Nic Cage’s ‘Spider-Noir’ Trailer Looks Great (But I Wish It Was Just in Black & White)
Sony’s Spider-Verse is expanding into a whole new world, with the help of none other than Nicolas Cage.
On Thursday, Prime Video officially released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming live-action series Spider-Noir. This followed a series of first-look images and an in-depth profile over at Esquire, which gave fans a bit of a better idea of what to expect in the series.
The debut of Spider-Noir marks a lot of firsts: the first leading television role for Cage (which is impressive, given his decades-spanning career), as well as the first Spider-Man-adjacent television show brought to life by Sony Pictures Television. (A scrapped Silk show was also part of that initiative years ago.) The show will also be released, simultaneously, in both black and white and what is being called “True-Hue Full Color”, giving viewers the option to choose either one, or maybe even both. Even today’s teaser trailer was released in both formats.
According to Prime Video’s official description for the series, Spider-Noir tells the story of Ben Reilly (Cage), an aging and down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero. The cast of the series also includes Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson, Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy (a 1930s spin on Felicia Hardy / Black Cat), Karen Rodriguez as Janet, Jack Huston as Sandman, and Brendan Gleeson as Silvermane.
To Watch in Black & White or Color?
The Spider-Noir trailer has a lot of what you would expect: some web-swinging through the streets of New York, another new subversion of the “with great power” catchphrase, and Cage delivering a performance that he himself described as “70% Humphrey Bogart, 30% Bugs Bunny.” It also genuinely looks great… but honestly, having both the black and white and “True-Hue Full Color” versions is bizarre.
It’s easy to understand why the decision was made to have both formats: mainly, to avoid alienating anyone in the audience who isn’t used to watching things in black and white. It also makes sense purely from a business perspective in the streaming era, as having both options potentially allows for double the “minutes viewed.”
But this isn’t like Logan or Werewolf By Night or Zack Snyder’s Justice League, other superhero projects where the original viewing experience was only available in color or black & white, and then the opposite was released some time later. It also isn’t like WandaVision, Watchmen or Wonder Man, where a single black & white episode is dropped into the middle of a show. This is two completely different viewing experiences being released at the same time… and given the character and the tone of the show, I can’t help but wish that they fully committed to black & white.
As someone who adores classic movies, I know the beauty and intentionality that can go into good black & white cinematography. I also know that that once you cross that small “barrier to entry”, you can find a whole new world of breathtaking or hilarious or emotional storytelling. That era has obviously produced gorgeous-looking movies in color, both in the noir genre (Leave Her to Heaven is my personal gold standard for color noirs) and not (it will forever boggle my mind that The Red Shoes was made in the 1940s). But there’s something special about a well-crafted story in black & white… and I felt that feeling watching the Spider-Noir teaser in that format, much more so than in “True-Hue Full Color.” I’m sure that a good chunk of the Spider-Noir audience will check the show out in black & white anyway… but a part of me wishes everyone could have gone on that journey, too.
Spider-Noir will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video on May 27th.
(featured image: Prime Vide0)
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