Spiderman Noir

Spiderman Noir

            Spiderman Noir is a fictional spy character from the mid-1930s created by artist Carmine Di Giandomenico and writers Fabrice Sapolsky and David Hine. The character first appeared in the movie Spider-Man: Noir #1 which premiered in February 2009, and was the first part with subsequent three-issue miniseries. Being a part of the Marvel superhero franchises, Spiderman Noir is an alternative version of Spiderman. The character, Spiderman Noir, tells the story of a young rabble-rouser named Peter Parker. Peter is greatly outraged by the injustices facing New York City, coupled with his ardent goal to prove that his Uncle Ben was killed by The Goblin and his goons. Peter is driven by the values and idealism that his Uncle Ben and Aunt May instilled in him and his belief that those in power cannot be trusted. He holds that it is the responsibility of the people to pursue justice and remove these criminals from power.

While secretly conducting an investigation in a smuggling ring of ancient spider statues, Peter is accidentally bitten by a highly venomous spider-like god. Instead of the spider venom killing him, it gave him superhero abilities like those of a spider, including, enhanced agility, speed, strength, durability, and reflexes. With these, Peter was able to crawl up walls effortlessly, shoot liquid silk from his wrists, shoot webbing nets, as well as maneuver easily between rooftops and buildings. In addition, he also acquired an additional sense that alerts him of unseen dangers. Taking advantage of his newly acquired superhero abilities, Peter wages war against the criminal New York City underworld as a ruthless and feared vigilante to avenge the deaths of his Uncle Ben and Ben Urich, his mentor, at the hands of Norman Osborn, the City’s major crime lord.

I chose the character of Spiderman Noir because I am an ardent believer that where the justice system does not work in favour of the people, it is the responsibility of the people to devise ways to bring people to justice, especially those who use their powerful positions to evade justice. As such, I believe that in cases where justice does not come about naturally, more deliberate means can be employed to hasten its arrival. Thus, I hold that people can be both the architectures and the administrators of justice.

This approach to justice can particularly be helpful when advocating for the rights of the most vulnerable groups in our societies and the wider public at large. In addition to my love for justice, the Spiderman Noir movies have overall been my favourite movies of all time, particularly, Into the Spider-Verse, the 2018 Spiderman Noir movie. I derive so much pleasure from seeing wrongdoers who have continually harmed people and evaded the law eventually being brought to justice. Thus, my choice of the Spiderman Noir character was inspired by my love for justice and the character’s clever ways to deliver justice throughout the miniseries.

The Spider Noir character, just like most super-human characters, has a special costume which he wears when going out on missions to seek out criminals and bring them to justice. His costume is composed of a durable Kevlar uniform which can withstand explosions and bullets, as well as a mask with goggles. Occasionally, Spiderman Noir uses a Tommy gun and a revolver to kill or injure criminals, especially corrupt politicians and crooked cops. Spiderman Noir’s full costume is composed of a fedora hat, black trench coat, hood mask, black pants, double-breasted vest, turtle neck sweater, tactical boots, leather gloves, military belt with pockets, aviator goggles, toy revolver gun, and a Rubik’s cube.

Spiderman Noir has a reason for wearing each article in his costume. Because he is a private eye, Spiderman Noir wears a black fedora hat to hide his eyes from the public. He also wears black and silver aviator goggles to hide his eyes, as he is filled with shame because of all the violence he has done. Spiderman Noir wears a black turtle neck sweater because of the cold in the night when he carries out his missions. He also wears a black double-breasted vest because that is what men wore in the 1930s. The character also wears a black trench coat, which he leaves open to let the wind flow wherever he goes. Spiderman Noir wears leather gloves since pleather had not been invented in the 1930’s. The black military belt with a pocket is his utility belt. His pair of black pants complement the rest of his attire. Spiderman Noir wears tactical boots since his duty demands a suitable captain’s footwear. Lastly, Spiderman Noir carries a colourful Rubik’s cube which, just like life, he cannot figure out as he can only see in black and white.

In order to come up with the Spiderman Noir cosplay, I researched on the Spiderman Noir Character in order to build on my already pre-existing knowledge. The first thing I did was to rewatch my favourite Spiderman Noir movie, Into the Spider-Verse. This helped me gather all the articles that make up his costume. I was also able to understand how this costume was useful for his character, combined with his superhero abilities. After watching the movie, I proceeded to the Marvel website online to research more about the character for any tit-bits I could have missed. I also did a bit of research online regarding the dos and don’ts when it comes to cosplay. Here, I was able to get a few tips on common mistakes to avoid when making a cosplay. Since all the costume articles for the Spiderman Noir character were not very complicated to gather, I decided to collect all of them in order to have the perfect Spiderman Noir cosplay look that truly reflected the character.

Armed with my list of costume articles, I started the process of assembling the requires costume articles. I split my list into three; articles that I already possessed and, therefore, did not need to buy, articles that I could get at retail stores, and finally, those I had to order from online stores. For articles that I already possessed, such as black pants and a Rubic’s cube, I collected them to check that they were still in good shape and that the pants could still fit. Next, I researched online on recommended places where I could purchase the rest of the articles that fit my requirements. With the leads I got online, I proceeded to make orders from credible online stores and thereafter purchased the remaining articles from nearby retail stores in order to begin designing the cosplay.

In designing the Spiderman Noir cosplay, I chose a plastic fedora hat because it does not trap heat. A plastic fedora hat was essential to avoid sweating, as Spiderman Noir never sweats. For the mask, I used a lycra mask with holes since it is easier to breathe through it than spandex. I purchased the black and silver aviator goggles from an online store. For the turtle neck sweater, black double-breasted vest and black trench coat, I selected those with the lightest materials from a nearby costume retailer because there would be several layers of clothing, and also to enhance breathability. For the leather gloves, I bought fabric gloves that look like leather from a costume shop. For the military belt with pockets, I bought a black belt with pockets in a costume shop and cut off all pockets except for one on the left-hand side. I purchased black captain boots from an online store. I did not need to buy black pants and a Rubik’s cube as I already had these, and they were in good shape, and the pants were fitting.

Looking back, I believe that my research for the Spiderman Noir cosplay was vital in assembling the Spiderman Noir costume as well as avoiding common pitfalls in cosplay. However, the captain boots ordered from online stores took longer to arrive than anticipated, and when they finally arrived, they were heavier than I had expected. Thankfully, I had ordered these in advance and, therefore, I had adequate time to look for an alternative, which I was able to get from a nearby retail shop. Thus, I believe that my detailed research work really paid off and made the project a success.