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Disney+ has gifted us not one but two episodes of the long anticipated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman! Initially the series was supposed to be set during Peter’s Freshman year of high school and connect to the MCU however, that had since changed and now stands on its own.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Episode one takes us into this exciting world of New York City with a young Peter Parker played by Hudson James. We’re met with familiar faces such as Aunt May (Kari Wahlgren) and Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson.) Showrunner/head writer/executive producer Jeff Trammell has also swung us into a fresh new world and takes on some other characters such as the introduction of Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd.)
In this episode Peter is bitten on the back of his neck and we know the origin story already which is a strength of the show to not run us through yet another Ben Parker death scene. Peter wastes no time in donning his first ever suit and leaping into action.
Where things take an intriguing turn is Peter and Lonnie develop an unlikely friendship. Lonnie is the star football player and popular guy in class who decides to work with Peter on a class project. As the two part ways Jeff takes us into Lonnie’s world where we see him experience racism on the subway, cops flip their lights on following him suspiciously, and we see his home life isn’t the greatest. For fans of Spiderman you may recognize the name because in the comics Lonnie becomes Tombstone and an enemy of Spiderman.
The surprises were not done yet however, as the famous sequence of Peter carrying his DVD player into his apartment to find a guest waiting for him in Captain America: Civil War has made its way shot for shot into the closing of this episode. It’s not Tony Stark waiting for him, waiting for Peter is none other than Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo.)
Episode two picks up where one left off and essentially it’s Tony’s offer of a scholarship to Peter except there’s no battling The Avengers. Parker hops on the once in a lifetime opportunity and we get fun Easter eggs such as a photo of Norman with Captain America. The running theme of Peter always being late is a continuing trend as he is late to his workshop at OSCORP as he struggles to balance the hero work lifestyle.
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Episode two brings its own shocking conclusion as Peter enters Norman’s office apologizing for being late and begging to keep his opportunity. Norman, who is awaiting him turns his computer around showing a video of Peter and revealing that Norman knows that he is Spider-Man.
The animation for this series may take a little getting used to but, the storylines have been placed that will certainly have me back for more. I was skeptical at first but Jeff and his assembled team have sucked me into this new and exciting take on Spiderman. If the first two episodes are to go by we are in for a lot of twists and turns as the season slings on.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman airs every Wednesday at 3am est/12am pst only on Disney+.
Make sure to check out Matt’s reviews and his weekly podcast discussing comics, movies, and TV shows by following Linktr.ee/hopsgeeknews