That’s not the case with Spider-Noir. Even if the fact that the opening titles play in black and white, regardless of the stream you’re watching, doesn’t tip you off, it’s clear that Spider-Noir was designed with black and white in mind. Showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot employ directors who know how to make use of shadow and strong contrast. The Dutch angles that appear in every episode aren’t just nods to filmmakers such as Fritz Lang and Robert Siodmak; they’re tools to keep the visuals dynamic without colors.
The black and white print helps sell the tone of Spider-Noir, which functions much more like a hard-boiled detective story than it does a superhero tale. Even though the series, and Cage in particular, cannot help but gesture towards Bogart and Orson Welles, it largely works as a continuation of the genre, not just a self-satisfied set of allusions. For that reason, the shades of grey underscore the series’ worldview.
But this isn’t to say that Spider-Noir doesn’t work in color at all. Instead of just shooting the series in the same flat colors as every other series, the directors work to emulate the bright technicolor of a Hitchcock movie. Everything is oversaturated and unreal, making the show not only visually distinct, but also as heightened as the black and white version.
So, what’s the best way to watch Spider-Noir? To this writer, black and white is clearly better. But the color stream has its charms too, and the showrunners gave it enough character to be distinct from every other show on television right now. You’ll lose something offered by the black and white stream when you choose the color route, but you’ll gain some unique visuals that make for their own satisfying experience.
In the end, the choice is yours. But unlike every noir hero from Bogie to Ben Reilly, you don’t have to wallow in self-loathing if you make the wrong decision. You can just click to the other stream and let Spider-Man do the brooding.
Spider-Noir streams in color and black and white on MGM+ on May 25, 2026, and on Prime Video on May 27, 2026.
