Marvel Noir


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

Series

Daredevil Noir

One night, Daredevil infiltrates a building where the Kingpin is expecting him. The two confront each other and discuss what has happened in the past week involving Orville Halloran. In his childhood, Matt Murdock was blinded by his father Jack Murdock's assassin who brutally slammed his head into a brick wall, leaving him blind. Though he did wish to become a lawyer, his impoverished lifestyle denied it, leaving him to be a performer instead, under the name Daredevil. Later he took to the streets as a vigilante, killing criminals to avenge those they killed. Matt now works with Foggy Nelson and was in his office until one afternoon a woman named Eliza entered the room and offered a way to bring down Halloran. When she left the office, Foggy has doubts and turns to Matt, but Matt convinced him that she is telling the truth and left the office to investigate. Meanwhile, Fisk is with Halloran in a restaurant discussing about the identity of Daredevil being Jack Murdock's son.
However, one night, a police officer sees three cars, two being police cars and one being the gangster's car, and witnesses five men being killed by the Bullseye Killer and believe that he is one of Halloran's men. Back in the office, both Foggy and Matt discuss Halloran making his move against Fisk, and Matt worries that Eliza will be caught in the middle of it. When Foggy said that Eliza mentioned Halloran putting money on Matt's father throwing the fight on the night he was killed, Matt left the office to find out. Matt went to a bar called Dilooly and met with Eliza there to confirm what Eliza said to Foggy was true about his father, which she did confirm and told Matt not to do anything that would get him killed. When Matt was walking on the street he heard a woman scream, which he quickly dressed up in his Daredevil uniform and apprehended the assailant, however it was revealed to be a setup by Wilson Fisk who wanted to meet him and revealed that Halloran was the one who killed his father.
The next night, Matt followed Eliza around the city to look over her, but suddenly a fight broke out in the "Landmark Inn" where a bartender revealed that the Bullseye Killer was here before dying. With no sign of Eliza and Hell's Kitchen being threatened, Matt went throughout the city to find the whereabouts of Halloran from his men. He went back to Foggy's office to reveal that he knows where Halloran is and plans to get Eliza back, but Foggy has doubts about if Matt ever had her. Matt went to the harbor and found Halloran there, who was expecting him to arrive. Matt figured out that Halloran killed his father and told Fisk, who then told him about it, which would lead Matt coming to him. However, what shocked him is that Eliza was there, who was surprised that she can lie to him, but what surprised Matt is that Halloran revealed that Eliza is the Bullseye Killer. Surprised by the news, Matt figured out that she is one of Fisk's employers, which Halloran refused to believe until Eliza killed him.
With Halloran dead and Eliza killing the rest of Halloran's men, the two fought constantly, with Eliza gaining the upper hand, but Matt eagerly charged into her, but both landed into the sea. This made Eliza unable to throw well, which gave Matt an advantage as he began to strangle her to death with a chain and Eliza trying to fight back until she was unconscious, but Matt could not finish her off because he still loved her and dragged her back to the surface. The Police arrived and Matt left, leaving Eliza in police custody. Matt returned to Foggy's office and revealed to him that Eliza was the Bullseye Killer, which surprised him, but also revealed that he could not kill her because he still has feelings for her. Foggy comforts him until Matt decides to go after Fisk. Returning to the present, Matt and Fisk end their discussion and the series ends with the two beginning to fight each other.

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

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 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 safety 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 safety 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 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.