After two incredible debut episodes, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man quickly positioned itself as one of the best Disney Plus animated shows ever created. Its story re-imagines the wall-crawler in a way that faithfully honors the original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko version of the character while giving it some unique twists of its own along the way. Fans finally got what they wanted to see for a while now: A hero who looks out for the little guy.
Unlike its Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart, this new iteration of Peter Parker never got the chance to meet fan-favorite characters such as MJ or Ned Leeds. Furthermore, Iron Man never entered the picture to teach the superpowered teenager how to be a hero, and the Vulture hasn't had the chance to cause any trouble (for the time being).
Instead, Spidey faces a major conspiracy that could lead him to uncover someone sinister is giving weapons to criminals across the City, and that premise is further expanded during the events of Episode No. 3.
*** This article contains SPOILERS from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 3. ***
Peter's secret identity isn't so secret anymore
Episode 2 of the series ended on quite a cliffhanger after it was revealed that Norman Osborn learned Peter's secret identity thanks to a security camera at Oscorp. Well, things pick up right as Peter is spending quality time with his friend Nico Minoru, yet he can't stop thinking about how he gave away his secret identity to someone he barely knows. Nico complains about how Peter ditched her at a party, and she offers her help to bail out his friend from the whole Oscorp Internship. However, the superpowered teenager doesn't want to quit, and he claims everything "is fine" (though we know that's not the case). Nico then invites Peter to watch a movie to de-stress, but he can't go as he already has plans to go to dinner with Norman.
Once Peter arrives at the restaurant he comes across a big surprise: Norman reserved the whole place just for the two of them in order to talk privately. No one else aside from the waitress is in plain sight, meaning they can discuss the whole "Spider-Man" situation in peace (after eating an expensive dinner paid for by Osborn, of course). Peter tries to argue that he isn't really Spider-Man and the whole thing has been just a prank — still hoping to keep his identity a secret. However, he eventually gives up and reveals the truth: he's been dressing up as a hero and saving the day for the past few weeks.
At that point, Norman reveals that the whole internship was an attempt to figure out who was behind the mask. The four interns? Yes, they were the four most likely candidates to be Spider-Man. But why go through the effort to stage all of this? In order to thank the hero for saving his son, Harry Osborn, back in Episode 1. Norman then offers Peter help to create a better suit that would make the whole "saving the world" situation much easier. However, the wall-crawler refuses, claiming that anyone helping him might be put in grave danger. At that point, Peter tries to walk away and resign from the Oscorp Internship, but Norman tells him to reconsider.
When the friendly neighborhood hero arrives home, he finds out Aunt May is putting away a lot of their stuff in boxes in order to sell it later. Most of it is new, and some things (such as a film camera) belonged to Ben — making it hard to part ways with. However, the Parker family is running low on money, and it's the only way they'll be able to pay the rent. At that point, Peter realizes he isn't quite ready to give up on the Oscorp Internship yet, even if it's only to help Aunt May with the bills.
New villains are born
In a different part of town, two criminals drop a bag filled with money in a trashcan since their mystery dealer told them to do so. So what do they get in exchange? New bionic enhancements that will allow them to take over the city, similar to the tech the pyromaniac villain used in the previous episode. And while we're on the note of witnessing the origin story of supervillains, we need to talk about Lonnie Lincoln. The football superstar was hanging with his friends at school when suddenly he received a call from his mother who seemed extremely upset.
Lonnie asks her girlfriend, Pearl, to give him a ride home and once he arrives he discovers the horrible truth: His brother was taken home by the police after being caught vandalizing a building with the "Tenth Street Gang". Lonnie is furious about this, but when he goes to Andre's room to talk, he realizes his little brother is nowhere to be found. So he goes to the only place where he knows he'll find his missing sibling, and that's the Tenth Street Gang safehouse.
Lonnie attempts to get Andre out of the safehouse but the two are quickly stopped by Big Donovan; the gang's leader. The mob boss says he can't simply let one of his henchmen escape so easily without anything in return. That's when Lonnie makes a deal that might have big implications in the future: work for the gang in exchange for permanently freeing his brother. Donovan accepts, and the fate of both these characters is sealed. Things are looking very grim, and they're only about to get worse.
Remember the two criminals with bionic enhancements? Well, they decided to do the first thing in the supervillain 101 book and rob a jewelry store. Fortunately, Spider-Man quickly arrived at the scene to save the day. The only problem? He's eventually overpowered. But just when the wall-crawler is down in his luck, Norman Osborn hacks into Peter's phone and tells him how to handle the situation. Since the bad guys' tech is really new, they're prone to make mistakes. Spidey uses this advice to provoke them, and finally web them up for good when they're distracted.
At last, the city is safe (at least for the time being) and Spidey comes to a realization: If it wasn't for Norman, he wouldn't have been able to save the day. A few moments later, Peter swings by Oscorp and tells his boss he accepts the proposal for extra help and a new suit. And just like that, the fate of these two characters is also sealed — likely prompting them to face off further down the line (but we're getting a bit too ahead of ourselves).
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man airs new episodes on Disney Plus on Wednesdays.