Spider-Noir Season 1 Review

0:00 This is a dyna Mic network podcast. Hi, welcome to the Dynamic Dual podcast, a Rotten Tomatoes approved to show their reviews superhero films and series through the lens of the DC and Marble fandoms. I'm Jonathan and I'm his twin brother Joseph, and this episode coming a little late is going to be a review of the Amazon Prime television series Spider Noar. Yeah, well, our episode's never too early or too late. They come precisely when they mean to. Yeah, like kandelf Right, No, I don't think so. Spider Noar is sort of a spinoff of the Spider Verse animated films as the same producers, but of course this is live action starring Nicholas Cage, who cages it up big time. I'd say the show is about as fun as you would want it to be exactly. We'll get more to our thoughts later on in the episode when we give our review. Before that, our AI co host AJ nine K there's a quick message for our listeners, so listen up.

1:12 Why hello there? Be sure to tune into the other shows in the Dynamite podcast network, including the Console Combat podcast, where host John and Dean simulate battles between popular video game characters. Over on the Max Destruction podcast, hosts Scotti and Gilly pitch your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other, and on the Senjo World podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. Visit Dynamic Podcasts dot com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all the shows in the Dynamite podcast network. Pit Pip Cheerio, Thanks aj nine K. In our last episode, we did a review of the film Supergirl, during which we discussed a lot of the characters in that film that appeared in the comic books, and then we asked you, guys, who you thought would make a good man for some of those characters. The best response we got, once again was from Devin on Discord and he suggested Cyborg Superman, who is probably the most prominent Superman villain that we never got around to doing good duel with, and we're going to pit him against the Technark, specifically Magas, which is a generic term for a leader of the Technark, which is basically an offshoot of the alien race known as the Phalanx, which is a techno parasitic artificial intelligence.

2:28 So the Phalanx created the technark as like their soldiers. The term for leader of one of the technark nodes is called megas. I'm going with the particular Megas that was the father of Warlock. Oh my gosh, the channel on board, who is one of the members of the New Mutants. It's pretty fucking complicated, but all you need to know is that this particular technark is one of the more prominent within the Marvel universe. Yeah, I remember you mentioning the Failanx during our Legion of Superheroes Versus New Mutants episode. Yeah, because then that duel was Cipher, who had eventually merged with Warlock, who was Yeah. Anyway, Basically, Warlock's father pursued him to Earth for fleeing their species ritual death duel and became an enemy of the New Mutants.

3:14 He has the ability to shape shift his techno organic body. He can alter his size, he can regenerate, and he could also spread the techno organic virus to other people, drain their energy, and fly fast enough to fly through hyperspace, particularly when he transforms his body into a spaceship. That's cool. I guess not as cool as Cyborg Superman, though, who was once astronaut Hank Henshaw, and he was bombarded by cosmic radiation during a doomed space mission with his wife. His body died, but his mind survived digitally. After Superman's death, he used Kryptonian tech to become Cyborg Superman, technopathic, technomorphic, and with all of Superman's Kryptonian powers. The failings are used to fighting not characters like Superman well and is most powerful. I saw Magas literally rip a star in half and then hurl it. So, uh, what you fucked? Yeah, you're fucked. But let's see how fucked you are by finding out who wins? Agn I k the results? Please all right? After running one thousand simulated battles between the two characters, the winner between Cyborg Superman and Magas the Technark is technarc shut up, all right, you're right. It was Cyborg Superman. You know why because he has fucking Superman in his name and he needs a new fucking name.

4:35 That's stupid. Uh. He won out of one thousand matches, five hundred and thirty six battles, whereas the Technark only won four hundred and sixty four. It was pretty close magas the Technark had an advantage in evasiveness and damage at his full potential, But Cyborg Superman has n't be underability and fighting skill and range because he can also stretch just like Technark. He can, but he also has like heat vision, and so he's a really powerful character. Like stats wise, he would probably even be Superman. He sounds super awesome, awesome. I hate him for winning, and I'm sick of DC winning the show. Why do we even do the duels anymore? Because literally just every character in DC is basically Superman. Yeah, we are pretty cool like that. Moving on to the next segment, We're gonna break down the comic book histories of the characters that appear in Spider Nore season one in a segment we call Who's who? All right, So the Spider Man Nor universe is called Universe nine oh two one four, whereas you know the mainstream Marvel universes Earth six one six, not all of the characters that appeared in the show were actually in the Spider Man Nor comics. They had pulled some of the characters from Earth six one six and adapted them into this Nor universe.

5:51 But of course. Peter Parker Spider Man, is part of the universe. He was raised by Aunt May and Uncle Ben during the Great Depression. After Ben was murdered by the goblins men for organizing glabor strikes, Peter became determined to fight corruption. While investigating a shipment of stolen antiques, he was bitten by a spider released from a mystical spider idol, and he gained spider like abilities. Using a costume based on his uncle Bann's World War One airman uniform, Peter became Spider Man, battling mobsters, Nazis, and other criminals while working as an investigative reporter. Wow, that is way different from the show. Yeah, absolutely, The show is largely a original interpretation of the character. Now powers wise. Spider Man Noar possesses superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, and the ability to cling to walls. His spider sense warns them of danger ant He can fire organic black webbing from his wrists. He's a skilled hand to hand combatant, investigator, photographer, scientist, and marksman. He carries firearms and wears light body armor.

6:54 Appearing in Spider Nor Season one is silvermin although he's not in the Spider Nor comic books, so I'll give you his mainstream Marvel Universe backstory. Silvio Manfredi immigrated from Italy to New York as a child and joined the Maggia crime family while still a teenager. Ruthless and ambitious, he rose through murder and strategy to become the crime lord Silvermain, Aging and desperate to avoid death, used the mystical tablet of Life and Time to restore his youth, but the process reversed uncontrollably until he vanished. When the effect wore off and he re emerged, his brain and remaining organs were transferred into a cybernetic body, allowing him to continue leading the Maggia. But of course, in Spider Noor season one, he is not a cyborg. Yeah, and he's Irish instead of Italian. Right. Black Cat was part of the Spider Noor comics. Her real name is Felicia Hardy, and she owned the Black Cat Nightclub, serving as an informant to the Daily Bugle, helping the newspaper gather evidence on New York's corruption. After witnessing what she believed was ja Jonah Jamison murdering reporter Ben Urick, she confronted and killed the supposed culprit, later revealed to be the Chameleon in disguise. Felicia was captured by the Goblin, but she escaped with Spider Man's help and later sheltered Peter Parker while he recovered from his injuries, prompting her lover to slash her face in retaliation. Permanently scarred, Felicia adopted a white mask and became a vigilante, later helping Spider Man stop the Shocker from selling weapons to the Nazis. Also

8:28 from the nore comics is Sandman. Flint Marco was an enforcer who earned the name Sandman not from his ability to control sand but because of his proficiency and brutality in killing victims with his bare hands, basically putting them to sleep. He helped transport African American captives to Ellis Island, where Doctor Octavius subjected them to horrific experiments. When Spider Man investigated the operation, Flint Marco withstood the Hero's attacks and beat him nearly unconscious before the FBI intervened. Flint Marco survived an initial gunshot and was only killed after the FBI agents repeatedly fired on him. His superpower basically is that he was an extremely tough mob enforcer. Hitting him was comparable to hitting granite. Also from the Nora comic books was Tombstone. Lonnie Lincoln was born and raised in Harlem, New York, where he stood out as the neighborhood's only albino. His father rejected him because of his appearance.

9:21 His mother was the only one who cared for him. Eventually, Lonnie turned to crime and adopted the name Tombstone. The Nora comics, he suffers from scleroderma, which is a condition that causes his skin to harden and tighten over time, and in his case, the disease gradually encased his body in this outer layer that gave him resistance to physical harm and finally appearing in Spider Nor Season one was Megawatt. I actually thought it was Electro, but it turned out to be Megawatt. He's not in the Nora comic books, but he was in the six one six universe, where his real name was Derek Leyden. He was an Australian convict who later became an actor before turning to super villainy. A scientist named Jonas Harrow granted the electrical powers, and he adopted the name Megawat, battling Spider Man to a draw, but was defeated when he exhausted his stored energy. He later was able to parlay that notoriety into becoming an international film star. His powers are that he can absorb, store, and discharge large amounts of electricity, basically just like Electro.

10:18 I totally thought he was a Noir version of Electro. Why does Spider Man need two electric villains? I don't know. Megawatt was used in like a one off story. I'm not sure why they chose to adapt him instead of Electro into the Spider Noir series weird, Probably because they wanted to go with the actor route, and in the comic books Megawat was an actor. Gotcha interesting set of characters from the comics. But let's go ahead and move now into our review of the Amazon Prime television series Spider Noir Season one. All Right, Spider nor Season one came out in May six on Amazon Prime and was show run by Orrin Uziel Think I'm pronouncing that right and Steve Lightfoot. It also starred Nicholas Cage and Brandan Gleeson.

11:24 The show was set in an alternate nineteen thirties New York City within Sony's Spider Man universe. The show follows private investigator Ben Riley, formerly a crime fighter known as the Spider. Several cases entwine him in the dealings of Silvermin, the city's notorious mob boss, and the emergence of new superpowered beings with ties to Ben's past. When the Spider Nor project was first announced, it seemed like a no brainer, especially when you have a star attached like Nicholas Cage, who, of course voiced the role of Spider Man more in the twenty eighteen animated film Spider Man into the Spider Verse. He was like such a standout character in that film.

12:04 They all were, really, and you could easily make a series based on Spider Ham and Penny Parker as like a children's cartoon and as an anime, respectively. But Film Nore is so unique and underutilized in this day and age, and so fascinating in its vision and tone that I remember thinking, like, Yes, make a Spider Man noir project first. Lean into that, because I think it's exactly what superhero fans need right now, especially to inject some interest in the superhero genre. Which at this point is largely perceived as wrote and uninspired. Now, the Spider Verse films are good. I would not say that Spiderman Noir was my favorite character out of them, so I wasn't really looking forward to this, even though I really like Detective Noir. But I enjoyed the show so much more than I thought I would. If I could describe it in one word, I think I would use charming for sure. Yeah, it has kind of like an old school charm to it. Absolutely.

12:56 I'm glad that you were surprised by how good it was in quality. I think I was too, actually, especially coming off of something like Supergirl, which felt so familiar to the point where it's like why even watch it? This was really unique and how much it took me back to like old black and white films and even like the Dick Tracy movie in particular. Yeah, I think that's a good comparison. Film Nore itself is not necessarily new to Marvel and DC. It's not like a genre so much as it is like a style. A lot of Batman projects are film nor I would say, right, like especially The Batman with Robert Pattinson, Batman, The Long Halloween was definitely film noir, so was like Batman Caped Crusader, the animated series. There have also been projects like Werewolf by Night. Logan was released digitally with a black and white version called Logan Noar, And there was like a film nore segment of Justice League War World that came out with Superman that was pretty good. Yeah, so I wouldn't say that like film nore is new to the superhero genre, but I don't think Marvel or DC project has ever leaned into it as much as the Spider Nors series. No, for sure, It's definitely the noorriest of all the noir. You know. I had the cures hero contrast lighting, the Dutch angles, the long shadows. It was a hard boiled detective story. It had the fe fatale, you know, all those tropes we're far enough now from, like sin City and the spirit for that style to feel novel again within comic book films, especially in the world of Spider Man. The show was released in color in addition to black and white. They called the color

14:27 version True Hue Full Color, which was like a take on Technicolor recolorization, and after watching the full show in authentic black and white. I tried to watch it in color for comparison's sake, but I just couldn't get into it. Like the colorization was stylish, but it took me out of the gritty world and made it a little bit too comic bookie. See. I actually liked that though, because at first I was going to be a diehard only black and white for the show, but curiosity got the best of me and I actually ended up watching a majority of the series in color. Now. When Spider Man Noir came on, that's when I switched to black and white, but otherwise I was watching Get in colored by the end. Interesting, Like I like watching film nor stories and black and white more because it kind of forces you to notice the details. It's like more intimate, it's more impressionistic than literal.

15:14 You aren't distracted by like all the pizazz. I think that really helps sell the tone and therefore helps sell the story. In black and white both worked surprisingly. I did not think that was going to be the case, but it totally did. And shout out to the cinematographers for being able to do that well. I mean, it did get nominated for an Emmy Award for Cinematography actually, the series got nominated for eleven Emmys. I mean that's a bit much. I don't think he needs that many. It's a great testament to the show's quality. For as much as the show leaned into film Nor, the series still feels modern and flashy in some ways. Like for all its strengths. As an example of Nor, I think it could have leaned even more into the style. I think it would have been cool to see them stick to practical effects, ditch the CGI, I ditch some of the Bathos comedy, rework the musical score to dramatic strings, and go like full Maltese Falcon or double indemnity with it.

16:09 I mean, if the show had more courage, they would have made it look like it was actually filmed like in the nineteen thirties or forties. This definitely was not, But you know, I still understand what it was going for. Yeah, I mean, like I understand that they want to appeal to modern audiences, but I prefer big, creative swings over broad appeal, and I think it would have been really cool to see something made in that style in these modern times. That said, I do command Spider and Nore for going as far as they did creatively. I think despite all the you know, superpower shenanigans, the showrunners and writers still produce something that is relatively grounded and focused on what matters most to a project like this, which is probably story and dialogue. The dialogue was on point, the story had enough turns to be interesting and complex, and the pacing kept everything driving steadily, which is probably the biggest advantage Spider Nore has over it's film or contemporaries.

17:02 I kind of buried the lead in this review, but really the show's biggest straw is Nicholas Cage. I think who's given a role that he could really sink his teeth into here. The role kind of fits his inconsistent approach that often wavers between dead serious and so not serious. Like we've talked about him before in our review of Ghostwriter Spirit of Vengeance, and we said that, you know, like he has the capacity to convince you that he's the greatest actor of all time in films like Adaptation or match Stick Men Leaving Las Vegas, Mandy, but he also has the ability to convince you he's the worst actor of all time in movies like Vampire's Kiss or The Wicker man. We did say that regardless of your opinion of Nicholas Cage, he's always fun to watch, especially when you could tell he's having fun. And I'm convinced that he had a blast here. You know, he got to be clever, yet quirky past his prime, not fully human.

17:53 I really loved every minute of it. It was sad to see how much he's aged. That definitely came across in this series. That said, I totally agree with you that he had a blast doing this. From the voice alone, it was like a mixture between Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart for sure. Yeah. I think at first I thought that they cast him too old and that he wouldn't be believable as a crime fighter, but the script wisely leans into that. Like, this isn't a show necessarily to watch for the action per se. It does have a decent amount of it, but the show knew what it was doing and it did cool things like in the Spider Man Nora comics, as I mentioned earlier, Spidey wears his uncle Ben's World War One uniform, but in this show it was he who served in the war. Agent came up not only gives us the intrigue of like a down and out protagonist, but it also gives us like a new type of Spider Man to root for, one that's not kind of boyish, you know. I like seeing a Spider Man who's too old for this shit, who's grown cynical through all the tragedy that he's experienced, and yet still camp bring himself to stop caring. Oh, for sure, great take on the character. And honestly, that flashback episode where they went into his origin probably my favorite episode out of the whole season. I would agree, Yeah, I really liked his original story in this show. I want to talk about spoilers, I can't. I just want to say his show origin is awesome, probably better than the comic book. It is better than the comic book for sure. Other standouts in the cast beyond Cage, I think we're Brenton Gleeson as Silvermain. They kind of turned him into more of a Kingpin esque character, which is

19:24 different than the comic books. But Brndan Gleeson would make an awesome Kingpin. And you know what, I hated that. Initially I was like, oh, great, a kingpin, mob boss type villain. But as the show went on. Brenton Gleeson is just an awesome Irish mobster. He's like really good in the role. Yeah, he's kind of scary even I thought Lamar and Morris as Robbie Robertson was fantastic. The guy is so damn good. The more I see of him in other projects, like that SNL movie that came out Saturday Night, He's just really showing off his acting chops and a particular note, I really liked Lee John Lee as Cat Hardy. I thought she nailed it here as the femme fatale and entirely believable in Oliver line delivery.

20:05 Amazing singer. I thought she was just brilliant. Those musical numbers were great. I watched them twice. Yeah, and I was also surprised by how few cast members I knew of. They were all pretty much no names except for Brandon Gleeson, but they all held their own with Nicholas Cage's performance, which is not an easy task to do. No, No, I can't think of another TV series that Nicholas Cage is done. No, this is his first leading role in the TV series. Actually, you know what, he needs to do more of them because he's talented enough to just bring you back week after week. I completely agree overall, like I had such a good time with a show. I'm really glad that we are taking the time to review it, because I think there was a point where we thought we might skip it. I'm proud of the Emmy nominations that the show's received, including things like production Design, cinematography, original score, makeup, a lot of technical stuff, nothing for performances, but I think it's still well deserved. This sharply homage to classic film nor which includes the standout Nicholas Cage performance I think is the novel superhero project fans need right now. I'm giving the show four stars out of five a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which yees, is probably the same rating I would give it. It was fun to watch. It's definitely not like the Penguin caliber. No, but what can be really? Yeah, I think if the series leaned more into the more elements, like I said, and really produced it like they would in the nineteen thirties, I think it would be a four and a half, maybe even five star show. But as is, I truly

21:35 enjoyed it. Now. This was a spoiler free review. As our reviews are going forward. But Joseph, are there any spoilers you can reveal even out of context ones? Sure? In Spider Nor season one you can see a drunk Spidy dance in his underpants. Okay. In Spider Nor season one you can see a Spider Man lowercase no high again one of my favorite moments in the season. And in Spider Morar season one you can see Spider Man shoot sticky white stuff on his lady companion. I had to. I mean, but you could say that about any Spider Man movie, and that is why Spider Man films are all pure pornography in my opinion. Don't you mean Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Oh yeah, yes, it's yes. That does it for our review guys. Agri Nanke helped close us out.

22:27 Thanks for listening to Dynamic Duel. Visit the show's website at Dynamic Duel dot com and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Duel Podcast. Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the Dynamic podcast network, including Max Destruction, Sendo World, and Console Combat. So Comic Kind is coming up, DC is not going to be there. DC Studios, so since they suck. That sucks, and I'm wondering why. I wonder if it's because of the poor performance of Supergirl or what. I don't know. It's just really hard to be a DC fan right now. The Batman sequel is pushed at twenty twenty eight. The only thing we have to look forward to really is Lanterns, which I don't know. You have Clayface and Manute Tomorrow.

23:10 Oh yeah, well, man Tomorrow is until next year, though Clayface I am looking forward to, hopefully we get something good out of that From Comic Con. There's a lot of good animated stuff out right now, like x Yn ninety seven season two is out. I gotta watch that. And you have My Adventures with Superman the next season coming out, along with Batman Caped Crusader. That's true. More important than any of that, though, is Spider Man Brand New Day, which comes out in just a few weeks, and that will be our next review, looking forward to that. You know what I'm really looking forward to this year though, Dune three. Everyone needs to check out that trailer. Definitely see it opening Day. Fuck Avengers Doomsday, Dune three. It's too bad that Avengers Doomsday is gonna beat the shit out of Doune three. Like I saw the Dune three trailer fucking sucked. I don't know what you're talking about.

23:57 Avengers is just gonna crush it. I suspect actually that Doing three is actually going to move its release date to avoid being crushed, because Avengers is going to generate way more hype at this comic con than Dune is, and then Warner Brothers are going to realize, oh shit, we're fucking up here. For those of you who may not know, the two films are being released on the same day this December Dune three. If you were a true Dune three fan, you would want it to move too. Oh I'm not scared. You think I'm scared of you. You think I'm scared of Marvel. Fuck Marvel Orfle could go fuck itself. Notice how don three is not a DC movie because like, you have nothing going for DC right now, And that's why you have to talk about Dune because you have nothing else to talk about. Yeah, that's what I thought. Why do you have to hurt my feelings? It hurts. Thanks so much guys for listening, and we'll talk to you in a few weeks. I pump it away true believers, Spider Noir.

24:50 Spider Noir dances around in his Spider draws. I think that was supposed to rhyme, but I suck.