Spider-Noir arrived on Prime Video on May 27, 2026, and it is not your typical superhero show. Nicolas Cage stars as Ben Reilly, a private investigator in 1930s New York who also happens to be a masked crimefighter called The Spider. The show is a live-action version of the Spider-Man Noir comic, and it comes from the producers of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Critics are calling it one of Cage’s best performances, but some fans are split on whether the dark, violent tone works.
The series has a 91% critics score and a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as of its debut week. Empire Magazine called it “total joy,” while AV Club gave it a C-, saying it is a “failed experiment.” The show released all eight episodes at once, and viewers can choose to watch it in black and white or full color.
Nicolas Cage Plays a Broken Hero Who Gave Up Five Years Ago
Spider-Noir follows Ben Reilly, a man who used to protect New York as The Spider. Five years before the show begins, he failed to save the woman he loved. He hung up his mask and became a regular private detective, struggling to pay his bills. The mask itself is made of wool because Lycra had not been invented in the 1930s.
When the story starts, Reilly takes a job tracking down a man named Addison. Things go wrong quickly when Addison turns into a human torch and starts setting everything on fire. Reilly watches another detective shoot Addison dead, and he realizes that something bigger is happening in the city.
Brendan Gleeson plays Silvermane, a gangster who has taken over New York in the five years since The Spider retired. Silvermane has the police and politicians in his pocket. The only thing bothering him is that someone tried to burn down his mansion. Reilly gets pulled into the mystery when a woman named Cat Hardy hires him to find her missing bodyguard, Flint Marko (Jack Huston), who can turn into sand.
The Show Gives Viewers Two Ways to Watch
Spider-Noir is the first TV show to release two complete versions at the same time. Viewers can stream “Authentic Black & White” or “True-Hue Full Color” on Prime Video. The black and white version matches the noir detective movies of the 1940s. The color version uses bright, saturated colors like old Hollywood musicals.
Nicolas Cage told IGN that he designed his performance specifically for the black and white version. “The dream is they watch it in color, and then they check it out in black and white and learn something,” he said. He hopes younger viewers will discover classic American movies through the show.
Lamorne Morris, who plays journalist Robbie Robertson, told TheWrap that viewers should start with black and white. “You started in black-and-white when TV was introduced, and then you introduce color,” he said. “Do this the same way. It’s a noir, so you want to watch it in black-and-white.” He suggested watching the whole show in black and white first, then rewatching in color for a different experience.
Showrunner Oren Uziel admitted that making two versions was a huge amount of work. “There’s a reason this hasn’t been done before,” he told TheWrap. Everything from lighting to wardrobe had to work in both formats. “When you pour a glass of whiskey in the show, it has to look a specific color or won’t look right in black and white, or it won’t look right in color.”
Critics Are Divided on the Series
The reviews for Spider-Noir range from excellent to harsh. The Guardian gave the show a positive review, calling it “fast, witty and confident.” The critic noted that the show is “gloriously full of shadows and cigarette smoke, sassy secretaries and shady dames.” They praised Cage’s performance, saying that non-fans of the actor should not worry because the show is so heavily stylized that his usual affectations become credible.
Financial Times gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, writing that “audiences have had enough of the churn of movie sequels and their declining quality. But shows like this are well-crafted enough, adult enough, and just about original enough.” The Daily Telegraph also gave it 4 out of 5, calling it “a tribute to the golden era of sleuthing flicks as it is to caped crusaders getting their tights in a twist.”
But AV Club was not impressed. They gave the show a C-, saying: “The best you can say about Spider-Noir is that it’s a noble, but ultimately failed experiment. Its lead clearly set out to create a character who didn’t feel entirely like a human being; what he got was one that never really feels like a person.” Vulture called the show “another disposable exercise in IP maintenance,” though they admitted it is worth watching as “one more stop on the endlessly fascinating Nic Cage train.”
Fans Are Split Online About the Dark Tone
The release of Spider-Noir has created a strong divide among viewers. Brazilian news site O TEMPO reported that “the reaction was immediate. While part of the audience praises the production’s boldness, another part criticizes the radical change in the character’s tone.” The show abandons the bright colors and light feeling of traditional Spider-Man stories for a dark, crime-filled world.
Some fans on Reddit have praised Cage’s casting as perfect. One user wrote: “Nic Cage energy is crazy. Every bad movie ever made could become a good movie if he had been cast as a character and dialed it up to 11.” Another added: “Not every project Nic Cage does is good. But every project he does is made better by him being in it.”
Other fans are unsure about an older Spider-Man. When one user asked if Cage is too old to play the hero, another replied: “Yeah but maybe that’s the point it’s an over the hill Spider-Man story trying to overcome impossible odds.” The show’s focus on an aging, tired hero is exactly what makes it different from other superhero stories.
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The Cast Includes Many Familiar Faces
Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Fargo) plays Robbie Robertson, a journalist and close friend of Ben Reilly. Li Jun Li plays Cat Hardy, a singer at a nightclub who hires Reilly to find her missing bodyguard. Karen Rodriguez plays Janet, Reilly’s secretary and confidante. Jack Huston plays Flint Marko, also known as Sandman. Abraham Popoola also appears in a supporting role.
Guest stars include Lukas Haas, Cameron Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, and Scott MacArthur. The show was created by Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, with Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) directing the first two episodes.
Spider-Noir is streaming now on Prime Video in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, and more than 240 other countries and territories.
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