There’s a lot of opinions doing the rounds in geek circles after images and snippets of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man surfaced online. Based on that purely alone, the assumption is that Disney+ wants to do something different with this animated series rather than retell the classic origin story of Spidey.
It’s true, because this isn’t the Spider-Man you know. While it’s admirable to take creative risks and shake up the lore, at some point the question does need to be asked: Why not create a new character altogether if this is going to diverge so much from the source material? Because honestly, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man often feels like a mishmash of ideas that bastardize the mythology rather than enhance it.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man looks and sounds good
From an animation perspective, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man takes it back to an old-school style. The show pays tribute to the likes of original Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko with some of the character designs and environmental backgrounds of New York City, while often utilizing comic book panel framing to signify serious moments or important transitions in the story on screen. Where the show does modernize specific characters and backdrops, it still keeps it within the same animation framework, making this series easy on the eye and easily distinguishable from many of its peers.
The voice acting complements the polished animation, with an array of outstanding performances from top to bottom. Hudson Thames continues to do the same phenomenal job he’s done in other Marvel Animation shows as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, while Colman Domingo impresses as Norman Osborn to the point that if Norman ever reappears in the MCU Domingo more than stakes his claim to play him in live action too. Elsewhere, Charlie Cox once again proves there’s only one Man Without Fear and his name isn’t Ben Affleck, while Hugh Dancy changes his voice to be almost unrecognizable as the devious Otto Octavius and Grace Song adds fire and soul to Peter’s best friend, Nico Minoru.
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The divisive story tangles itself up in a web of unnecessary changes
From the first episode, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man‘s doesn’t hesitate to pull away from canon, as it changes how Peter gains his powers. It’s a contentious alteration to the lore – and a largely unnecessary tweak especially after everyone sees the final episode of the first season. However, transformation proves to be a recurrent theme in the series, as the story deviates from tradition more than any other animated series about the Web-Head.
Again, while change is good and encouraged, it also can’t come at the cost of forgetting the character’s history altogether, especially when it comes to a legacy superhero like Spidey. At times, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man isn’t as much of an adaptation as it is a complete overhaul. For example: In this show, Harry Osborn is the person who utters one of Mary Jane Watson’s most famous lines from the comics – doing something like this is only bound to upset the fanbase and one wonders why the creative team thought this to be a good idea. Who are they creating this show for in the end?
The changes work in some departments, though, such as in the humanization of Lonnie Lincoln (whom most fans know better as Tombstone) and Norman Osborn’s questionable mentorship role in helping Spider-Man. These types of storyline decisions help to freshen up the narrative and prevent it from retreading previous stomping grounds, but they aren’t overwhelming to the point in which the characters are no longer recognizable. Also, it’s good to see Peter’s best friend be someone different, since Nico Minoru is an important character in the Marvel Universe and brings something unique here.
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Is Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man worth adding to Disney+’s watchlist?
It’s tough to not be disappointed by Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, especially after the success and high standard set by X-Men ’97. Fans are vocal about what they want and how they want it, but Marvel – like many other franchises right now – seem adamant on ignoring this and going in the opposite direction. You tell them you want red and blue, but they’ll give you purple and gold.
What makes matters even worse is that a lot of people clamored for the return and continuation of Spider-Man: The Animated Series after X-Men ’97, but this is what fans receive instead. Despite the gorgeous animation and stellar voice acting, don’t expect for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man to be remembered in the same league as The Spectacular Spider-Man or Spider-Man: TAS. Instead, it’ll probably be relegated to the heap where What If…? now lies. So, look out, here comes the Spider-Meh.
The Review
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man features phenomenal animation and voice acting, but the changes to the lore wash the spider out.
Review Breakdown
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Verdict
