Nicolas Cage Makes History For DC & Marvel's "Big Three" After 49 Years
The imminent release of Prime Video’s new TV series Spider-Noir marks a hugely historic moment for DC Comics as well as Marvel. Nicolas Cage is about to do what no other actor has done in the superhero genre before. Cage makes his live-action debut as Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man Noir when MGM+ premieres the series on May 25. It arrives on Prime Video two days later, introducing TV audiences to the version of Spider-Man steeped in the dark traditions of film noir. Reilly is a clone of Peter Parker created to fight the original Spider-Man, who instead becomes Parker’s crime-fighting ally. When he isn’t donning a black Spider-suit, he’s working as a private investigator in the mold of Humphrey Bogart’s classic movie characters Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. In honor of the cinematic movement it’s named after, Spider-Noir has even been shot in black and white, although a color version will also be available as an alternative viewing experience. However, the show is more than simply the first live-action iteration of Spider-Man Noir onscreen. By casting Nicolas Cage as its protagonist, it’s making a piece of history that’s far more significant. Cage becomes the first actor to play two of the “Big Three” greatest comic-book superheroes in live-action, following his appearance as Superman in the 2023 movie The Flash.
Spider-Noir Thumbnail
Nicolas Cage has already played Spider-Man in animated form, voicing the same dark variation on the character in the 2018 movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but Spider-Noir marks his first live-action appearance as the superhero. This TV adaptation signals that Marvel’s noir variant of Spider-Man is set to become a regular feature of Peter Parker’s screen universe. The upcoming animated sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will see Cage reprise this role next year, too. A dark, grizzled Spidey who doubles up as a hard-boiled detective character made cynical by the traumas of his past is very much a sign of the times when it comes to screen comic-book adaptations.
This TV series feels like a response by Sony Pictures and Amazon MGM to neo-noir DC releases like Lauren LeFranc’s miniseries The Penguin, and 2022’s Matt Reeves movie The Batman, as well as the Joker franchise created by Todd Phillips. All these releases – Spider-Noir included – are also symptomatic of the times we live in. Many viewers are no longer satisfied with brightly-colored costumes and easy answers from superhero franchises. They want dark and complex antiheroes who reflect the realities of a real world beset by manifest contradictions. In this sense, Nicolas Cage is a perfect fit for both Spider-Man and Superman.
Nicolas Cage as Superman in the multiverse in The Flash
Cage’s cameo appearance as one of many variants of Superman in The Flash may have seemed like a surprising piece of casting, but it was actually a long time coming. The actor was originally supposed to play Clark Kent in Tim Burton’s canceled movie Superman Lives in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, his history of voicing Spider-Man Noir made him the obvious choice to play this Peter Parker clone in a live-action series. As a result, the stars have aligned for two of DC and Marvel’s so-called “Big Three” superheroes. For the first time in history, an actor who’s previously played one of Spider-Man, Batman or Superman is now playing another.
It’s 49 years since Spider-Man first made his live-action screen debut, with Nicholas Hammond playing the character in a 1977 TV movie which served as the pilot for the show The Amazing Spider-Man. Since that time, we’ve seen several different actors play Spidey onscreen, while many more have played live-action versions of Superman and Batman.
Superhero
Year Of Live-Action Debut
Number Of Actors
Batman
1943
13
Superman
1948
11
Spider-Man
1977
6
Nevertheless, no one has played two of these three iconic superheroes in the flesh, until now. The closest anyone came before Nicolas Cage was Ben Affleck, who played Superman actor George Reeves in the 2006 movie Hollywoodland, before going on to play Batman himself. But Spider-Noir is the definitive history-maker, because Cage is the first actor to be directly credited as two of the superheroes in live-action productions. Incredibly, he’s managed this feat at 62, having already been late into his fifties when he finally played Superman. Age really is just a number when it comes to Ben Reilly and Clark Kent, it seems.
Release Date
May 27, 2026
Network
MGM+
Showrunner
Oren Uziel, Steve Lightfoot
Lamorne Morris
Robbie Robertson
Brendan Gleeson
Silvermane
Jack Huston
Chief McNamara
