The reason as to why Nicolas Cage is playing Ben Reilly instead of Peter Parker in the Spider-Noir show has been revealed.

Sony Pictures Television’s Spider-Noir show is set to premiere on MGM+ and Prime Video this spring. Coming from co-showrunners Steve Lightfoot and Oren Uziel, the series serves as a spin-off to the Spider-Man alternate universes that were first established in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Cage voiced Spider-Noir in Into the Spider-Verse; however, that version of the character was a Peter Parker variant, while it was previously revealed that Cage’s live-action character in the show will be Ben Reilly. In Marvel Comics, Ben Reilly is a clone of Peter who becomes the Scarlet Spider.

Why is Nicolas Cage playing Ben Reilly instead of Peter Parker in Spider-Noir?

Speaking about the matter with Esquire Magazine, some of the creatives involved with the show explained why Cage is playing Ben rather than Peter.

“Peter Parker feels very synonymous with a high school kid. Boyish. On his way up,” Uziel said.  This version of Ben Reilly, on the other hand, has a backstory that “could be more easily adjusted to fit a pessimistic misanthrope.”

“This character’s very different from the Peter Parker from the movies. He’s older and jaded, and not afraid to punch a guy in the face drunkenly,” Phil Lord, who serves as an executive producer, further explained.

Chris Miller, who is also an executive producer, added, “He already had his Chinatown disillusionment moment that happened years and years ago.”

Uziel further noted that Ben’s past keeps coming back to haunt him, and that this will be a “different version” of Spider-Man that fans haven’t seen before. Miller hinted that there may also be some plot reasons as to why Ben is the star instead of Peter, as he said, “The reason he’s named Ben Riley is explained. We’ll leave it at that.”

Originally reported by Brandon Schreur at SuperHeroHype.