Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is both amazing and spectactular (get it?). This series is going to be a hit with Marvel fans of all ages.
Marvel Animation has been crushign it lately. X-Men 97 is a remarkable series that brought everyone back to the time where they would sit in front of their televisions for Saturday morning cartoons – and now Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is continuing that feeling.
This series follows a teenage Peter Parker after he gets bit by a radioactive spider – nothing new there except that the spider finds its way to him from another dimension. This adds a fun little twist on his origin story, but the rest remains more or less the same.
What is unique and impressive about this series, however, is that it does a wonderful job of included a lot – and I mean A LOT – of fan favorite characters from Marvel Comics. Amadeus Cho never gets enough love in my opinion, so I was thrilled to see him as one of the main side characters in this series.
There is a lot to love about this animated series. First of all, it looks as if it is ripped right from the pages of comic books. The animation style itself is sleek and bright, with lines that look handdrawn. As a reader of comics, I really appreciate this decision.
Most of the great Spider-Man villians are here as well, in one form or another, and should Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man continue, I expect to see the rest come in. I do not want to spoil it for anyone – but there are more than are shown in the trailers, and each name drop and character reveal gets more and more exciting.
While this is set in a different canon than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, several MCU actors voice their characters in the series – most notably is Charlie Cox as Daredevil. This is fitting considering that Daredevil: Born Again is right around the corner.
Speaking of the voice actors, Hudson Thames (who voices Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Zeno Robinson (who voices Harry Osborn), and Colman Domingo (who voices Norman Osborn) are all incredible. Thames perfectly voices both Peter and Spidey, which might sound redundant however, while they are technically the same character, they need to be a little but different and he pulls that off brilliantly.
Robinson is an extremely talented voice actor, so it should come as no surprise that he once again absolutely nails the role he is given with Harry Osborn. Same goes for Colman Domingo. Of course he gives an unforgettable and chilling performance as Norman Osborn, who has a large role in the series as he and Peter Parker work closely together.
The story told throughout the first season is exciting. There is a lot going on, with several side plots, but the main focus is about Peter finding his footing as Spider-Man, and working with Osborn to do it. I refuse to spoil anything but by the end of the season, I am certain Marvel fans will be hooked.
As a parent of a twelve and thirteen year old, I love a series that the family can watch together. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man falls perfectly in the middle of something made for kids and something made for adults, allowing fans of all ages to enjoy it. This is not Spidey and His Amazing Friends, but it isn’t Invincible either. There are a lot of great action sequences, but they don’t include an excessive amount of blood and gore.
Surely Marvel Comics fans will be happy with this version of Spider-Man. There are references to key moments and a great line up of fan favorite characters. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man‘s first two episodes are streaming now, with the final two coming to Disney+ on February 19.
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About Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is an animated series that follows Peter Parker 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.
Catch Web-Slinger-in-Training Peter Parker Starting January 29 Exclusively on Disney+.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.