'Spider-Noir' brings a mature superhero to the small screen

LOS ANGELES: While stars of the Spider-Man franchise have trended younger over the years – from Tobey Maguire to Andrew Garfield to Tom Holland – the new series “Spider-Noir” starring Nicolas Cage explores a more mature version of the web-slinging superhero.

Premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform this week, the series follows Ben Reilly (Cage), a private investigator struggling to make ends meet in New York during the Great Depression.

This marks the first time the superhero, whom Cage voiced in the first Spider-Verse film, has appeared on screen in live-action.

Karen Rodriguez, who plays Janet, Riley’s loyal secretary, said that what sets “Spider-Noir” apart from other versions of the superhero is the era in which it is set.

“Normally, it’s a coming-of-age story, and we’re meeting Peter Parker in a youthful setting,” she told AFP. “But what happens when you’ve done it and life has happened to you and you suffered loss?”

Reilly, a World War I veteran who can’t even afford to pay his secretary, is burdened by personal tragedy.

“He’s lost the love of his life. He’s smack dab in the middle of the Great Depression. There’s a lot of suffering,” Rodriguez added.

For the actress, whose character maintains a constant push and pull with Reilly, working with Cage “was like a dream come true.”

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Rodriguez said she learned a lot from the 62-year-old Oscar-winning actor, who has over a hundred films to his credit.

“It’s the type of job that you dream about because you want jobs that are going to make you better,” said Rodriguez, who describes her character as a strong-willed woman who doesn’t mince words.

“Spider-Noir,” produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, among others, can be seen in color or black and white, in a nod to the film noir genre of the 1940s.

“It’s a wholly unique perspective,” said Rodriguez, who sees the style as an “exciting” alternative for telling a superhero story.

The genre is related to “what kind of danger is looking around the corner,” she said. “And even the visual elements of noir, I think are so evocative, the way that the camera is framed.”

“You understand that the world you’re never really safe, and we really see it in the black and white, because we’re seeing people in shadow or in light, and the shadow is always there.”

“Spider-Noir” also features performances by Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li and Brendan Gleeson, who plays a mobster villain.