The Oscar winner also explained that he passed on playing Green Goblin in 2002’s ‘Spider-Man’ to do “a much smaller noir of sorts”

NEED TO KNOW

• Nicolas Cage revealed exclusively to PEOPLE whether he prefers playing the hero or the villain throughout his career
• The Oscar winner turned down playing Green Goblin in 2002’s Spider-Man to star in the Oscar-nominated Adaptation
• Cage plays Ben Reilly in Spider-Noir, a new series blending influences like Humphrey Bogart and Stan Lee’s Spider-Man

Nicolas Cage makes sure he never gets "trapped" into "doing one thing."

While at the Spider-Noir premiere at the Regal Times Square in New York City on May 13, the 62-year-old Oscar winner explained whether he had a preference between playing heroes or villains across his extensive career.

“Villain? I've played plenty of villains. I like both. I think they're both important parts of cinema. I would not want to get trapped into doing one thing,” he exclusively told PEOPLE.

Cage also explained he talked to Spider-Man director Sam Raimi about possibly playing Green Goblin in the early 2000s, but he decided to star in 2002’s Adaptation, as he felt that "was the right choice at the time."

“I decided to do another movie, a much smaller noir of sorts, more romantic than tragic noir,” he added of Adaptation. “But I remember saying to Sam, ‘I hope whoever you cast [as Spider-Man] really embraces the arachnid body language, at least for one moment. Alone in his apartment, he's crawling on the ceiling or something."

The part of Green Goblin ultimately went to Willem Dafoe, while Tobey Maguire starred as Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Cage was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for starring in Adaptation. He previously won an Oscar for Best Actor for 1995's Leaving Las Vegas.

After passing on Green Goblin, Cage got another chance to star in Marvel films as Ghost Rider in the 2007 film and its 2011 sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

He has also dabbled playing villains over the years, like becoming unrecognizable to portray an eerie serial killer in 2024's Longlegs and showcasing his alter ego Nicky Cage in 2022's meta flick The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Now, in Spider-Noir, Cage plays Ben Reilly, a private investigator in 1930s N.Y.C. with spidey senses, who he previously voiced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. However, according to Variety, the show is not connected to the Spider-Verse movies. It is based on the Spider-Man Noir comic series, which debuted in 2008, per Marvel.

The series also stars Lamorne Morris, Abraham Popoola, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Brendan Gleeson and Jack Huston.

According to a synopsis, Spider-Noir's Ben "is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city's one and only superhero."

Cage told PEOPLE that while approaching the role, he wanted to blend “some of my favorite old-style actors, [James] Cagney, [Humphrey] Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and collide them with Stan Lee's masterpiece, Spider-Man, and create something new.” 

He also referenced wanting to "create this almost like pop-art Lichtenstein painting and performance style." In a separate interview with Esquire in February, Cage called his character "70 percent Bogart, and 30 percent Bugs Bunny."

As part of Cage's role as Ben, the actor had to do a few stunts that brought "my adrenaline up."

"I don't have any crazy stories," Cage said. "I did a lot of wirework, which is understandable since this character is flying around quite a bit on webs. I always get a kick out of that."

"Everybody was on point so I was safe," he added. "But for me, that's just the fun part of doing this. Primarily, I was focused on trying to craft this performance style that would fit in the black-and-white format."

The series will be available to stream in two versions: "Authentic Black & White" and "True-Hue Full Color."

"The truth is, they both work and they're beautiful for different reasons,” Cage told Esquire. "The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option."

"It matches my concept of how to portray a film noir. But the truth is, they both work and they're beautiful for different reasons," he added. "The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option. If they want to experience the concept in black and white, maybe that would instill some interest in them to look at earlier movies and enjoy that as an art form as well."

Following Spider-Noir, Cage is set to star as John Madden alongside Christian Bale in the NFL biopic Madden, slated to hit theaters on Thanksgiving. Per the synopsis, it "follows Madden's remarkable journey — from his Super Bowl-winning partnership with Al Davis and the Raiders, to creating Madden NFL, and becoming one of the most iconic voices in football history."

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Spider-Noir premieres on MGM+ on May 25 and on Prime Video on May 27.

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