Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man MightBe The Best Spider-Man

I think I’d like to watch it three more times to make sure I caught everything.

Peter Parker “protecting the habitat” in a costume any of us could have made at home.

Spider-Man... infinitely recognizable, has undefined levels of power, anybody can be under the

mask including you, and has had the most shows out of any superhero. The only character

close to that is Batman. Of course, there were live-action Spider-Man shows in Japan,

Mexico, and other places in the world I don't know. Spider-Man is the around-the-block

superhero. Spider-Man could be hanging upside down out your window right now!

Did you check? If so... gotcha!

Recently, Disney+ released Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which might be the best
animated Spider-Man show ever. This team looked at this classic character and everything he's done in the comics and distilled it into 10 episodes of spider goodness. Let's talk a bit about the parts I like, and then the things I did not.

What did I like about Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

1. Your Friendly Neighborhood Superhero!

I like that Peter Parker is a teen. He's a young man given sudden superpowers and immediately decides he wants to be a superhero people can look up to. That is what Peter does. As Spider-Man, Peter dives around New York with the web shooters he made and a homemade costume, thwarting whatever bad guys he can find.

At Midtown High School, Peter Parker is a complete nerd, but like a modern version. The kids don't hate him so much as not pay attention to him. He hangs out with his best friend Nico whom he saved from an attacking symbiote monster before he had any powers at all. If some rando saved me from Venom I'd be their best friend too.

Luckily for everyone going to Midtown High, Doctor Strange is there to subdue the beast with his portals and whatnot. As he takes this creature into the sky, a single spider falls from the hole and bites poor Peter Parker on the back of the neck. This also puts this story in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe... kinda.

Peter also has the hots for a much taller Filipna girl on the swim team, unfortunately, she's dating the Midtown jock, Lonnie who (get this) loves science and adds Peter to his real-life friend list. Lonnie is the best!

2. 5 Months Later...

We don't waste any time with building webshooters and Uncle Ben's death had nothing to do with his creation. It happened before Peter had any Spider-Man powers. Young Aunt May is doing her best to raise her orphaned nephew in what seems to be a two-bedroom, one bathroom apartment.

As soon as Peter gets that "radioactive spider bite" he's off to the races helping everyone he can. I don't think I remember anyone saying that famous line, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Another character did tell Peter something that was similar.

3. With Great Power Come Great Re...spect

I love that Norman and his son Harry Osborn are actively Black on this show. With those waves they've sported in the comics. I just figured they had a Black great-grandmother in the family. It adds a lot to the show’s diversity that they went this way. After Spider-Man saves Harry from getting crushed on the street, rich daddy Norman finds his way over to the Parker household and invites Peter to join his new internship with a few other young scientists. He accepts the offer wholeheartedly. Now he's got to deal with high school, a fancy Oscorp internship, and find time for Spider-Manning too! That's that Parker luck he's always going on about.

4. Norman finds out Peter is Spider-Man in the 2nd or 3rd episode.

It's during a Spider-Man situation when Norman finds out Peter is Spider-Man. As 15-year-olds do, Peter tries to lie his way out of it, but Norman has all the evidence he needs. Rather than going Green Goblin on him, he offers advice and becomes Peter's “man in the chair” allowing Pete to use his internship time to go beat up bad guys. He ever tries to update Spider-Man's threads with different versions of his suit.

Norman also lets Peter in on the fact that he started the internship because he knew Spider-Man was a bit of a geek, so this man in the green suit invited Peter and the other young adults into his internship thinking at least one might be Spider-Man. Norman Osborn was right.

5. Harry Osborn is an Instagram star!

6. Spidey’s best friend Nico Minoru must be Sister Grimm from the Marvel Comic titled Runaways.

In the comics, the Runaways were kids whose parents were West Coast supervillains. There was a television show from 2017 to 2019, but it was on a strange channel and hard to watch. Nico doesn’t have any superpowers… almost. She has a necklace she clutches when she’s nervous and tries to tarot reading for Harry.

7. Doctor Octopus is supplying criminals with tech that turns them into supervillains.

Otto Octavius is an arrogant prick like he is in the comics. He's funny about it as always and has an assistant like Dr. Robotnik in the Sonic movies. This makes this crackpot butthole even more funny.

8. The incredible diversity feels like New York City.

Peter Parker is a New York superhero. He always has been. He needs buildings to swing from as he has no wall-crawling Spider Buggy. Everywhere he goes, every criminal he meets, and every person at his school make this show feel like you're hanging out in New York too. Nico is Asian. Lonnie is Black, Pearl is Filipina, and Mac Gargan is Latino.

It’s ok to laugh. Spider-Man knows.

Every person Peter meets on his journey as Spider-Man high-fives him and is thankful to him for giving back whatever was stolen. He really is your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the people of New York know this. He’s not in a tower like Iron Man, or in a fantasy land like Thor, or an experiment like Hulk. Spidey is down there with the people and they are supremely cool about it. To me, that is the most amazing part of this show. The love, the spilling of secrets, the additional Marvel characters. This show is... fun. It's been an absolute joy to watch and I'm excited for the next season.

What did I HATE about Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

Not a single thing.

This show is the best. Spider-Man has been my favorite superhero for decades and this show does him justice in a way most other shows don't. It showcases the extreme pressure of keeping secrets from your loved ones. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man shows what gang life will do to a person. It shows what living in a world of gods and monsters could feel like. Not a lot of shows or live-action movies have mastered that. The question, "What would I do if I were there" gets answered in this series. I love that.