Marvel’s Newest Animated Series Reveals a Troubling Trend with the Spider-Man Franchise

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Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the latest animated series to feature Marvel’s premiere superhero, and it’s only one of several such shows featuring the Wall-Crawler. Developing over the past few years, it started out as a prequel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man, before taking on a life of its own. Unfortunately for fans, the new Disney+ cartoon might not be worth the wait, at least as far as its preview showcases.

Initial reactions to the first trailer for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manare mixed, with many criticizing the show’s somewhat cheap animation style. Likewise, retreading previous story beats with another teenage Peter Parker is only further compounded by the obvious attempts to attract a younger viewership with all manner of “cool lingo.” Additionally, fans are crying out for other Spider-Man cartoons to be relaunched, and they’d largely make for much more interesting endeavors.

The Newest Spider-Man Cartoon Is Getting Mixed Reception

Disney+’s Next Marvel Cartoon Is Already Somewhat Controversial

The initial trailer for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man showcases how this is a version of the character unrelated to the MCU or previous cartoons. Unfortunately, it also showcases things that have been increasingly criticized in modern Spider-Man stories, be it in the comic books or adaptations such as movies, shows and cartoons. On the surface, the most obvious issue with the show is its animation, which isn’t exactly extraordinary.

It has an art style that’s somewhat retro, coming off almost as an update of the designs from the initial Stan Lee and Steve Ditko issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. Sadly, these resemblances to old-school comics are superficial at best, and the show actually trying to be set in a version of Marvel’s 1960s Silver Age continuity might have been far more interesting. The art style itself isn’t the problem, but the flat animation just makes the whole endeavor appear as though little effort was put into it.

Furthermore, fans expecting more from Disney, the king of Western animation, were definitely let down in this capacity. It doesn’t help that Western animation (besides major movies from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks and a few other studios) is increasingly being passed by in comparison to anime, with even the most generic and middling anime looking for more visually appealing. At best, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man looks like a botched attempt to replicate the aesthetic of Sony’s animated Spider-Verse movies.

There’s also an overtly goofy tone full of jokes and comments meant to evoke modern slang and seemingly appeal to kids. Instead, the attempt to make the series resonate with a much younger audience falls completely flat. The slang, use of streaming and a hip-hop remix of the classic Spider-Man TV theme make the new series feel conceptually unoriginal. The overtly youthful take on the title hero is also part of the biggest issue with the show, which makes it inherently blasé right out of the gate.

Spider-Man’s New Series Doesn’t Capitalize on the Web-Slinger’s Best Elements

The Lack of a Grounded Scope Could Potentially Hurt the New Spider-Man’s Story

Even for those who enjoyed the movies, there was criticism over the Marvel Cinematic Universe rebooting Spider-Man again, namely to repeat his being a high school student. As many fans have noted, Peter Parker was only in high school for the first few years of his comic book’s publication, so adaptations constantly focusing on the smallest and arguably least-interesting era of his history make next to no sense. While part of the character’s relatability stems from his youthful nature, it’s much more born out of the trials and tribulations that he faces as an adult.

Today, those aspects are culturally harder to do with a high school Peter Parker, so having him be at least in college is the most logical place to start his journey, in some respects. Instead of the troubled youth that he was portrayed as in the classic comics, modern Spider-Man works (including, seemingly, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) tend to water Peter Parker down and make him simply a goofy nerd who actually has few substantial problems.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man seemingly defaults to uninspired methods of storytelling to highlight the young aspects of this version of Peter Parker. These include his constant use of slang, attempts at “adorkable” awkwardness and things such as him streaming to gain success and popularity. While some of these could be done well, the trailer for the new series shows them in a more glaringly obvious capacity, which gives the impression Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is leaning strongly on clichés to sell its appeal.

When combined with the aforementioned hip-hop music, it’s something that might work better for Miles Morales, though this reflects how so much of his story is largely a retread of what Peter Parker went through. Spider-Man has to have a degree of substance and tribulation in order to really work, as his powers don’t automatically make his life better. If anything, they’re a major detriment to avenues in which Peter could make his life better, namely when it comes to how these powers impact his professional endeavors and relationships.

Another particularly divisive element is also seen in the trailer, and it relates to Spider-Man’s origin story. In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter is bitten by a spider from another dimension. This means that elements of the multiverse are already in the story, further taking the character away from his grounded roots. The multiverse as a concept has quickly become played out in comic books and other mediums, with some audience members now seeing the premise in a particularly grating light. Additionally, it’s being pushed on properties that historically have had little to do with it.

For instance, the multiverse is largely associated with DC Comics, but Marvel Studios has dedicated the current saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the idea. Likewise, the success of the initial Spider-Verse comic books and the animated movies have trapped Spider-Man as a property in an unending deluge of multiverse stories that are not only experiencing microscopic diminishing returns, but also feels inappropriate for the character. After all, many criticized the seemingly godlike powers of the villain Judas Traveller in the infamous 1990s comic book story “The Clone Saga.”

Now, Spider-Man can’t escape these stories that feel more welcome in a standard issue of Fantastic Four. There’s also a lack of iconic Spider-Man supporting characters, which is a further showcase of how the MCU has somewhat downgraded the manner in which Spidey and other superheroes are written. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been criticized by some as just being an assembly line of commercials for itself, with each individual hero’s story and mythos taking a backseat to hyping up the “next big crossover.” That was even the case with Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man, who was initially far too attached to Iron Man as a character.

There are at least some familiar villains here (namely altered versions of Norman and Harry Osborn), but other heroes are also on display. There’s no sense that Spider-Man himself is really the focus, making the show come off as not being invested in its own existence. This was also a major criticism of the past two Spider-Man cartoons, which were also heavily disliked compared to what had come beforehand. If anything, this first look at the series only further brings to mind how most fans are instead clamoring for another animated Marvel project entirely.

Only One Spider-Man Series Has the Strongest Potential to Succeed

Spider-Man ’98 Should’ve Been Marvel’s Next Animated Project

Even after the initial announcement of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, it’s a tentative animated series that’s had the most interest from fans of the Web-Slinger. The success of X-Men ’97 in 2024 showed that Marvel Studios could successfully bring back older cartoons, with the series in question being a sequel to the 1990s gem, X-Men: The Animated Series. Said show was in the same continuity as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, with these shows also supposedly in the same universe as the cartoons for the Hulk, Iron Man and The Fantastic Four.

Those other shows have been largely forgotten, but both the 1990s Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons are still fondly remembered. Thus, with Marvel’s merry mutants getting a modern retro sequel, many have wanted the same for the true friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Given that Spider-Man: The Animated Series ended on a cliffhanger, with many elements of the hero’s comics yet to be adapted by the show, a Spider-Man ’98 series in the vein of the successful X-Men ’97 could easily be a huge hit.

Most importantly, the series would actually feature an adult Spider-Man who’s married to Mary Jane, eschewing the modern takes on the character that are perpetually stuck as borderline caricatures of high school students. By building upon what fans already liked, the show could have a built-in audience. Ironically, because people have already been so inundated with a younger Spider-Man, his story is essentially already set up by way of cultural and narrative osmosis.

While it will help to watch the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon (which is also on Disney+), most of the people who would watch Spider-Man ’98 likely already know the brass tacks on the hero, anyway. It’s not as if a new continuity for the hero is particularly fresh, especially since this show still has some vestigial limbs of initially being part of the MCU. Furthermore, this might end up seeing Charlie Cox’s Daredevil (who’s not the Marvel Cinematic Universe version) essentially wasted in appearances for a show that itself may not do justice to its main hero.

Another route is to create additional seasons to Spectacular Spider-Man, which was perhaps even more beloved than Spider-Man: The Animated Series. That series has several more seasons planned, with the goal being to go far beyond its high school setting in the first two seasons and feature a married Peter and Mary Jane. It’s more recent than the 1990s show, and since X-Men ’97 could be used to offer a satisfying conclusion to the Marvel Animated Universe version of Spider-Man, new seasons of Spectacular Spider-Man could realize all the plans for that series.

It’s arguable that simply focusing on nostalgia might not be the best route going forward, but for these shows that were already beloved and ended far before their time, it’s definitely deserved. Likewise, it’s not as if original content such as Marvel’s What If…? has been innovative, with the third and final season of that animated series being seen by some as a downgrade from previous seasons. It’s doubtful that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will launch its own successful shared universe of animated shows, so going back to what works is the best bet. A few years from now (likely once the MCU as fans know it is over) will be the best time to start anew with more original works.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man swings onto Disney+ omn Jan. 29, 2025.

“}]] The first trailer for the next Spider-Man cartoon has been revealed, but there are already some notable issues with the upcoming Disney+ show.  Read More