There's a new Spider-Man cartoon on Disney Plus, and sadly, it is not a reboot or continuation of Spectacular Spider-Man, which, as far as I know, is still stuck in a frustrating legal limbo in which neither Disney nor Sony completely own its rights. Instead, what we have is a cartoon that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a prequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, or a completely new adaptation of the comics. It would be very easy for such a project to lack a strong sense of identity, and to have an incoherent plot that feels like parts of 2 different plots haphazardly stitched together. Thankfully, that isn't the case, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man actually comes out to be a pretty good Spider-Man cartoon.
It definitely still retains many aesthetic and narrative elements from its original conception as an MCU prequel. Aunt May is clearly based on Marissa Tomai's version of the character from the MCU. The Sokovia Accords and Superhero Registration Act are important parts of the show's backstory. And cameos by Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and others definitely feel like the MCU versions of those characters.
But this definitely isn't a prequel to the MCU's Spider-Man. First and foremost, the Sokovia Accords have already been put into place without Spider-Man being involved in the events of this story's version of Civil War, which is referenced several times. It also features a completely different cast of characters. There are no traces of characters like Ned Leeds, MJ, or Liz Allen. And it does feature characters like Norman and Harry Osborn, neither of whom have appeared (properly) in the MCU movies.
So this is a show that will definitely be familiar to people who have watched the MCU, but its lack of continuity with the MCU might turn die-hard MCU fans away.
Thankfully, I don't care if the show follows strict MCU continuity. All I care about is whether it's a good adaptation of Spider-Man. And it mostly is.
©: Walt Disney Co.
The connections to the live-action MCU are nebulous.
The street-level Spider-Man we want from the MCU
First and foremost, Friendly Neighborhood is (as its title suggests) mostly a street-level Spider-Man story. Its inciting incident may have been a battle between Doctor Strange and an inter-dimensional space alien, but after that, the show is entirely about Peter dealing with rapidly escalating tensions between rival gangs in New York. At the same time, Spider-Man is being mentored by Norman Osborn, who is trying to use Spider-Man for ulterior motives, while Peter is trying to balance his duty as Spider-Man against his responsibilities as a high school student and Oscorp intern.
There's also a lot of teenager high school drama. Peter has a crush on a girl at school, while also making friends with another nerdy goth girl who probably has a crush on Peter. Then Harry Osborn comes into the picture and creates tension and jealousy.
The early introduction of Norman Osborn set off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. One of the frustrating trends in adaptations of Spider-Man over the past 20 years has been the hyper focus on the rivalry between Norman and Spider-Man, Several adaptations turning Oscorp into a super-villain factory, and even the comic books themselves have tried to retcon Norman into the architect of all of Peter's miseries and woes.
©: Walt Disney Co.
This is a very different (and dynamic) depiction of Norman Osborn.
Adaptations of Spider-Man (at least the ones since the start of the 2000s) have lived and died off of Norman Osborn, Harry Osborn, and the Green Goblin. The idea of Norman being a mentor figure to Peter was off-putting to me at first. But as the episodes went by, Norman revealed himself to be a very complicated and nuanced character. He's actually likeable, and seems to have his heart in the right place. It's easy to see why Peter looks up to him. But as the season goes on, the cracks in Norman's philanthropic persona start to crack, and we start to see the malicious narcissist underneath. But he never comes off as "comic book evil". He never seems like he's trying to be evil. Rather, he has a huge ego, and he wants to be seen as a genius scientist, inventor, and businessman. So he seems to genuinely fail to realize how what he is doing could cause harm. This is shaping up to be perhaps the most dynamic version of Norman Osborn that I've ever seen.
More importantly, Norman and Oscorp aren't the nexus around which the entire story and drama revolves. The supervillains aren't all Oscorp research projects gone amok. As alluded to before, all the villains in this show are street-level thugs and gangsters. None of the villains in this show are designed to be weapons to fight Spider-Man. They are just thugs and gangsters looking to get an upper hand against the police and other gangsters. The facilitator of the proliferation of super villains isn't actually Oscorp; it's Otto Octavius.
This version of Otto Octavius is probably the single part of the show that feels the most like it was ripped straight out of the original comics. Otto doesn't have a sympathetic or tragic backstory here. He isn't a mentor or father figure for Peter. He's just a mad scientist who will go to any lengths to get the materials and equipment that he needs for his research.
©: Walt Disney Co.
Otto Octavius is very close to his comic book counter-part.
Another core lynchpin of the story is Lonnie Lincoln. Lonnie is one of the show's greatest strengths and also one of its weaknesses. He's exceptionally well characterized, and his path to villainy is tragic and sympathetic. But it feels like it happens too fast. I hate to keep railing on this every time I talk about a streaming TV show, but the 10-episode format of streaming TV seasons just isn't long enough! Lonnie's tragic downfall just isn't given enough room to breath, and he turns from good-hearted academic all-star, to being all-in on the gang lifestyle in the span of about 2 episodes.
It's actually a great demonstration of how gangs pull people in, and don't give them an opportunity to say "no". But Lonnie just doesn't seem to fight back as hard as I would have liked or expected him to. But then again, even by the end of the season, Lonnie still hasn't gone completely off the deep end. He still has a moral compass, and still a lot of room to fall. So the transformation isn't complete yet.
Peter has a choice
At the end of the day, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man works well because it actually does have a tight central theme. It's all about creating a series of conflicting role models for Peter to follow. Does he fully embrace Norman's mentorship? How does his path mirror that of Lonnie's? The only thing that's really missing is the role model character who keeps Peter on the level. He doesn't have Tony Stark to counter balance Norman. It seems like both Nico and Harry are supposed to act as moral compasses for Peter and Spider-Man, but neither of them ever fully commits to the role, and they infight with each other anyway. So it never really feels like there's a true counter-point to Norman's "with great power, comes great respect" mantra. In fact, we don't even know if this Peter ever received the "great responsibility" lesson from Uncle Ben. It certainly never comes up in this season.
©: Walt Disney Co.
Peter lacks a singular moral anchor character to act as a counterpoint to Norman.
In any case, the story-telling is solid and compelling. The characters are mostly well-written. And the direction of the show is unique among Spider-Man adaptations, coming at many of these characters from new and original angles. Will it hold up in the long term? We'll have to wait till season 2, which I will be watching.
For the first time since Spectacular Spider-Man, there's a Spider-Man show on TV that I will be looking forward to watching. Well, I didn't watch Spectacular on TV. I saw it on the internet and on DVD years later, because I never knew it existed until years after its cancellation. So I guess, technically, this is the first Spider-Man show that I will be looking forward to watching on TV since The Animated Series in the 90's, when I was 9 years old.