Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Disney+)

[Nerroth]

While there had been talk about this series in the general MCU thread, it seemed fair for it to have its own thread - just as several other MCU series have dedicated threads of their own.

That said, if there was a dedicated stand-alone thread for this series already which I failed to spot before starting this one, my apologies:

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Initially intended to be set on Earth-199999MCU-616 as a prequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, the showrunners made a pivot to set this show in a "What If?"-esque alternate timeline instead.

Notably, it includes a number of not-traditionally-Spidey-adjacent characters that are based on their respective counterparts from the "comic book" Earth-616; such as Nico Minoru, Amadeus Cho, and Pearl Pangan.

The first two episodes from season 1 were posted by Disney+ earlier this week.

Also, two more seasons have already been greenlit.

So, any thoughts on how the show has started thus far, and where you'd like to see things go from here?

 

[oktay]

Spoiler: https://youtu.be/fPqXoKevOsA?si=-jVlpsFfadlOUkrs

New TV spot has arrived.

 

[The Wormhole]

I watched the first two episodes, which were okay but nothing too spectacular. A solid Meh for me at the moment.

 

[Commander Troi]

We watched the first episodes yesterday and enjoyed them. I'm interested to see where they go with it.

 

[JD]

I watched episode 2 this morning, and it was good. All of the stuff at Oscorp was fun, and it seems to be continuing the trend of cutting back on Peter constantly being bullied. I'm definitely curious to see where they'll take characters like Dr. Connors, Pearl, Cho, and Lonnie go compared to comics. I was a little surprised we didn't get any hints towards Osborne being a villain, but maybe they're saving that for a big reveal later in the season.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I really hope at this point Osborne is genuine and not pulling a Syndrome plot.
It feels like all those criminals getting super tech that conveniently pits them against Spider-Man are nothing but test subjects.
Finding weak spots of Spider-Man and making the tech better.
He knew a little too much about the speedster boots.
I would be really surprised if it doesn’t end in Osborne integrating all that anti-Spidey knowledge into an eventual Green Goblin suit.

 

[Nerroth]

On the comics side of the Marvel multiverse, a number of Asian and Asian-American superheroes have in recent years been part of the New Agents of Atlas.

To date, while such a team has not (yet?) made an appearance in the MCU, a few variants of these characters have shown up over time, to include Shang-Chi and Jimmy Woo. In this series, both Pearl Pangan and Amadeus Cho are based on characters who have been part of that team, also.

Yet another such character has just had their first sighting in this show:

Spoiler: ...

Luna Snow!

Luna Snow - AKA Seol Hee - was first created for the Netmarble smartphone game MARVEL Future Fight, and was later "canonized" to the comic book Earth-616 - where she has been affiliated both with the New Agents of Atlas and with an all-South Korean team known as the Tiger Divison. Further, she's shown up as a playable character in a number of other Marvel games, the most recent such appearance being in Marvel Rivals.

Notably, in those timelines, her split hair colour and heterochromia only appear after she manifests her powers. So if she were to show up "in-person" in this series, might it be as an active superhero?

 

[Commander Troi]

I watched the next episodes last night and I'm really enjoying this show. It's fun!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Fun show. I like that it has nods to the comics like the various OsCorp costumes taken from the IDs Peter adopted in Identity Crisis and the white spider-suit from the Future Foundation. A lot of OsCorp tech in the hands of villains. Which a little too "meteor freaks" for my taste. It's very "street level" with street gangs, thugs with tech and the occasional mad scientist. Which is where I like my Spider-Man.

Nico is MJ from the MCU films with the serial numbers filed off. Could have just made her MJ unless she's gonna pick a magical staff in a future episode. Coleman is great as Norman. Wouldn't mind seeing him in the role in live action.

I have to assume Thames was being ironic when he said the show wasn't "woke", because it ticks a few of woke boxes

• Gender flipped characters
• Race switched characters
• Social Commentary
• LGBTQ representation (A blink and you'd misses reference to Nico being Bi)
• Dumping the classic supporting cast for people of color.

 

[DarKush]

I'm liking this a lot more than I expected. I really like the retro influenced art style and Colman Domingo just has a great voice for Osborn, he's second to Dafoe now for me when it comes to iterations on the character. I think the voice cast overall is pretty good.

My quibbles are the almost erasure of Uncle Ben from Peter's motivation and the whiff of stereotype when it comes to Lonnie. What is working with Lonnie for me is that he has gotten a lot more development-and some sympathy/empathy-than I've seen for other takes on the character.

 

[JD]

I'm wondering if a younger Aunt May is pretty much going to be the new standard for adaptations from this point on. Of course we started off with Marissa Tomei in the movies, and then the Insomniac games version is older than Tomei, but still younger than May usually is, and now this has another younger version.

 

[oktay]

Episodes 3 and 5 weren't bad, but the story in episode 4 seemed to be dragged on too long.

 

[Christopher]

Fun show. I like that it has nods to the comics like the various OsCorp costumes taken from the IDs Peter adopted in Identity Crisis and the white spider-suit from the Future Foundation.

In episode 4, I was struck by how Kirbyesque the character designs of the Russian criminals were.

A lot of OsCorp tech in the hands of villains.

It's not OsCorp, as we saw at the end of episode 4 -- unless Norman turns out to have been playing both sides, which is certainly possible. Although

Spoiler

it was pretty obvious who the, shall we say, Master Planner was from the "8" logo on the tech.

Which a little too "meteor freaks" for my taste.

I'm reminded of a different young-Superman series, My Adventures with Superman, which reinterprets most of Superman's foes as tech-based.

Nico is MJ from the MCU films with the serial numbers filed off.

No, that would be Pearl, since she's Peter's romantic interest. Nico is the platonic best friend; her MCU counterpart would be Ned, I guess.

(A blink and you'd misses reference to Nico being Bi)

I know the comics' Nico is bi, but is the same true of this Nico? She did express attraction to Pearl, but I don't remember if she's shown interest in a boy.

 

[Nerys Myk]

No, that would be Pearl, since she's Peter's romantic interest. Nico is the platonic best friend; her MCU counterpart would be Ned, I guess.

MJ starts out as a platonic best friend, with Liz being Pete's romantic interest. Pearl is in the Liz role here. Nico does have a touch of Ned, though. But has MJ's fashion sense and activism. A little snark as well. Harry's taken the man on the chair part.

I know the comics' Nico is bi, but is the same true of this Nico? She did express attraction to Pearl, but I don't remember if she's shown interest in a boy.

She's mentioned her attraction Pearl a couple of times. The second time when Lonnie asks Pearl out before Peter can. She could be yanking Pete's chain, though.

 

[Christopher]

She's mentioned her attraction Pearl a couple of times.

Yes, I said as much. My question is whether she's expressed any interest in a boy. Heterosexuality is not an automatic default.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes, I said as much. My question is whether she's expressed any interest in a boy. Heterosexuality is not an automatic default.

She seems interested in Peter.

 

[JD]

MJ starts out as a platonic best friend, with Liz being Pete's romantic interest. Pearl is in the Liz role here. Nico does have a touch of Ned, though. But has MJ's fashion sense and activism. A little snark as well. Harry's taken the man on the chair part.

Not sure about the snark and activism since it's been a while since I read or watched Runaways, but her fashion is pretty close to her look in the Runaways, so I don't think that was necessarily a reference to MJ in the movies.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Not sure about the snark and activism since it's been a while since I read or watched Runaways, but her fashion is pretty close to her look in the Runaways, so I don't think that was necessarily a reference to MJ in the movies.

Was thinking of the comic book version.

 

[JD]

Oh, OK, I thought you were implying they changed the character to be more like MJ in the movies.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Oh, OK, I thought you were implying they changed the character to be more like MJ in the movies.

I think they did. A got strong MCU MJ vibes from Nico. In the Runaways TV show she looked more Goth. She had a Goth vibe in the comics too. In YFNSM, she looks more punk/grunge or Riot Grrrl. MJ has the same vibe. They also share a "screw the rich" attitude.