Webslinger swings into local neighborhoods in yet another cinematic incarnation
Living on the edge, fighting crime, and spinning webs…here comes Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man swinging his way not only through the streets of New York, but also onto Disney+. Following yet another high school aged Peter Parker (Hudson Thames, What If…?) navigating the great responsibilities attached to being the whimsical wall-crawler, the series takes an alternative look at the events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Peter is taken under the wing of Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo, Sing Sing).
Originally titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year, the series was announced as a prequel to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy during Disney+ Day in November of 2021, exploring his origin as part of the MCU. However, due to narrative constraints, the show was retitled to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in order to create a clearer disconnect between the universe YFNSM is set in and the MCU. With Jeff Trammell (Craig of the Creek) as the series showrunner and head writer, the series opts to not focus on one school year per season, allowing for new paths to be paved in Spider-Man storytelling.
One of the glaring issues with not just YFNSM, but Spider-Man media as a whole is the repetitiveness of having a teenage Peter Parker. First introduced in “Amazing Fantasy #15,” Peter Parker’s high school career in his first solo run spanned for four brief years after being introduced. Despite over 60 years of stories, the majority of Spidey’s ventures into other art forms mainly revolve around his formative years, providing an easy pathway to tell simple stories with simple conflicts. This form of storytelling aids in making the character more accessible to younger generations but fails to expand to those who wish for something more mature.
The main fault with having an older Peter Parker is the rut of making his problems wash out the whimsy and the flaws that make fans fall in love. Projects such as Insomniac Games’s Spider-Man games, Sony Animation’s Spider-Verse films, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, and Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man comic book run are stand-outs for finding a good balance between acknowledging the imperfect while still providing the escapisms enthusiasts yearn for. However, despite its redundant framework from a narrative standpoint, YFNSM rises to the level of nearly being as acclaimed as one of its predecessors, The Spectacular Spider-Man.
Aforementioned in the title itself, one of the most important parts of the series is Spider-Man’s neighborhood itself, as the show’s ensemble cast is a huge contributor to what makes a webslinger show go from just okay to amazing. To serve as a direct parallel in Peter’s progression, an aged-down Lonnie Lincoln’s (Eugene Byrd, 8 Mile) descent to becoming the villain Tombstone (coincidentally one of the main antagonists of The Spectacular Spider-Man) sets a tragic fate for the star-studded athlete.
Additionally, another major change to the roster of supporting roles was the race-change of Norman Osborn. Ever since the character’s inception, Osborn was a white man sporting waves, a hairstyle most associated with black culture. Although minor, the change allows for a more comic-accurate depiction of a character to be portrayed by more actors than the source material. Just as Lincoln is destined to become the gravely themed villain, Norman Osborn is cursed to fall into villainy as the infamous Green Goblin, giving yet another personal connection between Peter and his arch nemesis.
For those who have already fallen to the dark side of the law, the villains that occupy the antagonist role of the series reach deep into the mythos of the web-slinger, with less-known baddies such as Speed Demon and Tarantula bulking out the cast, as well as fan-favorites like Scorpion (Jonathan Medina, Primo) and Doctor Otto Octavius (Hugh Dancy, Hannibal) making appearances as well. Though not quite reinventing the wheel in terms of what can be done with the character, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s great power still has much potential to tap into. Being greenlit to up to season three, the eggs of this spider’s web have yet to hatch; however, if the masked vigilante has proven anything in his half a century of existence, Peter Parker is not one to back down from any fight, whether that be fan expectations or the villains he faces, proving to be the timeless sensational superhero striving for success.
B+: With great power there must also come great responsibility in living up to what came before; however, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s potential remains untapped as of yet as just another high-school aged hero.
by Evan Parfitt
Published February 24th, 2025
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue V