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Brendan Gleeson has joined the cast of the Spider-Man Noir series, per Variety. Who he'll be in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video/Sony collab is yet to be revealed, but in the spirit of Nicolas Cage's private-eye Peter Parker, we've decided to offer some theories of our own. 

Norman Osborn

According to the article linked above, Gleeson is "believed to be playing the main villain" of the series, which is set in an alternate 1930s NYC. Wherever it's set, the term "main villain" of a Spider-Man series brings one character to the top of any fan's mind, and that is, of course, Norman Osborn. Gleeson's chops playing the character of Mad-Eye Moody in the Harry Potter franchise would lend themselves to a comic book villain in the zany vein of Green Goblin, although perhaps Norman isn't the Goblin we're looking for...

Harry Osborn

The thing is, Spider-Noir (as it's known at Amazon) will focus on an aged-up web-slinger with his past as a superhero already behind him. With that in mind, it could be that Gleeson would be playing an older Harry Osborn rather than his father, which would be a great foil to an older Peter Parker. So many good noir stories are about a character's past coming back to haunt them; what better way to make that happen than by bringing Spider-Man's ex-bestie back into his life?

Kingpin

If there's any sort of mafia element to Spider-Noir, then there are few better Marvel villains to bring aboard than Wilson Fisk. His full title, after all, is "The Kingpin of Crime," and even though most people now associate the character with Daredevil, Fisk was originally introduced as a member of Spider-Man's rogue gallery all the way back in 1967's The Amazing Spider-Man #50. That said, Gleeson would be competing with the very popular Vincent D'Onofrio to portray the villain, which may be too much baggage for Amazon & Sony.

Fortunately, there's another mobbed-up Marvelite they could choose.

Tombstone

Featured in Marvel's 2023 Gang War event, Tombstone played the role of Kingpin's bodyguard in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which introduced the public at large to Spider-Man Noir. So it would make sense that the crime boss would make his way back into Spidey's web. Gleeson doesn't have the body-builder look that Tombstone is given in most media, but the benefit of adapting a lesser-known character is that you can play with his comic book roots and not enrage the fanbase.

And speaking of enraging the fanbase...

Mephisto

Hear me out - if this series is going to be all about Spider-Man grappling with his past, there is one (extremely controversial) Marvel storyline that deals with just that - One More Day. Don't be shocked at the idea of a Marvel film project being willing to use the much-hated storyline; pieces of it made it into the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Combine that with the fact that Marvel film fans have been theorizing about a live-action adaptation of the devilish villain since, what, WandaVision?, and the idea isn't as crazy as it may seem at first.

And hey, Brendan Gleeson has already portrayed Trump. Satan himself couldn't be that much harder.

Keep an eye on Popverse for more news regarding Amazon Prime Video & Sony's Spider-Man Noir.

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's 10 best Spider-Man comic books, our Spider-Man movie watch order, and if you want our opinions on the subject, read our articles ranking Spider-Man's actors and Spider-Man's girlfriends.