Marvel Noir is a 2009–2010 Marvel Comics alternative continuity combining elements of film noir and pulp fiction with the Marvel Universe. The central premise of the mini-series replaces superpowers with driven, noir-flavored characterization. The reality of Marvel Noir is Earth-90214.
Publication history The idea for Marvel Noir began when Fabrice Sapolsky, editor of the French magazine Comic Box, pitched the idea of a 1930s pulp version of Spider-Man to David Hine in December 2006. This led to the announcement of Marvel Noir which would feature four mini-series, beginning in December 2008 with Spider-Man Noir and X-Men Noir, later followed by Daredevil Noir and Wolverine Noir. Five more series followed, with Luke Cage Noir and Punisher Noir beginning in August 2009, the sequel series Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face and X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain beginning in December 2009, and the final series Iron Man Noir beginning in April 2010. Additionally, a Weapon X Noir one-shot was published in March 2010. In 2020, Spider-Man Noir returned with a five-issue limited series later collected as Spider-Man Noir: Twilight In Babylon.
In 2025, it was announced that Erik Larsen was returning to Marvel to write a new Spider-Man Noir mini-series, with art by Andrea Broccardo.
List of series Title # Issues Cover Date Writer Artist Spider-Man Noir 4 Feb 2009May 2009 David Hine (co-plotted by Fabrice Sapolsky) Carmine Di Giandomenico X-Men Noir 4 Feb 2009May 2009 Fred Van Lente Dennis Calero Daredevil Noir 4 Jun 2009Sep 2009 Alexander Irvine Tomm Coker Wolverine Noir 4 Jun 2009Sep 2009 Stuart Moore C. P. Smith Luke Cage Noir 4 Oct 2009Jan 2010 Mike Benson and Adam Glass Shawn Martinbrough Punisher Noir 4 Oct 2009Jan 2010 Frank Tieri Paul Azaceta Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face 4 Feb 2010May 2010 David Hine (co-plotted by Fabrice Sapolsky) Carmine Di Giandomenico X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain 4 Feb 2010May 2010 Fred Van Lente Dennis Calero Weapon X Noir 1 May 2010 Dennis Calero Dennis Calero Iron Man Noir 4 Jun 2010Sep 2010 Scott Snyder Manuel Garcia Spider-Man Noir: Twilight in Babylon 5 May 2020Dec 2020 Margaret Stohl Juan Ferreyra Spider-Man Noir 5 Oct 2025Feb 2026 Erik Larsen Andrea Broccardo
Series Daredevil Noir
Iron Man Noir During his latest expedition — accompanied by his aide James Rhodes, his assistant and lover Dr. Gialetta Nefaria, and Virgil Munsey, his chronicler for Marvels: A Magazine of Men's Adventure — adventurer Tony Stark discovers a cavern with a mysterious emerald mask in it. However, his attempts to claim the mask are interrupted when Gialetta reveals that she has betrayed him to aid the Nazis, in the form of the mysterious "Baron Zemo" and the ruthless Baron Strucker, the Nazis killing Virgil before Tony and Rhodes escape by starting a fire. Returning to America, where they meet their new chronicler Pepper Potts, who writes under the alias of 'Frank Finlay', Tony reveals that his father, Howard Stark, vanished years ago, and that he is suffering from a weak heart due to unspecified damage, requiring an electrical support.
Investigating Gialetta's desk, Tony discovers a journal hinting at the location of Atlantis, setting out on a trip with Captain Namor in his ship, the Dorma, in the hopes that he will discover Atlantis's mythical power source, orichalcum — a metal said to enhance power — to use it to repair his heart. While they recover a trident-head made of orichalcum from an underwater cavern, the Dorma is subsequently attacked by Zemo's forces — Gialetta now wearing the mask to hide the scars she received in the initial escape — Zemo escaping with Pepper as a hostage, forcing Tony, Rhodes and Namor to retreat to the ship's submarine, subsequently being picked up by Jarvis in an airship. Despite the increased damage to his heart, Tony decides to attempt to rescue Pepper using suits of armour he has developed based on some of his father's old sketches and ideas, attacking the Nazis in their castle base.
However, their rescue attempt takes a shocking turn when they find themselves facing an identical suit of armour, with Zemo unmasking to reveal his true identity of Howard Stark; "Zemo" is merely a title passed down to subjects who have been brainwashed by a unique chemical formula that leaves them loyal to the Nazis. Despite facing an army equipped with similar armors, Tony manages to destroy the Nazi army by supercharging the trident with the last dregs of his repulsor's energy, triggering an electric burst that destroys the air fleet. Returning home, Tony decides to abandon adventure and focus on making the world safer by eliminating real threats.
Luke Cage Noir Luke Cage is a Harlem man who gains a reputation for being the bulletproof "Power Man" after attacking a corrupt police officer and being shot without any apparent injuries. After serving ten years behind bars for the fight, he returns home to a changed Harlem in a very segregated America during Prohibition.
Cage finds that an old friend of his, Willis Stryker, has become a major player in New York's underworld through bootlegging and other rackets. He goes to Stryker's nightclub seeking information on his pre-incarceration girlfriend Josephine Hall. Stryker tells him that Josephine died in an apartment fire, but Cage is quietly suspicious. Stryker offers Cage a job and is further impressed by Cage's handling of a vengeful pimp.
After leaving the nightclub, he is invited into a limousine by a wealthy white man named Randall Banticoff. He also offers Cage a job, in this case the investigation of his wife's (Daisy Banticoff) murder in Harlem. Cage accepts in exchange for the clearing of his criminal record. He gains admission to the city morgue and sees through bloating that the wife has been dead longer than has been reported.
Still bothered by Stryker's story, Cage goes to the cemetery and digs up Josephine's grave. He opens her coffin and finds it empty. He also sees a man named Tombstone standing over him with a shotgun and a pack of dogs. There is a flashback to a club where Cage sees a man acting inappropriately toward a dancer. Cage throws him out of the club and beats him, only to find that he was a cop. Tombstone is shown holding a gun to Cage to protect the cop. Back in the present, Cage finds a booklet from a church in the tombstone, gets knocked out by Tombstone and is told to leave town.
Cage goes out to investigate further but runs into Banticoff who gives him more money to continue the investigation. Cage sees officer Rachman get into a car across the street and follows him to a jazz lounge and sees money being given to a flapper named Jackie. Cage follows Jackie and ends up at her apartment. Jackie's man holds a shotgun to Cage's head, and Cage tells him that she has been with Banticoff. He is knocked out and wakes up to find a messy apartment, a lease to the apartment under his name, and the cops banging on the door. He realizes he was being set up. He escapes to the rooftop but is confronted by Tombstone, officer Rachman, and other cops. Rachman tries to arrest Cage for Daisy's murder. Cage rebuttals by saying that it was impossible because she was murdered before he was released from Prison, but Rachman holds forged release papers.
Cage creates a distraction which ends up in a fist fight with Tombstone, whose gun is stolen and used to shoot a supporting leg of a water tower, allowing Cage to escape. He goes to the church on the booklet he found in Josephine's tombstone and finds her there, disfigured. He immediately seeks out Stryker. Stryker offers Cage a farm in Maryland and cash. When asked why, Strykers says simply because Cage should be dead, but instead he is seen as a hero who could not be shot and killed. Stryker offers to take Cage out to buy new clothes, but Cage escapes by setting fire to the building.
He finds Jackie at a train station. He throws her onto the rails to make her talk. She reveals that Tombstone moved up in power for protecting the cop Cage attacked. Using that power and financial backing from someone downtown, he ran hooch, heroin, and prostitution rings in Harlem. Jackie goes on to reveal that Rachman went after Josephine when she rejected his advances, and Stryker aided in helping her disappear. Cage tries to save Jackie, but she gets hit by the train.
Cage goes back to Jackie's apartment to find photos of Daisy on the wall. He links them to a particular photographer and tracks him down. He finds out Rachman is somehow linked to the photos of Daisy. Cage goes to Stryker's nightclub for answers but does not find what he is looking for. He takes the money then sets fire to the place and is later shown putting the money in a safe deposit box. In a flashback, it is revealed that Cage was shot by Tombstone the night he attacked the officer, but the bullets had hit a metal flask in his jacket, and he was able to survive. Back in the present, it is revealed that Stryker and Tombstone are holding Lucas Cage Jr., Luke Cage's son, hostage. Randall Banticoff is shown being kidnapped but escapes to a police station.
Cage goes back to the morgue to get another look at Daisy's body to confirm his suspicion that the swelling was actually from her being pregnant. Someone had cut into her and removed the fetus. Tombstone followed Cage to the morgue and they fight. Tombstone reveals that Cage's incarceration was an elaborate set-up: Tombstone needed a cop on his side to run his illegal rackets. He tells Rachman that a dancer at the club, revealed to be Josephine, was interested in white men like Rachman. Recalling the previous flashback, it is revealed that Cage actually attacks Rachman for hitting on Josephine so that Tombstone could save him as a publicity stunt to gain favor with the cops. Tombstone was sent to kill Josephine but ends up disfiguring her instead. Cage is outraged and kills Tombstone. Rachman is waiting in a car outside. Cage, pretending to be Tombstone, drives the car and Rachman over a bridge to his death.
Cage goes to the church and finds out from Josephine that Stryker is holding Cage Jr. hostage as a shield. He puts the word out to Stryker to arrange a meeting. They end up at barbershop they both used to frequent. Stryker is there holding a sharp object to Cage Jr. Cage and Stryker engage in a fight, but the barber helps out, giving Cage a chance to finish off Stryker. A picture of several soldiers falls off the wall, and Cage pieces together the pieces to this case. He gives the key to the safe deposit box to his son before leaving.
He confronts Banticoff and lays the story out straight: one of the soldiers in the picture is revealed to be Banticoff. He was a buffalo soldier, a black soldier who saw freedom in Paris after the war but goes back home and is afraid of losing that freedom and respect. He reinvents himself as light-skinned, passing for white, and is accepted into upper-class society. He marries a wealthy socialite, using her money to finance Tombstone and his gang in Harlem. In a twist, Daisy announces she is pregnant, despite Banticoff becoming sterile due to an accident during the war. He is fearful that the child would bring to light his identity and decides to kill her before she can give birth. He needs someone to pin it on, someone like Cage. Banticoff is flustered and shoots Cage, who's seemingly unharmed. Cage then throws Banticoff out the window to his death.
Cage is not actually bulletproof in this reality. He dies from his bullet wound from Banticoff, but remains a legend in his community for taking multiple gunshots and escaping seemingly unscathed.
Punisher Noir