime Marvel Comics readers and fans of Spider-Man: The Animated Series know him as a clone of Peter Parker. Although there was a period in the comics when Ben served as the main Spider-Man, he’s better known for being Scarlet Spider, although these days he’s the supervillain Chasm. Ben in his Scarlet Spider form was voiced by Andy Samberg in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Although Peter Parker is traditionally the Spider-Man of Earth-90214, a.k.a. the Marvel Noir universe, in the comics, and that remained the case when Nicholas Cage voiced Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I’m not shocked about this identity shift for Spider-Noir. Even ignoring all the rumors of Ben Reilly’s inclusion, I suspect that Sony Pictures would be protective about Peter being used. Given how different Spider-Man Noir looks suited up, plus how Nicolas Cage’s version of the character presumably has a significantly different backstory, perhaps the company decided it would be too confusing to general viewers to also call him Peter Parker.
I don’t necessarily agree with that decision if that is indeed what happened, but Spider-Noir’s lead being called Ben Reilly isn’t a dealbreaker for me. While it would be great to see a more faithful live-action version of Ben with his clone background intact someday, I still plan on watching this black-and-white series whenever it’s released. Now here’s the next big question I’m thinking about: how is Nicolas Cage going to look in the series?
We still have yet to see the live-action Spider-Man Noir unmasked and in civilian attire. Will Ben Reilly just look like normal ol’ Nicolas Cage, or will the actor’s face be made up to look different. Maybe work was done to give Cage a more hard-boiled appearance to make him look even more like a hard-boiled investigator? Again, I’ll be fine either way, but it would be interesting to see if Cage was game to have his look altered even when he’s not masked up.
He’s joined in Spider-Noir by Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson (who’s reportedly playing the main villain), Li Jun Li, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston and Karen Rodriguez, among others. The series, consisting of eight episodes, will first debut on MGM+ in the United States sometime on the 2026 TV schedule, and then will become available to stream globally with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.