‘Spider-Noir’ swings back in 2026, and Nicolas Cage’s role may hint at a Marvel variant fans haven’t seen
Since Sony announced its 'Spider-Noir' series, MCU fans have been longing to know which Marvel variant Nicolas Cage's character would portray. The wait is finally over. A new poster unveiled at Brazil's Comic-Con Experience (via Omelete/Instagram) confirms that Cage will play Ben Reilly in the upcoming series, expected to debut on Amazon Prime Video in 2026. Cage's character Spider-Man Noir was first introduced to the viewers in 2018's 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'.
The poster shared by Omelette provides a perfect glimpse of the 'Spider-Man' hero, flaunting his character's noir-style detective office. The signage outside the door reads 'B. Reilly, Private Investigator', confirming Cage's character in the highly anticipated series. This makes things pretty interesting for fans as Cage’s character, Spider-Noir, which featured in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse', was named Peter Parker, the most popular variant in the 'Spider-Man' universe. The reveal has led fans to speculate that there is a slight possibility of Ben Reilly being an alias.
In the Marvel Comics, Reilly is a genetically identical clone of Peter Parker, made by the Jackal during the Clone Saga storyline from the 1990s. Ultimately, Reilly became the Scarlet Spider, a character that also appeared in 'Across the Spider-Verse'; the role was played by Andy Samberg, as per The Direct. For the unversed, Prime Video's 'Spider-Noir' revolves around an aging private investigator and superhero in 1930s New York City who struggles to come to terms with his past. Along with Cage, the series also stars Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, Li Jun Li, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Karen Rodriguez in pivotal roles.
As soon as the official 'Spider-Noir' poster was released, fans expressed their excitement in the comments section of the Instagram post. One social media user wrote, "So excited for this." A second user penned, "I don't mind the name change. This is clearly a copyright thing, and Ben Reilly is a nice workaround. Also, you can easily explain this as it being another universe, and anyways, he might be called Ben Reilly, but for all intents and purposes, he's Noir's Peter Parker, so not a big deal." A third netizen commented, "People, I looked on the internet and discovered that it's not Peter Parker, it's Peter Benjamin Parker. So, for my knowledge, they can use it because it's a separate character from Sony's Spider."
