When Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was first announced, many comic book fans (including me) were sceptical of the new animated series. Would it be just an origin story or a prequel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) version of the character? If so, that would have been redundant from the get-go. Fortunately, somewhere along the way during production, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man became its own thing with having to be tied to the MCU. That was ultimately a great decision and the result is one of the best original Marvel animated series in a long time.

Thwip Thwip

Spider-Man/Peter Parker in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

What hit me and sucked me in from the first few minutes of the very first episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is how it directly mentioned Uncle Ben. You know, the most influential person in Peter Parker’s road to becoming a hero? One of the biggest issues with the MCU version of Spider-Man is that he never once mentioned Uncle Ben in three whole feature-length films. It’s a bizarre omission and one that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man rectifies from the very start, which feels like a way that the writers and creators of this animated series are trying to say that this is going to be true and authentic to the comic book roots of Spider-Man.

And that’s almost exactly what we get.

(Far Left) Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) and (Second from Right) Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson) in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

While Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man still gets many of its familiar elements from the MCU version (a young and attractive Aunt May, etc.), it’s important to stress again, that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is set in its own universe separate from the MCU. We get a new and unique twist on Spider-Man origin (which I won’t spoil) but that’s not even the best part of this new animated series.

It’s hard to make CG animation look ‘not cheap and as good as 2D animation, which is why X-Men 97 Season 1 in 2023 was so well-received while no one praised What If…? for its animation. Even the best Japanese anime can be soured by bad CG. To my pleasant surprise, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man features a blend of cel-shaded CG art style and animation that looks extremely good. It doesn’t look like cheap CG (though not quite feature film quality), you can actually see the impressive details and facial expressions. It’s incredibly well-animated and not awkwardly stilted like in What If…? Best of all, the highlight is how the designs of the characters evoke and are clearly inspired by the work and art style of the late legendary Steve Ditko (the co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, amongst others). In addition to all that, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man also incorporates comic book panels into the animation style, similar to early 2000s adaptations like Ang Lee’s Hulk.

(Second from Left-R) Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang), Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) and Nico Minoru (Grace Song) in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.

Another major highlight of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is that it features so many deep cuts from the comics with unexpected cameos, easter eggs and appearances from less well-known and obscure characters. I call myself the ComicsLord and I was still surprised by the inclusion of some of these characters. Just like the brilliant X-Men 97 before it, this animated series derives more from the comics than the MCU. It’s not restricted to simply playing off existing characters and events from the MCU, which was my biggest criticism for What If…?

The series also doesn’t shy away from mature themes such as systemic racism, socioeconomic circumstances and more. For example, several of the characters can be seen financially struggling. The problem with the MCU version of Spider-Man was that it was almost always too clean and perfect. The MCU version feels more like a cartoon than the Spider-Man in this series. That is also a testament to the excellent performances of the voice actors, especially Hudson Thames as Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man, Grace Song as Nico Minoru and Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn. Seriously, I don’t mind seeing Colman Domingo playing Norman Osborn in live-action.

Spectacular

Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.

This is definitely the follow-up to X-Men 97 that we needed (even though they’re not connected or in the same universe). It’s the creative spark and breath of fresh air that Marvel Animation needed after the dud that was the final season of What If…?

If Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the future of Marvel Animation, we’re in good hands and I’m all in for the ride.

FINAL SCORE: 90/100

We received an early access screener of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man courtesy of Disney+ Hoststar Malaysia. The first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, with new episodes every week.