Exclusive: Nic Cage Is Spider-Man

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For Spider-Noir, Nic Cage Channeled Humphrey Bogart (and Bugs Bunny)

Being a fly on the wall should come naturally to your average private-eye. But being a literal wall-crawler? That's something new. This is what distinguishes Nicolas Cage's Spider-Noir hero from the other iconic gumshoes who populate our pop culture—but he's also starkly different from any other Spider-Man who has swung across our paths.

Cage makes his TV debut in the series, which Prime Video will stream later this spring. He originally voiced the alt-universe anti-hero in 2018's Into the Spider-Verse, but even that version of the gravel-voiced anti-hero is different from the one in the new show. Cage is playing Ben Reilly this time, not Peter Parker. In Marvel comics lore, Ben was a genetic clone of Parker's; in Spider-Noir, Cage performed Ben more like a clone of Humphrey Bogart.

"For me, this character was 70 percent Bogart, and 30 percent Bugs Bunny," Cage tells Esquire in this first of two separate Spider-Noir first looks. "I was basically Mel Blanc doing Bogart, with that sarcastic sense of humor. But it's a hundred percent me."

Below you will see an array of new images from the series, accompanied by our exclusive chat with the star. Over at this full-color first look at the series, you can see how the images look in their alternate form, since the streaming service will give viewers the option of seeing it either way. In that article, the creators explain how they reworked the Marvel Comics universe of Spider-Man as a streetwise Depression-era mystery.

Esquire speaks to co-showrunner Oren Uziel, as well as producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord, who oversaw the Spider-Verse movies and are best known for directing The Lego Movie. They revealed the surprising detail Cage shared with them about his Spider-Noir performance. "His take on it was like, 'I'm a spider trying to cosplay as a human,'" Lord says.

But first up, Cage himself gets to have his say about mimicking film noir, starring in his first-ever TV show, and the way the show feels different when seen in color vs. black and white.

Nicolas Cage in Spider-Noir / photo by: Amazon Prime Video

Mailbag!

Nowadays, you can't even watch the Super Bowl halftime show without hearing the President rant on social media about how nothing fun represents real America anymore. Over 100 million viewers and counting watched Bad Bunny's halftime show, while a much smaller contingent tuned in to Turning Point USA's "All-American" halftime show instead.

I loved Bad Bunny's performance, despite Trump's mad ramblings, but what did you make of all this halftime show hubbub? Let me know how the two shows affected your Super Bowl this year (if at all!) by writing me a note at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com.

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The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk

Jason Alexander told Eric Francisco how Dunkin' pulled off its '90s-charged Super Bowl commercial. "God bless them, they got me back to my thirties," the Seinfeld legend says about the ad's de-aging process. Read the interview here.

Read an excerpt from Stephen King and the late Peter Straub's new novel, Other Worlds Than These. The long-awaited Talisman trilogy-capper is now complete and set for release this October. You can read the first exclusive except here.

Taxi Driver is 50 years old. Can you believe it? Anthony Breznican paid tribute to the Martin Scorsese-directed classic that polarized critics by returning to their initial reviews of the film. Read about the anniversary here.

Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl LX halftime show / photo by: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers

The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week

Winner: Everyone Invited to Bad Bunny's La Casita

Bad Bunny's "little house," which has been a celebrity fixture of the Spanish-language singer's tour all year, featured A-list Latin talent at this year's Super Bowl. I spotted actors Pedro Pascal and Jessica Alba, rappers Cardi B, Karol G, and Young Miko, and MLB player Ronald Acuña Jr. You're all winners this week! Props for vibing better than Austin Butler when he visited La Casita.

Loser: Jake Paul

The former Youtuber and "professional" boxer called Bad Bunny "a fake American citizen" on social media. Many critics, including Paul's brother, Logan, chimed in to remind Jake that Puerto Rico is an American territory. Paul should know—he moved there in 2021.

Winner: Silly Olympics Terminology

I love when the Olympic figure skating commentators say things like, "I'm not sure if that was enough rotations. It's possible his twizzle got invalidated." Damn, don't you just hate it when your twizzle gets invalidated?

Loser: The AI Svedka Commercial

More Super Bowl commercials were made by AI than you thought this year, but one trainwreck of an ad was glaringly obvious. Yes, I'm talking about the Svedka commercial that featured creepy robots who drank so much vodka that they short circuited. According to The Verge, using AI didn't even save the company money or time. So, you're telling me that they wanted the commercial to sell the idea that their drink was harmful to consume?

Winner: Bryce Bennett

For a wholesome end to this week's Cliff-Hanger, watch this video of Team USA alpine skier Bryce Bennett breaking down in tears during his post-race interview. Though the three-time Olympian didn't earn a medal this time, he thanks his family for everything they've sacrificed to support him over the years. Milan-Cortina 2026 is Bennett's final Olympic showing. You can tell it still meant the world to him to compete.