I can’t remember for sure when I first had this idea. It’s been a while, years, for sure. And I’m sure I cannot claim to be the first and/or only fan to come up with this notion. DC Comics has taken this concept and run with it in multiple iterations of Batman stories. But that material has been relegated primarily to the print medium. My dream involves the big screen and, to the best of my knowledge, has yet to be realized.
What the hell am I talking about I hear you asking? It’s this. My dream Batman movie would be set in the late ’30s, early ’40s. Batman is still learning how to hone his skills as both a fighter and a detective. He has a few rudimentary gadgets, but not many. He does have a Batmobile but it’s basically an armored sedan with a Bat shield mounted on the front grill. There is NO Robin.
Bruce Wayne is working as a lone crime fighter in a city overflowing with criminal activity. His “Rogues Gallery” has yet to be fleshed out and in this version, he’s up against the insane Two-Face, as scarred and twisted former DA Harvey Dent, has gone completely round the bend and become a vicious serial killer. Batman has a tenuous relationship with newly appointed Gotham PD commissioner James Gordon. The cops can offer little in the way of support for this masked vigilante who stalks the mean streets of Gotham but he’s the only hope his beloved city has.
Oh, and the entire production is shot in beautiful, glorious black and white. The entire movie should be drenched in film noir aesthetics, with all of the noir tropes brought to vivid life on the big screen. Think BATMAN: YEAR ONE as a period piece in black and white.
Frank Miller’s dreadful film version of Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT used black and white (and red) but the film was a disaster. The movie versions of Miller’s SIN CITY (both of which are great by the way) came closer to this vision but to date, there hasn’t been a true film noir, black and white BATMAN movie.
All of which leads to the debut of SPIDER-NOIR on Amazon Prime yesterday. I watched the first episode and thoroughly loved it. It’s an adaptation of stories published by Marvel Comics featuring an alternate universe version of Spider-Man whose adventures take place in the 1930s.
There’s no Peter Parker here. Instead, Nicolas Cage stars as Ben Reilly (nice nod to the comics), a private detective who fought crime in the past as “The Spider.” Note: this is NOT the actual Spider pulp hero whose exploits were published in the pulp magazines of the ’30s. That Spider was one Richard Wentworth who fought the most over the top, insane villains ever seen in the pulps. Wentworth would don a cape, a slouch hat, a fright wig, false fangs and a pair of .45 automatics to do battle with the forces of evil. The pulp Spider was made into a serial back in the day and the crimefighter had his own comic book series published by Dynamite several years ago.
Cage’s Spider appears to have had organic spider powers that he used in his war on crime. But his powers couldn’t save his girlfriend from a watery death, a devastating experience that caused him to abandon his Spider persona and become a private detective. But events in the first episode strongly suggest that Cage will have to once again turn to his powers to battle the bad guys menacing the city.
The jowly Cage constantly sounds like he needs to clear his throat and overall, he channels his inner Bob Dole as the world-weary detective. He’s up against mob boss Silvermane (from the comics). Flint Marko (the Sandman), another character from the comics, sees his powers suddenly manifest with no explanation.
Ben Reilly has a friend in Robbie, a freelance journalist (Robbie Robertson was a Daily Bugle editor in the comics) and the femme fatale is one Kat Hardy (Felicia Hardy was the “Cat” in the comics). There’s also a villain who can turn his entire body into flames (shades of the Human Torch). But none of these weird powers are explained in the first episode but I’m sure things will be filled in as the series goes along.
Amazon gives its’ viewers a choice of viewing experience. You can watch it in either color or black and white. I pity the fool who opts for the color version as this material should only be seen in black and white. After all, “NOIR” is part of the title.
The first episode was solid, introducing the players and foreshadowing things to come. It’s clear that super powered characters (good and bad) will play a major part in the story as it unfolds and I’m definitely going to go along for the ride.
It’s not a black and white BATMAN movie but it’s pretty damn close to what I always thought one should look like. I’ll gladly take a black and white, period piece Spider-Man movie any day of the week.
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