New Spider-Verse Theory Finally Explains Why Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man Noir Is Broken

Nicolas Cage is suiting up again as the fedora-wearing Wall-Crawler he voiced in Into the Spider- Verse, but this time it is live-action. Spider-Noir is kicking off Sony's Spider-Man TV Universe, and Amazon is dropping the whole season on MGM+ and Prime Video on May 27. Consider this the moody, smoky corner of the Spidey multiverse.

The setup

Cage plays Ben Reilly, a grizzled private eye in 1930s New York who used to be the city's lone masked vigilante, known simply as the Spider. He has put the hero gig on ice for reasons the show is keeping under wraps, until a case lands on his desk that drags him right back into the life he walked away from. Classic 'one last job' energy, just with webbing.

The trailer's big swing

The latest footage leans hard into tragedy. We see what looks like a flashback: a car plunges into a river with Ben's partner or lover trapped inside, and he cannot get to her in time. Later, his friend Robbie Robertson (played by Lamorne Morris) spells out the aftermath:

'You have been in a hole ever since Ruby died.'

So yeah, the show is signaling that Reilly's retirement is tied to a devastating loss, and 'Ruby' is likely a nod to one of Peter Parker's two big romances: Gwen Stacy or the redheaded Mary Jane Watson. If this is riffing on the Gwen tragedy from the comics — where Green Goblin throws her off a bridge and Spider-Man's webbing snaps her neck — it tracks as a period-appropriate remix. It also fits the archetype: a broken detective haunted by the one case he could not solve, which is very much the point of doing a noir Spider-story.

Who is who in this 1930s remix

• Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, a Spider-Man variant turned down-on-his-luck PI who once protected 1930s NYC as the Spider
• Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson, Ben's ally who calls out the aftermath of Ruby's death
• Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy, a lounge singer who sure looks like this world's Black Cat in disguise
• Brendan Gleeson as Silvermane, reimagined for the era
• Jack Huston as Sandman, likewise getting a noir spin
• Abraham Popoola as Tombstone, also tailored to the 1930s underworld

The name game (and the myth math)

Calling Cage's character 'Ben Reilly' is a loaded wink. In the comics, Ben Reilly is Peter Parker's clone, sometimes ally, sometimes problem. Here, the show is borrowing the name for a different Spider-Man variant altogether. That kind of remixing is the vibe: familiar pieces, new arrangement. If the series sticks to the core 'canon events' — love lost, guilt carried, responsibility reawakened — but filters them through a gumshoe lens, it could feel both faithful and fresh.

Black-and-white, and color

The first trailer shows off both a crisp black-and-white look and splashes of color, which fits a story straddling memory and the present. It is a stylish way to sell Cage's trench-coated Spider and the city's two faces: the glamorous surface and the grimy truth.

Release plan

Spider-Noir premieres May 27 on MGM+ and Prime Video, with the entire season available on day one.