DC's Official Answer To Spider-Noir Could Be Even Better Than Marvel's
Published Jun 6, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT
Derek is the Training Lead for ScreenRant. Before his current position, he spent 20 years working in games, TV, and film while also writing for several entertainment sites.
Derek is also the co-host of three pop culture podcasts: Across the Omniverse, The Bad Batch, and Watch Men.
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With critics raving and fans loving every minute of it, it's clear that Spider-Noir is connecting with audiences. The live-action show, starring Nicolas Cage and building the story around his character from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is set in New York during the Great Depression and leans into the film noir style that would become so popular at the time. Not only does the writing match the dialogue of classic movies like Fury and Bullets or Ballots, it also captures the look, especially if you watch the show in black and white.
But what old-school DC Comics fans can't help but wonder is how the company, which was actually making comics at the time Spider-Noir is set in, was beat to the punch on this kind of show. After all, DC literally stands for "Detective Comics." Before Superman, and even after him, DC kept kids coming back issue after issue by showcasing the rough and tumble adventures of the best down and dirty detectives taking on the underworld. And, in the 1990s, the company brought that feeling back — with a modern and much more adult feel — with one of the best series to come out of Vertigo Comics... Sandman Mystery Theatre.
Sandman Mystery Theatre Mixes The Golden Age With The Modern
Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle, with art by a rotating crew that included Guy Davis, John Watkiss, and Michael Lark, Sandman Mystery Theatre took DC's original Sandman, Wesley Dodds, and built on his mythology as a gas mask wearing vigilante solving crimes with his fiancé, Dian Belmont. The series, lasting 70 issues, not only centered on wild mysteries and murders, but also looked at race, class, and gender issues of the 1930s and 40s through a more modern prism.
Like Spider-Noir, Sandman Mystery Theatre managed to capture the feel of classic detective stories while adding a dash of superheroics to the whole affair. But, unlike Spider-Noir, DC didn't need to concoct a new hero to fit into that time, and it didn't force references to modern comics or characters into the stories, allowing it to all play out more naturally. The series was such a success that, even though it was set out of continuity, much of it became canon. At the same time, the series heightened aspects of the Golden Age stories, like how Dian was Sandman's partner and not a Lois Lane type who constantly needed saving, to bring out the best elements of the original tales.
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It was the budding relationship between Dian and Wesley that served as the backbone of the series. Seeing Dian start off as a young carefree girl just out of college and turn into a detective in her own right while, at the same time, readers watched Wesley shift from a loner who struggled to hold a conversation into the dashing and confident man that the Golden Age stories made him out to be kept people coming back issue after issue.
Sandman Mystery Theatre Has All The Elements Of A Hit Show
Sandman Mystery Theatre first hit comics stands in 1993, and there was no way Matt Wagner or anyone else who worked on the book could have seen the modern superhero and TV landscape, but they still managed to create a book that would fit perfectly into it. The series moves at a quick pace, and most mysteries are solved in four issues (with some taking as little as two). In an era where TV shows have shorter seasons, this type of storytelling can help assure the viewer that they won't be left waiting for answers for years on end, even as the overarching story plays out.
And, in terms of superhero shows, it would also be a cheaper one. Aside from the time period, Sandman Mystery Theatre doesn't need the big costumes or CGI effects that shows like She-Hulk, Secret Invasion, or Spider-Noir required. The hero walks around in a gas mask and a trench coat and sprays sleep gas at people. Not exactly a budget buster. It is the mysteries and the growing relationship between Wesley and Dian that makes the story sing, not the action and SFX.
And, best of all, the show has already been set up in the DCU. The Wesley Dodds Sandman appears in the superhero mural in Superman. He is an existing figure in the universe and, based on his placement int he mural, he is from the 1930s. All the elements for a great series are in place. DC just needs to make it happen.
Created by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson
Character(s) Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam
Movie(s) Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder's Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold
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