Retro Golden Age Webslinger: The Best Comic Book Epics Featuring Spider-Noir
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Spider-Noir is a streaming TV show featuring Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, a 1930s and Depression Era Spider-Man variant. The series is a hit with critics and comic book fans. The show incorporates the aesthetics and themes of Hollywood film noir with the theatrics of comic book films.
Fans love the setting, film noir influences, and the sight of a 1930s Spider-Man in a three-piece suit and fedora, webslinging around the city. While I think the show is incredible and worth a watch for Cage’s portrayal, I am always an advocate for checking out the source material first.
Most fans and casual readers may have learned of Spider-Noir from his live-action appearance and Cage’s voiceover in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. However, the character made his debut in 2009 when Marvel Comics made a series of film noir-influenced comics featuring their characters.
Here are four Spider-Man Noir comics that you should check out before watching Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir. Firstly, here is a short primer on the character.
Spider-Man Noir 101
In 2008, Marvel Comics would publish several comic books featuring intense film noir drama. “Film noir” is a style of film from the 1940s and 1950s featuring moody and shadowy aesthetics, cynical anti-heroes, tragedy, unreliable narrators, femme-fatales, and ruthless gangsters. Earth-90214 is a Marvel Comics universe where Luke Cage, Daredevil, Wolverine, Iron Man, The Punisher, and Spider-Man would emerge during or after the Great Depression.
Spider-Man Noir, or Spider-Noir, is a 1932 version of Peter Parker operating as Spider-Man. The character’s name is changed to Ben Reilly in the show. Spider-Man Noir does not wear a Spider-Man suit; he wears a business suit with an overcoat, a fedora, and a black Spider-Man mask. The character has all the same powers as the traditional Spider-Man from the main 616 universe, Peter Parker.
Spider-Man Noir sometimes wears a Kevlar vest and uses .45 caliber pistols or Tommy Guns as weapons. He also has organic webbing. The main difference between the 616 Spider-Man and the 90214 Spider-Man is that Spider-Noir exists during the Great Depression, a time of injustice, crushing widespread poverty, corruption, and extreme moral disillusionment between the Great War and WW2.
1. Spider-Man Noir (2008)
It’s 1932. Peter Parker is a young man who is too poor to attend college. He begins working for the Daily Bugle to make ends meet. Parker is haunted by the death of his Uncle Ben at the hands of the local crime lord Norman Osborn, also known as the Goblin. Ben’s last words to Peter were, “If those in power can’t be trusted, it’s the responsibility of the people to remove them.”
Peter visits a museum exhibit and is bitten by a spider. He later gains superpowers and becomes Spider-Man Noir. This comic is the main inspiration for Spider-Noir.
Also note that Spider-Noir never wore a fedora in his four-issue miniseries debut; that would become an artistic flourish added later on by other artists.
This 101-page trade collects all four issues of the series. Buy it on Kindle now for only $6.99.
2. Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without A Face (2009)
This story takes place about eight months after the first Spider-Man Noir story. Peter is settling into his new role as a photojournalist for the Daily Bugle. He often volunteers at a local soup kitchen run by his Aunt May. Mary Jane Watson often helps out in the kitchen, an added perk for Peter.
The Crime Master becomes the new crime lord of the city after Peter defeats the Goblin. Meanwhile, Otto Octavius is conducting mind control experiments to control “inferior people” on behalf of the Friends of New Germany movement. Peter becomes Spider-Noir again as conspiracies arise everywhere.
This 116-page trade collects all four issues of the series. Buy it now on Kindle for only $6.99.
3. Spider-Man Noir: Twilight In Babylon (2020)
After teaming up with Miles Morales in the Spider-Geddon Marvel Comics event, Peter returns to his timeline. May and Mary Jane thought he was dead and are relieved to see him return. Peter investigates the death of a local waitress who died while holding an invaluable gem. His investigations take him to Egypt and encounters with the Dora Milaje, Tony Stark, and Electro.
Buy the 99-page, 5-issue miniseries on Kindle now for only $8.99.
4. Spider-Man Noir: The Gwen Stacy Affair (2025)
Peter has now transitioned into becoming a private investigator. A beautiful femme fatale, Gwen Stacy, strolls into Peter’s office and hires him to investigate the death of her father, George Stacy. Unfortunately, Peter has a tragic connection to George, a corrupt cop and mob enforcer, as Spider-noir. After a steamy affair with Gwen, Peter finds out he is in over his head in a conspiracy, and someone has stolen his spider powers!
Get the 120-page paperback collecting all five issues for only $17.99 at Amazon.
Spider-Noir and Its Comic Influences
Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir is a rare comic book adaptation that critics and fans alike love. The tone and aesthetics of the series evoke the film noir era in a way that has not been seen since the heyday of film noir. However, I highly recommend that you check out the comics that inspired the show. As I always say, the best comic book stories are in the comics.
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Allen Francis is the lead staff writer for PFAdvice.com at District Media, Inc., specializing in comic book investing, collectibles, popular culture, and practical wealth-building strategies. A New York City native, Marymount Manhattan College graduate, and former college academic advisor, librarian, and adjunct instructor, he brings 15+ years of professional writing experience and a proven personal transformation from financial illiteracy to expert collector. He also the author of The Casual’s Guide: Why You Should Get Into Comic Book Investing.