Everyone Is Watching Spider-Noir The Wrong Way
The vivid colors might be more familiar to modern audiences, but it also compromises the experience.
Despite a long history in relation to alternate universes and different characters picking up the mantle, for decades every cinematic and television depiction of Spider-Man was an adaptation of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original creation. Peter Parker has gotten the on-screen treatment numerous times: Nicholas Hammond in the ‘70s CBS television series, Christopher Daniel Barnes in the ‘90s animated series, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland in the movies. And much like James Bond, each version brings their own specific quirks and eccentricities to the material.
In the last few years, however, superhero movies have been infected by the multiverse craze, and not only did it start with Spider-Man, but arguably no one has done it better since. Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel opened the floodgates and introduced general audiences to Miles Morales, Peni Parker, Spider-Ham, and Spider-Noir among others. The latter is now the star of his own Amazon Prime TV series (albeit a different version of the character), and along with being its own version of the Spider-Man mythos, it also leans into the conventions of film noir — including offering a black and white version that is genuinely superior to the version offered in color.
Based on the character introduced in the 2009 comic book Spider-Man: Noir, the Spider-Noir TV show takes a few liberties — instead of being a photojournalist named Peter Parker who’s bitten by a spider imbued with the powers of an ancient arachnid god, Nicolas Cage’s take on the character is a private detective named Ben Reilly whose powers come from a decidedly less mystical origin. Unlike the comics, in which Spider-Man Noir wages battle against an organized crime boss version of Norman Osborn, Cage’s hero (named “The Spider”) faces off against the mob boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson) as well as a host of mutated former American POWs.
The show is drenched in the tropes of film noir: a private detective immersed in a criminal conspiracy with vast political implications, a morally dubious femme fatale, a depiction of New York City swept up in the desperation of the Great Depression. Of course, all of this is heightened by the optional black-and-white cinematography — classic noir experienced its heyday before the advent of color in film, but eventually the genre’s masterful usage of shadows became shorthand for storytelling that prioritized paranoia and the exploration of moral nuance. It fits perfectly for a show about a superhero who clings to the darkness and hides from the public eye, unlike the traditional idea of Spider-Man as a bold and flashy neighborhood icon.
Certain compositions in the show just wouldn’t have the same evocative power presented in color.
The color version doesn’t look bad per se, and the show was shot in color during filming, but the costuming and production design were deliberately chosen to emphasize the black-and-white aesthetic, considering that some colors read better in the format. There’s also the reality that B&W obscures the budgetary limitations a bit more: you can see the seams of digital effects more noticeably when watching in full color, and in all honesty Spider-Noir just looks more like a traditional superhero when viewed that way. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it doesn’t really convey the true film noir experience.
Offering both options is definitely a smart way to maximize the viewing audience, because there will naturally be potential viewers turned off by having to watch something in black-and-white. But the show is aggressively aping the visual language of films like Double Indemnity and The Asphalt Jungle and The Big Sleep, and part of that is the incredibly rich usage of chiaroscuro lighting, which is a technique that employs an extreme contrast between light and dark. In all honesty, Spider-Noir should be watched in black-and-white — it offers a visual distinction from the other half-dozen superhero projects in the zeitgeist at any given time, but it also reinforces the series as a loving homage to a genre that may have fallen out of popularity, but still remains one of the most influential eras of American and international cinema.
