Critics: Nicolas Cage Just Delivered One of the Best Performances of His Career, in a Marvel Show

Nicolas Cage has been acting for more than four decades, played Ghost Rider, and came famously close to being cast as Superman. But according to early reviews, the role he was genuinely born to play may have arrived this week.

Spider-Noir, the new Prime Video series, drops all eight episodes on Wednesday, May 27. Critics who’ve seen it are calling it one of the most distinctive entries in the superhero genre in years, and Cage’s performance at the center of it is earning some of the best notices of his long career.

The show holds a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews, with a 71 at Metacritic. The Wrap called it the year’s top TV treat so far, praising Cage’s performance as so detailed and specific that the show rewards multiple viewings. The Cosmic Circus declared that Cage gives one of the best performances of his career. SlashFilm called it one of the most exciting and creatively fertile superhero works of the last couple of years. Even Variety, which had reservations about the show’s pacing, acknowledged that Cage’s presence is difficult to take your eyes off.

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The series is set in 1930s New York and follows Ben Reilly, a retired private investigator who once prowled the city as a costumed hero known as The Spider. He’s been out of the game, scarred by a personal tragedy, when a dangerous new case pulls him back in. The villains include pulp-fiction versions of classic Spider-Man rogues: the Sandman, Tombstone, and a lesser-known adversary named Megawatt. Lamorne Morris plays journalist Robbie Robertson, and Brendan Gleeson appears as crime boss Silvermane. The show is produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the same team behind the Spider-Verse films) alongside Amy Pascal and Sony Pictures Television.

One of the more unusual angles is the viewing format. Prime Video is releasing Spider-Noirin two versions simultaneously: ‘Authentic Black & White’ and ‘True-Hue Full Color’, a first for any Marvel production. Critics who’ve seen both say the black-and-white version is the intended experience, and the one worth starting with.

Cage has described the character as ’70 percent Humphrey Bogart, and 30 percent Bugs Bunny.’ For anyone who follows his career closely, that ratio makes perfect sense. This is Cage at his most committed and unhinged, in a show that seems designed specifically to let him operate at that frequency.

Spider-Noir premieres on MGM+ on May 25 and drops all eight episodes on Prime Video on Wednesday, May 27.

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