Marvel Animation’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man got off to a hot start in its first episode. After we saw the origin of this universe’s Spider-Man, we closed things out with a nod to the MCU. It appears in this universe, Tony Stark will not be Peter Parker’s mentor. Instead, it will be the one and only Norman Osborn.
This second episode opens where the last left off, with Peter shaking Norman’s hand in his apartment. Norman offers Peter an internship at Oscorp and, after some initial confusion, Peter shows his excitement. He does ask if this is a paid internship, and Norman tells him he “takes good care of his people.” He also says they’ll “iron out the details” later. Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but that could be a nod to the fact that he is filling the role played by Iron Man in the MCU.
Spider-Man webs up a thug on a rooftop before heading off to school, where he is greeted by Lonnie and some of his football friends. Lonnie introduces his friends and tells Peter to come to their game after school. When Peter explains he’s starting a new internship, Lonnie hands him their championship trophy for good luck.
At the football game, Nico expresses to Peter her disgust for Norman Osborn and implies he has some dark secrets. She also takes a shot at Roxxon Oil, a notoriously evil massive oil corporation throughout various Marvel projects. Pearl joins Peter and Nico and congratulates him on the job. Peter realizes he’s going to be late for the internship and rushes off. Nico momentarily objects but when Pearl tells her they don’t need him, she changes her mind. It seems Peter isn’t the only one with a crush on Pearl.
Peter arrives at Oscorp to the guard telling him he is late. The guard also doesn’t allow Peter to go straight to Norman’s office, as he was instructed to, and instead sends him to the lab in which he will be working. When he gets there, Peter is greeted by the other interns. His team consists of Asha from Wakanda, Amadeus and Jean. Both Asha and Amadeus are characters from the comics, but we’re going to need some more information on Jeanne. Asha is a brilliant young Wakandan while Amadeus Cho is one of the smartest characters in the Marvel Universe and a frequent companion of the Hulk.
The students’ conversation is broken up by their professor/chaperone, Dr. Wittman. This is yet another comic character. Bentley Wittman is a scientific genius but he is also a super villain known as Wizard. Wittman gives each intern an assignment. Peter is assigned to a microscope and when he tells Wittman he doesn’t see anything, the doctor’s response is “nothing gets by you, Hawkeye,” referencing yet another Marvel character.
Wittman refers to Jeanne by her full name, informing us that she is Jeanne Foucault, another comics character who goes by the superhero name of Finesse. Asha and Amadeus receive their assignments, leaving Peter for last. Eventually, Peter is introduced to Dr. Carla Connors, who will work with him in the energy research division. Connors is notably missing an arm, just like longtime Spider-Man ally/villain Curt Connors who occasionally wreaks havoc as the Lizard.
Connors explains their project is an Oscorp version of the Stark arc reactor. She and Peter begin working together on the project before they take a break so Peter can take a call from Nico. She tells him they’re invited to a party and Peter says he’ll meet her there.
Peter joins his fellow interns in front of a TV. As Jeanne flips through the channels we see a few interesting things. First, we see Crusher Hogan, the wrestler defeated by Spider-Man when Peter was trying to earn some money during his origin story, though seemingly not this one. Next, we see Harry, the boy Spider-Man saved in the previous episode, waving and posing for pictures on some kind of red carpet. This fits with this being Harry Osborn as he would be the son of one of the most famous people in New York. Finally, we see a news report of a fire and Peter makes an excuse to disappear.
Spider-Man swings into the flaming building to find some supervillain arsonist burning it. The villain explains he was paid by a developer to burn down the whole block so they can build over it. However, Spidey points out that he’s burning down the wrong building because he’s on the wrong block. Their fight takes them into a pet store, where eventually Spidey douses the villain’s flames with an aquarium. While he is unconscious, Spidey notices a logo on the villain’s flamethrowers before rushing back to Oscorp.
Wittman screams at Dr. Connors for Peter’s absence, even when she tries to cover for him. Peter arrives to receive his on dose of Wittman’s wrath before the security guard arrives and tells Peter Norman wants a word with him. It appears to everyone as though Peter is being fired for going missing during their break. Meanwhile, at the party, Nico stands alone, wondering where Peter is.
Peter arrives at Nroman’s office and passes by a photo of Osborn and Captain America. Before he heads in, Peter sees a text from Nico saying she’s bailing on the party. Peter finds Norman and begins profusely apologizing, pleading for another chance. Norman simply turns his monitor around to face Peter, revealing footage of him swinging out of a stairwell as Spider-Man. Looks like Norman knows the truth about why Peter went missing.
This series is really hitting with the cliffhangers. Each episode leaves you with a need to let the next one play. On top of that, it continues to throw more and more Marvel references out there while not letting them get in the way of a compelling new Spider-Man story.
The first two episodes of Marvel’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are now streaming on Disney+.