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Spider-Noir is a strange mix of the familiar and the strange. On one hand, you have a web-spinner doing battle against classic villains like Sandman and Tombstone. On the other, the hero here is Ben Reilly a.k.a. the Spider, a superhero who turned private investigator after a tragedy took away the love of his life. And that doesn’t even get into how the series nods to classic film noirs, starting with Humphrey Bogart staples The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon.
For star Nicolas Cage, Bogart is the best guide to mixing hard-boiled detective fiction with spectacular superhero adventures. “The thing I always enjoyed about watching Bogart, especially in movies like The Big Sleep, is that he seemed amused by other people’s bad behavior,” Cage tells Den of Geek. “He would start to laugh at other people’s wickedness, he got tickled by it.
“I tried to put a little of that into Spider-Noir. If Li Jun Li’s character Cat Hardy was doing something dangerous, it would amuse Ben Reilly. He’d think, ‘Oh, I know this is so much fun,’ just like Bogart would be doing.”
Cage’s commitment to film noir impressed showrunner Oren Uziel, who recalls a particularly memorable table read.
“We were out to lunch at a restaurant in Los Angeles, long before we had started shooting and he had already memorized half the script. He suddenly said, ‘I’m going to do this one like Edward G. Robinson,’ and he just did an entire scene.”
Performing the script in the manner of the star of greats such as Little Caesar, Scarlet Street, and Double Indemnity only further endeared Cage to Uziel, who got to combine several of his passions while making Spider-Noir.
“I always loved Spider-Man, but I’ve always also loved noir. So when they came to me with the idea of making a standalone Spider-Man show set in 1930s New York City that’s film noir, I felt like I was the obvious person they should be talking to,” confesses Uziel. “I asked them to please let me do this.”
Uziel cites 1949’s The Third Man as a particular favorite. Directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene, with a memorable zither score by Anton Karas, The Third Man stars Joseph Cotton as an American who comes to postwar Vienna in search of his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), now a criminal running the underground.
Uziel’s fandom comes through when he gushes about his favorite parts of The Third Man. “Orson Welles, and the way it’s shot, the relationships, the intrigue, all in postwar Vienna,” he says with an enthusiastic grin. “It’s just so romantic. There are shots we stole from all our favorite noirs… Well, lovingly homaged.”
For Lamorne Morris, the exciting part is getting to play Joseph “Robbie” Robertson, a vital part of Spider-Man’s supporting cast who has rarely appeared in live action. “He’s the voice of reason,” Morris says of his character, who is not a top-ranking editor in Spider-Noir, but rather a principled journalist.
“This Spider-Man is a little bit different than the ones we’ve seen before. He’s faced with this dilemma where he’s over being a hero. He saved millions of lives already, and he’s just ready to be done with it,” Morris explains. “But the city still needs a hero, and so this is the first time Spider-Man has someone in his ear. As reporter for the Daily Bugle, Robbie really understands the pulse of New York. He understands what’s happening with crime and depression in the city, and in the mayoral race.
“So the fate of the city is in the Spider’s hands, and Robbie knows that. He understands the weight of it. And he’s trying to convince Ben that the city could use him.”
While Morris gets to create his live-action Robbie with little interference, his co-star Abraham Popoola has immediate competition for his character Lonnie Lincoln, better known as the villain Tombstone. Just months after Popoola debuts his Tombstone in Spider-Noir, Marvin Jones III will play the MCU version of the crime lord in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But instead of feeling any sense of jealousy, Popoola has nothing but respect for his fellow Lonnie.
“I would love to talk with him about playing Lonnie,” he admits. “Marvin also plays Tombstone in the Spider-Man video game, and he’s amazing. I can’t wait to see what he does with the character in live-action.
“I didn’t take anything directly from the PlayStation video game, but I was definitely inspired by the essence of the story. I still play it now.”
Popoola’s love goes back further than the days of the PS4, back when he was voiced by Dorian Harewood. “Tombstone’s a character I’ve known since he was on the Fox Kids animated series from the ’90s,” Popoola notes. “I’m still processing the fact that I got this role. There’s one moment toward the end of the series where I was like, ‘This can’t be happening!’” he teases. “You’ll have to see it.”
Modern though his touchstones may be, Popoola understands the spirit of noir necessary for his character’s milieu. “The most noir thing you can do is to brood in a corner with the brim of a hat making a shadow over your eyes, watching people across the room,” he contends.
“I think it’s to just pop up,” jokes Morris. “In noir, they’re always just popping up. You never know what’s around the corner.”
But fittingly enough, it’s the show’s writer and creative guide who best understands the genre. “The most noir thing you can do is get your heart broken,” Uziel says. It’s a perfect answer, whether you’re talking about Humphrey Bogart, Spider-Man, or combing them together for Spider-Noir.
Spider-Noir premieres on MGM+ on May 25, 2026, and on Prime Video on May 27, 2026.
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