New episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man just released, and they are taking the world by storm. What started as a prequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming evolved into its own unique tale set in a branching Marvel Cinematic Universe reality — allowing creators to have complete creative freedom to tell no shortage of exhilarating stories. The world-building feels natural and makes use of a great variety of iconic villains, every character has their own unique and meaningful arc, and Peter Parker helps New York citizens every chance he has. But if all of that wasn't enough, then we also have many fantastic Easter Eggs to look up to.
The first two episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are filled with no shortage of secrets, so it doesn't come as a surprise that their follow-ups kept the trend going. Fortunately, there's a lot to break down here: From sneaky references to popular bands such as Daft Punk, all the way to the inclusion of major Spider-Man villains in supporting roles. So without further ado, here is every Easter Egg we could find in episodes 3, 4, and 5 of the latest Disney Plus show:
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 3 Easter Eggs
I usually write these lists in chronological order, but let's shake things up a bit and start with one of the best Easter Eggs on the show. At the 16:14 mark, we get a glimpse at Andre's room and he has two very interesting posters hanging on the wall. One of them displays two men wearing helmets that look very similar to the ones used by Daft Punk, and the other one seems to be an exact recreation of the layout of the Grand Theft Auto V poster. Who said the best references only had to be Marvel-related?
At the beginning of the episode — during the 2:43 mark — we get a glimpse of Nico Minoru's bedroom. On her night table, she has a picture of her parents. However, we later discover she's living in a foster home — so that prompts the question: What happened to her mom and dad? Well, in comic book pages, they are dark wizards that often sacrificed the lives of innocent humans in the hope of destroying mankind. Understandably so, Nico ran away from them, and now audiences can get a glimpse of the supervillains thanks to this little Easter Egg.
At the 8:17 mark, Norman Osborn discusses the creation of a new Spider-Man suit and asks whether a drone should be included or not, only to immediately follow that thought with "Is that too much? Yeah, a bit too much". This could be referencing the Spider-Man: Homecoming suit in which the spider logo also acted as a drone (thank you, Tony Stark). And I have to agree with Norman here: It indeed was a bit too much.
At the 9:56 mark, we get our first look at the episode's antagonists: Maria Vazques and James Sanders. In comic book pages, the former is known for being the supervillain Tarantula, while the latter is known as the Speed Demon. Both of their evil personas are further referenced in the show thanks to Doc Ock's enhancements. And while we're on the note of comic book characters, audiences see many references to Uncle Ben such as his bowling T-shirt at the 12:00 mark, and his camera at the 17:00 mark.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 4 Easter Eggs
Right from the get-go, we see that the episode's title card (displayed at the 1:56 mark) is a recreation of the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #100. Now let's fast-forward to the 5:10 mark, when Peter is going to meet Norman Osborn in his office. In the background of the scene, we see a picture of Norman shaking hands with King T'Chaka, the former leader of Wakanda who was seen in the MCU on Captain America: Civil War. And speaking of Cap's trilogy capper, at the 6:53 mark, we see a shot that is an exact recreation of the Airport Battle, depicting Giant Man grabbing War Machine while Cap and Bucky watch.
At the 7:38 mark, Peter tries to show Norman some of his Spider-Man suit designs. One of the masks drawn on the right page is an exact depiction of the original Spider-Man mask seen in the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko era of the character. Another mask has wider lenses, which could represent the Ultimate era of the character back in the 2000s. Finally, we also see Tom Holland's spider as a possibility for the chest logo.
Unfortunately, Peter's designs are completely ignored, and Norman creates three suits that don't seem fitting of the wall-crawler. That being said, they are all part of the Identity Crisis comic book storyline where Spidey is accused of murder — an event that prompts Peter to come up with a few alternate identities to keep protecting the city. Among those identities are Prodigy, Hornet, and Dusk, whose suits are seen across the episode. Besides, the white suit that audiences see at the end is almost an exact representation of the Future Foundation comic book suit.
At the 13:59 mark, we see a little girl let go of a red balloon, only for Spidey to retrieve it. If you've played the tie-in Spider-Man 2 (2004) video game, you know that exact same scenario was a type of side-mission found across the city map. Now, in the final moments of the episode, we see a group of four criminals attempting to escape the police while carrying a bag of money. Well, turns out one of them is called Dmitri Smerdyakov, better known as the supervillain Chameleon. Another member of the robbers is Mikhail Sytsevich, who's the Rhino's father in comic book pages.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 5 Easter Eggs
At the 5:43 mark, Harry Osborn says he wants to be Spider-Man's "dude at the desk", which is a reference to how Ned Leeds' designated title in the MCU is "the guy in the chair". Now let's move to the 6:37 mark when Harry is giving Peter a ride to school. In the left part of the screen, we see a bus stop with a big poster that says "Welcome to Kittenville". Well, turns out that the poster's logo has the same design as that of Jurassic Park.
Moving to the 7:11 mark, we see one of the students at the back of the classroom is reading an Amazing Fantasy comic book — a series in which the wall-crawler also made his debut. Just a few seconds afterward, at the 7:15 mark, we see a picture of Harry Osborn with Luna Snow, who's been recently stealing the spotlight in Marvel Rivals.
Last, but not least, at the 12:10 mark we hear the mob boss Big Donovan demand Lonnie Lincoln to go to the hideout immediately. Lonnie says he can't miss practice, to which Big Don answers "I'm sorry, I miss the part where that was my problem" which is a nod to Peter's dialog back in Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie when he let Uncle Ben's killer escape with a bag of money. It's always great when the classics get recognition.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man airs new episodes on Disney Plus on Wednesdays.