Nicolas Cage Explains Why SPIDER-NOIR Finally Pulled Him Into Television
After decades of wild performances, unforgettable genre roles, and more than a few comic book detours, Nicolas Cage is finally stepping into television with Spider-Noir.
According to Cage, this wasn’t a decision he made casually. He’d been waiting for the right project to come along, and this dark, stylized Spider-Man series checked every box for him.
Cage recently opened up to Entertainment Tonight about why Spider-Noir became the project that convinced him to make the jump to TV after years of playing larger-than-life characters on the big screen, including Ghost Rider.
“Well, it’s no secret that I’ve been wanting to wait for something very unique, something extremely, in my view, that would be extremely special,” said Cage.
“And when I heard about Spider-Noir, [that] it would be black-and-white, and that it would be in the ’30s, and I could channel some of my favorite old-world film noir actors like Bogart and Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, and then collide it, mash it up with what was arguably Stan Lee’s greatest masterpiece, Spider-Man. I thought that would be a collision that would create something brand new, something I hadn’t seen before.”
This project is tailor-made for Cage. A gritty 1930s noir world mixed with Spider-Man mythology already feels cool on its own, but adding Cage’s love for classic cinema into the mix makes this series feel way more interesting than the average superhero project.
The actor also explained that he had zero interest in doing something safe or formulaic. “I didn’t want to do anything homogenized. I wanted to do something that has some spark and some pop, and some danger to it. [And] Some risk.”
That creative approach is probably why fans are so curious about Spider-Noir in the first place. The series already feels different from nearly every other Marvel adaptation currently in development.
It’s leaning hard into old-school detective noir aesthetics while still embracing the comic book insanity people expect from Spider-Man stories.
Cage first voiced Spider-Noir in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, instantly becoming one of the breakout favorites from the animated film. He returned for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and is expected back again for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse when that movie hits theaters in 2027.
Instead of playing the Peter Parker variant featured in the animated films, Cage will portray Ben Reilly in the upcoming series, separating this incarnation from the one audiences already know.
Spider-Noir is created and executive produced by Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, with Harry Bradbeer directing. The Spider-Verse brain trust of Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal are also involved, which should give fans some confidence that the series will keep the same inventive spirit that made the animated movies such a massive hit.
One of the coolest details about the series is that viewers will actually be able to watch it in either black-and-white or color. That’s such a perfect touch for a noir-inspired Spider-Man story and exactly the kind of creative swing Cage seems excited about.
Spider-Noir premieres on MGM+ on May 25, 2026, before launching globally on Prime Video on May 27. Meanwhile, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is currently set to arrive in theaters on June 18, 2027.