The first trailer for the Spider-Noir TV series sneakily hides a horror twist that most viewers missed, and it seems like Nicolas Cage‘s Web-Slinger is in for a rough time.
Prime Video’s Spider-Noir series is a spin-off from the Spider-Verse movies, but it’s moving from the animated multiverse into a live-action, 1930s-era New York where Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage) is a private detective with spidery powers.
While the streamer has been keeping Spider-Noir under wraps for some time, we now know that the story revolves around Reilly investigating why someone keeps attempting to assassinate gangster Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson).
Now, the first trailer for the show has given fans a full look at what to expect from the ambitious series, but many missed the hidden horror twist in the footage that proves things are about to get very, very weird in the live-action Spider-Man show.
Spider-Noir is going to have a body-horror element to Ben Reilly’s story
The trailer focused on establishing the 1930s-setting for the show, but it also revealed that Spider-Noir will have a body-horror element to Ben Reilly’s story. He narrates the trailer, saying: “Tics, thoughts, impulses… I manage to suppress them, most of the time.”
In one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it frame, the trailer clearly shows Cage’s hero mid-transformation into a Spider hybrid, complete with extra eyes and even extra legs… It looks like something right out of The Fly, The Thing, or even Slither.
If this is definitely Man-Spider and not something like the Spider-God Anansi, then it will mark the first time he’s been introduced in live action. However, it’s not a new concept to the Spider-Man mythology, and Peter Parker has become the Man-Spider on a few occasions.
Typically, Man-Spider (or variations of the idea) have occurred in comics and animated TV shows when the hero is struggling with balancing his two identities, or if he gets mutated by a villain. Most fans tend to think of the second season of the 1990s animated series, titled “Neogenic Nightmare.”
During the storyline, Peter’s powers start failing him and then he grows four extra limbs. His mutation accelerates and he becomes the Man-Spider. Ultimately, he’s saved by the Punisher and Kraven the Hunter, before Dr. Curt Connors manages to cure the Web-Head.
Just days before the trailer was released, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller told Esquire that Cage had a unique approach to the role, saying: “His take on it was like, ‘I’m a spider trying to cosplay as a human.’ He’s code-switching. Inside his body, he feels like an animal.” Well, you can’t get more animal than this.
While it would be easy for Prime Video to just do Spider-Noir as a simple 1930s detective story with Reilly moonlighting as a hero on the side, it’s clear that the series is trying to approach the character from a much darker angle.
Spider-Man villains also get horrific scenes in Spider-Noir
Reilly isn’t the only one dealing with some kind of transformation. One of the people attacking Silvermane appears to be able to emit fire from his body, which is most likely the villain Molten Man.
Another mysterious shot shows an unknown person’s hand bristling with electricity, implying that a 1930s Electro is on the way.
Finally, we get a brief look at Jack Huston as Flint Marko, who fans will better know as Sandman, and he’s shown with sand already coming out of his face. So Spider-Noir is definitely leaning into the creepier side of the Spider-Man mythos.
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