The demise of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe was greatly exaggerated. The Spider-Man Noir live-action series is still in the works, with The Punisher showrunner Steve Lightfoot now on board.
As reported by Variety, Lightfoot joins the Amazon series as co-showrunner alongside Oren Uziel, who’s acting as a writer, co-showrunner, and executive producer. Uziel is developing the series with Into the Spider-Verse architects Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but that doesn’t mean that the character the show will focus on will be Nicolas Cage’s.
As Variety explains, “The untitled series will follow an older, grizzled superhero in 1930s New York City. An individual with knowledge of the project says that the show will be set in its own universe and the main character will not be Peter Parker.” Of course, Cage’s version of the character, which played a major role in Into the Spider-Verse and appeared briefly in Across the Spider-Verse, is a variant of Peter Parker, meaning Uziel and Co. are taking their series in another direction.
Related: Is Madame Web a Spider-Man Villain?
And despite seemingly not being asked back for the live-action series, Cage has had nothing but good things to say about his Spider-Man. “You’d have to ask Sony. I don’t know what’s going on with that,” Cage said when asked about not returning to voice Noir in Across the Spider-Verse. “No one’s spoken to me about that. Ask them. I don’t know. I really don’t. I wish they would. I love Spider-Man Noir, too. I think that’s a great character. Spider-Man’s the coolest superhero. And then you combine that with [James] Cagney and [Humphrey] Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, come on, it’s a great character.”
Sony has taken a lot of heat for its live-action Spider-Man movies, but the move to streaming could help rehabilitate the studio’s image. Amazon is also working on a live-action Silk series, giving Sony two chances to expand its universe on the small screen.
