Throw enough money at a new TV show, and it’s bound to be a success. That might be the thinking in some executive suites, but it’s not always true, and that seems to be driving some behind-the-scenes changes. At a National Association of Television Program Executives panel this month, senior scripted programming execs ended up […]
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Look out, here comes the Spider-Man!
Well, a version of Spider-Man anyway. The MGM+ series Spider-Noir gives us a very different type of wall-crawler. Like the character we saw in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Spider-Man of Spider-Noir wears a fedora and trench coat when he crawls the walls, and he talks like Nicolas Cage, not like Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, or any other Spider-Man we’ve seen before.
But that doesn’t mean that Spider-Noir is totally unfamiliar. Not only does it stem from a 2009 miniseries published by Marvel Comics, but the series also features key members of Spider-Man’s supporting cast, several of whom were revealed in new photos published by Esquire. As we see in those photos, Spider-Noir will bring new life to Robbie Robertson, the Black Cat, and Ben Reilly.
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Spider-Man By Any Other Name
Where the original Spider-Man Noir series imagined Peter Parker as an avenger who fights corrupt political machines after the murder of his anarchist uncle, Spider-Noir follows the lead of Into the Spider-Verse to take a more playful tone. The series directly homages classic films such as The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon, while adding plenty of Bugs Bunny silliness.
That playfulness can be seen in the decision to have Cage play Ben Reilly instead of Peter Parker… which isn’t quite the big difference some might expect. Ben Reilly first appeared in 1974’s Amazing Spider-Man #149, as a clone of Peter Parker created by mad scientist Miles Warren. Although the clone seems to die at the end of the issue, he resurfaced decades later in an infamous storyline known as The Clone Saga. We can’t get into the details here, but The Clone Saga was a convoluted mess that initially suggested that the Peter Parker we knew and loved was in fact the clone, and the real Peter had been living on the West Coast under the name Ben Reilly.
Many, many, many issues and twists and editorial about-faces later, Marvel decided that our Peter was the real Peter, and Ben died trying to save our hero. Yet, Ben has since returned, usually under the name Scarlet Spider and becoming a fan favorite. By using that name for its hero, Spider-Noir hopes to carry the good feelings that Ben has built up in the comics, while also showing viewers that its brooding, black and white Spider-Man isn’t completely different from the guy we’ve been following.
The Black Cat Strikes.. Sort Of
Spider-Noir‘s more daring revision involves another key member of Spider-Man’s universe, Felicia Hardy a.k.a. the Black Cat. First introduced five years after Ben Reilly in Amazing Spider-Man #194, Felicia Hardy was a rich girl who followed in the footsteps of her father to become a master cat burglar. Like the Batman villain she resembles, Black Cat has a flirtatious, antagonistic relationship to Spider-Man, which sometimes gets him to follow her into trouble.
It’s that last feature that Spider-Noir retains for its version of Black Cat, even if other aspects have changed. Played by Li Jun Li, Cat Hardy is a lounge singer who works in a club owned by Silvermane, the gangster portrayed by Brendan Gleeson. Judging by her picture in Esquire, Cat Hardy won’t be donning the comic book character’s skin-tight outfit, but she will be a classic femme fatale, one who Ben Reilly will find hard to resist.
The Rise of Robbie Robertson
While Ben Reilly and Cat Hardy deviate from their comic book counterparts, the third character revealed by Esquire feels pretty faithful to the original, and that’s a good thing. Lamorne Morris plays Robbie Robertson, a hardscrabble reporter who is on the trail of both Silvermane and Spider-Man.
Since his introduction in 1967’s Amazing Spider-Man #51, Robbie has been one of the most important people in Spider-Man’s supporting cast. A top editor at the Daily Bugle, Robbie serves as a counter-point to the blustering J. Jonah Jameson. His kindness to Peter, and ability to bring out the best in Jonah, has been the lynchpin of many great Spidey stories.
And yet, Robbie has rarely appeared in major adaptations of the Spider-Man comics. Bill Nunn plays Robbie in the 2002 Spider-Man movie, but he only gets a couple of lines and is overshadowed by J. K. Simmons as JJJ. The character has been completely absent from the Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland movies, and although he appears in most animated Spider-Man shows, and even some video games, he tends to be a background figure, with the ’90s cartoon show as the exception that proves the rule.
Spider-Noir is the perfect place to introduce fans to Robbie. Even though the comics rarely show Robbie outside the offices of the Daily Bugle, we know that he’s a dedicated reporter who cares about the truth. By putting him on the streets of New York City—and getting a performer as talented and charismatic as Morris to portray him, we’ll get to see everything that makes Robbie such an integral part of Spider-Man’s life, no matter what reality he’s in.
Spider-Noir streams on MGM+ in Spring 2026.
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