Spider-Man is coming back in a major way in 2026 with multiple versions of the character appearing in live-action, and one of them is set to start a new era for the hero before the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s next movie. 2026 is a major year for the Marvel Studios franchise, as two of the biggest MCU movies of all time will be released.
Those are Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. While the latter is rumored to include Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, and it would make sense for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to at the very least make a cameo appearance, the former is all about the MCU’s Spider-Man. Peter will be joined in Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s cast by Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, and, reportedly, Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink.
As such, this is an exciting year to be a Spider-Man fan, with the next MCU Spider-Man movie being an action-packed adventure that explores what Peter has been doing in the years since the world forgot who he was due to Doctor Strange’s spell. However, it is not the only Spider-Man project among the upcoming Marvel releases. In fact, the next live-action Spider-Man release does not even come from the MCU.
Spider-Noir will debut on May 25 on MGM+ in the United States before all of its 8 episodes drop on Prime Video on May 27. The live-action Spider-Man series is centered on Nicolas Cage’s Ben Reilly, aka Spider-Man Noir. After Cage voiced the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he will play a different iteration in live-action, and it features a major franchise change.
Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man Has Unique Webs In His Live-Action Debut
At CCXP Mexico 2026, where ScreenRant was in attendance, a new Spider-Noir trailer was released, confirming that Cage’s version of the Marvel hero will have black webs. The upcoming Prime Video series can be streamed in black and white or in true-hue full color. In the latter version of the new Spider-Noir trailer, The Spider can be seen webbing up two mob enforcers, with black webs being shot at the henchmen.
This marks the start of an era for live-action Spider-Man releases. Neither the old Spider-Man TV shows nor the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland movies employed black webs. Even when Maguire’s Spider-Man was overtaken by the symbiote in Spider-Man 3, his webs were still white. As such, Cage’s Spider-Noir is doing something that was never explored before in live-action Spider-Man releases.
Spider-Noir Is The Perfect Spider-Man Release To Break Live-Action Patterns
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If there was one live-action Spider-Man to break rules and use black webs, then it sure would be Cage’s. After all, the upcoming Spider-Man series on Prime Video is the perfect show to play with core Spider-Man concepts and elements, given how it is not set in the MCU or a major cinematic franchise, nor is its version of Spider-Man the classic Peter Parker take on the hero.
In fact, despite how Spider-Man Noir is a multiverse variant of Peter Parker in the comics, Prime Video’s Spider-Noir decided to change that and make Cage’s live-action Marvel hero Ben Reilly instead. So, the show is already making the moves to distance itself from classic Spider-Man fare. There has also not been any live-action Spider-Man TV show in ages, so the project emerges as the ideal one to experiment and get weird with, especially with Cage as the lead.
Holland still has many years of playing the traditional take on Spider-Man in his future, and audiences will even get to see the classic Peter Parker this July in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Therefore, Spider-Noir using black webs, replacing Peter with Ben, taking place in the 1930s, reimagining classic Spider-Man villains like Black Cat and Sandman, and more, is fitting. It only makes Spider-Noir more visually and conceptually interesting.