Spider-Man Noir is an alternate version of Spider-Man who’s from a world set in 1930s America. This series came out amongst many other Noir titles all set in the same universe featuring some other iconic Marvel superheroes. The series launched in 2009 and features a Peter Parker living through the great depression while all of greater New York is oppressed by mobsters and crooked cops.
Like the main Peter Parker, Noir Peter loses Uncle Ben, becomes a photographer, and gains spider powers to fight crime. Unlike 616 Peter, who was bitten by a radioactive spider, Noir Pete is bitten by a mystical spider and was blessed by a spider god which resulted in him gaining his usual powers. Noir Peter also does not use web shooters to swing across the city, but rather, uses organic webs to trap enemies. The original Spider-Man Noir run, as well as the series that followed, Eyes Without a Face, instantly became iconic which is why see Noir Spider-Man pop up so frequently across different Marvel media. The initial series established the alternate versions of Peter’s family, friends, and rogue’s gallery in addition to the gang-ridden mess that is New York City. As with most versions of Spider-Man, Uncle Ben dies which leads Peter to go on a crusade against the crime that plagues NYC. However, the Noir version of Ben Parker was killed by a gang member known as Adrian Toomes AKA The Vulture who ripped him apart and ate him. Interestingly, Noir Peter actually killed the man responsible for Uncle Ben’s death for once and was rightfully scolded for it by his aunt. At the time, Peter was in his costume so May didn’t know it was him but still took the gun he used and told him to never kill again.
For the rest of the run, and into Eyes Without a Face, Peter didn’t kill anyone but still battled against crime. That scene followed by the later appearances and eventual 2020 series of Spider-Man Noir is what spurred this post. In those later appearances, Peter is once again seen using firearms and murdering some of his enemies. Personally, I think Marvel got lazy and decided to make Spider-Man Noir a gritty anti-hero who kills people because it would make the Spider-Verse runs more interesting. I assume they wanted to have a dynamic between Noir Spidey and the other Web Warriors where they would teach Noir Pete “That’s not how Spider-Man does things” which I think is needless and redundant. Why did they decide to have Noir Peter learn the same lesson twice, once after the original writers had him become more similar to the Spidey we’re all familiar with? I think that does a sizable disservice to the character and the people who originally wrote him. And Noir Pete learning the same lesson a second time didn’t even stick with his character. In the 2020 run, there’s a scene where Noir Spidey pulls out two pistols and unloads them into a speeding car of two bank robbers. He clearly had no regard for their lives as that is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and resulted in the car crashing. The criminals lived but purely by chance and were later arrested.
Peter then proceeded to kill his other enemies later in the series and by the time I finished it, I was very upset at how they wrote his character. I was a longtime fan of Spider-Man Noir and I thought the original two runs were a fresh take on Peter Parker but kept just enough of the original character intact which resulted in a very interesting comic. But his later appearances left me extremely vexed about the edgy direction they took him in. The people who took over writing Spider-Man Noir clearly didn’t understand his character at all and simply wanted the justice he dealt out to be as edgy as the world he resided in.