Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the newest Marvel series on Disney+, and it serves as the set-up for the MCU's variant of the classic character. While there are several ties to the incarnation brought to us by Tom Holland, there are still enough familiar features and callbacks to the classic comics.
That being said, this new take on Peter Parker's origin story adds and subtracts new things to the established Spider-Man mythos that set up events that we will undoubtedly see in future films, but it also cuts away key components to Marvel's poster boy.
WARNING: Spoilers for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man beyond this point!
A swing or a miss?
Let's get the obvious out of the way. Those expecting a modernized version of Spidey's origin story will only get a slice of a pie that's been dished out before. Remember, this isn't Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield's version, but one that strictly inhabits the core Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With that in mind, viewers will note several nods to established characters in the MCU films like Iron Man and Captain America, as well as elements from movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming, resulting in a ton of fan service. However, in building up the MCU, the series also erases and alters key elements of Spidey's makeup.
The series takes place during Peter's freshman year of high school, which means characters like MJ and Ned haven't entered his life yet, leaving room for new characters to be introduced. While there have only been two episodes released at the time of writing, the series has already laid the groundwork for massive events in the core Spider-Man narrative, but perhaps a bit too soon.
What IGN calls a "bold, alternate-reality spin" might be a double-edged sword before the first season concludes. Marvel is playing with fire by rewriting two canon-events in Peter's story, and it might completely redefine the character.
For starters, instead of Tony Stark/Iron-Man being a significant mentor in Peter's life, that role has been recast with Norman Osborne (Green Goblin) instead. It's alluded that Osborne will be instrumental in Spidey's evolution (as seen with the Oscorp suit in the trailer), but Peter's cover is blown far too early.
As many Marvel fans know, Osborn is already goblined out by the time that happens in more traditional media. That means that the stakes have changed, and a character-defining moment for Spider-Man has been taken away. While that can be forgiven due to the nail-biting tension created from Osborn's introduction, the series rewrites a crucial canon event that rips a hole in the Multiverse.
"With great power comes great responsibility" is a line from Peter's Uncle Ben that has been branded in pop culture history for decades. However, Marvel has completely erased the event from the MCU in this new series, as Ben Parker dies before Peter is even bit by the mutated spider.
If there is no Uncle Ben to be shot and killed by an armed assailant, Peter has no reason to become a superhero, and thus the established Spider-Man storyline unravels. At this point, I was surprised that they weren't accosted by Loki's TVA agents.
While the argument can be made that the MCU rectified this with Aunt May's death in the films, it still feels counterintuitive to rely so heavily on Spidey's classic origins everywhere else while dismantling such a key point in his story. Even so, the series is far from over, meaning that there is still method in this madness.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has plenty of charm and gripping drama, but many Marvel purists will be clutching their pearls before the series is over. That said, this writer plans on keeping an open mind to see how far the rabbit hole goes, especially if there's another appearance from that comic-book-accurate Doctor Strange.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is currently streaming on Disney+ with new episodes on Wednesdays.