Spider-Noir Looks Incredible!

Sony has had a rough time of it these past few years trying to establish itself outside of Marvel. The Spider-verse animated films are, of course, absolutely amazing. But outside of that Sony has had a bit of a rotten time. I do quite like the Venom trilogy and Tom Hardy is great in the role, but Morbius, Kraven, and Madame Web were financial and critical failures. I haven't gotten around to watching any of them and I don't think I ever will considering the reviews. But Sony is expanding to the small screen in collaboration with Amazon and Spider-Noir actually looks utterly fantastic!

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

I'm definitely planning on watching in black-and-white first, but the True-Hue color also actually looks really good! I'm very intrigued by the technology behind that, because the show was filmed in black-and-white and for black-and-white, but the cameras also recorded in color but clearly there's been a lot of digital editing to the colors and tones to create the unique look of the show. In an interview with Esquire, Cage said, "“The truth is, they both work and they're beautiful for different reasons. The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option. If they want to experience the concept in black and white, maybe that would instill some interest in them to look at earlier movies and enjoy that as an art form as well.” And I couldn't agree more! The ultra-saturated color makes it look incredibly distinctive and beautiful in a way that a lot of films these days just don't.

I'm not a huge film nerd, so I'm sure there's been examples of similar processes in other films, but I can't say I've heard of any of them. It isn't that they filmed this in color too, from what I understand, because while the digital cameras did capture color-data it isn't the same data that is collected during the normal process. I'm curious if this "True Hue" will remain a marketing gimmick solely for Spider-Noir or if it will expand to other projects. Either way, it looks great in the trailers and I'm hoping that it will also look just as beautiful when the show is released.

That same interview also included some comments from the creators concerning the name change from Peter Parker to Ben Reilly for Spider-Noir.

In other words, Spider-Noir could not be an optimist. “Peter Parker feels very synonymous with a high school kid. Boyish. On his way up,” Uziel says. So they chose a clone character whose backstory could be more easily adjusted to fit a pessimistic misanthrope.

“This character's very different from the Peter Parker from the movies. He's older and jaded, and not afraid to punch a guy in the face drunkenly,” Miller says, while Lord chimes in: “He already had his Chinatown disillusionment moment that happened years and years ago.”

I actually kind of disagree with this, not entirely, but Peter Parker was a pessimistic misanthrope in the early comics. He was incredibly jaded in the early Ditko comics, but he eventually grew out of that. It's a minor nitpick to be sure, because ultimately Peter did become a different type of man and, frankly, 95% of depictions of teenage Peter Parker ignore the Ditko characterization. But I wouldn't be a Spider-Man fan if I didn't needlessly nitpick, so a part of me does dislike this description of Peter Parker. However, I think the change to Ben Reilly makes a lot of sense and was the correct decision nevertheless. I think it will be easier for general audiences. And I'm sure the contract has changed since then, but the leaked 2011 contract between Marvel and Sony concerning the character of Spider-Man and Peter Parker did lay out some strong mandates that just make a Spider-Noir adaptation with Peter Parker impossible. Ben Reilly is better suited for it. Lord and Miller do hint at there being a greater reason behind the name change that will be revealed in the show, so we will see what that means.

The tv show will also bring in two other Spider-Man characters that have longed deserved some attention on the screen. Robbie Robertson appears in the Raimi trilogy in a rather small role and while he is a great character there, his significance to the broader Spider-Man mythos is ignored. I'm looking forward to seeing a live-action version of the character that is given more screentime and story significance. I'm also intrigued by this description given by showrunner Oren Uziel when describing the character:

“They're both investigators,” Uziel says of Reilly and Ben. “They both go back a long way. Their friendship has really deep ties. The biggest and most obvious difference is that Robbie is a guy who almost carries around a rabbit's foot. He thinks he's lucky, and it's all going to work out. Ben is a character who thinks it's never going to work out. It's all going to go to shit. Life's a big disaster. So Ben's cynicism is kind of an opposing force to Robbie's optimism.”

Since Ben is much older than he or Peter have ever been in the comics, it seems like Ben Reilly will almost be the J. Jonah Jameson to Robinson. The dichotomy between Robbie and Jonah is central to those characters in the comics, so I'm glad the writers understand that and are having Robbie serve as that foil to Ben Reilly. I think Robbie is a character who needs to be surrounded by cynics in order for his optimism to shine through.

The show will also have Cat Hardy! A character who is not so subtly a loose adaptation of Felicia Hardy. I'm curious to see how they will adapt her character. Is the name change another way to fit the film noir aesthetic, or is it to indicate that the character is more of a reference than a direct adaptation? Admittedly, while I'm a Spider-Man fan, I have not read the comics with Black Cat so most of my knowledge of her character comes from adaptations and fan engagement. (I'm somewhere in the 70s in my Spider-Man reading and I took a break a couple years ago... I need to get back into it.) But I do think Black Cat is probably the best character they could have chosen to be the femme fatale for this story.

Anyway, I am incredibly excited for this series. I have not read the Spider-Noir comics tho I have been debating reading them ... but I think I'll hold off until after the show comes off. I am really looking forward to the show and being surprised at all the different changes that are made when it comes to adapting Spider-Man to this specific setting and seeing how different The Spider is as a character.