#228 – Spider-Noir (Season 1 Review) – The Spider-Man Show We Never Asked For

Welcome to Marvel Maniac and MCU After Show. This is your host, Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest, back with you for a show review. We're talking today about Spider Noir. Yes, broadly, maybe slightly associated with the mcu. We've been dipping out because we do have a vast multiverse to address and pretty much anything under the sun, Marvel related, is a part of that multiverse, if you ask me. That's why I watched the show to start. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know it was going to be a good, bad, pathetic, poor, could have been amazing, could have been horrible. My honest take, it was awesome. Better than I expected. I. I almost want to talk like Nicholas Cage, you know, because he talks really specifically. He's got his own take on Spider and there's no Spider man, it's Spider. Which makes me enemy Dustin even question my friend Dustin was questioning maybe they don't have all the rights to Spider Man. No, I think they do. I think they just had creative choices that they ran with on this show. And to separate this Spider man from other Spider men, we have Ben Riley instead of Peter Parker, who is a clone in the comics, who is of Peter, who comes to kill Peter, but they kind of just use that name. Interesting that Ben is his name when Peter has an Uncle Ben. While that might be coincidence, you could always speculate. There wasn't really a moment in this show where I felt bored or picked up my phone or honestly lost interest. I thought the show really exceeded my expectations because, well, Nicholas Cage is just phenomenal. I mean, let me just say this. If this weren't a spider show, a Spider man show, and I watched this show just watching Nicholas Cage be this character, but not spider, like related, I think it would still be a great show. Which kind of tells you like the Iron Man 3 vibes. Tony Stark, aka Robert Downey Jr. Carries the character so well that we don't need him in the suit the whole story because he, the character is so intriguing and pops on camera where every, every scene he has, it's intriguing and you just are hanging on to every word the guy's saying. So, yeah, it was better than I thought it'd be. I underestimated this show. I do think maybe we should just talk about spoiler warnings. You know, I'm going to be talking about the show in broad strokes here. This isn't going to be a detailed breakdown of everything that happened. This is just going to be me reacting. I just finished the last episode and I had to come to the mic and I wanted to talk about it a little bit. So spoiler warning for the entire show of Spider Noir. I highly recommend it, though, and come back when you're ready. If you haven't seen it yet or if you don't care, you could just stay and listen to this. So Spider Noir could have not happened. Why? Because we didn't need it. We didn't ask for it, but we kind of were intrigued, in my opinion. I always knew this was coming for a very long time, and I never knew what to think. Think about it, because I'm not a huge fan of the noir type take. However, this show leaned into the noir essence and it picked out the perfect Spider man story among that genre. And I think that genre really, really worked well with Nicholas Cage as an actor and the decisions they made to make the show exciting. Out of the super villains or just the villains like Silvermane Megawatt, who I thought was Electro, but I guess he didn't want to go by Electro, or is it just a nod to Electro? Or maybe there's another Electro, I don't know. So let's talk about the world of the show. It's got such a great atmosphere. I watched it in color. What did you watch it in? Did you do? Did you go black and white the first time or color? I. I'm a color guy. I. I'm more attracted to, you know, beautiful scenery and whatnot. Black and white's harder for me to pay attention. Although I like the shows so much that I'd be willing to go back and watch it in black and white, most likely before the inevitable season two, which I think this show earned. I think the show should have a season two, absolutely black and white presentation, I'm sure would make the watch much more immersive, especially if you like the show already. That's why I'm thinking maybe I will go back and watch it at some point in black and white, just for comfort. The detective feel works. All blends together like the perfect mix of Spider man and something new of the Spider man story that we've never seen before on screen. And it goes to prove that there can never be too many Spider men if they're done right. This one was done phenomenally. The only thing I don't like, the one tiny thing, is that in into the Spider Verse, when we meet Spider Noir by Nicholas Cage, it's another multiversal variant or just a retcon because he was going by the name Peter Parker in. In that universe when we met Him. But this is Ben Riley, a creative choice. He does kind of make a nod in like the first few episodes, I think, about the multiverse or about going, you know, a little tiny nod to into the spider verse. But I don't think the name change is bad. I. The way I would look at it is he is another variant of Spider noir, Spider man noir. And one and one multiverse is Peter Parker, and in this one it's Ben Reilly. And I think they did that to also separate itself from the main Spider man story that we know and love so well, to give it its kind of original authenticity. And we see that in the, the way the show flows. We see a lot of Nick Cage doing actual detective work. Ben Riley is a character in that of himself. He's almost like your classic, you know, almost like a exaggeration of what you'd expect a guy to talk to. Talk like in a show like this. Like she. We're. We're going to get to the bottom of this. See, it's my best accent of Spider man noir. The show balances comedy with depression, loneliness, and a beautiful pinch of corruption. Feels so different from the original Spider man for a few reasons. I mean, one is obviously going to be the settings. When I'm watching a modern Spider man story, I'm always wondering what type of cameo can come in or what, what, what can make this better in the real modern day. But when we're looking at the noir and the 1950s and the feel of the. The older times, it's just got its own vibe. And to see Spider man put into that mix, it's just this concoction of awesome. Almost like when they introduced sweet potato fries to the world. Like, I never had that. Is it going to be good? Is it going to work? Yes, it works. They're delicious. And so it was the show. I ate up every minute of it. This isn't really a superhero show. It's a detective show starring a superhero. And that wouldn't work. The thing that works, I'll say it again about this show is Nicholas Cage. And I'll say the beginning part with him swinging around the city, obviously the highest budget, grab your attention type thing was kind of his quick origin. He lost his wife and he kind of lost himself, his identity. This is like 15 years into his story as a Spider Man. So he's been doing this for a long time. I mean, I think he did it for 10 years and then kind of quit for 10, five more years. And that's where we meet him and we kind of get that information pretty quickly in the first episode, but then a little bit more detail across the series. I'm gonna go into something like this when I talk, when I do my she Hulk episode, which should be coming in a week or two. I'm debating on Spider man across the Spider verse next to kind of complete that arc and then she Hulk or vice versa. I might do she Hulk retrospective next week and then Spiderverse, but just know there's some fun episodes coming up as well. But let's talk about Spider Man Noir himself. What kind of Peter Parker, AKA Ben Riley is this? Well, he's got the quips, I'll tell you that. He is a wise, cracking, hilarious version of Spider Man. They never say Spider Man. It's always Spider Noir. Which is interesting to me. Which is what brings me to the, like, question of was there limits from Sony on what they could and couldn't use is Mega want a comic hero that I haven't Googled because I wanted to come right to the mic and just talk about this. I don't know. I thought I liked Mega Watt as a. As a villain quite a lot. I thought that actor portrayed him so well. I thought it would. Might as well just call him Electro. But that's not the name he went with in the show. However, he might just be a nod to Electro. Who knows? I. I really honestly thought he was the coolest baddy of them all on the show. And he technically was the big final fight of this ser season. At least I'm not going to call it series because we're going to get more of this. Honestly. His strengths are, honestly his mouth. He runs his mouth quite a lot. He gets people to believe, looking them in the eye, that he is a different man than the. Than the Spider. Nobody suspects him until the very end, which I think is very on the edge of your seat anticipation, knowing are they going to figure him out right here and now? And that moment at the end when he does reveal who he is by, you know, webbing people up, webbing the baddies, putting them against the wall, shooting guns out of people's hands, taking objects like in the Spider man game, and just using them as weapons, like things in the environment. I love the action. I thought it was just enough. I thought there was enough storyline, really strong storyline. The news reporter character, I forget his name. He's fantastic. He goes to work for the Daily Bugle. So we get a little Daily Bugle, we get a little Flint Marco right from the very beginning, Sandman, full on character in the show. Probably one of the biggest characters in the season and of the story so far, one of the few that Ben Reilly was able to save. And Ben Riley's down on his luck. He's got a lot of emotional baggage. You know, like I said, where we pick up with him. He lost his wife five years ago and he never forgave himself for it. And that's kind of why he. That's what kind of makes him tick in this show. He's not just your young, wise, quack, quacking Spider Man. He is pretty much his own character with his own losses and his own weight. And it's not like a copy paste Spider man at all. And I think that's why it works. It took some brave steps to separate itself from the series of Spider man while also making it feel spot like Spider Man. All the same, Ben Riley is partially broken, but he's also inspiring at the same time. And he does bring out the spider when he has to in this season. If I were to guess, I don't like thinking about budgets when I'm watching shows and getting immersed in the world. And then I think, well, this action piece is going to be minimal because of the low budget of the show. No, I, I'm not looking for that when I'm watching the show. I know that from the first scene in the show, they put probably a lot of money into the him swinging around the city. Very cinematic, very Spider man movie, like swinging. And you know, he's still a Spider man wants to show the show, wants to tell you from the beginning he is Spider Man. He's just a very different version of him. Forgive me for any repetitiveness. I tend to do that when I'm excited about something. You could probably pick that up if you listen to any couple of episodes. But, you know, I'm not here to compare and contrast Spider Men's all day. I'm completely convinced, at least halfway through the show that this one, this show is to savor. I think weekly releases would have been way better for this show. People would have been going crazy week by week and they left the kind of cliffhangers that may. That would have made week for week release a lot more fun. Honestly, I would have loved to cover this episode by episode. And I'll tell you why I don't do that. Because it'll take me eight weeks to cover it. And then by the time the eighth final episode of our coverage ends eight weeks later, I mean, people are done. You guys are done with this. You're on to something else. That's just what binge culture is like. And when there's something that you love or something awesome like Spider Man Noir. Spider Noir. Sorry, you're going to want to watch all of it if it's sitting there. And I did a decent job of watching at most two a day. And for the last few, I. I really spread them out like one a day. I wanted everything to process because it's just a great story. I thought Silvermane was a great villain. Why? Because he was intriguing. I liked his accent, I like how he commanded power. And I like that he was able to be the main overarching villain while still maintaining likability and at the same time being evil. I mean, I wouldn't even call him evil. I call him broken and remade into something that he admits he's just doing for the hell of it. He gets a rush out of being like in charge of the mayor running the city. He's kind of like a little bit of Wilson Fisk in that sense, but less brutal. You know, we see him kill a few of his own men because our Spider noir convinced him that they were the rats. When Cat Hardy was officially the in quotes rat. I also like Cat Hardy. And it's definitely early take of the version of Black Cat that we know from the comics and for me, the video games. So I wonder if she has a kind of superhero story or anti hero story coming up in later seasons if they get greenlit for one, which I seriously believe they. They will. I do believe that they will. And Robbie Robertson was the reporter that I was talking about. That character. I thought he was great. I like Janet Ruiz's performance and I really enjoyed the dynamic between her and Ben Riley. And there's the scene where he's completely wasted in a montage telling her over and over again that he's the Spider. And she like, she reveals to him that she already knew. It was like a shock to us as an audience. But then seeing those flashbacks, that's what kind of thing that. That's the kind of thing that made the show really fun. The best action sequence in this show was probably like, honestly, the end fight was really good. However, I really, really like the scene where Nicholas Cage is just completely wasted after being experimented on. Sorry, Ben Riley. And he goes to a bar and he's just drinking. He's completely drunk. And then this group of huge group of guys walks in and they're just like talking all this about the spider. And he walks out of the bar and walks Back in with his mask on and just beats the crap out of everybody in this bar. Completely wrecks the place. And the guy who's standing behind the bar, well, if you watch the Office, I don't know the actor's name. God, I should be telling you, but, you know, I'm just, I'm just trying to lay it all out here. That guy literally is Roy's brother on the Office. Roy being Pam's first fiance and kind of Jim's antagonist. I don't really ever hear it referred to as that because it's a little dramatic. However, he didn't have a lot of lines. But I'm such an Office fan, and if you are too, you probably would have recognized that that was him. I, I like the conflict. Conflict and emotions in terms of, like, the love story. I like how they introduced Sandman in the first episode, and I like how they subtly were able to incorporate that he had powers by putting the sand on his face. Probably, Honestly, if we're looking back at it, like more of a budget thing. But, like, I don't know, it didn't bother me as much. Like they, they used the, they used enough to show that he was fully made of sand plenty of times. And I, I totally bought it. Lonnie Lincoln, the man who they cured first and was just incredibly strong and superpowered. That Robbie Robertson kind of had a little bit of a bond with, they took, they took good care of him. I thought he was a good, complex character to just kind of throw into the mix. And again, Silver Main, very good. He, he didn't have much action, but the way that Cat Hardy took him out in the end, I thought that was pretty, I don't know, it was pretty cool. I, I, I appreciated that because you think he'd have something up his sleeve, A final fight? No, he was an interesting character that ran things behind the scenes. But when the overpowered people started to realize that he is just a guy and they are superpowered, his own people turned on him. So he was a dying breed from the beginning, but he held so much conviction that it just made you wonder what, what else is he completely capable of adding a lot of pressure was one of the answers to that. The most emotional scene is that awesome episode where, I mean, this awesome moment where Cat Hardy, she puts Ben Riley to the test because she's so sure that he is the spider. She falls out the window and then we see the web catch her reminding me a little tiny bit of the death of Gwen Stacy in the comics and an amazing Spider Man 2. And like, she could have hit the ground and died, but the whole point was he saves her and then they kiss. And that brings up this kind of like love triangle between Cat Ben and Kingpin, AKA Flint Marco, who was portrayed very good by the actor Jack Houston. I don't usually give the actor names on here, but I have the IMDb up now because I wanted to be reminded of the big characters. I even thought the mayor was good. Like, I don't know what else he's been in. I feel like I know him, though I did feel like I recognize him from a few things. So the show. So the show runs hot. It's all. There's always something lighting a little bit of a torch under it to keep the plot intriguing. I really want to know what you thought, if you liked it in black and white, and how much that changed your perspective of the show. Maybe I'm. I'm almost so curious to go back and watch at least a few episodes, maybe the finale in black and white and just see what the feel is like. I loved it. I honestly want more of this. And it's not me saying I want more Spider man shows, but if they can do them like this, open up the multiverse, make this character, you know, as unique and also as Spider man as can be at the same time. This show did it. They just freaking did it. And, you know, it was a long shot in my mind that it was going to be like this, like, slight. As addicting as the show was, I think this universe does deserve more stories. And yeah, I'm excited for that. So let's talk about one thing to get out of the way. You know, I'm going to bring it up. Secret Wars. Could Spider noir show up in Secret Wars? Absolutely he can. But will he? I don't know. I think he has the potential for it. Sony has the ultimate say, especially with this show and releasing it to the movie. It's as if we don't have enough characters already, but I think Secret wars is going to be a lot of cameos with also quick moments and then broad fight scenes and landscape fights similar to the end of Avengers End Game. I could definitely see him fitting in. I think they could bring spider verse characters, even animated ones, into the real world of Secret wars, whatever the hell is going to be happening there. This show's got a little bit of time to, you know, let the Sony execs decide to let Joe and Anthony Russo decide if this is a good addition. I think it would be a great fan service to put him in. I don't think he'll be in anywhere near a main character because what if Nicholas Cage shows up as Ghost Rider and Spider Noir? Honestly, it's kind of like Chris Evans showing up as the Human Torch and Captain America. And I love it all the variants. So I think, I think that this is totally capable of happening with the Secret wars idea, with this, with this character. But don't keep your hopes up. This is still a great show regardless. It's still a multiversal show. I don't think whether or not he's in Secret wars is going to determine if he gets more episodes and more story. I think we're gonna get more story. I think there's plenty of room for like a three to four, maybe five season run of this show. But who knows? We may only get two. You know, keep it, keep it in good shape while it's highly acclaimed instead of the Walking Dead treatment where we run this into the ground non stop until it's over. Speed training. It's something we never thought it could be and losing fans like me across along the way. If I were to grade this show, I'd give it an A plus. I enjoyed it a lot. Maybe that's just an A. An A. Maybe it could have been a little bit better cgi, but ah, there was nothing too Uncanny Valley. I thought they did a fantastic job with whatever budget they were given. I would highly recommend it. I did bring up quite a few spoilers but you know, you might forget what I said and just go watch it anyway. It might be worth it for you if you never thought you were gonna. I can get give you the verification that this show is fun. They give you the option, unlike many any other show maybe in existence, to watch it in black and white or in color. And color wasn't it didn't feel like they just threw on the color. It was very pretty. The scenes were really, really special. I thought it was great set pieces and really cool fight scenes and I, I followed it really well in color. So I'm also going to say that Spider Noir is one of the best TV shows I've seen this year and one of the coolest Spider man stories that I've ever seen. I want more. I want more. So next Marvel Maniac is most likely going to be across the Spider Verse. However, I do want to do a she Hulk episode. What are your thoughts marvelmaniacpodgmail.com or join our discord. It's in the description of this episode. There are Pages to Magic Muggle and MCU after show. It's kind of the honest versus. We call it the Discord server. So it's everything that I do. My two podcasts, sometimes music, sometimes just chit chatting about Fortnite and whatnot. I would love a Spider Noir suit in Fortnite. Please do it. Please do it. Epic Games Spider Noir proves that Spider man doesn't need bigger explosions or bigger multiverse stakes to be compelling. Sometimes all you need is a broken hero trying to do the right thing in a broken world. And I thought that Ben Riley pushed through his pain and redeemed himself as Spider Noir. And I really hope that that means for his character he's comfortable going out in the suit again and saving the day because he's got that trauma where he couldn't save the one he loved. And that's a very Spider man thing. It's the closest thing to his Uncle Ben moment that I can think of. Although there's a lot of backstory flashbacks, interesting things they could do to tell more about his backstory in future episodes. Not that we have to have it, but I thought when they were doing a back. A backstory episode, I didn't like it. But then they, they made it so good and interesting, actually did, you know. So I even want to go back and watch his moments in into the Spider Verse again, just to compare and contrast the characters. They did a great job making him look like Spidey when he put the mask on, the glowing white eyes and also the Detective Universe uniform. Loved it. Loved it. I hope you enjoyed it too. And it would mean a lot if you can rate this show, if you like this episode or any other episodes, I'd definitely check our backlog. It's growing and I'm proud of what I've done. The podcast has changed quite a bit as we've gone, you know, through the weeks and years, and I think we're only advancing and making it better and better. So forgive some of the earlier episodes for finding its footing as it, as it grows. Because, hey, that's the process. One thing can lead to another, like a cameo and a movie, movie about Miles Morales and come out a completely different show that grabs your heart, grabs your attention and makes everything okay. It's the type of show that I could live in. I put us. I put it on to fall asleep too. I fall asleep to TV shows. Do you? Marvelmaniacpod of Gmail.com Leave a review on the show, leave a thumbs up or whatever you're. Whatever you are listening on. Write something, rate it. It means the world to me that you listen. If you could do that, we can get the podcast out to as many fans as possible. I know you're out there and I salute you. Thank you very, very much. Again, this is Eric Cicada, aka Mr. Honest, your host of Marvel Maniac and MCU After Show. Do you want more episodes like this? Covering series in one episode like the Daredevil, Luke Cage, all that? Or do you prefer to go week to week like we just did with Daredevil Born again? Let me know. In the Discord. And until next time, Avengers disassemble.