Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 1 Review

All 10 episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man watched for review. This is a spoiler-free review.

There’s a fair argument to be made that Marvel Studios has fumbled Spider-Man’s story. Taking him from the scrappy, broke, but ultimately optimistic do-gooder to the apprentice of a billionaire who practically has everything handed to him was a bold choice. Even if the decision was made to essentially retcon all of that and start from scratch, fans still have a bad taste left in their mouths. While it doesn’t exactly fix that main issue, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a refreshingly solid take on the webslinger that more than earns its spot in the halls of Spidey’s animated pantheon.

It was made clear before the premiere of the series that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man would not be canon to the MCU. This decision actually works in the show’s favor, as it offers up an alternate look (a What If…? if you will) at the MCU’s version of the wall-crawler that doesn’t entirely revolve around the Avengers or the mentorship of Tony Stark. Instead, what fans get is a pure Spider-Man story that carefully chooses which elements to remix and which to keep the same.

Related

RUMOR: Spider-Man 4 To Feature Peter Parker Teaming Up With This Anti-Hero Against Hulk

Spider-Man will reportedly join forces with an anti-hero in Spider-Man 4 to beat Hulk.

While superhero movies have ditched origin stories for the most part, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man chooses to show how Peter Parker came to get his powers. In typical MCU fashion, however, the scenario isn’t as clear-cut as a visit to a lab and a loose radioactive spider. This time around, the fateful bite comes amidst a battle outside Peter’s school featuring none other than Doctor Strange (as well as a vaguely familiar alien being). What the series smartly does, however, is forego Peter’s discovery of his powers and decision to become Spider-Man, jumping forward a few months to put the story in full swing.

Of course, the story isn’t just about Peter, but also the people in his life. That includes his friends Nico Minoru (Marvel fans will immediately clock this character as a member of the Runaways), Lonnie Lincoln (a name that will be familiar to Spidey fans), Pearl Pangan, Harry Osborn, and of course, Aunt May. In a creative twist on a pivotal Captain America: Civil War moment, Peter meets Norman Osborn in his apartment instead of Tony Stark.

This is the second point where the story largely diverges from Tom Holland’s take on the webslinger. It’s a wise choice, as it still imbues the series with that sense of difference from the MCU, but finds a way to introduce one of Spidey’s oldest and most nefarious adversaries at the same time. It’s also a clever way to remix the mentor-mentee relationship between Peter and an established billionaire with motives of his own. In this case, fans know where Norman’s story will eventually end up and it’s brilliant foreshadowing.

The characterization of Norman Osborn also makes a difference here. Colman Domingo’s voice performance expertly jumps back and forth between exuberant and stern, making it hard to get a read on Norman in the early episodes. Is he really different this time around? Or does he have an ulterior motive? The voice-acting in the series is solid across the board. Hudson Thames returns after voicing Peter Parker in What If…? to reprise the role. He lends this version of Parker a youthful energy while also still managing to hit the more serious beats with real emotion. The rest of the cast is stacked with experienced voice performers like Kari Wahlgren, Roger Craig Smith, Aleks Le, Paul F. Tompkins, and Phil LaMarr.

As solid as the voice acting is, it isn’t always supported by the most compelling character arcs. Peter is of course the main focus, and though his story strays from the typical one fans are used to, it still reflects his growth as a hero and reveals the struggles and responsibilities of his double life. Norman Osborn, similarly, reveals more of himself throughout the season, ultimately showing his true motives by the finale. Other than these two, most of the other characters are shunted into supporting roles without any real growth or change over 10 episodes. As Peter’s crush, Pearl is given surprisingly little to do throughout the season, acting more as a sounding board for the other characters. Nico and Harry’s stories intertwine in an interesting way, but this could likely be expanded upon in future (already confirmed) seasons.

The sole exception is Lonnie Lincoln. His fate won’t be spoiled here, but a simple Google search of the character will reveal where his story is headed. The show is particularly focused on why Lonnie ends up in the situation he does, and while there is some socially conscious commentary to be made about Lonnie’s circumstances in life, it becomes less nuanced as the show goes on. Still, Lonnie is a compelling character, and his arc nicely parallels and contrasts Peter’s. Overall, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man finds a great middle ground between the beats of a superhero story and the vibe of a late 90s or early 2000s teen show (particularly that of Smallville). The small, everyday problems are just as big as the big superpowered ones, and that makes for a great balance in the storytelling that’s been missing from so many Marvel projects.

Of course, the real question is whether the bright, cel-shaded animation does the storytelling justice. Luckily, the comic book appearance of the show, which also takes heavy inspiration from the original 1960s animated series is stunning. Like any modern animated show, there are moments where the animation is spare, but when it really needs to count, such as in any action scenes, all the stops are pulled out. This is accompanied by an excellent and energetic musical score, as well as some great songs sprinkled throughout. The show achieves that specific New York vibe that was mostly missing from the Holland-era movies.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has some big competition in the animated Spider-Man realm: not just a number of successful television shows, but also both Spider-Verse movies. However, it more than justifies its existence in the crowded field, at once referencing plenty of Spider-Man history (look for the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield references in the opening credits!) while standing on its own two feet. The show presents a great opportunity for Marvel Studios to tell its own Spider-Man story that still fits into the wider MCU (or at least an alternate version of the MCU). It may not be quite as grown up as X-Men ’97, but Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is still a real treat for fans and casual viewers alike.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is available to stream on Disney Plus.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Release Date

January 29, 2025

Network

Disney+

Writers

Jeff Trammell

Cast

• 

  Hudson Thames

  Peter Parker / Spider-Man (voice)

• 

  Colman Domingo

  Norman Osborn (voice)

• 

  Kari Wahlgren

  May Parker (voice)