A Spider for All Seasons

The finale of the first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man just aired on Disney+Disney's answer in the streaming service game, Disney+ features the studio's (nearly) full back catalog, plus new movies and shows from the likes of the MCU and Star Wars. (well, aired in streaming terms, at least, which means posted and then left online until, at some vague point months or years from now, Disney deletes it, never to be seen again). If all you want to know is if the show is good, the answer is “yes”. This is a solid entry in the SpidermanSure, DC Comics has Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but among the most popular superheroes stands a guy from Marvel Comics, a younger hero dressed in red and blue who shoots webs and sticks to walls. Introduced in the 1960s, Spider-Man has been a constant presence in comics and more, featured in movies regularly since his big screen debut in 2002. canon that plays around with the elements of the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. while still managing to find its own voice and identity. It might not please everyone (for reasons we’ll get to in a bit) but, on the whole, this is the kind of show Marvel should be producing, a solid adventure first that keeps its ties to the overarching continuity on the side.

We’ve already discussed the basics of the show in our review of the series premiere, so instead of recapping the plot of the show again, let’s discuss how the show takes its starting elements and improves them. A major element of the show is using Norman Osborne as Peter’s mentor and, in a way, surrogate father figure. I’ve seen people online that were upset about this dynamic, specifically because it minimizes Uncle Ben’s role in the show. Bear in mind that, like in the MCU proper, Ben doesn’t show up at all, so we don’t get his traditional “with great power comes great responsibility” speech. There are many online that are upset about this, but I don’t think this is actually as big of a deal.

For starters, Ben doesn’t show up in the MCU either. While this is a parallel Earth, clearly taking place in a dimension that is very similar to the main 616 universe (Earth-Prime of the MCU, if you will) it is just far enough removed that it can have its own twists on lore, its own versions of stories, its own way of looking at things. The show uses the basic context of Peter’s life as we more or less knew it in the MCU, and then runs off in a very different direction, but because Uncle Ben wasn’t in the movies he also isn’t in the show, and I don’t have a problem with that. If the show weren’t connected to the MCU at all, I’d think it’s a problem, but I don’t mind it in the context we have here.

Plus it allows Normal to slot himself into that role in a way that doesn’t just feel different from Tony Stark (who only plays a minor role, as Iron ManBillionare Tony Stark has a secret: while he travels the world by day as a playboy philanthropist and head of Stark Industries, he combats the evils of the world as the armored Iron Man., in this series) but also from Uncle Ben. Peter’s uncle warned him about using his power responsibly, without even realizing that Peter had superpowers at all. That made his speech more relevant and more interesting to the character, which is why it’s so formative, yes. But when Norman says, “with great power comes great respect,” it shows what Norman actually values. Peter is looking for someone to guide him, to show him his way forward, and Norman’s words pervert the moral Peter is supposed to learn. It’s the first step for Peter down the road to him eventually rejecting Norman’s assistance because, as we all could expect, Norman isn’t a good person.

I mean, come on, that shouldn’t really be a spoiler. Even before Norman became the Green Goblin in the main Marvel comics continuity (actual comics, not films) he wasn’t really a great person. Versions of him that crop up usually show that he is driven by a need for power, for money, for fame, and that he tends to ignore anything that doesn’t give him what he needs. He has a bad relationship with his son, he’s not attentive, he doesn’t care. But show him power and he latches on. Norman finding out Peter was Spidey in the premiere of the series was a big deal, but it also meant that Peter was pushed on a road that was harder to predict, and it forced him to confront some morality lessons he might not have had Uncle Ben been around. I think that’s actually really interesting.

Also interesting is that the series is populated with a bunch of friends for Peter that weren’t in the movies at all. Ned and M.J. (aka Michelle) aren’t here, since they would have been at Midway with Peter and that school was destroyed. We don’t know where they are, but we’re given a whole other case instead: Nico Minoru, Lonnie Lincoln, Pearl Pangan, and Harry Osborn. Outside of Harry these aren’t characters we’d even normally associate with Peter, let alone expect them to be in his friend group, but the show wants to show just how this version of Peter is different from his movie counterpart, and by giving him different friends in a completely different context it true changes the dynamics of the series.

It’s also telling that not only are each of these characters not traditionally friends with Peter they’re also not even really Spider-man characters. Sure, Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone, has run-ins with Spidey in the comics, but he’s as much a Daredevil villain as a Spidey foe. Wave is a superhero from the Agents of Atlas series. Meanwhile, Nico, aka Sister Grimm, is one of the Runaways, a group of teen superheroes who discover that their parents are all supervillains. That story is completely changed for Nico here, as she’s a foster kid in this series, so who knows what else is changed about her and what could change for her in the future.

I do like how the series blends in these characters and their stories into this new version of the universe. None of these characters have appeared in the MCU before now, so they, along with all the traditional Marvel heroes and villains – Doctor StrangeSometimes thought of as the magical version of Tony Stark, Doctor Strange is the "Sorcerer Supreme", a mystic who was once a brilliant neurosurgeon until an accident robbed him of the use of his hands. But he found a way, in Tibet, to gain back not only his hands, but so much more..., DaredevilThe Man without Fear, Matt Murdock, was a lawyer by day but a superhero by night, made all the more impressive as he was legally blind. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a relaunch of a much older character of the same name, creating a lasting piece of the Marvel universe., VenomSpun out from a "What If?" story in Marvel Comics, this black suit variant of Spider-man became his own character, and eventually became almost as popular as the web-head himself., Doc Oc, Scorpion – get to be written in new ways, with new stories, fresh slates given to each that the series can play with, free of the constraints of a given universe. It means that any interaction we see can lead to new permutations of stories, creating cool, new ideas that are worth exploring on their own.

Going back to Norman, we learn that he’s trying to get contracts with the U.S. Government to lead his own version of Damage Control, the cleanup operation that collects and disposes of powerful magical, alien, and other tech used in supervillain attacks. But Norman doesn’t want to dispose of it, he wants to study it and learn for all this tech that could flow his way. Will he use this tech for altruistic purposes? Come on, we already know what kind of man Norman is just from the fact that he’s Norman Osborn. The show doesn’t change him so drastically that he won’t act like himself, and he’s a power-hungry villain.

Hell, his knowing who Peter really is could have huge consequences for the show (even beyond the things hinted at that I won’t spoil here). That’s powerful information for him to know just as a mortal man. If he ends up becoming the Green Goblin, or even someone worse (all of which is developed here without yet coming to fruition) just imagine the damage he could do with that knowledge. This is not a man you want coming after you even before he turns full supervillain. After that change, it gets so much worse.

I think that’s really the power of this show, and why it works so well. The show has a clear idea of what it wants to preserve from the MCU and what it wants to change, and then it keeps pushing and evolving and shifting things around. By the end of a second season (which is already greenlit) and possibly a third this show could look so different from the MCU version of Spider-man that it could just be considered its own thing, fully and completely, and I think that’s healthy. It’s better for Marvel if they don’t try to tie everything into the big film franchise, if they let some of their shows – like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man, like X-Men ‘97 – stand on their own and tell their own, fresh stories. The universe feels richer and more interesting if every idea doesn’t have to lead to the next film, the next crossover, the next event.

Sometimes it’s nice to just have a show that can breathe and have fun and do its own thing. It lets us enjoy the heroes for who they are, and then we can really get invested. As different as this show might be from the expected Spider-man series, it’s able to be its own voice in the MCU and that, alone, is so refreshing. Plus, it’s a great series on its own merits, which makes it even better.