The first two episodes of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” (2025) premiered on Disney+ Wednesday. It mirrors a lot of what audiences know about Tom Holland’s version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although it may not be canon to the MCU, fans of the beloved character can watch what is a decent animated series so far.
Episode One: “Amazing Fantasy”
“Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” tells of the story of Peter Parker (Hudson Thames) and how he goes from an average 15-year-old kid from Queens, New York, to becoming one of New York’s most well-known heroes: Spider-Man. This version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is essentially Holland’s version without Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) influence and mentorship.
In this universe, Thames’ Spider-Man is taken up by none other than Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo). This switcheroo of who Peter looks up to is clever to show how different the story is for Peter compared to what audiences experienced with Holland’s version.
“Amazing Fantasy” shows a handful of new characters that have not yet been given the spotlight. One of those is Peter’s best friend Nico Minoru (Grace Song), who is far different from Ned Leeds and Harry Osborn. She seems like the complete opposite of someone who would be friends with Peter.
Minoru meshes pretty well with Peter despite the first impression. The episode introduces Peter’s crush Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang) and her boyfriend Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd). These two reflect other classic characters such as Mary Jane Watson and Flash Thompson. However, Lonnie actually has potential to be one of the most likable characters in the series compared to Flash.
One thing to note is the animation style. The show is not as beautiful or visually-striking as “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), but it does have a distinct style that lives on its own and closely resembles that of artwork done in very early Spider-Man comics. The pilot offers viewers a similar Spider-Man origin story, but with enough new aspects to make it stand on its own.
Episode Two: “The Parker Luck”
Peter comes to Norman’s attention when Norman gives him an offer he cannof refuse: a paid internship with Oscorp. Peter accepts much to the excitement of his Aunt May (Kari Wahlgreen).
“The Parker Luck” does a good job at balancing the work of being Peter and Spider-Man, something many fans love about the character and similar to Tobey Maguire’s struggles in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” (2004).
When Spider-Man is in misery, he is at his best and makes him so relatable. Thames does a stellar job bringing the balance to life when voicing the character. Although Thames may be 30 years old, he plays being a teenager who only wants to do what interests him and not have to worry about saving the lives of others extremely well.
Spider-Man keeping his identity a secret is another aspect that makes him special. Peter has had his fair share of getting his identity exposed to the public or to those who love him but hate Spider-Man.
In the final scene of this episode, Peter is summoned to Mr. Osborn’s office. Peter believes he’s going to lose his internship with Oscorp, but Norman instead shows him surveillance footage of Peter dressing up as Spider-Man and swinging away from the Oscorp building. It is an incredible cliffhanger to end the episode on.
