Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is technically the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But only technically, because it’s set in an alternate timeline in which Peter Parker never meets Tony Stark, which gives it an awesome superpower that used to be quite standard for superhero adaptations. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man can just… make up its own version of the Marvel Comics universe.
And the most interesting thing that writer and showrunner Jeff Trammell and crew have done with that freedom — at least for this writer’s money — is in their character choices. That is to say: YFNS is a show with so many recognizable Marvel characters in it I don’t know what to make of it.
And that’s refreshing.
[Ed. note: This piece contains minor spoilers for the first two episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.]
Over the series’ first drop of episodes — two this week, followed by multiple episode drops each week after — there was barely a character appearing who doesn’t match up to a superhero or villain in Marvel Comics. Peter’s friends are Niko, the magic-wielder of the Runaways, one of the Agents of Atlas, and Tombstone. His fellow interns at his brand-new job include Amadeus Cho, Finesse, and a Wakandan teen who can turn invisible, while his advisors are the Wizard and the Lizard (cute, I just realized they rhymed). Nobody I just listed appears to have superpowers or secret identities, which means they’re all ripe to have that transformation featured on screen. The question is: Who will?
And that’s pretty unusual these days. In the typical mode of interconnected superhero adaptations, it’s a matter of course to find out exactly who the major players are in a story before you see it. Fan interest in casting announcements and the ever-present potential of leaks means that studios have to twist themselves in knots to hide a surprise villain or unexpected appearance with more weight than a cameo. James Gunn and co. have done their best to keep Superman’s plot under wraps, but even its big secret is already out there if you want to go look. But even without leaks, it’s difficult to imagine walking into a superhero film — or even a television series — without knowing who the villain is, or which supporting superheroes you’re going to see. If you’re lucky, you’ll get one big twist.
But if every character is a known comics character who hasn’t gotten their powers yet, then a show could feature any of them. Huh, I thought, as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man introduced five more characters whose first and last names I recognized as belonging to Marvel superheroes and villains, because I am an enormous nerd, they could really go anywhere with this cast. And I can’t predict what direction they’re aiming for.
It’s like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a herd of zebras or a school of fish, and I’m an apex predator so dazzled by their shifting stripes that I can’t find a singular piece of prey to focus on. Except whatever the comic book adaptation version of that is.
And while this week’s two-episode drop does end with an indication of where our focus is leading — straight to a suspiciously friendly Norman Osborn — it’s been a while since this enormous nerd had the pleasure of thinking Ooh, I know that guy without feeling pretty sure where the story was going next. For a story as told and retold as Spider-Man’s, that’s no small feat.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s first two episodes are now streaming on Disney Plus. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
It’s like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has dazzle camouflage Read More