This week, Disney+ premiered its newest animated series with Marvel Animation’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, starring actors such as Hudson Thames, who voices Peter Parker, Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn, Kari Wahlgren as Aunt May, and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock. The story follows a young Peter Parker on his journey as a freshman in high school, while also living a secret life as the superhero Spider-Man. 

The first episode of the series, “Amazing Fantasy,” begins with the title card of Queens, NY just before Peter wakes up for school. He’s late for his high school orientation and as soon as he gets outside, he misses the train. Aunt May drives him to school. On their way, he tells her how much he appreciates her support since his Uncle Ben passed away. She tells him he’s smart and will do well at the special robotics school.  

They make it to school and he prepares himself for his first day. Before he steps inside, a green portal opens above in the sky, making everyone stop in their tracks just before a creature falls out of the sky. Aunt May grabs Peter while everyone runs away. 

Just before the creature can get away, Doctor Strange comes and grabs it with his magical ropes. He seems confused about where he is, stating that he and the creature aren’t supposed to be there. The alien runs from Strange, the two of them battling while he’s trying to protect the students. The creature towers over a teenage girl and before it does something, Peter runs over to protect her. He distracts the creature by throwing a brick at him. It towers over Peter and while it’s distracted, Strange grabs it and takes him back through the portal. 

As he pulls the girl up, we notice a spider crawling on Peter’s neck. The girl, Nico Minoru (Grace Song), introduces herself to him and as she does so, the spider bites Peter, causing him to react awkwardly. He passes out and drops to the ground. The spider then crawls away inside another student’s backpack. 

After the opening credits, it’s now been a few months since the incident. Peter is late again for his train. But this time, he opens his backpack and finds his Spider-Man costume. He uses a gas tank to fly into the sky, swinging with his webs through the buildings. 

Suddenly, someone screams for help and is getting chased by bullies. Peter saves him but the thieves corner them in an alley and start a live broadcast on social media, making fun of his costume. As they prepare to attack, Peter wraps them on a pole with his web and shares it on the broadcast. The victim, Harry, thanks him for saving his life twice. Peter notices the time and hurries off to school. 

Nico and Peter are standing at his locker and he runs into his childhood crush, Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang). He becomes flushed and stutters and Nico teases him. He tells her that she used to babysit him and she convinces him to ask her out on a date.

While in class, Peter overhears a police chase and excuses himself to go the restroom, although he’s really going to help stop the criminals.   

Later, Nico and Peter are in their next class. Peter decides to ask Pearl to be his lab partner. But before he can, he is partnered up with his classmate Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd), who happens to be Pearl’s new boyfriend. They find out that they have more in common than they thought. After school, they find each other again and Lonnie tells him he has to get home to do some things, so they say goodbye for the day. 

Lonnie walks home, looking sad. As he’s walking, a cop car drives next to the sidewalk, before driving off. It seems he lives in a rough neighborhood. When he walks inside his home, he tells his family hi. His parents ask him to help his little brother with his homework. 

Later, Peter snags a lady in his web after she takes money from the pizzeria. He lets her go after she apologizes to the owner. The owner gives him a free box of pizza and while he’s eating it, he finds a DVD player in good condition, so he takes it home. As he’s walking home, he notices an orange sportscar on the curb. As he goes inside, he asks his Aunt about the car before noticing Norman Osborn in his living room. 

Overall, this was genuinely a great first episode of the new series. It is exciting to see something new for the popular Marvel superhero, Spider-Man. The writing is amazing, the episode is paced intriguingly, with the introduction of Peter and the people in his life. Having Doctor Strange show up and the Iron Man toy in Aunt May’s car is creative as easter eggs for the MCU fanbase, which we’ll most likely see more of as the series continues. What does Norman Osborn want with Peter? Will we see Doctor Strange again? 

Rating: 10/10