The Spider-Man Noir levels offered a stark contrast to the bright and open areas of the Amazing universe. For those who aren't up to speed on the Noir universe, Spider-Man Noir was introduced in 2009 via a four-issue miniseries that reimagined the character as a hero in the Depression era. While he's still empowered by a spider bite, this time out the spider is mystic as opposed to irradiated. The result is still a broad range of spiderlike powers, which include organic webshooters in Spidey's forearms that he uses to fight crime. The costume he winds up using is drastically different from the traditional outfit, reflecting the era and also a hefty dose of creative license. The new approach also reimagined many of the classic Spider-Man villains. As a result, the Noir levels we saw were darker and focused on a more deliberate style of gameplay that relied on keeping to the shadows and stealthily taking out enemies. The first level was set in a train yard and had Spidey slinking around and picking off his foes one by one, since being detected appeared to lead to failure. The second level was the interior of a train switching area. It culminated in a boss fight with Hammerhead, who was manning a massive machine gun on a rotating platform. One thing to note about Hammerhead's appearance is that the classic villain hasn't made an appearance in the Noir books yet. Activision and Beenox felt the tough-headed gangster would be a good fit for the Noir levels and got Marvel's approval to make him over.
