Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is coming to Disney+ in January 2025, but before the series hits the streaming service, fans can read up on Spider-Man’s origin story in the prequel comic series of the same name from Marvel Comics – and, in the process, learn what the famous “friendly” moniker actually means to Peter Parker.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2024) #2 – written by Christos Gage, with art by Eric Gapstur – finds Peter Parker enters the wrestling ring against a classic Spider-Man rival, Crusher Hogan. Trip, the fight announcer, introduces Peter as Spider-Man, but Peter recalls telling Trip to call him “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” instead, since most people are afraid of spiders, and he wants to soften the word “spider” by sounding more approachable and local.
However, Trip leaving out the “your friendly neighborhood” part leads Peter to getting his classic superhero name, Spider-Man.
Marvel’s New Spider-Man Series Offers A Novel Origin Story For His “Friendly Neighborhood” Nickname
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2024) #2– Written By Christos Gage; Art By Eric Gapstur; Color By Jim Campbell; Lettering By Joe Caramagna
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Disney+ show is basically an extended What If…? episode. The series was originally intended to work as an origin story for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, but it was eventually decided to be set in an MCU parallel universe. On the Official Marvel Podcast, executive producer Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt confirmed that the series takes place at a point in the MCU where Civil War has happened, and the Sokovia Accords have been ratified. The difference in this universe is that an attack at Peter Parker’s school is an inciting incident that creates a branch from the main MCU continuity.
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If Civil War has already happened, and Peter Parker is in his freshman year of high school, that means Civil War happened a year early. That, along with Peter’s school being destroyed, leading to him never meeting Ned Leeds and Michele Jones Watson, means that when the series starts, this Peter is already very different from the MCU’s. However, until then, the universe is the same as the MCU, so Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s Peter could have a very similar origin to the MCU, and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man could have wanted to go by “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” as well.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s Peter Parker Will Be A Lot More Grounded Than The MCU Version
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2 – Available January 15, 2025 From Marvel Comics
Spider-Man in the MCU has almost never had a chance to stand on his own, starting off his superhero journey by being a mentee to Iron Man, then traveling to space, and then dealing with the multiverse. This series allows a similar version of Spider-Man from the MCU to be grounded and fight his own villains. Peter claiming he did research into people who are afraid of spiders, and deciding to add “Your Friendly Neighborhood” to the beginning of his name to make himself sound more approachable and local is already a step in the right direction.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is ready to give fans the Spider-Man they all know and love, the one that the MCU didn’t quite achieve.
This new Peter Parker is set to have a large rogue gallery of classic Spider-Man villains, and his attitude of not wanting to frighten civilians even with his name shows how down to Earth he is. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is ready to give fans the Spider-Man they all know and love, the one that the MCU didn’t quite achieve, even if the version audiences got was memorable in his own way. Here’s hoping that the MCU will give Tom Holland’s Spider-Man a more street-level story with street-level villains in Spider-Man 4.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2 will be available January 15, 2025, from Marvel Comics.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man follows Peter Parker as he embarks on a journey to embrace his destiny as a hero. The film explores his unconventional path and the challenges he faces in balancing his newfound responsibilities with the ordinary aspects of his life. Released in 2025.
