Let's do a bit of a recap, shall we? Peter Parker has spent just a few months being a superhero in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and he has worn more than 5 costumes, gone up against three bionically-enhanced individuals, and accidentally revealed his secret identity to two other people. Needless to say, the wall-crawler has lived a few eventful weeks lately, but the worst is yet to come.
See, someone has been selling mechanic enhancements to small-time criminals and turning them into almost unstoppable nightmares. Audiences of the latest Disney Plus series were left in the dark for quite some time about the identity of this weapon dealer, but back in episode 4, the cat was finally out of the bag. Turns out that Doctor Octopus wants to make a name for himself in New York City, and he won't stop at anything to achieve that goal as evidenced in the latest episode of the series.
*** This article contains SPOILERS from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 5. ***
Otto wants to be the next guy to fear
The fifth episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man wastes no time in continuing the story of its predecessor. As a bit of a recap: four criminals (including the one and only Chameleon) robbed a place, and three of them were later captured by the police while attempting to flee the scene. The remaining fugitive, Mila Masaryk, grabbed the bag of money and went to meet Otto Octavius: the man who's been selling dangerous weapons across the city. Mila decided to spend all her (robbed) money on a rhinoceros-like helmet that fires lasers to bust her friends out of jail.
After the transaction is completed and Mila leaves the scene, Otto reveals his frustration with having to sell enhancements to small-time criminals since the whole situation is "beneath him". However, thanks to all the money he's collected, he'll soon be able to show the world that he's better than the likes of Stark, Banner, and Osborn (a last name Otto mentions with so much anger, we can't help but feel the two have a complicated past).
Back at Oscorp Industries, there's a bit of an uncomfortable situation as Harry just learned Spider-Man's secret identity. Norman argues that the best course of action is for Harry to become Spidey's "dude at the desk" and help him in his crusade to save the world. While Peter is a bit hesitant at first, he then comes around and accepts the extra help. When the superhero meeting is over, Harry gives Peter a ride to school in a very expensive car.
While most students are excited that the social media celebrity, Harry Osborn, showed up for a while, Nico Minoru isn't one of them. She argues that Peter has been hanging out with many new people lately and won't have any time left for himself (though maybe that's not her real worry). So in order to comfort her, Peter buys the two tickets to watch a movie later that day — an appointment that the superhero won't surely miss, right? Well, unfortunately for the wall-crawler, Mila Masaryk made her move and attacked the prison where her friends were captured.
Once the police arrive at the scene, Mila uses her new rhinoceros helmet to wreak havoc and take almost every guard down. Two of the recently-bailed criminals, the Chameleon and Roxanna, take advantage of all the chaos to flee the scene — leaving Mila and their other partner, Mikhail Sytsevich, behind (fun fact: Mikhail is the father of Rhino in comic book pages!). Mila seems to have a taste for blowing up things because, even though she could also escape, she stays in the prison yard destroying everything on her path. Unfortunately for her, Spider-Man quickly arrives on the scene.
Mila and the web-slinger fight for some time until she decides to start attacking civilians in order to distract her opponent and get the upper hand. This decision would eventually lead her to shoot her own friend, Mikhail Sytsevich, but Spidey jumps in front of the laser and takes all the damage for him. Seeing as the hero just saved his life, Mikhail helps take the helmet off Mila once and for all. When the dust is finally settled, the police take the two criminals to jail yet again, but not before Mikhail tells the wall-crawler they might be even now, but he'll crush him if they ever cross paths again.
After Spidey swings out of the scene, Peter arrives at the movie theater where he is supposed to meet Nico Minoru. However, the wall-crawler invited Harry last minute — a decision that didn't sit very well with Nico. Even then, the three enter the theater in order to watch what is supposed to be a really terrible movie, just like all friends do.
The birth of Tombstone
Parallel to Spider-Man's arc, audiences also see Lonnie Lincoln's subplot dive into even more dangerous territory. The football superstar has been missing practice lately because he's running errands for Big Donovan — the leader of the Tenth Street Gang. Due to this, Lonnie is scolded by his football coach, who asks him to think about his future. After that, Lonnie becomes determined to train even harder to reach his personal goals, but life has very different plans for him.
Remember how there's a new gang in New York City called The Scorpions? Well, they're venturing into the Tenth Street Gang territory, and Big Donovan wants every one of his men set and ready for an impending clash. Big Don then sends one of his henchmen to pick up Lonnie from school and bring him to a parking lot where the confrontation is about to happen. Once Lonnie arrives at the scene, Mac Gargan shows up and tells the Tenth Street Gang to give up their territory peacefully or abide by the consequences. And just like that, a big fight between the two gangs breaks loose.
Lonnie only watches as chaos unfolds around him — neglecting to participate. However, he then sees Mac Gargan silently approaching Big Don from behind with a knife. At that moment, the football superstar jumps in the middle, gets stabbed in the arm to save his boss, and tackles the Scorpion down. Seconds after, the police arrive and both gangs quickly flee the scene, but not before the supervillain threatens Lonnie for what he did.
Back in the hideout, Big Donovan praises Lonnie for his heroic act and lets everyone know that the teenager finally gained his trust. Now, from this day onward, the football superstar will be known as Tombstone — a nickname that should ring alarm bells in the heads of comic book fans. But what will provoke Lonnie to turn into a full-time supervillain? Well, there's only one way to find out.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man airs new episodes on Disney Plus on Wednesdays.