Spider-Man Noir

Spider-Man Noir
Textless cover of Spider-Man Noir #1 (February 2009).
Art by Patrick Zircher.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Spider-Man Noir #1 (February 2009)
Created by David Hine
Fabrice Sapolsky
Carmine Di Giandomenico
In-story information
Alter ego Peter Parker
Team affiliations Web Warriors
Abilities Proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider
Spider-sense
Organic webbing (cannot swing on webs, as they "splatter everywhere")
Skilled marksman and expert hand-to-hand combatant
Ability to stick to walls and other solid surfaces

Spider-Man Noir or just Spider-Man (Peter Parker) is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. This alternate version of Spider-Man is a darker take on Spider-Man and the mythos is set in 1933 – during the Great Depression and is a part of the Marvel Noir universe. An inexperienced but idealistic apprentice of a respected yet troubled reporter, Peter Parker is accidentally bitten by an illegally imported and highly-venomous spider, while secretly investigating a smuggling ring of ancient spider statues. Instead of killing him, the bite gave him super-human abilities, similar to that of a spider. Taking advantage of his new abilities, Parker begins to wage a one-man war against the criminal underworld in New York City as a brutal and feared vigilante, known as the "Spider-Man", partly to avenge the deaths of his uncle Ben Parker and his mentor: Ben Urich, at the hands of the city's major crime lord: Norman Osborn.

Since his inception, the character has appeared in numerous media adaptations, such as television series and video games.

Publication history

The character was created by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, and Carmine Di Giandomenico, and first appeared in Spider-Man Noir #1, the first part of a four issue miniseries (February–May 2009).[1]

Fictional character biography

While Peter Parker still becomes the titular Spider-Man in the comic book starring his name, the initial focus of the story is upon Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, an experienced and respected reporter who has a network of informants under the alias of the Spider. The Goblin is a crime lord named Osborn whose henchmen consist of the Enforcers (consisting of Ox, Fancy Dan, Montana), Kraven, the Chameleon (a master of disguise) and the Vulture (a sideshow freak who had developed a taste for human flesh). Urich does not use the information he has to expose the Goblin but rather to blackmail him, in order to get enough money to feed his secret drug habit.[1]

Urich encounters Peter Parker during an oration by Peter’s Aunt May Parker in Central Park. The socialist slant of Aunt May’s words does not sit well with the Enforcers, and Urich is forced to intervene in order to prevent serious injury to either Peter or May. Urich subsequently takes Peter under his wing,[1] and after Peter mistakenly receives a tip-off meant for the Spider, the young man ventures to a warehouse where the Goblin’s men are unloading a shipment of stolen antiques. A particular antique — a spider statue — breaks open and releases a horde of spiders. One of the spiders bites Peter, causing him to pass out and dream of a spider god. When he awakes, he is upside-down in a black web.[2]

After waking up, Peter discovered he possessed arachnid superpowers. Donning a mask, Peter confronted Norman Osborn in his home in order to get him to give up his hold over the city. However, Peter was shocked to discover Urich, who was revealed to have been blackmailing Osborn with his information on the mob boss in exchange for fueling his drug habit. Angered, Peter left Urich. Upon returning home, Peter created a costume based on his uncle's World War I-era airman uniform and became the vigilante Spider-Man.[2] Peter later returned to Urich's apartment to force him to help him to bring down the Goblin, only to find the reporter dead. Strengthened with resolve from his aunt and Urich's lover, Felicia Hardy — owner of the Black Cat club — Peter thwarted the Goblin's criminal operations.[3]

In order to censor the Daily Bugle, Osborn kidnaps the editor J. Jonah Jameson and has the Chameleon assume his place. The Chameleon-as-Jameson goes to Urich’s apartment and shoots him, unaware that Felicia witnessed the murder. Hardy goes to the Daily Bugle offices and kills the Chameleon, leaving his body to be discovered by Spider-Man shortly before the arrival of the police.[3] Spider-Man escapes the attentions of the police and goes to his home, where he killed the Vulture, in order to stop him from murdering Aunt Parker. Despite saving his aunt, May criticized him for killing the Vulture, as he could have stopped him with his powers. She told Peter that killing people would make him less of what makes him human.[4]

Spider-Man later tracked down and confronts Osborn, having dispatched all of his henchmen in turn. During their fight, it is revealed that Osborn is a former circus freak himself who hides his goblin-like visage behind one of the Chameleon’s masks. After Spider-Man refuses to kill Osborn, the spider-infested and barely still alive body of Kraven appears and attacks the Goblin, killing him.[4]

Later, Spider-Man visits Felicia, who reveals that she had once had a relationship with The Goblin. Spider-Man reveals himself to be Peter in front of her, and she asks why he is there. Peter hands her a photo Urich had in his files earlier of him and Felicia. Spider-Man then jumps out the window, and swings away, leaving Felicia behind.[4]

Eyes Without a Face

Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face is a sequel to Spider-Man Noir, which takes place a few months after the Goblin's death. In 1934, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, has a new problem: The Crime Master is a masked criminal who has taken over as the city’s crime boss. As he investigates, his relationship with Felicia Hardy, owner of The Black Cat speakeasy, develops. He returns home to find Joe and Robbie Robertson talking with Aunt May. As a struggling black reporter, Robbie asks Peter to set up a meeting with Doctor Otto Octavius who is experimenting on Ellis Island. A few days later they meet with him and learn that he is experimenting on monkeys to understand more about the human mind. Octavius himself is wheelchair bound but employs controlled robotic arms, attached to the back of his chair, to help him. After they leave, Robbie suggests the story is deeper. That night a delivery of black slaves are delivered to Ellis Island.[5]

Spider-Man takes the fight to The Crime Master and busts up an operation of drinking, girls and drugs. In a back room he discovers a soundproof torture chamber. He goes to visit Felicia, but she is with someone else. Returning home, he is told that Robbie has disappeared. On Ellis Island, Octavius inspects the new test subjects, and Robbie is among them. Octavius, working for The Friends of New Germany (TFONG), intends to use them to prove that inferior races can be controlled by removing their willpower surgically. Spider-Man revisits the chamber for more information, but he is ambushed by The Crime Master and his men. With them is The Sandman who slams Spider-Man to the ground with ease.[6]

The police, led by Jean DeWolff, arrive too late to save Spider-Man from a massive beating but in time to kill Sandman. The Crime Master escapes, but Spider-Man has managed to link him with TFONG. A severely injured Spider-Man goes to Felicia to recover. The following day she forces him to leave before the arrival of her other man — the unmasked Crime Master. Felicia questions him too much, and he determines that she has been seeing Spider-Man. In fury, he attacks her with a shard of mirror. He gets a call from the leader of TFONG, telling him to shut Ellis Island down before they all get caught. Spider-Man goes to Ellis Island himself and finds Robbie, but was too late as Octavius had already drilled into his frontal lobe, leaving him motionless.[7]

The Crime Master arrives and starts destroying Octavius’ work. Spider-Man drives most of Crime Master’s gang away as Octavius gets his robotic arms on The Crime Master. He slices him apart with scalpels, desperate to save his work. Spider-Man then sets on Octavius for what he has done, crushing his robotic arms. DeWolff arrives before Spider-Man kills him and tells him to thank his girlfriend for calling them in. Spider-Man sees Robbie safe and swings to see Felicia. Her guard tells him that she does not ever want to see him again after she was hurt because of him.[8]

A month later, Robbie is receiving care by his parents at home, but seeing him like this makes Peter feel guilty and upset. Mary Jane Watson tries to comfort him outside, but he still feels he is losing everybody he cares for. Octavius is deported to Germany, where the Nazis think that his disability renders him useless, and Felicia has recovered but wears a cat mask to cover all the scars on her face.[8]

Spider-Verse

During the Spider-Verse storyline which featured Spider-Men from various alternate realities, Spider-Man Noir starred in one-shot comic Edge of Spider-Verse #1, at the end of which he was recruited by The Superior Spider-Man into his army of Spiders.[9] He was also featured prominently in Spider-Verse Team-Up #1, alongside a six-armed Spider-Man.[10] In Spider-Woman Vol. 5 #1, Spider-Man Noir found himself defending the lives of Silk and Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and got wounded in the process, after which he was returned to his home reality to heal and recuperate.[11]

In the second volume of Spider-Verse set during the Secret Wars event, Spider-Man Noir found himself in the domain of the Battleworld called Arachnia, where he found and observed Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man: India, Spider-UK, and Anya Corazon (neither of them remembering their previous encounter during the original Spider-Verse), though he chose not to reveal himself to them until they crashed into one of his operations.[12]

Following the conclusion of Secret Wars the team of six Spiders that formed during the event will rename itself and feature in a new ongoing series called Web Warriors, a name that was coined by Peter Parker from the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series during the original Spider-Verse.[13]

Spider-Geddon

One night, Spider-Man and Felecia, now known as "White Widow", meet up on a rooftop to confront Hernan Schultz, who was negotiating with a Nazi general to see his Shocker suits for the Third Reich to use in the war. Spider-Man defeats him by exposing him to a water tower before Spider-UK comes in requesting his assistance. He joins him in the portal as Felecia stays behind to take out the Nazis.[14]

After gathering a few alternate Spider-Men and Women, the Web Warriors confront Superior Octopus at his lair in San Francisco after discovering that he has the Inheritor Cloning Engine in his lab. Spider-Man Noir tries to take it out before it resurrects the Inheritors, but it's too late and he is killed by Morlun who drains his life-force.[15]

Powers and abilities

This incarnation of Spider-Man has the same powers as his classical counterpart: enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, durability and agility proportionate of a spider, along with a sixth sense which warns him of unseen danger, also known as "spider-sense" and the ability to shoot organic webbing from his wrists and adhere to sheer walls and other solid surfaces.[2] Like the traditional Spider-Man, he uses his acrobatic agility to maneuver about the rooftops and uses his webbing as nets to both stun and capture his enemies.[3] He also has a huge network of contacts throughout the city and several informants in all the gangs.[6]

Equipment

The costume and the equipment are different from the original, especially the costume that is made up of a normal dress of the era matched with a coat; The basic aspect of the costume is the mask made with the headgear and the aviator glasses used by his uncle during the Great War and the costume made in kevlar can withstand bullets and explosions.[2] He is shown to be a skilled marksman, being adept in the use of firearms and also uses a variety of such weapons including a revolver and a tommy gun to severely injure or kill criminals.[3]

In other media

Television

  • In the Avengers Assemble episode "Planet Doom", Slinger's costume almost flawlessly resembles Spider-Man Noir's costume. This version of Spider-Man is a member of the Defenders, a resistance group of vigilantes who are against Doctor Doom, who has altered history and conquered the world. Slinger works alongside Bullseye (Clint Barton) and Snap (Sam Wilson), who are awaiting their foretold savior, the God of Thunder Thor's, arrival. After Doom's defeat, reality is restored to normal, and Slinger reverts to Spider-Man.
  • Spider-Man Noir appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Milo Ventimiglia. In the episode "The Spider-Verse: Part 2", after Green Goblin appears on the Noir reality to collect the DNA of that universe Spider-Man, he is confronted by both the "Noir" and the "Ultimate" Spider-Man, who had followed the Goblin to this universe. However, after rejecting an alliance proposed by his counterpart, Noir is forced to work together with him after the Green Goblin hijacks an airship to draw out Spider-Man Noir, taking a group of civilians present hostage, including Mary Jane. While the Ultimate Spider-Man is saving the hostages, Spider-Man Noir fights the Goblin on his own, but the Goblin manage to take the DNA of a distracted Spider-Man Noir and then departs. Spider-Man Noir admits to both Ultimate Spider-Man and Mary Jane that he should drop the "lone wolf" act, and as his counterpart follows the Goblin to another dimension, the two Spider-Men depart as friends. Spider-Man Noir later returns In "The Spider-Verse: Part 4", summoned by "Ultimate" Spider-Man along with other Spider-Man counterparts to form a team known as the Web-Warriors in order to combat the Green Goblin and Electro. After the villains are defeated, the Web-Warriors return to their respective dimensions. Spider-Man Noir makes a cameo in the fourth season episode "Miles from Home".
Spider-Man Noir returns in the episode "Return to the Spider-Verse" Part 3", where he finds the "Ultimate" Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid tangle with Mr. Fixit (a Noir version of the Hulk) and his minions, Thunderbolt and A-Bombardier, who are in a gang war with the Noir version of Hammerhead. When Spider-Man Noir shows up, he doesn't want Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid to break up the gang war because since they last saw him, he lost his Mary Jane in an accident caused by Hammerhead's gang, for which he blames Mr. Fixit. Spider-Man finds the Siege Perilous fragment in the new machine gun that was provided by Hammerhead's minion Martin Li. Upon touching the Siege Perilous, Martin Li becomes the Mister Negative in order to become the new crime lord; he can transmutate anything to stone, and overthrows Hammerhead. After Mister Negative fends off Wolf Spider, Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid persuade Spider-Man Noir and Mr. Fixit to work together to help to stop Mister Negative. During the final fight, Noir Peter sacrifices himself by turning to stone after taking a blast meant for Fixit, but Fixit manages to restore everyone back to normal after taking the shard from Mr. Negative, which also restores the world to color. Noir Peter thanks Ultimate Peter and Miles before they leave and begins a partnership with Fixit. In the episode "Return to the Spider-Verse: Part 4", Noir Spider-Man is among the spider-powered individuals who had their life-force drained by Wolf Spider. He gets his life-force back upon Wolf Spider's defeat.

Film

Video games

References

  1. 1 2 3 Spider-Man Noir #1
  2. 1 2 3 4 Spider-Man Noir #2
  3. 1 2 3 4 Spider-Man Noir #3
  4. 1 2 3 Spider-Man Noir #4
  5. ↑ Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face #1
  6. 1 2 Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face #2
  7. ↑ Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face #3
  8. 1 2 Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face #4
  9. ↑ Edge of Spider-Verse #1
  10. ↑ Spider-Verse Team-Up #1
  11. ↑ Spider-Woman Vol 5 #1
  12. ↑ Spider-Verse Vol. 2 #1
  13. ↑ http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/06/29/spider-gwen-stars-in-web-warriors-launched-by-mike-costa-and-david-baldeon-marveloctober/
  14. ↑ "Spider-Geddon: Spider-Man Noir #1". Youtube.com. Retrieved 10 October 2018. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  15. ↑ Spider-Geddon Vol 1 #1
  16. ↑ Goldberg, Matt (July 5, 2018). "'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse': Nicolas Cage Confirmed to Play Another Spider-Man". Collider. Archived from the original on July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  17. ↑ Meghan Morgan (March 29, 2010). "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Interview:". GameSpot.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ Hoffer, Christian. "Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 Announced". comicbook.com. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.