Spider-Noir Recreates A Very Stupid Moment From Christopher Reeve's Superman Movies

Contains spoilers for "Spider-Noir" Episode 4 — "A Mistake I'll Never Make Again"

Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage) in "Spider-Noir" is a very different type of superhero. He drinks and almost seems reluctant to help others unless there's a payday involved. But no matter how different the hero is, some tropes are bound to emerge, and "Spider-Noir" steals a moment straight from "Superman II," one of the best sci-fi movies from 1980 and a formative superhero picture.

In Episode 4 of "Spider-Noir," "A Mistake I'll Never Make Again," Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li) visits Ben after his fight with Megawatt (Andrew Lewis Caldwell). Cat and Ben have spent a good amount of time together so far, gradually developing a more romantic connection, and it appears Cat has become suspicious that Ben is holding something back. To prove it, Cat throws herself out of a window, forcing Ben to use his webbing to catch her. This confirms that he is in fact the Spider, something she knew Ben wouldn't tell her of his own volition.

It's the same move Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) pulls in "Superman II" when she leaps out of a window so that Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) will fly down and save her, proving he's Superman. Clark still tries to maintain his secret identity and secretly saves Lois by slowing down her fall using his super breath and making an awning appear to catch her. But later, Clark accidentally falls into a fire pit, and Lois realizes his hand isn't burnt at all, which finally reveals his true nature. Both women must think they're pretty wily, but in actuality, this is a very dumb move to make, and it's weird that it's a cliché now.

"Superman II" often ranks as one of the best superhero movies of all time, or at least one of the best sequels. But Lois throwing herself out a window is a baffling scene, especially because Clark still manages to trick her, and at the end of it, she would probably have to assume he's just a regular guy. But she keeps insisting he's Superman. In fact, there's a deleted scene from Richard Donner's director's cut where she shoots him with a gun. She's using blanks, but Clark doesn't know that and ends up revealing everything. This is one of many superhero movie scenes you probably never knew existed, but it feels far more active compared to the fire pit scene. 

But back to "Spider-Noir" — jumping out of a window to prove a point is incredibly stupid. There was no guarantee that Ben Reilly was the Spider, even if Cat was fairly certain. It could have all been a series of coincidences. She might have jumped out of the window and met her doom, with Ben left wondering, "Why the hell did she do that?"

While Cat's decision is dumb, it's at least somewhat refreshing to see. The idea of secret identities in superhero projects is largely a relic of the past. Ever since Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealed he was Iron Man, many on-screen superheroes simply don't have masks or bother hiding who they truly are. There are always exceptions, of course, chief among them Spider-Man, and "Spider-Noir" proves that these stories can still derive a ton of tension by making the hero wary of anyone trying to get too close. At least Cat didn't try to shoot Ben to prove that he has superpowers.