Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is one of the most unusual Marvel Studios projects in recent years. Hot on the heels of the success of X-Men ‘97, Marvel Studios Animation had set a high bar for itself, and from early previews of their take on an origin story for Spider-Man, fans assumed that the series was doomed to fail. Plagued by less than positive initial reactions to the show’s animation style, and some headache-inducingly cringeworthy comments from lead voice actor Hudson Thames, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was right on track to be yet another Marvel stinker.

However, perhaps having the bar set so painstakingly low actually worked in favour of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, because in short, this show was a lot more enjoyable for me than it had any right to be. Today, in light of the season one finale, we’re talking all things Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – however, if, like many, you’re hesitant to get into this series, and want to know if it’s worth your time without knowing where the show goes, we’ve got you covered. This will be a completely spoiler-free review of the series, so feel free to read ahead risk-free! With that being said, let’s get into the review.

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The Review

Image by Marvel Studios

Let’s get straight out of the gate here with a thesis statement of sorts, just to keep everything in line. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man absolutely exceeded my expectations, but ultimately, that wasn’t the most challenging feat to accomplish. Not only was the promotional material for the show less than stellar, but the early episodes of the series also did nothing to blow me out of the water. It does seem like the art of the pilot episode is a fading one these days – fans are constantly told to give a show a chance, to stick with it until it gets good – and unfortunately, I’m going to be telling you that exact same thing again today. However, trust me – if you’re a Spider-Man fan, I think sticking with this series will be worthwhile for you.

If I could give Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man a gold medal in anything, it would be the show’s ability to take some lesser-known, more underrated Spidey stories from the comics, and adapt them to the screen. While I won’t give away any specific details, let’s just say that the characters at the forefront of this story are not those you’ve seen steal the spotlight in Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, or even Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies. This means that if you’re not a comic fan, you really don’t know where this show is going to go next – and on the flip side, if you are a comic fan, you get to watch some real underdog characters make their way to the screen, and reach a wider audience with the MCU (well, MCU-adjacent at least).

Unfortunately, if you’re a hardcore comic book fan, you may be able to tell what characters appear in this series based on their real names. In that case, it may be best for you to bow out of this review here, because to really talk about this show, I do need to use character names. Ok, are we good? Is it safe to start talking about some characters? In that case – easily the most compelling storyline of the show is that of Lonnie Lincoln, a plotline that manages to be entertaining, heartfelt, and deeply moving at many points of the show. In all honesty, I was sometimes disappointed when the show cut away from Lonnie’s storyline to return to Peter Parker’s antics. Knowing Marvel, they could look to capitalise on their success with Lonnie here in some sort of spin-off show, and while I don’t love the idea of that, it would be far from the worst thing in the world, given how strong the character’s arc is.

Image by Marvel Studios

On that topic, the cast in general was fairly enjoyable, with strong voice acting performances all around. Easily the standout of the recurring cast was Nico Minoru, an unfamiliar face to many, but presented in this show as Peter’s best friend. While I won’t say too much about her actual story arc, it follows a fairly standard trope, until a certain point in the series where her storyline opens up endless possibilities for future seasons. Peter’s other partner-in-crime, the slightly more familiar Harry Osborn, is far less of a success story, however. Harry’s storyline here is a lot less consistent, and a lot less engaging, than his counterparts.

With that being said though, there are some ‘nothing-burger’ characters in this series. Pearl Pangan is the most prime example of this – a character who does very little in the show, adds very little to anyone else’s storyline, and yet seems to find herself present in practically every episode, and for fairly substantial chunks of time. There’s also a slightly creepy element to her character later on in the series, mainly due to her age, but I’ll leave the rest of that to you to discover. Pearl’s banality is particularly egregious when you consider how easily she could have been replaced by another, more well-known character, who herself doesn’t make an appearance in the show at all. I won’t say exactly who I’m talking about, but I’m sure you can surmise some idea of who it is.

Strangely enough, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was originally going to tell the origin story of the MCU’s Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland. That idea was scrapped though, so this is a completely new Peter, and if I’m honest, this isn’t really an origin story at all. Sure, the spider bite is shown in the early stages of the first episode, but after this, the show sort of jumps forward to all the web-slinging action you would expect from a Spider-Man already in motion. This is good and bad in a way – yes, it means we don’t have to sit through yet another take on Spidey’s origins. On the other hand though, it does mean that, yet again, MCU Spider-Man’s origins are sort of glossed over. For a company that loves its origin stories, Marvel have always given Spider-Man the short end of the stick in this regard, ever since his debut in Captain America: Civil War.

Image by Marvel Studios

Let’s talk about one of the more obvious elements of the series though – the animation. Well, I’m going to be honest. You do get used to it as the series goes along, but it never really gets good – or, at least, it never clicked for me personally. I understand that the whole look is based on the Steve Ditko days on The Amazing Spider-Man comics, but that nostalgia factor doesn’t make the cel-shading work in motion. The show feels far less like watching a comic book brought to life, and more like a choppy, CGI-fied flipbook. Maybe some viewers will gel to the animation, but for me, it was one of the things bringing the show down.

And now, unfortunately, we do need to talk about the MCU connection – as much as I don’t want to. I loved how X-Men ‘97 insisted on itself taking place in a completely separate universe to the mainline MCU – it let viewers enjoy the series, watching everything unfold without worrying about how what Storm just said ties into something Groot did in a movie ten years ago. While Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man does take place in an alternate timeline to the MCU (an idea I wish we would just scrap at this point), the similarities between this show’s timeline and the main MCU timeline are so apparent that it’s blatantly obvious this series was originally meant to follow Tom Holland’s Spidey. The events of this universe seem identical to those of the MCU in practically every way, except for the events directly surrounding Spider-Man. It just makes the whole thing confusing. X-Men ‘97 didn’t tease that the show was on the brink of crossing over with the MCU timeline. It just existed as itself – Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man would’ve really benefited from a similar approach.

What was also advertised in the show’s early stages was the fact that this take on Spider-Man would see him be mentored by Norman Osborn, as opposed to the usual, Otto Octavius’ apprentice approach. This storyline for me, ultimately, was a bit of a bust. There’s hints of a really intriguing, Superior Spider-Man-esque storyline that shine through at times, particularly when Osborn offers his advice to Peter behind closed doors. However, the show never really pushes the storyline forward. It’s ultimately surprising how little of a role Osborn actually plays in Peter’s life, despite how prevalent his position as Peter’s mentor was advertised. This is a hugely central story arc for the show, and for me, it falls a little flat.

Image by Marvel Studios

Luckily, the show is held together by fairly strong, compelling storytelling in all of the other storylines, as well as being packed full of delightful references for comic fans, and wild surprises for those unfamiliar with Spider-Man’s adventures on the comic scene. One of the best things about the series was how unexpected each new development was – you got the sense that the people behind this really did their research on Spider-Man, and were excited to throw all sorts of characters into the mix in creating their own world for the hero.

While I won’t give away anything about the season finale, it was also one of the show’s strongest points. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man got the formula down to a tee. The first season pulled viewers in, warmed them up to this new take on the classic hero using lesser-known, more original storylines. Now, in season two, Marvel Animation is setting up to kick this show into next gear, preparing to introduce the more universally beloved elements of Spider-Man stories. At first, when a second and third season were announced for this series, I sighed. Now, I can admit, I’ll definitely be catching those seasons when they arrive – the bar I, and many others, had set for this series has been exceeded – even if that wasn’t exactly a bombastic achievement.

Overall, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a flawed show, and far from the best Spider-Man content we’ve ever seen. Ultimately though, it exceeds any and all expectations for itself, creating a genuinely exciting and original new world for our favourite web-slinger to protect. I can’t wait to see where the next season takes us – I have a feeling it’ll take this series to a whole new level. What did you think of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? Will you be watching the show when it returns for season two? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

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Where to Watch Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

Image by Marvel Studios

You can catch all 10 episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, streaming now, on Disney Plus. If you can’t get enough of this universe, Marvel have also released a companion comic for the series, which we’ve also been reviewing right here on Nerdy Nook! Click below to check it out!

See also: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1 Review

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