Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Premiere Webs Up Spectacular New Origin

The first two episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 1 are now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming a hero, with a journey unlike we’ve ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots.

The talented voice cast includes Hudson Thames, Colman Domingo, Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy and Charlie Cox. The head writer is Jeff Trammell and Mel Zwyer is the supervising director. Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt and Trammell serve as executive producers.

In the meantime, check out my full review of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 1 here.

Here’s my breakdown of the first two episodes:

Episode 1

Cover Of Amazing Fantasy, The Early Issues Of Spider-Man

Before Spider-Man got his own solo comics in Marvel, he was featured in the issues of the Amazing Fantasy comics. This is a nice tribute to that.

An Iron Man Variant Already Exists On This Earth

As evident from the windshield ornament.

Mentioning Uncle Ben

It’s great to hear Uncle Ben’s name mentioned again, considering that it’s weird as hell that his name has never been mentioned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

A Multiverse Portal Opens Up, A Venom Variant Appears With A Doctor Strange Variant Fighting It

That’s an interesting way to start the series.

It’s also interesting that this version of Peter Parker doesn’t know who Doctor Strange is, which means that there’s no variant of the Sorcerer Supreme on this Earth yet.

Also, it’s nice to see that the design of this Doctor Strange is based on Steve Ditko’s original design.

Twist On How Peter Gets His Powers

This Peter Parker variant gets his powers after getting bitten by a spider that originates from wherever that Doctor Strange variant came from.

Usually, the spiders that bite the Spider-People are from the same Earth as they are.

Nico Minoru

In the comics, Nico Minoru was created in 2003 by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona. She debuted in Runaways #1 (July 2003). Whenever Nico bleeds, a powerful staff emerges from her chest, called the Staff of One, allowing Nico to bend magic.

This version is voiced by Grace Song. It doesn’t seem like she has her powers yet.

Spider-Man Saves Harry Osborn

This is how they meet for the first time.

Spider-Man’s first suit in this series seems like a stylistic mix of both the comic book Peter Parker and Miles Morales.

Comic Book Accurate Spider-Man Suit

As seen in Peter’s sketches. It’s logical that a broke kid like him won’t be able to make a suit like that yet.

The Show’s Version Of Tombstone And Wave

In a departure from the comics, this version of Lonnie Lincoln AKA the future Tombstone is a high school student instead of a crime boss.

However, he lives in a poorer part of town and he faces systemic racism.

The girl that Peter has a crush on is actually Pearl Pangan. In the comics, she’s the Filipino hero with elemental water powers known as Wave.

A Reference To Amazing Fantasy #15 Cover

The first-ever issue of Spider-Man.

This Show’s Version Of Norman Osborn

Voiced by Colman Domingo, it seems like this version of Norman Osborn will be mentoring Peter, just like Tony Stark did for the MCU version.

However, surely this version is also destined to become Green Goblin sooner or later.

Episode 2

First Mention Of Wakanda

During his internship at Oscorp, Peter meets Asha, who is from Wakanda, the home country of the Black Panther.

In the comics, Asha is a minor and obscure character with the power to reflect or absorb light.

The Show’s Version Of Amadeus Cho

In the comics, Amadeus Cho is a genius-level character who has previously been a friend of the Hulk and also a Hulk himself. Now he’s a hero named Brawn.

The show’s version has yet to get his powers.

Another Person Of Interest Is Jeanne Foucalt AKA Finesse

In the comics, Jeanne Foucalt is Finesse, who made her debut in Avengers Academy #1 (June 2010). She is the biological daughter of Taskmaster, she inherited his photographic reflexes, allowing her to mimic any fighting style at the cost of long- and short-term memory. Finesse is introduced as a member of the Avengers Academy and later joining A.I.M. and G.I.R.L. as a bodyguard.

The Show’s Version Of Bentley Wittman AKA The Wizard

In the comics, Bentley Wittman is The Wizard, the leader of the Frightful Four and an enemy of the Fantastic Four.

The Show’s Version Of Dr. Connors AKA The Lizard

The show’s version of the Lizard is Dr. Carla Connors, instead of Dr. Curt Connors in the comics.

Crusher Hogan Reference

Crusher Hogan exists on this Earth too but this version of Peter never fights him. Still a nice easter egg.

The Show’s Version Of Supervillain Butane

Butane is a super-obscure supervillain and enemy of Captain Britain from the comics.

Norman Osborn Finds Out That Peter Parker Is Spider-Man

Uh oh.

That’s bad news for Peter.

These first two episodes have been a roller coaster ride.

Until next week, excelsior!