Spider-Man Noir has a very different origin story than the Spidey you know

As Spider-Man’s cinematic future remains a mystery, there is a highly anticipated version of the character addressing the television. That would be Spider-Man Noir. The fan-favorite 1930s-inspired hero. from Earth 90214, and will be played by the only Nicolas Cage in live action. Fans have begun to get a glimpse of what he’ll look like, and if you’re not familiar with the character, there are several major differences. between Spider-Man Noir and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man from the main universe, including their respective origins.

While the main Spider-Man universe is the current home, Spider-Man Noir is set in the midst of the Great Depression and takes place in 1930s New York City. This Peter Parker is also raised by his aunt. May and her Uncle Ben, and also loses her Uncle Ben in a tragic way, although what led to this and how it happened differ drastically.

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In this version of events, Peter’s Uncle Ben is gruesomely murdered by The Goblin (aka Norman Osborne) in a form of retaliation for organizing a strike at the Goblin’s businesses. Although there is no proof, Peter knows that it was Goblin who killed Uncle Ben and sets out to find out how to prove it. That leads to an encounter in which they are saved by Ben Urich of the Daily Bugle, who takes Peter as his protégé.

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This sets the stage for Peter to gain his powers, but again, things have a much darker tone than in the main universe. In this story, Peter discovers that Ben is a drug addict after finding him passed out, which is how he intercepts a lead on one of Goblin’s shipments. Peter heads to the dock and thanks to a fallen Spider Idol, a large number of spiders are released and one of them bites Peter.

Of course, it turns out that this is no ordinary Spider, and the divine entity grants Peter the powers of a spider we all know. He has improved strength, speed, reflexes and his trademark spider sense, and can also create webs with his wrists. This leads Peter to return to Ben and confront him, discovering that Osborn blackmailed him to feed his drug addiction.

After this encounter, Peter creates his Spider-Man costume, based on Uncle Ben’s aviator uniform, and is determined to defeat the Goblin. Unfortunately, he no longer has Urich to count on, as Urich is dead when he finds him next, and he later ends up involved in Jonah Jameson’s death, but we learn that there is much more to the story than initially meets the eye.

That’s the origin of Spider-Man Noir, and you can see how it retains the core elements of Spider-Man while also making big changes in a grittier tone. We’ll have to see what the live-action movie does with the material, but it’s easily one of the most exciting Spider projects on the horizon.

Are you excited for Spider-Man Noir? You can talk to me about all things Marvel and comics on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!