Our Thoughts on Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man! All photos provided by Marvel/Marvel Animation/Disney Studios PR.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
Hey All!
Marvel Studios begins their very packed year of 2025 with the new animated show Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man! We had the pleasure of being able to view all ten episodes of this new show, premiering January 29th, 2025 on Disney Plus, and here are our thoughts:
(L-R) Nico Minoru (Grace Song) and Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames). Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
First, I want to say that this is not a show designed for really young kids like Spidey and His Amazing Friends, depending on your child’s attention span and maturity level, this might be a good steppingstone into more Spider-Man entertainment. The episode run lengths are the typical cartoon format of 28-38 minutes, the colors are vibrant like most of today’s cartoons, and the level of graphic violence is way below that of X-Men 97 and the Spiderverse films.
Spider-Man/Peter Parker in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.
The dialogue is more grown up and mature with themes of loss, gangs, romantic relationships, and the use of violence. Punches are thrown but there are only two moments where the violence is slightly beyond a basic cartoon, but both moments are teaching lessons on the responsibility of strength and mercy. In terms of vulgarity, the only “bad word” used is “crap.” Obviously “crap” is not a swear word, but kids just need to be reminded that it’s not a nice word.
Doctor Strange (Robin Atkin Downes). Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
The animation style is different from previous Marvel Studios Animation Projects as well. It does not have the attempted realism of the 3D style of What If, is not an update on the style used in X-Men 97 and is not a blend of various styles like the Spiderverse films. Instead, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a kind of 2D animation that incorporates the use of panels in frames to try and mimic a more comic book style. While mimicking a comic book style is akin to what the Spiderverse films do, it is done to a much lesser degree in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
(L-R) Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd) and Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames). Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
The voice performances are very impressive, and it’s no wonder why when you look at the cast assembled. Multiple time Academy Award Nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin, Fear the Walking Dead) voices Norman Osborn, Charlie Cox (the live action actor who plays Daredevil) voices Daredevil, Hugh Dancy (the Hannibal tv show) is Doctor Octopus, and veteran voice actor Robin Atkin Downes as Doctor Strange.
(L-R) Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames), May Parker (Kari Wahlgren) and Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo). Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
The main cast includes Hudson Thames (who did the voice in What If) as the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Eugene Byrd (8 Mile) as Lonnie Lincoln, Grace Song (Life Itself) as Nico Minoru, Zeno Robinson (Attack on Titan) as Harry Osborn, and Kari Wahlgren as Aunt May (Rick and Morty).
(L-R) Asha (Erica Luttrell), Amadeus Cho (Aleks Le), Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) and Dr. Bentley Wittman (Paul F. Tompkins). Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man exists in its own continuity. It is not part of the X-Men 97 show, it is not related to previous animated shows, it is not related to the Spiderverse, and it is not directly related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The closest relation Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has is that it could be a What If scenario to the MCU, which is basically what the show What If is all about.
Instead of Peter Parker meeting and finding a mentor in Tony Stark (ala Marvel Studio’s Civil War), he meets and is mentored by Norman Osborn. His friends are not Ned Leeds and MJ, they are Lonnie Lincoln and Nico Minoru. Each supporting character and the villains in the show have trajectories set before them which, if you know the comic history, will lead them to their eventual well-known characters.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2025 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man works as both an introduction to newcomers with no continuity connection and a fun experiment filled with Easter Eggs for the most well-versed Spider-Man fans. Its target audience is 7 and up depending on maturity level. The short runtime on each episode makes it easily digestible and fun. Though it’s ten episodes long, Disney Plus recently released the schedule of release for the episodes and the breakup works really well for the breaks in the story.
We recommend checking out Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on Disney Plus now!
Welcome!
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