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While the Marvel Cinematic Universe's television endeavors have, at best, offered pleasant surprises (hello WandaVision) and, at worst, been quite disappointing (farewell Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Marvel's most recent true series success ultimately came from Amazon with Spider-Noir. Dark and gritty, the creation from Oren Uziel (The Cloverfield Paradox) and Steve Lightfoot (The Punisher, Hannibal) successfully ventured into the realms of film noir and body horror.
Nicolas Cage portrayed Ben Reilly / The Spider with his characteristic generosity and commitment. Nevertheless, despite this critical success, and in parallel with the phenomenal box office performance of Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2.3 billion in global revenue to date, making it the third-highest-grossing film in history, not accounting for inflation), the series from Sony and Amazon/MGM apparently failed to meet studio expectations.
Spider-Noir: Farewell Cruel World
Indeed, it was recently announced that the series starring Nicolas Cage will not return for a second season. After just eight episodes, Sony and Amazon/MGM have decided to cancel the show, despite its warm reception. With a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes (and 90% from audiences), a Metacritic score of 72 out of 100, and no less than eleven Emmy Award nominations — the highest number of nominations for any Amazon Prime Video title — the enthusiasm surrounding Spider-Noir seemed palpable.
However, the audience apparently wasn't large enough. According to Nielsen's audience data, the series starring Nicolas Cage accumulated over 2.6 billion minutes viewed in the United States over six weeks. For comparison, Reacher, one of the platform's major hits, generated between 1.5 and 2 billion minutes viewed per week with its third season, for each new episode released in 2025.
As a reminder, the first season of Spider-Noir featured Nicolas Cage alongside Li Jun Li as Black Cat, Brendan Gleeson as crime boss Silvermane, Lamorne Morris as Joe Robertson, and Jack Huston as Flint Marko/the future Sandman. It was the first Marvel series released since the agreement between Amazon and Sony Pictures TV.
According to Variety, the next creation from this partnership is already in development and is expected to be announced soon. It's worth noting that the first Spider-Man series slated for the platform was supposed to be Silk: Spider Society, showrun by Angela Kang (The Walking Dead), but its production was ultimately abandoned.