The animated series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will be reimagining classic villain origin story. According to Comicbook, the villain in question will be Tombstone, aka Lonnie Lincoln, voiced by Eugene Byrd (Demon Island), who was originally a ruthless criminal driven by rejection due to a skin condition. The new version shows Lonnie has the captain of the Midtown football team and a gifted student but makes an offer by sacrificing himself as a pawn for his brother. He slowly transformed from a role model to a gang member within the third, fourth, and fifth episodes of the series.
According to Comicbook, this pivotal moment sets Lonnie on a dark path, leading him down a rabbit hole of crime and corruption. It remains unknown how Lonnie’s new path will interact with Spider-Man’s, voiced by Hudson Thames (Next Gen), while further showing the similarities the two share. Peter and Lonnie both have faced hardships within their journeys, but the different choices they made have further enriched the parallel between the two.
According to Comicbook, the series does well in portraying Lonnie’s gradual fall into corruption, combined with a comic art style, which helps in conveying the message to their viewers. With more episodes on the way, fans expect to see where Lonnie’s path will lead and what he will become at the end of it. It is unknown whether he will slowly start to inflate with other notorious villains such as Doctor Octopus, voiced by Hugh Dancy (Ella Enchanted), like in the comics.
This reimagining of Tombstone’s origin story adds a layer of depth and emotional resonance to the classic villain and shows the dedication of well-done storytelling. The reimagined story had made the character from being one-dimensional into a more complex and sympathetic one that viewers can relate to. All current episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are available to stream on Disney+, with new ones released every Wednesday.