“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is Marvel Animation Studios’ newest animated show about the wall crawling superhero.
Originally announced in 2019 by Disney+, “Spider-Man: Freshman Year” was pitched as a prequal show intended to tell the origin story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU’s) Spider-Man. However, after consideration by Marvel Studios’ creative team, the show’s story was then changed to take place in a different timeline to avoid restrictions placed by the MCU’s continuity. At the tail end of 2023 the show’s title was then renamed to “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”.
The show follows the classic story of a web-slinger; Peter Parker, a 15-year-old teenager and freshman in high school who is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains superhuman abilities. The show takes inspiration from the comics and MCU with parallel scenes from both. In the MCU, Iron Man played by Robert Downy Jr. serves as Spider-Man’s mentor, but in this show’s iteration of the character, Norman Osborn is seen to fill that position.
Oscar Dominguez, a digital media production major at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has still yet to be amazed by “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”.
“I don’t think it was necessary, but that’s not to say that it shouldn’t have been done. I think it’s kind of retelling the same story. Instead of trying to have a new take on the character. Considering all the previous shows and the way they’ve portrayed the character, I think they could have done something a little different or more with this show,” Dominguez said.
Because of rights to the characters, changes have also been made to the show that give a new take on this popular hero’s story and allow “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” to stand apart from already well-known media. In the show Peter Parker attends Rockford T. Bales High School rather than the usual Midtown High, and instead of Mary Jane being Peter Parker’s crush and clear love interest, it is instead Pearl Pangan.
A very noticeable detail from the new show is the animation style. “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” takes the appearance of a comic book. Not only is the art style done in a way that pays homage to the original comic books and artwork by Steve Ditko, but throughout the show unique animations are used as if the viewer were reading a comic book.
But what do fans think about “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”?
Previous shows about the superhero like “The Spectacular Spider-Man” or “Spider-Man” (1994) still hold a special place in fans’ hearts, making them critical of new media.
For others, they see the new show about the wall crawler as a positive.
Brad Wilson, owner of the local comic bookstore, All Star Comics, says news shows are great for business, and he always hears reviews from people who walk into his store.
“It’s really good for my business personally to have a lot of these shows out on Netflix and Disney, so I’m really excited about it. Customers have been talking about it, and I’ve heard a lot of positive things.” Wilson said.
“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” began streaming on Jan. 29 on Disney+ and will have a total of 10 episodes for its first season. The episodes will be released in groups of two, premiering weekly every Wednesday until Feb.19. With the show already being greenlit for two more seasons, Spider-Man fans will be seeing a lot more of the web-slinger.
Joseph Montero is a staff reporter for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected].
