Spider-Noir’s Spider-Verse gamble starts cracking fast

Spider-Noir struggles – Sony’s Spider-Noir, an Amazon live-action comedy tied only loosely to the Spider-Verse films, launches with a noir-styled look and a Ben Reilly story that too often feels recycled. The series arrives in eight episodes on MGM Plus May 25 and on Amazon Prime May

Spider-Noir wastes no time setting the mood: it’s stylish in a black-and-white. hard-boiled kind of way. and it clearly wants you to feel like you’re watching a love letter to Hollywood’s Golden Age crime dramas. But by the time the casework starts lining up—mob connections. superpowered troublemakers. femme fatales—the show’s biggest problem is already visible.

Sony’s latest push at building a Spider-Man universe independent of Marvel leans heavily on the name. the tone. and the familiar beats. Yet the story itself moves with so little emotional or narrative weight that it can feel like it’s coasting on aesthetics and in-jokes instead of earning the suspense it borrows from noir.

At the center is Ben Reilly, not Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man Noir from the Spider-Verse films. Reilly is a brooding vigilante from another universe. known to New York City residents simply as “The Spider.” He once felt purpose fighting crime. but the tragic death of his girlfriend pulls him away from the hero life and into a new identity as a private investigator.

After five years working with Reilly. his secretary Janet—played by Karen Rodriguez—knows the details of his life: she knows about his ability to sense danger. and she knows his habit of snapping photos. She also knows he’s been slipping. She’s been waiting for new clients, and he hasn’t paid her in months. Her patience is nearly gone when Reilly takes a case that looks routine—until it turns him face-to-face with Cat Hardy. a nightclub singer and femme fatale portrayed by Li Jun Li.

That’s when the familiar Spider-Man orbit starts tightening around the plot. Reilly learns the situation connects to local mob boss Silvermane, played by Brendan Gleeson, and his collection of dim-witted goons. He expects the story to stay in that lane. Instead, the investigation pulls him toward superpowered figures like Flint Marko, played by Jack Huston.

The show’s noir trappings don’t fully compensate for how predictable the emotional journey feels. Reilly’s arc hits many of the classic Spider-Man notes—great power. great responsibility—only it’s done here as something you’ve already seen across Spider-Man’s many adaptations. Even the comedy. which the series uses as a steady rhythm. can tip into cheesy territory rather than sharpening its identity.

Cage’s Spider-Verse character worked in part because of the contrast he brought to the multiverse chaos. Cage’s monochromatic hero in the Spider-Verse films had an atonal energy that turned the contradictions—over-serious noir attitude next to whimsical madness—into a kind of comedy engine. Spider-Noir is trying to recreate the vibe. but without that same emotional and thematic depth. Reilly starts to feel like a messy patchwork of half-finished ideas instead of a fully lived-in character.

The show also places a heavy burden on Nicolas Cage’s style—except here. Cage isn’t back in the role. Instead. the series leans into the idea of wisecracking and hard-boiled swagger. but it never quite lands the chemistry it needs for the romantic beats it introduces. The performance is described as cringeworthy in stretches. with Reilly coming off like an aging quipster doing an iffy James Cagney impression. a smooth-talking Humphrey Bogart type. and a straight-up weird figure who struggles to connect believably with romantic partners.

What’s left is a contradiction: Spider-Noir is gorgeous, and it’s clear the cast is having fun. But the show’s lack of narrative substance makes it hard to believe in its own momentum. It feels less like a fresh entry into Sony’s Spider-Man storytelling and more like another attempt to re-run lessons learned from earlier wins.

That contrast—strong visuals and genre charm on one side, thin narrative substance and over-familiar character beats on the other—sits at the heart of why the series lands less like a breakthrough and more like a distraction.

Spider-Noir also stars Lamorne Morris, Abraham Popoola, Lukas Haas, Andrew Lewis Caldwell, and Jack Mikesell. All eight episodes premiere on MGM Plus on May 25 and on Amazon Prime beginning May 27.

Spider-Noir Sony Spider-Verse MGM Plus Amazon Prime Ben Reilly Cat Hardy Silvermane Flint Marko Karen Rodriguez Li Jun Li Brendan Gleeson Jack Huston Lamorne Morris