The new Spider-Man animated series is full of thrills and unexpected surprises.
It’s a great time to be a Spider-Man fan, and who isn’t a Spider-Man fan? In the world of comics, Ultimate Spider-Man is telling the story of a Peter Parker who wasn’t bitten by his radioactive spider until his mid-thirties, and now, we have a season of television that takes the familiar beats of an ‘early days’ Spider-Man and remixes them for a modern-day audience.
Clearly, there’s something about the beginning of a Spider-Man’s career that audiences and storytellers find compelling. I was expecting to experience some fatigue around the concept with Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man given how recently I both read ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ and (re)watched the Sam Raimi movies, and I was completely surprised by how fresh it felt instead.
So fresh, in fact, that I am compelled to write this review to convince any fence-sitters that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is worth your time.
Taking place in an alternate universe that will feel familiar to fans of Spider-Man’s MCU incarnation, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man tells the story of a teenage Peter Parker as he struggles to maintain his relationships and fight crime as Spider-Man, mentored all the while by the CEO of Oscorp, Norman Osborne.
While, yes, this is absolutely a Spider-Man series filled with enough hero versus villain showdowns to make a nerd squeal, what makes Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man so unique in the world of Spider-Man stories is it’s supporting cast. Honestly, they’re the whole reason to watch the show.
While there are certainly some familiar faces here, the show successfully attempts to deliver us something new, particularly in the characters of Nico, Lonnie, and Pearl. Nico is Peter’s new best friend, Lonnie’s the school’s star football player, and Pearl is Peter’s crush. All three of these characters get their own arcs and emotional beats, but Lonnie is the highlight.
While it was initially fun in a ‘What If…?’ kind of way to see Norman Osborne take Peter under his wing the same way that Tony Stark did in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it was when the narrative began to shift to focus on Lonnie that I really started to engage emotionally with the story. I know how Spider-Man will react and make choices—and there’s comfort and joy in that—but Lonnie was a total wild card character-arc-wise and it was great fun watching his arc play out.
Circumstances force Lonnie to join a gang, and from there, things don’t exactly get easier for him. You’d honestly forget you’re watching a Spider-Man show during the Lonnie-centric sequences, but that’s honestly not a bad thing. Also feeling fresh is the Harry Osborne character. Even though he’s a classic Peter Parker pal, he’s worked into the story in a new way here by way of his father’s new mentorship position.
Daredevil also makes an exciting appearance—voiced by his live-action counterpart, Charlie Cox—but it’s more of a flavour of what’s to come in future seasons (I hope). I’m very biased but I would’ve loved to have seen the character used more because he adds a new dynamic to Peter’s whole lack of a father figure thing.
Perhaps it’s controversial to say given the comments I’ve seen online, but I also think the show looks great. It’s bright and colourful, and I quite like the effect of the strong shadows and outlines even if there isn’t very much shading or playing with the form or style of animation like there is in the Spider-Verse movies. The animation is never as impressive or striking as it is in, say, X-Men ’97, but it worked for me. The fight scenes especially were just great fun.
Speaking of fight scenes, Peter gets whooped in this show, which I love. I was genuinely shocked at the level of violence that’s inflicted on the chap, but I loved it. Being Spider-Man should never be easy for Peter, and the level of physical threat in the show reflects that. I maybe could’ve done with giving him a harder emotional time, too. It’s not like his personal life was overly simple or anything, but the story does kind of forget about Aunt May, and while his friendships are complicated, I’m not sure said complications took a strong-enough toll on Peter.
All that said, there’s nothing boring about Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It's well-paced, humorous, and has a fun overarching plot involving an underground arms dealer. I'm excited by the long-term potential of the show, and with at least two more seasons confirmed to be on the way, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is shaping up to be one of Marvel's best shows on Disney+.
It's really very simple: if you like Spider-Man, you'll like this show. And who isn't a fan of Spider-Man?
Thanks for reading my 'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' review. If you liked it, consider checking out my wishlist or buying me a cup of coffee at https://ko-fi.com/kieranobrien or below.
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