Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir will not be called Spider-Man!

We know more about the Prime Video series derived from Marvel, which will put the 62-year-old actor in the costume of a New York avenger from the 1930s…

Prime Video is starting to weave its web around its major superhero series, which will be released in 2026.

Spider-Noir lifts the veil on its very pulp version of the Marvel universe and today delivers a first major revelation about the hero played by Nicolas Cage: he will not bear the name Spider-Man!

In this rereading set in the 1930s, Cage will play a certain Ben Reilly and not Peter Parker, as is the case in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where Cage lends his voice to Spider-Noir. We therefore understand that the series will no longer really be a derivative of the Oscar-winning feature film. It should be noted that Ben Reilly exists in Marvel comics, but he is rather associated with Scarlet Spider and Chasm, from the story arc “The Clone Saga” (published in 1975).

The authors of Spider-Noir therefore remixed all of this for their series and thus decided that Ben’s masked alter ego will simply be called “The Spider”. An assumed choice that evokes pulp figures like The Spirit or The Shadow.

This change is not trivial. Showrunner Oren Uziel explains to Esquire that Peter Parker remains associated with an adolescent, almost candid image. Conversely, Ben Reilly allows us to play a protagonist more in tune with the noir aesthetic: older, disillusioned, battered by life. Producer Phil Lord describes him as a man “not one to hesitate to punch someone while drunk”, while Chris Miller points out that he already experienced his moment of disillusionment, well before the start of the series.

Uziel summarizes: Reilly is a former hero whose savior complex has turned into a mid-life crisis. He has already gone through the entire heroic arc… and is now trying to escape his past, which keeps catching up with him. The series will also explicitly explain why he bears the name Ben Reilly.

On the antagonist side, several revelations confirm the scale of the project:

Jack Huston will play Flint Marko, aka Sandman.

Above all, Brendan Gleeson, already announced as New York godfather, will in reality play Silvermane, a character created by Stan Lee, John Romita Sr. and John Buscema in 1969. In the series, Silvermane would be the target of multiple assassination attempts, suggesting a larger plot.

Finally, Li Jun Li will play Cat Hardy, a nightclub singer and femme fatale who leads Ben Reilly into a criminal conspiracy. Fans will note the name’s proximity to Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat. Simple wink or true incarnation of the character?

Produced by Sony Pictures Television, the series will be offered in black and white as well as color.

Spider-Noir will be broadcast this spring on Prime Video in France. The date remains to be determined.