Prime Video's New 91% Action Show Is Officially Making Reacher Look Small

2 hours ago 11

Published Jun 14, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT

Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones.

You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep."

Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant.

With a distinctive protagonist, regular stunt scenes, and a format that means you can begin with any season, it is not surprising that Reacher is one of Prime Video's best action thrillers. The show's first season was explosive, setting up the iconic Jack Reacher and even giving viewers some of the best Reacher side characters so far, while improving the titular character by making him more talkative than the book series' famously stoic version. The three Reacher seasons have proven that the show has a lot of potential, but this pales in comparison to Prime Video's latest action series.

At first glance, Prime Video's new global smash hit has little in common with Reacher, but the two shows have some surprising similarities. The protagonists of both series are loners who investigate crimes, with some hilarious one-liners and a unique set of skills that allow for some excellent action scenes. Both are based on enormously successful source material, and you do not need to be a fan of the original stories to enjoy either series. However, Prime Video's Spider-Noir highlights Reacher's limitations, both as a character and as a show.

Spider-Noir might be part of the Spider-Man universe, but the violent and gritty crime show is entirely unlike the brightly-colored superhero aesthetic many people are used to. The series is shot like a cinematic film-noir, with the option to watch it in black and white or color, and feels closer to a gangster drama than a Marvel comic. Reacher's strength can often make him seem superhuman, but Spider-Noir's Ben Reilly really is superhuman, and while the series hits many classic film-noir genre tropes, the show is still full of twists that make even some of Reacher's biggest shocks feel small.

Both Reacher and Spider-Noir's released seasons all have eight episodes and are self-contained, and you can binge Spider-Noir in a weekend, setting aside some time to recover from the body-horror-focused "Nightmare on a Gurney," which is easily one of the best TV episodes of 2026 so far. Reacher has some disturbing visuals, but none compare to the "spider scene" in the episode, and action thriller fans who do not usually enjoy the superhero genre should give Spider-Noir a go, especially fans of Jack Reacher as a character.

Why Reacher Fans Should Watch Spider-Noir

Li Jun Li looking glamorous in Prime Video's Spider-Noir series

Nicolas Cage's Ben Reilly is a typical film-noir hero. He is world-weary, jaded, mostly retired, and takes absolutely no nonsense. This description could have applied to Jack Reacher, if the TV show had dimmed the lights and followed the books by keeping his inner monologue. Both characters are at home in the underworld and have dangerous pasts that their respective shows explore, so fans of the dark and gritty aspects of Reacher should watch Spider-Noir next for a show that leans into this tone while offering something completely new.

Both Reacher and Spider-Noir's first seasons have strikingly similar Rotten Tomatoes scores, with 91% positive audience ratings, though Reacher's 92% critics' rating beat Spider-Noir's by one point. Still, Spider-Noir's reviews have praised the show's action scenes, pulpy feel, and bingeable format, which are the same factors that Reacher reviews also tend to mention. That said, one person's review has revealed something interesting about the two shows.

Comparing Reacher with Spider-Noir

Title	Year	Seasons aired	Rotten Tomatoes critics' rating	Rotten Tomatoes audience rating
Reacher	2022	3	96%	80%
Spider-Noir	2026	1	91%	91%

Stephen King is a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books, and often prefers TV to movies. As he has often shared his favorite TV shows on his social media, it seemed logical that he would recommend Reacher. However, while he has not commented on the Reacher adaptation. Stephen King had a major reaction to Spider-Noir. King praised Cage's performance and described Spider-Noir on Threads, saying that the black and white version is "pure pulp perfection." Spider-Noir is a wild ride and interested Reacher fans may discover a new genre and a new favorite protagonist.

Source: Threads