Down these mean streets a lonely spider must swing, who is not himself mean. But is, on occasion, Nicolas Cage. Alasdair Stuart hit the pavement to get the skinny on the upcoming TV show’s new trailer.

0.04 – ‘Every mystery forms a complex web…’

I am always here for series that hit the ground running and saying this line in the first three seconds of the trailer feels a lot like webbing your colours to the mast.

0.17 – ‘Universe tends to disorder.’

The incredible Brendon Gleeson, with his natural accent turned all the way up. He’s playing Silvermane here, an infamous maggia (the Marvel version of the Mafia) crimelord. In the comics he’s a century old mafia patriarch in a robotic body which may be in the future but right now Gleeson doing his best intimidating bear routine will do just fine.

0.19 – JIM?!

That looks a lot like Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch. The timeline would track as he was built to help win the second world war and became a superhero once that was done. Interestingly, that actor, Richard Robicheaux, is credited as playing someone called Walters. William Walters was a Daily Bugle intern who became a good friend of Peter Parker and this may be the same character.

0.23 – MONSTERS ON THE LOOSE

I love an ‘EXTRA! EXTRA!’ montage. The second headline says JEALOUSY TO BLAME, WOMAN SAYS by the way. And that seems to be Flint Marko and someone we don’t get a clear look at elsewhere.

0.32 – ‘All you can do is fight to keep the chaos from your door.’

The thing a lot of people forget about noir is it’s often, deliberately, very funny. This line being delivered over Cat Hardy arriving at the door suggests the showrunners know exactly what level of humour to hit.

0.38 – Jack Huston

Jack Huston! Beloved in these parts for a pivotal turn in Outlander among other things!

0.44 – Flint Marko

And he’s clearly playing the Sandman, Flint Marko. He’s credited as such and this weighty sandbag of a punch, and the moves we see him pull off later, confirm it.

0.49 – Ben falling

Ben falls a very, very long way and then, pivotally, chooses to live. And you get the impression he’s annoyed about that.

1.10 – Thick webbing

Also look at his webbing. We can see it’s organic (I think?) but it’s very thick, almost like cables.

1.17 – Robbie Robertson

Lamorne Morris! The funniest part of the New Girl cast and a standout in superb SNL movie Saturday Night. He’s playing crusading journalist Robbie Robertson here.

1.19 – JIM HAMMOND?!

Another look at what really does seem to be the Human Torch.

1.22 – Sandman cuts loose

This is a nicely handled beat, with Flint swatting a car and the Spider on it.

1.27 – ‘May the best man LIVE.’

This pleasingly gnarly fight includes Andrew Caldwell as Megawatt, who appears to be tag teaming with Flint here. Caldwell’s been a prolific character actor for a while, best known in these parts for his recurring role in iZombie and his turn in superb faux documentary, American Vandal.

One other note: Caldwell is one of several principle cast members who are people of size. By which I mean folks who are noticeably larger than the usual Hollywood standard. This ROCKS, I am (as a similarly large human) so here for it and I’m really happy a show this high profile is doing this.

1.40 – Bitten by Man-Spider

Now we know when Ben got his abilities, judging by the uniform he’s wearing. I’m guessing Nazi, or possibly Hydra, evil science which leads to the creation of Man-Spider, the monstrous figure we see attacking him.

1.46 – Cat Hardy Falls

Spider-Man has a long, bad history with women falling off tall buildings. What has me less worried here is that seems to be Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy.

Felicia Hardy, long term Spider-Man character, is a cheerful, femme fatale cat burglar…

1.48 – Lizard?

The incredible Abraham Popoola, who you’ve seen in everything from Ballerina and The Rig to Slow Horses, is in seven episodes of this show and no one’s saying who he’s playing. The big guy tearing through Ben’s webs looks a lot like him and judging by the markings on his face he may be playing a version of Spider-Man villain The Lizard.

1.56 – Drunken master vibes

Ben getting his ass kicked and holding off a room full of guys in the most ragged way possible is a lovely way to embrace the aesthetic of the character, the genre and the actor voicing him. Nicely done.

 

Spider-Noir arrives, in both black and white and colour, on MGM+ in the US and Amazon Prime everywhere else on May 25th.

Posted on 0 By PS News Posted in News Tagged #
PS's avatar

PS

Leave a comment