Peter Parker is getting into the swing of things in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Previously titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year, Marvel Animation’s new Disney+ animated series follows the timid teenager (voiced by What If…?‘s Hudson Thames) “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,” per the official logline.
Originally announced as a prequel to the MCU Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland, the series instead branches off into an alternate timeline where the freshman Spider-Man is mentored by Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) rather than Tony Stark/Iron Man. In the just-released trailer, Spider-Man wears a homemade suit (inspired by 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming) and is seen battling lesser-known Spider-villains like the Scorcher and the speedster Speed Demon before getting an Oscorp Spider-suit (based on the Fantastic Four’s Future Foundation suit).
If you’re unfamiliar with the show’s cast of characters — which includes Peter’s Aunt May (Kari Wahlgren), classmate Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson), football star Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd), and Peter’s best friend, Nico Minoru (Grace Song) of the Runaways — we’ve thwipped up a “yearbook” as your guide to the many Marvel characters in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Marvel’s official Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man prequel comic reveals that high school freshman Peter Parker was bitten by a spider of unknown origins when he met Nico on their first day at Midtown High. The ongoing five-issue series also made another alteration to Spider-Man’s origin story: by having Peter’s Uncle Ben die before he’s bitten by the spider that endowed him with amazing spider-like powers.
“I truly believe that I have these powers to help people. To protect them,” Peter says in the trailer, putting a spin on the lesson that with great power comes great responsibility.
Inspired by Captain America, Peter realizes he needs a costume to preserve his secret identity and protect his Aunt May after his spider powers manifest while investigating a mysterious case of arson at Midtown (more on that later).
Peter’s recently widowed Aunt May dotes on her nephew, but the Parkers are financially struggling following Ben’s death (and medical bills). When Peter collapses from a spider’s bite, May wants him to get checked out at the E.R. — but according to Peter, they can’t afford the $50 co-pay. Besides, he says, “Haven’t we spent enough time in hospitals for a while?”
Peter’s friend and confidant, Nico Minoru is a recent transplant from Los Angeles to New York and lives with her foster mother, Susan O’Hara. Nico saw Midtown High as her way to start over and define herself after leaving L.A. — but then their high school went up in smoke.
In the comics, Nico is a member of the Runaways: the children of the Los Angeles-based supervillain group known as the Pride. The daughter of the dark wizard Tina Minoru, Nico uses blood magic and the mystical Staff of One to cast spells.
Captain of the Midtown High School football team, Lonnie is described as “hardworking, charming, humble, and impossible to hate,” with “a kind heart and a good head on his shoulders, but a morally challenging journey ahead of him.” In the comics, Lonnie wasn’t a classmate of Peter Parker’s — but future Daily Bugle editor Robbie Robertson.
An albino, Lonnie was exposed to a chemical compound that made his skin rock hard as his nickname: Tombstone. While he carved out a criminal career in his hometown Harlem, he’s since replaced Wilson Fisk as the Kingpin of Crime in New York City.
Oscorp CEO Norman Osborn discovers that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and offers to sponsor the young superhero. “With my help, you’ll achieve greatness,” Osborn says, outfitting Spider-Man with a high-tech black-and-white suit.
While he starts as Peter’s benefactor, future seasons are likely to explore Norman’s transformation into Spider-Man’s archnemesis: the Green Goblin.
The son of industrialist Norman Osborn, Harry is described as “an affluent and fashionable teenager who seems to have it all, but in reality lives an isolated and secluded lifestyle. A bit of a hipster and eager to find friends although he tries to play it cool in front of people.” In the comics, Peter didn’t meet Harry until college: after becoming classmates in 1965’s Amazing Spider-Man #31, Peter and Harry eventually formed a bond as best friends.
But when he discovered his father was the Green Goblin and his best friend was Spider-Man, Harry succumbed to the Osborn legacy and became the new Green Goblin.
Spider-Man’s first foe is the mobster Silvio Manfredi, a.k.a. the classic Spider-Man villain Silvermane, head of the Manfredi Crime Family. When Peter and Nico go to investigate the aftermath of the mysterious attack on Midtown — details of which will be revealed in the first episode of the series, premiering Jan. 29 — Peter realizes the spider transferred its powers when he evades Silvermane’s thugs with spectacular strength and speed.
Silvermane’s right-hand man is the super-strong Man Mountain Marko, who he employs alongside the Enforcers: master martial artist Fancy Dan, the lasso-wielding Montana, and dull-witted brute Ox.
The arsonist responsible for the attack on Midtown High appears to be the Scorcher, one of Spider-Man’s earliest foes from the comic books. He was introduced in 1995’s Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1, which was retroactively set during Spider-Man’s early years and took place between the pages of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s classic run on The Amazing Spider-Man.
Before he was a criminal mercenary, Steven Jamal Hudak was a research chemist with a masters in chemical engineering. As the Scorcher, Hudak wears a fireproof suit of armor that protects him from the intense heat and flame-blasts generated by his wrist-mounted flamethrowers. The Scorcher’s earliest thefts were funded by a pre-Goblin Osborn, who hired Scorcher to steal schematics and industry secrets from Oscorp’s rivals.
Tony Stark wears an armor resembling the Iron Man Model 4 (a form-fitting, more flexible armor that resembled cloth in its de-polarized state) from the classic ’70s comics. With Norman Osborn replacing Iron Man as Spider-Man’s mentor, it’s unclear what role the armored Avenger plays in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Charlie Cox reprises his role as the horn-headed guardian devil of Hell’s Kitchen, but in a costume resembling the black armor that Daredevil wore in the ’90s comics. Cox, who played Matt Murdock in Marvel’s Daredevil and The Defenders before appearing in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and 2024’s Echo, next returns in the live-action Daredevil: Born Again in March 2025.
Vincent D’Onofrio will voice Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, after playing the character in Marvel’s Daredevil, Hawkeye, and Echo. Since his debut in the pages of 1967’s Amazing Spider-Man #50, Fisk has been one of the most prolific criminal minds in the underworld as an enemy of both Spider-Man and Daredevil. A sumo-trained body builder, the heavily-built Kingpin is no lightweight despite his lack of superhuman powers.
Another Lee-Ditko co-creation, Stephen Strange is a master of the mystic arts as the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange. In the comics, Spider-Man and Strange met for the first time in 1965’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, where the sorcerer Xandu plotted to steal the missing half of the enchanted Wand of Watoomb to become Master of the Mystic Arts. Strange would go on to team up with Spider-Man many times over the decades — often acting as a consultant for Spider-Man’s more magical adventures.
Hannibal and Law & Order actor Hugh Dancy is voicing Otto Octavius, better known as the metal-tentacled supervillain Doctor Octopus. In the early comics, Octavius was an atomic researcher who was bonded to the four mentally-controlled artificial arms he used to handle radioactive substances following a lab accident in 1963’s Amazing Spider-Man #3. One of Spider-Man’s deadliest and most recurring foes, Doc Ock would go on to form the Sinister Six and has even swapped minds with his superior archnemesis.
The stinging supervillain known as the Scorpion struck in 1964’s Amazing Spider-Man #20. The result of The Daily Bugle‘s anti-Spider-Man crusader J. Jonah Jameson funding Dr. Farley Stillwell’s experimental artificial mutations, Jameson turned private investigator MacDonald “Mac” Gargan into the Scorpion to destroy Spider-Man. Outfitted with a battle suit equipped with deadly pincers and a mechanical tail, the Scorpion eventually swore his revenge against Spider-Man and Jameson: the former for defeating him, and the latter for turning him into a monster.
James Sanders was a pharmaceutical chemist before the Grandmaster, one of the cosmic Elders of the Universe, granted him the power of superhuman speed. Originally an enemy of the Avengers, Sanders rechristened himself Speed Demon and battled Spider-Man as a member of the Sinister Syndicate alongside Beetle, Boomerang, Hydro-Man, and Rhino.
Like most speedsters, Speed Demon has faster-than-light reflexes, can run hundreds of miles per hour, and has superhumanly strong leg muscles (which seem to have cybernetic enhancements in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man).
Introduced as an enemy of the Human Torch in 1962’s Strange Tales #102, the brilliant inventor Bentley Wittman was dubbed the “Wizard” for his scientific feats that seemed as if achieved by magic. Wittman’s genius-level intellect is nearly as deadly as his arsenal of weapons, which includes anti-gravity discs and his power gloves — devices he’s used most often to battle the Fantastic Four as the leader of the Frightful Four, a foursome that has included the Inhuman Medusa, the trapster Paste Pot Pete, and the Spider-Man villain Sandman.
A Soviet spy, Dmitri’s use of costumes and special effects make-up made him a master of disguise. The Chameleon impersonated Spider-Man after disguising himself as a scientist to steal missile defense plans, but when this plot was foiled, Dmitri was deported back to Russia. Because Spider-Man was too dangerous, the vengeful Chameleon hired his half-brother — Kraven the Hunter — to eliminate Spider-Man on his behalf. The Chameleon has taken many forms since his debut in 1963’s Amazing Spider-Man #1; by issue #307, he began to use a face-changing serum that made his flesh featureless and malleable like clay to mold it into the likeness of his victims and instantly “shapeshift.”
The rampaging Rhino charged into 1966’s Amazing Spider-Man #41 on a mission to capture Colonel John Jameson, astronaut son of The Daily Bugle‘s J. Jonah Jameson. A member of the Russian Mafia, Aleksei’s muscular physique and low intelligence made him the perfect test subject to create a superhuman assassin. Aleksei underwent months of chemical and radiation treatments that bound him to a molecular-adhesive suit made to be as strong as a rhinoceros hide, making him powerful enough to duke it out with the Hulk.
While Spider-Man readers might expect the original Tarantula: Anton Miguel Rodriquez, a mercenary whose trademark move is “the sting” from the steel spikes in his feet. However, this Tarantula is Maria Vasquez, who was introduced in 2006’s Heroes for Hire #1 as part of Misty Knight’s new federal government-backed version of the team. A master of mixed martial arts, Tarantula took her name from her skills with blades (like the one she wears on an arm attachment).
In the comics, the uncanny Unicorn was Milos Masaryk, a Russian intelligence agent who was sent to spy on Stark Industries and then battled Iron Man with a helmet that could fire various lasers and beams from his power horn.
A character resembling Venom is Shathra the Spider-Wasp, a creature of the Astral Plane that feeds on Spider-totems (like Spider-Man). Faster and stronger than her prey that she can immobilize with the power of paralyzing stingers, Shathra’s wasp form is a natural enemy of the Spider-Totems that weave the Web of Life and Destiny.
While not traditionally a member of Spider-Man’s supporting cast, Peter’s classmate Jean is better known as Finesse in the comics. A member of the Avengers Academy that was established to recruit and train the next generation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Finesse was a polymath: able to learn quickly and pick up skills, fighting techniques, languages, and more.
An ally of Hercules and the Hulk, Amadeus Cho is a genius who was installed as the CEO of the Olympian gods’ Olympus Group at just 17 years old. Initially powerless, Amadeus became the Totally Awesome Hulk after he absorbed Bruce Banner’s gamma radiation. He’s since served as a member of the Agents of Atlas and the Champions under a new name: Brawn.
Early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man saw wallflower Peter Parker crush on his classmate, Liz Allen, and then his (older) Daily Bugle co-worker Betty Brant. But in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter’s crush is Pearl Pangan, a relatively new addition to the Marvel mythos.
In the comics, Pearl was Wave, a water-based Filipino superhero and member of the new Agents of Atlas after former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Jimmy Woo recruited young heroes like Amadeus Cho/Brawn, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, and Cindy Moon/Silk.
Promotional art for the series revealed alternate Spider-Man costumes inspired by the Slingers, a team that was formed from abandoned, alternate identities that Peter Parker temporarily adopted during Spider-Man: Identity Crisis. When Norman Osborn framed Spider-Man for murder, the wall-crawler was hounded by the police and bounty hunters, so Peter decided the most responsible thing to do was stop being Spider-Man.
While he gave up being Spider-Man, Peter continued crime-fighting under four new superhero identities: Hornet, Ricochet, Dusk, and Prodigy. After clearing his name, Peter resumed activities as Spider-Man, and the suits eventually passed to a misfit crew of kids: Hornet (Eddie McDonough), Prodigy (Ritchie Gilmore), Ricochet (Johnny Gallo), and Dusk (Cassie St. Commons).
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man swings onto Disney+ on Jan. 29, 2025.
Peter Parker is getting into the swing of things in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Previously titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year, Marvel Animation’s new Disney+ animated series follows the timid teenager (voiced by What If…?‘s Hudson Thames) “on his way to becoming a hero, with a journey unlike we’ve ever seen and a style that celebrates the Read More