Spider-Noir: A Snappy, Superhero Crime Mystery

A Spider-Man noir story where the mask feels heavier than the powers hits different, and Spider Noir leans into that weight. We dig into Ben Riley as an older, down-on-his-luck private investigator working a case that starts small and spirals into metahumans, mob politics, and a city controlled from the shadows. Along the way, we talk about why the dialogue is the secret weapon: it is sharp, catty, and confident, giving the series that classic crime noir snap without making the characters feel like cartoons.

Tinara joins me to break down the characters who make the show click, especially Janet as the assistant who is really the partner, and Robbie Robertson as the friend who keeps pushing Ben back toward being Spider Noir. We also get into our hottest take: Kat Hardy, the femme fatale nightclub singer, might be the real villain because her choices and betrayals drive the chaos more than any one boss fight. If you love Spider-Man Noir, Black Cat energy, and morally messy noir romance, this conversation is for you.

We also compare the black-and-white presentation against the full color version, including how monochrome can change your read of time, lighting, and even costume details. Add in the big bad energy of Silvermane, the body-horror edge of the origin story, the prohibition-era backdrop, and a surprisingly deep soundtrack with musical numbers, and it’s no surprise we both land at a 9/10.

Subscribe for more nerdy reviews, share this with a friend who loves noir superhero stories, and leave a rating and review. What would you score Spider Noir out of 10?

Transcript

Welcome Back And Why Now

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What up, gang? JB Antonar here, and the Zone Podcast is back at it again with another review. Today's topic is Spider Noir. And I'm gonna be honest with you, it's one of those reviews where dang, like you would think you would have reviewed this by now, but life happens, and not gonna lie, I was trying to do it where I wanted to watch it in black and white first, which I did, but I didn't get around to watching it in color because a lot of things going on, like reviews, personal life stuff, uh people having uh schedule conflicts, so it's all good, but we're here now. Now that I watched it in black and white and color, let's go ahead and talk about this journey.

Premise And Noir Dialogue Vibes

SPEAKER_00 0:50

So, Tonara, I am glad that you are joining me for this one. So let's go ahead and zone in on it. So the premise is we got Ben Riley, who's this older, grizzled, aging, down on his luck, PI. He's like a version of Spider-Man uh in the 1930s. And what I like about him is that, yeah, like he is down in his luck for the most part. But what I like about him and a lot of these characters, honestly, is the dialogue. I like how it was like snappy and catty and like it's almost like everybody was like zinging at each other. And I I was like really digging it because it was like nobody felt like an idiot. Well, except for Silver Mains, two goons. Uh I'm trying to think of what their name was, uh Pudge and something else. Uh I I got something pulled up. So it was Perry and Pudge. Okay, okay. Uh, those two were like the bumbling idiot duo, of course. But everybody else, it just felt like it felt like there was like some charm and charisma with what they're saying. Like, you know, let's go ahead and talk about the characters a little bit more. Uh, but before we get into the other characters, uh, Tenara, you got any notes or comments on Ben O'Reilly as a character?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Um, it was nice to sort of see him, you know, do like the detective work and whatnot, and um or the the PI work, whatever, basically detective work as well. Like, um, and I liked his I really liked his secretary. She was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah. And it's like, and I I did only watch the black and white. I have not watched the color yet. Um, but um, I I liked it felt like an old like mobster film in some in some ways. Um, just with like, I mean, you said like like you said, it's in the 1930s and whatnot, and it's like, you know, wearing like that style of clothing and stuff, and just it was yeah, it was I I liked it a lot. It was it was fun. Definitely was thrown for a loop with the uh his his origin story there. Um but um but yeah, no, that it was it was

Season Two Hopes And Spider Verse Links

SPEAKER_01 3:25

it was a good series. I'm I'm I'm assuming they're going to boot do a season two, hopefully. Do we have Word yet?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Not that I know of. I mean, it can. I mean, like I want to say the way they ended it, it wasn't like obvious that there is gonna be a season two, but at the same time, it was like a clean break to where I'm like, okay, if they wanted to, it really comes down to what's the conflict? Who is Ben Riley conflicting with this time? Because like yeah, hey, like he said, uh, there's always gonna be another Silvermane. So now that Silvermane is gone, who's gonna step in? Are we gonna get like a 1930s version of Kingpin or somebody? Like, are we gonna get like a 1930s version of the hand or you know?

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Uh yeah, like it did wrap up very nicely, but it would still be pretty cool to um, you know, to see more. And I I would like to see, you know, what was going on when he was called in for, you know, the into the spider-verse stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Uh oh, that's why, like, in the very beginning, where the first person uh he said, like, um, people keep asking me, uh, what universe are you from? And it's like a kind of a win to where, oh yeah, it's kind of linked to that verse, but yeah, not it not exactly, not directly, but it's like, I mean, you know, could be involved.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

I would like to see the like just before, and then you know, how he comes what what he does after he comes back from that whole thing. Like that would I think that would be a pretty cool thing for like season two. Yeah. Again, if they do it. But yeah, they they did they did wrap it up nicely. It was just always nice, you know, when you enjoy a show, it's like, oh, you know, I could I could see more.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Well, actually, really, I want to see if across the Spider-Verse will kind of wink back at uh Spider Noirs where it's like, oh yeah, like in a weird way, um, the Spider Noir that we see in the live action is the same one from the Spider-Verse movies. I'm like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yep.

Robbie Robertson As The Grounding Friend

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Okay. Okay, I like that one.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Now, second character that we got on the list, uh, we got Robbie Robertson. Uh, I don't really know if he's based on an actual character, like maybe based off um that one black guy at the Daily Google. I don't know if you've seen the 90s animated TV show, but like, well, better yet, the um black guy from the live action uh movies where, you know, Jameson is uh always hanging out with this one black guy that's like level headed and shit. And I'm thinking maybe, well, hold on. Uh there's a link, so let me check it out. Uh, I think it might be the same guy. Yep, it's the same guy. Uh he pretty much hangs around with um Jay Jonah Jameson as a close friend and confidant. So, like, yeah, that's the same guy. Okay, cool, cool, cool. I I I figure he had to be like someone because like you can't be like Ben Riley's best friend and also work at the Daily Bugle. Like, you you you gotta be somebody. You somebody um we know, like we should know. Okay, cool. But um, yeah, aside from that, you know, he's just a freelance journalist, Ben's friend, that kind of like with um Janet, he's one of those friends where it's like, hey man, like we love you, but holy shit, you are a fucking mess sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah, and he's the way he's constantly trying to get him to you know become Spider-Noir again, and Ben's like, no, fuck that. Until you know he has to.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

But yeah, it's like I'm like, what do you think um Ruby would say if she was allowed to give you talk about that? And and Ben's like, man, she's been dead for like five years. Get over it.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Like, who is it really that's not over it?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Yeah, like sound like you're the one who got hang up. But yeah, that's all I really had to say about Robbie. He was a cool character, like a um cool like partner in crime type character to for him for Ben of Balance. He was like uh Tony's roadie in a way.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah. Yeah.

Kat Hardy As Chaos Engine

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Now, this girl here, now, first of all, I want to say that I really hope that Lee June Lee gets more work because I think her performance was great. But Kat Hardy. Okay, first of all, obviously she's based off Pelicia Hardy, Black Cat, and uh Marvel Comic Universe, right? Uh, but here's my thing, hot take tonight. Would it be weird for me to say that I honestly believe that Kat Hardy is the real villain in this show?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah, she was just all over the fucking place. It's like, geez, Louise. Yeah, that was, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

She's a she's supposed to be like a Ben Fatale type character, nightclub singer, love interest to both uh Ben Riley and Flint Markle, uh, but also kind of cozying up to Silverman, uh, who she's plotting to kill. But also, I do like how I'm reading my notes, and uh uh she's like based on actresses like Anime Wong, Rita Hayward, Thorne Bacall, and Kim Bassinger. I'm like, okay, that's cool because you know, like singers and whatnot. Uh whatnot, okay, okay. I kind of like that. It's cool. Like, you know, yeah, old school actresses and I kind of cool. And I think, well, no, one of them's Asian, but uh the rest of them is like, you know, like you gotta have like that sharp-witted, Finn Fatale type girl. Um but what I was gonna say is that it's crazy how that one guy in the very beginning, um, Carmeny, I think it was his name. It was the guy that um brought Ben the job in the first place, where really it was supposed to start off as a simple job where just hey man, just cratch my girl, see what she's up to. I think she might be cheating on me. And then Ben and Jen was looking at him like, you got money, Mr. Carmody? Do you think Dong or something? Because like I don't get the attraction here.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah. Yeah, and then it's like, and then it's just like, oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

But uh hold on, hold on, wait a minute. But uh the crazy part is how, yes, he's the one who brought um the job to Ben, and he's the one that pretty much uh got the dominoes tumbling down all that shit in the first place. But ain't it funny how like ever since he got introduced and whatnot, just uh you know, just look into things, you don't see him anymore in this series. Like, it's almost like he was just set up to be a guy to introduce Kat Hardy to Ben, and then from there, it's like it just sounds like oh, she's like sleeping around with all these different men, uh, for whatever reason. Like, maybe it's like they have a genuine attraction. She has a genuine attraction to her, or maybe she's like wanting the power or the protection from being with a powerful man like Silvermane. Like, it was it just made it look, they made her look like um, she was like one of those cheating bitches that just um just playing the game, you know, like yeah. I just felt like she was like the real villain, especially when she sold out Ben to the doctor and whatnot. It's like, uh, if I tell you who the spider is, you're gonna help out Flint, right? I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we promise, we promise.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah, it's like, well, you know, she wanted to help out the man she loved and whatnot, but it's like, yeah, that was that was Jikes.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, like the way it was executed, it's like, you know, and then at the end of it all, she ends up walking away with Marco, and she would like to say, Okay, to be fair, in an alternate universe, I would have uh ran away with you, and then it's like that's really funny you say that because you know, in this Marvel multiverse, that could happen, so it could be a Marvel what if type situation, like what Kat Hardy went with Ben, yeah, yeah. But um, that's pretty much what I gotta say on Cat Hardy right now. But uh, you you got anything you want to add on?

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Um, not so much. Like I said, you know, it was just you know, I know she was just trying to, you know, help the man she loved, but just like, damn girl. You also claim that you love Ben, so the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah, like real messy, like real uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Uh like some infidel infidelity type shit, like real uh unfaithful, disloyal type shit, but you know, it is what it is. Like, it's one of those things where it's like, you know, beautiful woman, like it's almost like you gotta uh keep your guard up, especially around them. Yeah, yeah, not uh be that type of guy about it, but like it'd be like that sometimes. Like, hell, like I fell victim to that myself, where it's like um I would be feeling this girl that I think she was cute, but man, she had a whole lot of red flags. Yeah, uh it wasn't even like that at first, like it wasn't like she was like advertising the red flags. At first, she seemed real cool, but then it's almost like the more comfortable she got around me, the more she was like, Yeah, let me go ahead and tell you my red flags real quick.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And I was like, Yeah, well, that's how they get people is they hide the red flags until a lot of times till it's too late and they're already all you know entangled and whatnot, and it just makes it hard.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah, it's like, see, that's funny because we are this is based on the 1930s, right? Where there was a lot of I hate my wife, I hate my husband jokes in here. So it kind of feeds into that to where not exactly like uh oh, I'm leading you on, um, but I'm just hiding the red flags. But I feel like it's one of those things where you are attracted to this person, you get into it with this person, one thing leading to another, and then you're so invested by the time you see the red flags, it's kind of hard to get out of. And it's even worse in these times because unlike today, to where we can have like faultless divorces and whatnot, you can't just up and leave, like uh hell, like especially with the women to where I'm like, you you playing on up and leaving, like, man, you better be you better hope that man doesn't beat you half to death in the attempt to stop you from leaving.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

So, yeah, like I kind of get that to where you kind of don't see it at first, but then by the time we do, it's already too late, and it's even worse in these times. So crazy. Yep, yeah,

Janet Becomes The Real Partner

SPEAKER_00 15:44

all right. Let's talk about our girl Janet. Now, just tacking on to what you were pretty much saying, I like how she is that type of uh assistant, uh, secretary, and fellow investigator that helps out Ben. She can be somebody that Ben can lean on, but she's also hard on within reason, but has love for him. So it's like that little back and forth. I really like their back and forth more so than anybody else's, like with Robbie or Kat and whatnot. It is what it is, but I feel like they're the real dynamic duo right there. And he and it kind of shows when at the end it goes from Riley private investigation to Riley and Root um private investigations. So now she's like an equal partner. So I'm like, yeah, that makes sense because in reality, like she was the real partner the whole time. She was well, to be fair, she was ready to quit, but then again, she wasn't getting paid, and it was getting a little bit dangerous, especially with that one guy uh threatening to kill her, whatnot. So it was getting dangerous, and she wasn't even barely getting paid to do all this shit. So I don't blame her for wanting to leave. That was like a realistic move, but at the same time, she did make it known like, hey, Ben, I still love you, but I can't work with you for free. Like I got I got bills to pay, a husband to feed and whatnot. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah. Yep. It's like, you know, she's she has a family, she has other priorities other than this, but she put so much into this at the same time. It's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

And every time Ben got paid, she was right there, be like, where's my cut?

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yep, exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

She's like, nothing. Like, congrats on the case.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Hey, give me my part.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Fucking love that.

Villains Lineup And Power Politics

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Uh let's go ahead and blaze through these other guys, and like honestly, I'll be pretty much done because, like, really, as we talk about the characters, see, that's why I love about some stories where sometimes when it's like character-driven, really just need to talk about the characters, and the whole story kind of paints itself. Where I'm like, for the most part, we kind of covered the plot, but not really, but we'll get there. Uh, essentially, there's Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone. I'm very familiar with him, you know, with the near and indestructible skin. But in this verse, it's more crocodile-like skin. Uh Quentin Markle is the sandman, you know, Cast Bodyguard and Lover, who also is Silvermane's henchmen. Uh, and we have Silvermane himself, who is this Irish mob boss with connection to Bench Pass, and has been the target of multiple assassinates attempts. Uh he is the kind of guy where he's kind of controlling the city from the shadows, where even him himself said that I decide who sits in the uh mayor's chair every corner. So I like villains like that, to where it's like it's not just about him having superpowers, it's that he has political power, which means like even if you know he's the villain, you can't just get rid of him whenever you want to. You can't just throw him in jail whenever you want to. It's like you gotta like catch him in the at-and-type shit. Even then, he might have cops and judges on his payroll. So it's not that easy to just get rid of him. Yeah, and also this is the uh so-called final boss. We got what was his name? Dirk Leyden, aka megawatt. He can absorb and release electricity, but he was also like very theatrical. Like, he was acting like a real festival, like, hey bro, listen, like, we get it. You were like the lead actor, and you're a little drama club, and you always wanted to be on a big stage, but ironically, I booed you when you were beating up Ben.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah, like I mean, it was yeah, yeah, he was a little cuckoo.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Yeah, even like the way he did things. I'm like, hey man, like I I kind of I was kind of digging it, but it was like too much. Down the back. But nope. Kind of makes you glad that uh he he died the way that he died. Like you were thinking, oh, he's gonna get this grandiose death. I'm like, nah, that'd probably be too good for him. Like, just chuck him out of fucking training.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Mm-hmm. Yep. So yeah, that was like, bye-bye. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Uh we got a little bit of Jimmy Addison, who's a pirate technic that died in the first episode. Uh Patrick Donegal, who was a PI who briefly met Ben before he died, too. Uh, we have Twiddle Dean, Twiddledumb, aka Perry and Pudge. Um, and also Dr. Faber and Ogden Faber, who is a doctor and a secretary who was trying to find a cure for metacumus, but accidentally kind of created some sort of drug that accelerated the mutations, and that's how Tombstone, Megawatt, Sam Man, and Ben Riley on Spider was able to their powers.

The Origin Reveal And Plot Snowball

SPEAKER_00 21:44

And by the way, since uh I know we talked about this a long time ago, let's go ahead and get this out in the open. The way Ben got his powers.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Fucking freak, Joe. I was like, whoa, holy.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

I was not going to be able to get it.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I'm sorry for disturbing you. You can lie back down.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Yeah, it's like, nope, okay, we're good. It's like, oh my god, yeah, now that came up, and I was like, what the fuck just happened? That was yeah, that was intense.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Oh, you said, like, bro, like, whoever did the makeup, the costume, and whatnot, applause to them. Like, can we give them a round of applause to them? Because I'm like, oh yeah, Jesus Christ. Like, that felt like that. Tell me that was a practical offense. If that was a practical offense, that's even more impressive.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Oh yeah. That would have, yeah. But yeah, no, it's like, you know, and that's you all we all when we also find out, you know, he was there um when the other guys were there, that when they got their powers and stuff, and it's like shit. All of it tying in together and whatnot. But yeah, no, that that that that was a fucking jump scare. That's what that was.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Straight up a jump scare. Like, fuck.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

So yeah, uh, essentially with Spider Man War, it all starts with something simple. Like, you just get hired to tell this singer, this nightclub singer, because you know, she might be cheating on me, but I'm sitting here thinking, like, bro, like you were like phased out the story as soon as you walked. You were DOA, like you didn't matter the moment you stepped in.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Like, yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

You were just an entry point to the whole plot. That was all that was. So essentially, by the time Ben was like trying to stop Kat's supposed lover, Marco, from assaulting her, it was like a whole misunderstanding. And like, and then next thing you know, um he's finding Ben's finding out that uh Marco has sand powers, and then he's like, Whoa, hold on. First of all, we do a pyrokinetic. We got a sand man now. Uh, what's next? Uh uh crocodile man, and then next thing you know, Bonnie Lincoln shows up.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Uh-huh. It's like, ooh, okay, maybe we should keep your mouth closed there, Ben.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah. And essentially, it was like a whole snowball event where it got to a point where both Silvermain and the mayor had to hire Ben to try to figure out who the hell is a spider. Uh Silvermain, what the hell is going on with these metagumans running around and whatnot? What the fuck is going on? Let me get a private investigator because, like, if we get the uh if we get the police involved, like, I don't know, like I it's almost like if you get the police involved, like you you go on against three meta humans, like that that whole squad's gonna lose their life. So we probably want to get another meta human or something like that to see if they can deal with the other meta-humans. And mind that this was the era where prohibition was going on, but meanwhile, uh Silverman was practically running the booze and whatnot. See, that's the thing. Like, in a way, you can say that, oh, yeah, there is prohibition, but if it's like dirty politics to it, okay, as long as you look the other way on certain things, I want to make sure you get your fix as far as like you get your liquor, you get your swell and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Yeah. Well, I mean, that's touch how you know there were speakeasies and whatnot. There was still it was prohibition, but people were still drinking alcohol.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

I mean, look at uh Great Gas Beach, where you had like the sheriff and the mayor like chilling in a speakeasy, um trying to mack on some women while drinking, and that was prohibition time too. So I'm like, hey, yo, like I feel like some of these politicians aren't even following their own law. So yeah, it was about how while this whole snowball of uh case was unfurling, like going down the hill. Uh, we were also getting some backstory, not just about Ruby dying five years ago in an accident where she drowned in a car, but also with how he got his powers 15 years earlier during the final days of World War I, he was discovering German experiments on POWs. He was liberating, he got bitten by the man spider. And it's funny how, like, in the final confrontation where he where Ben was sitting down with Silvermane and whatnot, everything is all cool. It seemed like he was getting away with it, but Megawatt was like, hold on, do I know you from somewhere? I'm like, yeah, from the other night, right? And I'm like, nah, nah, nah. Like, I think I know you from somewhere else. I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

I know you from somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Damn, this game, but I know you from somewhere. And oh, I know you, I know where you're from. Yeah, I knew I know you. You're from the war. Yeah, you were the one that was like busting out the POWs. Like we're there when we got our powers. So I'm thinking, hold on. You're the only one who knows where the spider is, and yet you're also the guy that helped out the POWs. I'm thinking, wait a minute, wait a minute, don't tell me, don't tell me you're the spider. And then they were like grilling him all that time up until you know Robbie was showing up in the spider suit because keep in mind, uh he was gonna show up with the spidey suit, but like there was a whole thing where like, oh well, he wasn't able to get the cure or anything like that because like uh lady kind of cop-blocked him in that sense where it's like, ah, damn the plan was almost perfect until that happened. So I had to show up in the spider suit, and uh Mega Wat thought he uh neutralized the spider, but it was like a fake out. So you know, cat's out in the back. Well, you know, like no pun intended, but uh, you know, especially cat right here. So yeah, shit went down. Kat ends up killing Silvermane, uh Ben kills Megawan, and before all this, uh Ben was able to cure Lonnie after he broke out. Because keep in mind that uh Kat did sell out Ben, and the doctor did like capture him so they could try to figure out okay, how is it that you managed to stay alive? Or like, how are how is it that your powers stabilized while the others didn't? So we're just trying to figure that out. So they developed the antidote, and while Ben escaped from the place, uh essentially Megawad, Silverman, and everybody else pretty much burned down the facility. The doctor and her son died in there. All the um P.O.W.s, including their boy uh Johnny Forte, ends up burning. Well, they're already dead anyways, because you know, they're like they couldn't handle the mutation, so they were just pretty much just in jars, like just carcasses in jars. So uh after Ben escaped with the antidote, that's when they were like, okay, let's put in like some syringes, and he did fight Lonnie and was able to cure her by fucking sticking him in the eye.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

In the eye, I know that part was like, oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Oh shit. Yeah. I mean, I get it, but shit.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Yep, like fuck, okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Fucking lobotomized him, basically.

unknown 30:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Oh, yeah. And crazy enough, I I almost thought bro was gonna die somehow. Like, oh like, ain't no way he just he just walking away from this. Like, just that's it. Like, he just walked away. And I'm like, okay, cool, cool. I mean, I didn't want him to die because he's actually a cool person. I like especially being one of the only other black characters, and he was like the only one that's kind of leading into how black people are treated differently from white people, so it's like that sort of talk did kind of slip in, but it wasn't that much. It ain't like he was like bitter towards white people, just more like, you know, like it is the 1930s, so yeah, you can't just act like I mean, even if it's New York, and keep in mind, like with the North, they were never cool with slavery in the first place. But the thing was, even if they're in New York, they can't act like, oh, black and white people just get along all hunky dory, whatnot. No, no, no. There's always gonna be like some sort of political tension between between races. So you gotta like spit that out a little bit every now and then. But for the most part, look, you got like uh Janet who's Hispanic, you got Cap Hardy, who's Asian, so it's they're not gonna be that racist about it. Like you you can tell that like they were like pretty tolerant, but like at the same time, it makes sense for that sort of talk to kind of sneak his way into the series. So I'm just glad that they didn't like beat us overhead about it.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

That's all it is, but uh yeah, like, and since we Lonnie was able to just walk away from all of this, it was all good. And Marco, like the crazy thing is, Ben only had enough of one more cure, and he wanted to do it on himself, but he's thinking, okay, I gotta do the right thing. So he gave Marco the cure. So Marco is cured, and he gets to run away with uh Cat Hardy and whatnot, all that jazz. We already talked about what happened to Mega Watt. We already talked about what happened to Silverman. We already talked about how Janet pretty much is now being treated as an equal instead of just a secretary. And that's pretty much Brighton No War in a nutshell.

Black And White Versus Color Debate

SPEAKER_00 32:54

It was a very good show. Like I appreciated him black and white, and what I did like is how like when I was mentioning Lonnie, how when he was just walking away. Honestly, I thought it was broad daylight when he did that shit, when he uh was like walking off into the distance and into the street. But then you see the uh coupling version, I was like, oh wait, is that night? Damn, it's black and white. Got me thinking, like, is he like but you know, with um Ben, if they didn't say what he was doing at like two in the afternoon, whatever time it was, because you know he was like day drinking, he was at that bar, and all the guys was laughing at his inspirate or whatnot. If they didn't mention what time of day it was, then I would say, bro, it could have been day or nighttime in black, like honestly. Like, unless you're like outside where you can clearly tell, okay, the sky's black was clearly nighttime, or the sky's white, so or gray, so you can clearly tell it's daytime, but nah, it was on the way, bro. You can't fucking tell when you're like in the buildings and shit.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Mm-hmm. Yep, because I mean the lights are gonna be on, so it's like, is that because it's you know nighttime out, or is it just because buildings tend to be dark when there's you know not all that many windows?

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Yeah, so that kind of threw me off for a loop, but also I want to say the clothing, like when you see it in color, I'm like, okay, is not boring. Like the coloring is not boring. It's like I want to say it's not too vibrant, but it's like at least there's like color. Like, um, you have Kat Hardy wearing like this pink, you know, like the uh the the dress you were wearing in the last episode. It was actually like a pink dress, and like hell, I in black and white, you could have told me it was white, and I would have believed you.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

That's yeah, because you you never know what color things actually are, they're just different shades of black, gray, and white.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yeah. So that's why I'm very grad that I went back and watched it in color. Like, not that much better than black and white, because I did like the authenticity of doing that. In fact, uh Nicholas Cage himself said that, hey, yo, yeah, I think people will really like the option of having both because we want to give it that authentic, like 90s, 1930s noir feeling, you know, crime noir feel, but at the same time, you know, it's 2026. So people are going to want to skin color. But I think people, I he said that I think this will convince people to give black and white um productions another chance, like a resurgence of that. So where, okay, maybe pretty cool. You know, like uh Ghost of Tushima, you know how they got the black and white version of like you can either play in color or play in black and white. See, that type of shit I like to where it just adds authenticity to the whole experience. I like that shit. I like that they thought of that.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Yeah, like I I grew up watching, you know, older black and white movies because that's you know, my my mom likes those, so I you know I've grown to like them too. So I would not mind if they started doing something like that. I think that'd be pretty cool. Just to I feel like it would bring a lot of people like that nostalgia feel.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

I mean, hey, but I think I think I will have to go back and re-watch it then in color because yeah, that sounds pretty like actually seeing you know the colors of what they're wearing and whatnot, knowing, like you said, if it's actually day or night.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, so yeah, like uh I grew up with my dad watching Westerns and Andy Grimm, and I'm like, yeah, like I kind of fuck with it. Like, I I had no problem with black and white. I mean, I still like I love Lucy, um, even to the day.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Like, oh yeah, no, my mom's favorite are John Wayne movies, and you know, some of those are black and white, and we I mean, obviously, some of them are off of color, but like some of his older stuff, it's like, yeah, it's in black and white, and we still watch those every once in a while, still.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Yeah, so like if it's like a western movie or a crime noir or one of those old samurai films, totally understandable, totally understandable. Oh, yeah, but it adds authenticity to it. Uh, but with that being said, yeah, that's pretty much all I gotta say on Spider Noir from the most part. Yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean, I talked about the year, just talked about the coloring individuals.

Soundtrack Highlights And Final Rating

SPEAKER_00 37:41

Uh, the music numbers were good, like they've got a bunch of musical numbers, like they have a whole soundtrack. Um, let me see how many, how many tracks they have? They have 34 tracks, which is a total length of 58 minutes and 44 seconds. So you can watch a whole hour of whatever song that caught your interest. Like the one song that uh Cat Hardy's actress uh leads you and leads uh song, uh Dream a Little, Dream of Me, you know, in the um in the lounge when she was like singing and shit. Um yeah, she like had like two numbers, like she was featured in two of those songs. So I really like how like if anything, that's why I was saying to where if she doesn't get any more work as far as an actress, I think she could get work as a singer, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So with that being said, yes, this is I am done with Spider Noir. So let's talk about raiding. If I were to raise Spider Noir, I think it deserves at least a solid nine. I want to say a nine because like you know how they kind of scale things where it's like masterpiece, incredible, uh great, good, blah, blah, blah. I want to say it's not a masterpiece exactly. I mean, like, I want to say like it didn't get too crazy about it. It felt very subdued. So, like, it wasn't like super crazy, so it's not like super impressive, but it had authenticity, it had great characters, uh, simple enough parts where it just snowballed really. It's just a matter of, okay, you just got this one girl who's like caught up between these men, and you getting caught up with a whole meta-human uh turf war, where it's like you have not only the meta-humans, but you have Silvermane beefing with the mayor. Um, essentially, like, there's this one mayor that's going against Silverman's uh way of doing things, but Silvermane is essentially trying to get this one guy to pretty much be the mayor, so that way, in a way, he's like pulling strings as long as he's got this one guy. Yeah, think of um the boys, where essentially with Homelander, if it's not like the bot CEO is the literal president himself, where it's like essentially you have some guy or somebody like being the figurehead, you know, like doing uh PR and whatnot, and then you have this one guy that's actually running shit.

unknown 40:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Great characters.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Figurehead, basically.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

Yeah. Great characters, uh, simple enough quad. Visually, it was good, and I did like the musical numbers. I want to say it's fairly incredible. Like I would watch it again. I'll watch it again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

But what about you, Zenara? How you feeling on a scale of one to ten? How you feeling about Spartan?

SPEAKER_01 41:23

I'm not being good at rating stuff. It's like I like what I like, and I know not everyone else is gonna like it necessarily.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Um I understand, but like uh, I mean, at first I didn't care for ratings too, but really, honestly, I'm gonna be honest with you and to the dear listeners, it don't matter. Our ratings, they don't really matter. It's just like it's something fun to do. Like something that's we like, if I were to put a number on it, if I were to put a grade on it, if that's what y'all looking for, uh, if I were to rate it, then yeah, I would say it's like a nine for me because I really liked it for what it was, and it gets bonus points for having the authentic black and white in the full color.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

I can agree with that. Yeah, I think a nine as well. Um again, I think mostly because we the again, the office authenticity of the black and white, um, and you know, the sort of off script of how he got his powers, because that was not like I said, you know, normally it's just you get they get bit by a spider, but it's like this one's like, nah, no, I got bit by something else.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Yeah, it's something like a spider.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Something like yeah. But um, so yeah, no, I I could I could, yeah, a nine out of ten. Um, it was, and again, I like I said, I'm definitely gonna re-watch and watch in color and whatnot, so yeah.

Patreon Discord And Future Projects

SPEAKER_00 42:56

And with that being said, let's just go ahead and close this read out. Uh, Tenara, I do thank you for being on the show with me. And to the dear listener, I thank you for listening to us babble and rent to the end. Be sure to check out our Patreon because we got some things going on with Patreon. Um, we're trying to get that set up. Uh, do check out the Discord if you want to chat with us, you want to mention or like recommend anything else that we would uh review. Like, I'm gonna go ahead and tell y'all right now, we're thinking about doing anime of virtuals. You know, like how some folks are doing like for instance, Rap Sopetti with his hood, Jesus Kaisa, and other words. Uh, you have Ace Bang doing his uh dubovers of these different classic cartoons. We're interested in doing something like that. And we're essentially getting voice actors, editors, uh, music producers in order. I'm trying to do my part to write the script and uh make sure that we have everything that we need to go ahead and get the ball rolling. Uh, I don't want to say I want to commit to a time when these projects are going to be out. And I really don't want to say which project we're gonna be working on, but let's just say we have at least four things that we're locked in on doing. Like four things that we're interested in doing, but until we get at least one of them out, let's just say coming soon. Coming soon, we're gonna be doing some video projects that you might like. We're gonna really try to be as entertaining and oddly informative at the same time. So, until then, until further updates, go ahead and have yourself a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. But ultimately, take it easy on yourself, stay nerdy, stay faithful, and remember that great things are coming. We are zoning out of here.