He does whatever a Spider can, and he's back to do it all again in a brand new adventure for the Disney Plus streaming service. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a new animated series produced by Marvel Studios (through its Marvel Animation banner) and it looks into the origins of our favorite webslinger. It's not set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as it spotlights the origins of a Peter Parker variant, but it is set to make itself at home among the other acclaimed animated shows Marvel has added to its line-up (What If...?, X-Men '97).
The adventures begin for this Spidey in the show that was formerly called Spider-Man: Freshman Year but how do they ultimately pan out? Let's dive into the events of the first episode, recapping it along the way and explaining how the ending sets up the rest of the series.
With that in mind, let's swing right into Peter Parker's newest story.
What difference a few months make
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man opens with Peter Parker waking up for school (thanks to some very loud assistance from Aunt May). He's late. Again. He jumps out of bed and gets ready for school, hopeful that he might actually make the bus for his first day at Midtown High. He doesn't. And so, he opens his bag to take out... the sandwhiches that May made him this morning. Speaking of May, she arrives in the nick of time to drive him to school.
When they arrive, they share an emotional hug as Peter thanks his aunt for being there for him on a very difficult year. Then, as he exits the vehicle, the sky literally opens and from that portal, a symbiote drops to the ground. Its closely pursued by Doctor Strange. Although the Avengers do exist in this world, Strange is not one of them, as the sorcerer remarks that he's in the wrong world.
Strange defeats the symbiote with the help of Peter's distraction (after he saved a classmate from an attack by the beast), but when he exits back through the Portal above, it severs the web of a spider hanging from it. That seemingly radioactive spider lands on Peter and bites him. As he meets the classmate he saved, Nico Minoru, he passes out from the bite.
Months later, Peter is at a different high school, Rockford Bales High School, but the story begins to play out the same. He's late for school again, and this time he opens his backpack to reveal... the Spider-Man suit. Well, the early prototype version that very much seems to be the star of this show. As he swings to school, he sees three people chasing Harry Osborn and swoops in to his rescue.
The three thugs livestream their showdown with Spider-Man, who very quickly gets dragged in the comments for his suit (particularly the hockey pads!). But things change very quickly when Spidey defeats every one of them with ease, speaking to the audience watching online as he picks up the phone and tells them that the cops will be coming to collect the guys he just fought.
Harry is extremely thankful and introduces himself to Spidey, who takes this moment to announce that his name is indeed Spider-Man. It's a pretty glorious moment for Peter, who is finally getting some recognition... and then he remembers that he is late for school. Although he sneaks into class quietly, the teacher catches him (teachers have a way of knowing even when their backs are turned) and tells him to wait behind after class.
In the midst of all the Spider-Man craziness, Peter Parker struggles to remember that he is actually still a teenager. His life hasn't exactly gotten the focus that it needs from him, which is why he's getting called out for arriving late at school and having a bit of a reputation for missing events. We also learn that Nico is now his best friend and that he has had a longtime crush on Pearl Pangan, who used to babysit him when he was younger. Nico recommends that he should tell her how he feels before someone else asks her out (also adding that she has a crush on her, too).
Peter is too nervous to do that, but when he swoops into action as Spider-Man again to stop a car chase involving two robbers and the police, he realizes that he can quite literally do anything. If he's brave enough to do that, surely he can ask out the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, when he decides that he's going to do it, Nico tells him that he's too late; she's already dating Lonnie Lincoln, the captain of the football team.
Later, Peter and Nico are in science class when the teacher tells the students that they will be partnering up for their next assignment. Although Peter thinks this is a great opportunity to partner with Pearl, Lonnie actually wants to partner with him. He's disheartened, but he agrees and the two begin working together. Peter is surprised by how much science the football team's captain knows but Lonnie tells him that he's committed to studying and learning, which is why he wants Peter's help.
The two get on surprisingly well and Peter realizes that he might have actually made a friend. He goes home happy, but Lonnie walks home with a lot more uncertainty. As he returns to his neighborhood, a grandmother won't let her grandchild sit next to him on the train, a police car watches him closely as he makes his way home. Things are much brighter in his house, as his family warmly greets him and his parents then ask him to help his younger brother Andre with his homework, which he happily agrees to.
Back to Peter, who really feels that his luck is changing as he finds a DVD player that someone had thrown out. Taking it back to his apartment, he fills May in on his find and, upon doing so, realizes that a very well-dressed man is sitting in their apartment. He stands up and introduces himself to Peter as... Norman Osborn.
What If... Norman Osborn took Peter under his wing instead of Tony Stark
If the sight of Peter Parker coming home to greet his aunt with a monologue, only to realize that she is in the living room with an unexpected visitor looks familiar to you, it should; it mirrors a sequence from Captain America: Civil War in which Tom Holland's Peter is greeted by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). We all know what that led to, as Spider-Man ended up joining Iron Man's team during the Avengers' "divorce" over the Sokovia Accords in the MCU. It also eventually led to Spidey becoming one of the core members of The Avengers.
The similarities to this scene in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are not coincidental. That's the purpose of this show, as it is set in the MCU's multiverse, showcasing the origins of a Peter Parker variant, imagining how differently events would have played out if he was met in his apartment by Norman Osborn.
We're not yet sure what Norman is there for, but he clearly has some kind of proposition for Peter, too. The question is: Will this proposition lead him down a similar path to the MCU's Spider-Man or a different one altogether. The beauty of the Multiverse Saga is that you never know how similar - or how different - one earth is to the other.
The good news is that you don't have to wait long, as the second episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been released alongside the first one and it is now available to watch, too.