After going through 2022 without any cinematic Spider-Man action (and therefor, no movement on our Spider-Man movie rankings), we’re getting Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse this summer among the 2023 movie releases. In addition to plenty of new Web-Slingers being introduced in the sequel, we’ll also see Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales teaming back up with Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy and Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker. Sadly, for those of you who were enamored with Spider-Man Noir during Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Nicolas Cage has confirmed he won’t be back for Across the Spider-Verse.
Along with the public getting their first taste of Nicolas Cage’s Dracula thanks to the Renfield trailer dropping, this week has also seen the actor doing press for his new movie, The Old Way. While chatting about that project with ScreenRant, Cage was asked what the chances are that we’ll see Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and he answered:
You'd have to ask Sony. I don't know what's going on with that. No one's spoken to me about that. Ask them. I don't know. I really don't. I wish they would. I love Spider-Man Noir, too. I think that's a great character. Spider-Man's the coolest superhero. And then you combine that with Cagney and Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, come on, it's a great character.
Spider-Man Noir, a fellow Peter Parker, was introduced to the Marvel Comics landscape back in 2009, hailing from Earth-90214, a universe heavily influenced by film noir and pulp fiction storytelling. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, not only did Nicolas Cage’s version of the character come from a literal black-and-white world, he spoke in a stereotypical 1930s Transatlantic accent, with Cage drawing influence from the Golden Age actors he mentioned in the above comment. Spider-Man Noir was introduced in Into the Spider-Verse at roughly the halfway point alongside Spider-Man Ham, Peni Parker and Peni’s SP//dr companion.
When we last saw Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he’d finally solved the Rubik’s Cube he’d brought back with him from Miles Morales world and had started selling it to the colorblind people of his world. Per Nicolas Cage, evidently the threat posed by The Spot in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse won’t be enough to draw Spider-Man Noir into the fray, since it’s doubtful that Sony would recast the character. With Across the Spider-Verse not only seeing Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 taking on an integral role, but also introducing people like Issa Rae’s Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman and Daniel Kaluuya’s Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk, it sounds like there just wasn’t any room to effectively fit in Spider-Man Noir.
The same seemingly goes for Spider-Ham and Peni Parker, as there’s been no sign of them in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse marketing so far. So at the point, if you’re eager to see more of this take on Spider-Man Noir, cross your fingers that he’s included in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, because that’s looking like the last opportunity for this to happen. That being said, considering how far in advance actors record their lines for animated movies, Cage’s comment could indicate this isn’t in the cards either.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on June 2, and Beyond the Spider-Verse will follow on March 29, 2024. Nicolas Cage can be seen in theaters now playing Colton Briggs in The Old Way, and Renfield will arrive on April 24.
