'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' Stands Alongside Animated Superhero Classics

Created by Jeff Trammell

Starring Hudson Thames, Colman Domingo, Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy, Charlie Cox, Kari Wahlgren, Paul F. Tompkins, Cathy Ang

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

BY Matthew Simpson Published Jan 29, 2025

8

Spider-Man endures as one of the most iconic and relatable superheroes. He starts his journey when he's just a kid, learning hard lessons early about the nature of responsibility — everyone knows the quote — and he spends his time trying to balance his normal life with his superhero life, to varying degrees of success.

Peter Parker, in many ways, reflects us. He's constantly pulled in different directions, sacrificing the life he wants for the aforementioned responsibility he feels to help the people of New York. We've all felt this push-pull of different obligations, wants and needs, and while his includes swinging from buildings, punching super-powered bad guys and making jokes, we all experience the want to do better and the guilt of letting friends down — of missing out on one thing because of another.

This emotional core of Spider-Man is the key to a good adaptation. Almost anything else can be changed, from his costume and powers to his friends and family, as long as that sacrificial core remains intact, the story will feel true and relatable. We're living through a golden age of Spider-Man adaptations, with No Way Home, Across the Spider-Verse and the recent PlayStation games; we've had many distinct and unique versions of the character, but all of whom are recognizably Spider-Man. That golden age continues with the debut of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on Disney+.

Set in a universe slightly adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the series begins as most Spider-Man stories do: Peter Parker (voiced by Hudson Thames) gets bitten by a spider. In this case, the spider comes through a portal that Doctor Strange has opened while fighting a monster during the show's opening sequence.

After the fight and bite, the series makes one of many smart choices by jumping ahead six months, bypassing the montages of him figuring out his powers and designing a costume that we've sat through so many times before. Instead, we see him in action almost immediately.

His first costume looks great, a cross between a classic suit and a sports uniform, with a pressure tank on his back to power his clunky web shooters. New, interesting and visually dynamic, and very much Spider-Man.

The first episode draws to a close mirroring Peter Parker's introduction in the MCU, where a genius billionaire waits for him in his home — except, rather than Tony Stark, it's Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo).

The 10-episode series plays out like an extended What If...? story, in which Osborn mentors Spider-Man instead of Stark, and explores the idea of nature vs. nurture for our hero. Osborn, head of Oscorp (and the super-villain known as the Green Goblin in most versions) isn't exactly the best influence, as anyone might guess, but the series avoids Osborn becoming a moustache-twirling bad guy. Rather, he's something far more subtle: a man with seemingly altruistic goals willing to go perhaps a little too far to achieve them. It's very well-written, building to a natural conclusion and leaving plenty of open doors for both characters in a follow-up season.

Of course, no Spider-Man story would be complete without a cast of supporting characters and a well-stocked rogues gallery. Peter meets and saves his soon-to-be best friend, Nico Minoru (Grace Song), on the first day of school before he's bitten, offering a nice reminder that superpowers aren't what makes Spider-Man "Spider-Man." Peter's crush Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang) and classmate Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd) build out Peter's world; both of them should sound familiar to comic book readers. Fortunately, the series offers fresh, new versions of these characters, each with a story that brings them closer to Peter Parker and Spider-Man stories.

On the rogues gallery side, Doctor Octopus (Hugh Dancy), Scorpion, Rhino, Unicorn, Speed Demon and many more make an appearance, delivering fresh and interesting new imaginings while remaining true to their characters' core concepts. It'd be too spoiler-y to say much else, but the way the villains interact with Spider-Man, and in particular the way they interact with one another as allies and adversaries, remains true to their comic-book roots, much to my delight.

Visually, the series looks great. The art style resembles comic books, right down to the shaded cells and strong lines, but more to the point it, recreates the characters' appearance in the source material, including Norman Osborn's trademark wavy hair. Furthermore, the characters' animation resembles its source material in feel and aesthetic. It's an absolute joy to watch Spider-Man swing through the city with hyper-agility, using the environment when he fights.

While Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man tells the story of a high school teenager, that story and its themes remain accessible to both kids and adults alike, joining other classic animated series like The Spectacular Spider-Man, Harley Quinn and Batman: The Animated Series. The series distills the essence of its characters and story, providing a new twist on that essence and delivering one of the best versions of Spider-Man to date.

(Marvel Animation)

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