Spider-Man has a long and fruitful history in movies and TV, but his newly announced TV show will finally explore my favorite side of the character.

I’ve been watching Spider-Man movies and TV shows for 30 years, and Noir is finally about to give me the Marvel story I’ve been patiently waiting for. There’s little doubt that, as far as movies and TV shows go, Spider-Man fans have been incredibly spoiled. While a few other heroes – namely Batman, Superman, and the X-Men – have enjoyed equally prolific adaptations over the decades, none have been as consistently well-done as Marvel’s iconic wallcrawler. Except for a few significantly older Spider-Man projects, I genuinely enjoy watching and rewatching all of Peter Parker’s movies and TV shows.

However, going all the way back past the iconic Spider-Man: The Animated Series in to The Amazing Spider-Man (1977), Marvel media has largely focused on one specific version of the Webhead. With only a few exceptions, Spider-Man has been consistently stuck in his high school and college years. As such, I’m elated that the upcoming Nicolas Cage-led Noir, a live-action TV series about Spider-Man Noir, will explore a veteran, adult Spider-Man in depth when it comes to Prime Video and MGM+ at a hitherto undisclosed date.

Noir Will Focus On An Older Spider-Man (With A Twist)

The confirmation that Cage will be putting on the Spider-Man Noir mask in live-action following his time voicing the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (and, presumably, the upcoming Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse) was immediately exciting for me because it’s just so different than what’s been being done with the character in other media portrayals. Cage is a veteran actor whose animated and unique style of line delivery and full-body acting is perfect for Noir, which will follow the hero in his 1930s version of New York City. More than that, though, I’m excited to see Spider-Man as a full-fledged adult.

While plot specifics remain largely under wraps, an initial synopsis describes this Spider-Man as “aging and down on his luck … forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero.” High school and college-aged Peter Parkers are great, but a Spider-Man at the end of his career opens the door for some fresh and exciting stories I’ve been waiting to see adapted. However, the synopsis is notably absent of the name “Peter Parker.” Regardless, even with a change to who’s behind the mask, it’s time for an older Spider-Man to shine.

Noir ‘s official press release describes the series as part of Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters, which is the older name for the SSU franchise containing Venom and its sequel, Morbius , and Madame Web . However, given it’s set almost a century before the other projects in the franchise, it’s unlikely there will be any crossover.

Spider-Man Movies & TV Shows Almost Exclusively Feature Young Peter

Though Spider-Man has spent plenty of his time in Marvel Comics as a full-grown adult, he’s been perpetually stuck in his younger years on the big and small screens. Every live-action Spider-Man so far has portrayed a version of the character in his teens or early 20s, even if the actors to play them are markedly older. The first live-action Peter Parker was Nicholas Hammond in 1977’s The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel projects in which Parker is in college (Hammond was 26 or 27 when the project was released).

From there, Tobey Maguire’s trilogy saw the character start out in high school and end somewhere around 22, Garfield’s Peter in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel graduates high school in the second film, and Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man has just finished high school in his most recent movie. On the animated side, the most notable versions of the character are Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse movies (high school) and Peter from Spider-Man: The Animated Series (college). While each adaptation is great, they haven’t been able to tell the stories of a more experienced Spider-Man that I can’t wait to see.

Spider-Man: No Way Home and the two Spider-Verse movies do feature older Peter Parkers, but each has a younger Spider-Man as the narrative lead.

Why Young Spider-Man Is So Common

Despite being ready to move away from student Peter Parker, I do totally get why that interpretation of the character is so popular. Simply put, a young Peter gives Marvel/Disney a popular character who’s more directly marketable and relatable to younger viewers. Moreover, while other younger heroes like Kate Bishop and Kamala Khan are gaining popularity due to their wonderful recent adaptations, a younger Peter makes sense in the MCU to differentiate him from the rest of the Avengers.

What Spider-Man Stories I Most Want To See Noir Tackle

Noir is incredibly interesting to me because it opens the door to two different avenues of storytelling that just haven’t been given any or enough focus in Spider-Man’s live-action history. On one hand, there are decades of stories featuring an adult Peter Parker from Marvel Comics to mine, and Spider-Man Noir also has some uniquely exciting villains and narratives that could make for great TV. A merging of the two seems wonderful.

Even if Noir doesn’t technically feature Peter Parker (which is yet to be officially confirmed or denied), the description that Noir is down on his luck seems to imply he probably doesn’t have a happy, healthy home life. Toils with MJ or Gwen are nothing new for Spider-Man projects, but putting Noir on the backend of a relationship instead of the front could be interesting. Moreover, seeing him eventually find long-term happiness with his partner of choice is something no Spider-Man has really enjoyed so far. I also find the potential of a Spider-Man who still feels that his power gives responsibility but his aging body stops him from always enacting it to be wildly compelling.

Then, there are Noir-specific stories. One of the character’s first is his conflict with his universe’s Norman Osborn, who, in this iteration, is a circus attraction due to his deformed, goblin-like skin. Osborn makes a bid to control NYC’s underground criminal activity and, in the process, is responsible for Uncle Ben’s death. This unique take on Osborn seems like a perfect fit for long-form storytelling as Noir could spend equal time with detective work as superheroics. Whatever the Noir‘s story ends up being, I’m just happy that I’ll finally get the chance to see the aged Spider-Man I’ve been waiting for. Hopefully more details will be revealed soon.