Marvel’s latest Disney+ animated series is called Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and it’s another origin story for the webcrawler, but with one brings some hefty changes with it as it explores an alternate history that exchanges Tony Stark’s tutelage for a mentoring Norman Osborne. The first trailer is full of nostalgia for the ‘60s comic books that launched the superhero, but with some stutter-y cel-shaded visuals that aren’t rubbing everyone the right way.
Streaming on Disney+ starting January 29, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man tracks Peter Parker experimenting with his powers, costumes, and burgeoning social media popularity while juggling friendships and homework. The first trailer also teases the show’s different timeline in which Osborne, who is normally the Green Goblin, is the technological visionary standing by Spider-Man’s side instead of Stark’s Iron Man. It ends with a first look at the web-slinger’s white and black Fantastic Four suit as well.
Parker is voiced by Hudson Thomas, Osborne by Colman Domingo, and Aunt May by Kari Wahlgreen, with appearances by Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, Hugh Dancy’s Doctor Octopus, and other members of the Spider-Man supporting cast. Originally pitched as an origin story for Tom Holland’s version of the character in the MCU, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is now its own thing, free from the shackles of the live-action productions’ deep and convoluted lore.
The trailer nails the fusion of modern sensibilities with retro-looking styles, though its lithograph-inspired animation isn’t impressing everyone. Some fans think it looks too choppy and flat. Others are wondering if it’s a budget issue or if this was the intended effect. It certainly doesn’t look smooth, but the comic-book aesthetic comes with its own virtues.
There are already plenty of Spider-Man cartoons in more traditional styles, so I’m excited to see something that’s taking a fresh visual approach to the well-worn source material. Then again, I’ll also go to the mat defending the wild-looking 3D MTV series from 2003.
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