Nicolas Cage says his new live-action series ‘Spider-Noir’ will offer viewers a distinctive experience, with the option to watch it in black and white — “like an old movie” — or in ‌highly saturated colour designed to heighten visual intensity. He hopes the noir presentation will engage younger audiences who may be less familiar with black-and-white films.

Film noir, a 1940s American style, is known for its cynical protagonists, crime-driven plots, and existential themes. Cage said he crafted his ⁠performance as the title character, specifically for black and white, calling the dual-format release “a little revolutionary”, a Reuters report from Los Angeles said yesterday.

The series, developed by Oren Uziel for Prime Video and MGM+, is based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man Noir. It follows an older, hard-edged Peter Parker — here named Ben Reilly — working as a private investigator in 1930s New York while confronting his past.

Cage stars alongside Lamorne Morris as newspaper editor Robbie Robertson, Li Jun Li as nightclub singer Cat Hardy ‌and ⁠Brendan Gleeson as Irish mob boss Silvermane.

After being inspired by the character’s popularity in Sony’s animated ‘Spider-Verse’ films by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Uziel was keen to bring the duo on board as producers of ‘Spider-Noir’.

“I think that character really popped in those (‘Spider-Verse’) ⁠movies, and they (Lord and Miller) were excited to try and create a standalone show for it,” Uziel said.

Cage, Uziel and Gleeson all hope the show brings Marvel and ⁠noir audiences together, introducing younger viewers to the genre while drawing noir fans into the superhero world.

“I would hope it’ll open up a world ⁠for both directions,” Gleeson said, noting his optimism that ‘Spider-Verse’ fans will gravitate toward some noir films and vice versa. The series begins streaming on Wednesday (May 27) on Prime Video.