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Whether he's swinging through a blockbuster film or charming audiences in animated form, Marvel fans have always held their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man close to their hearts. So, when a new Spider-Man animated series was announced, expectations were through the roof. But when the first clip from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man hit social media, the reactions were. less than enthusiastic.
The short teaser was supposed to get fans excited for a brand new take on Peter Parker's origin story, and what came through was an internet-shattering minute, for all the wrong reasons, as a tide of memes, comments dripping with sarcasm, and "frozen background characters" plus some questionable quality animation took to the internet. Here's a closer look at what went down and why this clip has become the latest meme-worthy moment in Spider-Man's animated history.
The Viral First Look at Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
The release of the first clip from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was meant to build excitement for the series, set to debut on [insert release date here]. This fresh spin on Peter Parker’s story features him as a high school student grappling with his newfound powers and the usual teenage drama. But instead of winning over the audience, the clip has become a viral sensation for its odd artistic choices and stiff animations.
That post started to spread like wildfire because fans began to notice something odd: the background characters in the clip of The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man were creepily static. As Peter was doing his stuff, the students behind him seemed to be in a bizarre, awkward mannequin challenge. This, among some other design choices, completely flipped the intended hype into a maelstrom of memes and criticism.
Reactions to the clip were not held back by Marvel fans. For one, a fan ironically referred to it as the "Try not to notice the frozen background characters challenge," as many others joked at the uncomfortably still extras on set.
The animation quality of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man ran into a trend of commentary, from a suppliant "Please return to us good Spider-Man animated TV shows, please,"
to the balder "This looks like shit."
Others chimed in, calling attention to the resemblance between Peter Parker and DC's Clark Kent himself. "Does it feel like Peter Parker looks more like Clark Kent, or is it just me?" asked one fan, adding a lighthearted jab to the mix.
Another critique compared the show’s animation to the polarizing art style of Marvel’s What If...?, claiming, "This was designed to be so ugly that people would stop making fun of the What If? art style."
Perhaps the most savage take came from a fan who wrote, "There is no way I can survive watching 1 minute of this."
If the goal of the clip was to generate engagement, it certainly succeeded—although maybe not in the way the creators intended.
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Spider-Man has an animated legacy that includes 1994's Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the more recent Spectacular Spider-Man, among others. With such a great run, one could just be sure the fans were going to hold this new series The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man to the high bar, and that just made the awkward animation, some weird artistic choices, and lack of polish all over the clip add fuel to make it an easy target for jokes and memes.
But that's not to say that fans roast because they don't care; rather, beneath the roasting lies a mutual hope that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will eventually find its footing and deliver the same heart and humor that made its predecessors iconic. For now, though, the internet seems more focused on poking fun than saving their judgment.
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