Although it’s far from a confirmation, Nicolas Cage has revealed he’s had a “conversation” about playing the role of a grizzled Spider-Man Noir in live-action form.
Nicolas Cage finally joined the Marvel pantheon in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, in which the much-loved actor voiced the character of Spider-Man Noir. An alternate-universe take on the webslinger who’s older, embittered and also happens to be a great detective, it hinted at all sorts of future possibilities. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Cage given his own Spider-Man Noir story?
There have been rumours that this might happen for a while, with Variety reporting back in 2023 that a spin-off live-action TV series was in the works at Amazon Prime Video. This would be in addition to a separate Spider-Man series, Silk: Spider Society.
In an interview with Collider, meanwhile, Cage has confirmed that there have at least been discussions about reprising the role in some form. In typical Cage fashion, his comments on the matter are a charming stream of consciousness:
“Well, I can say that we have been talking,” Cage said. “It’s no secret that I love the character. I think the character provides another mash-up of sorts. I can combine my favourite golden age performances, i.e. Robinson, Cagney, Bogart, with a character that is, I guess, widely considered [to be] Stan Lee’s masterpiece.
“I see it as a kind of foray into a pop art mash-up of, sort of, a [Jungian] Lichtenstein, mash-up by way of Bogart and Cagney, but nothing’s definitive yet. It’s just conversation.”
Nicolas Cage as a hardboiled Spidey sleuth, solving crimes in 1930s New York? Yes, we would sit down and watch that quite happily. We’ll keep you posted if we hear more.
Read more: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse review | Every Spider-person all at once
