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When Spider-Noir was first announced, it sounded gimmicky and one-note. The idea was to take Nicolas Cage’s 1930s P.I. Spider-Man from the Spider-Verse movies and bring him to life in a live-action detective noir. It’s the kind of concept that sounds like it would barely stretch to a short, let alone a full television series.
But we’ve been proven wrong by those high-concept gimmicks before. Barry’s “gimmicky” story of a hitman who wants to become an actor led to one of the most harrowing psychological character studies of the past decade. What We Do in the Shadows’ “gimmicky” concept of a vampire-infested mockumentary has sustained both one of the best comedy movies of the 21st century and one of the best sitcoms of the 21st century.
Near the end of May, hot on the heels of The Boys’ long-awaited (and wildly divisive) series finale, Prime Video dropped all eight episodes of Spider-Noir’s first season for subscribers to enjoy at their leisure, either in “authentic” black-and-white or in the made-up “true-hue” color-to-B&W-back-to-color process. In either format, the show might feel gimmicky for a few minutes — Cage doing Cagney, Spidey in a trenchcoat, campy Dutch angles, etc. — but once you settle into the quirky world the filmmakers have created, and the powerhouse performance that Cage is giving, you’re hooked. I watched that whole first season in one sitting, and now I need more.
Although Spider-Noir has been a massive success for Prime, Amazon has yet to officially greenlight a second season. Some of that might have to do with contract negotiation; locking down a movie star, especially one as prolific as Cage, for a whole season of TV must be pretty difficult. But it would be a crying shame if this weird little superhero detective show doesn’t get at least one more season.
What Could Spider-Noir’s Second Season Be About?
When we met Ben Reilly in Spider-Noir’s first season, a lot of his story had already been told. Since the filmmakers had to account for Cage’s age, the series began at the end of the road for Ben. He’s already gone through his entire tenure as Spider-Man and given up the vigilante life. He’s already had his Chinatown moment — the moment he became disillusioned with fighting a losing battle against the criminal underworld — and he’s already become a jaded, washed-up sleuth. So, where can season 2 go?
Season 1 was sort of a second origin story for this version of Spider-Man. After hanging up the suit and retiring to a boring life as a civilian, Ben reluctantly resumes his career as a webslinging superhero when supervillains start popping up around New York, and he’s the only one who can stop them. By the end of the season, Ben had gotten his groove back and embraced his calling as The Spider.
A second season could just be an adventure-of-the-week superhero show, as more supervillains from Spidey’s rogues’ gallery with a noir makeover pop up around the city and The Spider takes them on. But there would be no real dramatic substance in that; nothing to emotionally attach to. The beauty of Spider-Noir’s first season is that all the noir-infused villains and superhero spectacle are just gravy on top of the very real, emotional, human story of a down-and-out alcoholic grieving the loss of the love of his life. We saw Ben crawl out from the bottom of a bottle, find a new purpose, and come out stronger than ever, and it made the show as emotionally engaging as it was dumb fun.
Spider-Noir season 2 can’t just be a crazy, action-packed superhero noir; it needs a dramatic arc on par with what Cage and the writers did in season 1. Otherwise, there’s no point.
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https://screenrant.com/spider-noir-so-good-deserves-at-least-one-more-season/
Ben Sherlock
Almontather Rassoul
