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Disney+'s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, created by Jeff Trammell, is based on the MCU comic book character Spiderman, and the show will follow his origin story in an alternate timeline.
In the show's universe, MCU's Spiderman's main antagonist, Norman Osborn, becomes Spiderman's mentor instead of Tony Stark.
The show's voice cast includes Hudson Thames, Colman Domingo, and Zeno Robinson in the titular roles.
Peter Parker is a 15-year-old freshman studying at Midtown High School who starts developing spider-like abilities after a spider bite. The show will follow his adventures, as he navigates his school life along with this new identity with his friends and classmates.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman earlier faced backlash from fans when Domingo and Robinson were announced to voice Osborn and Harry, respectively. They accused the makers of trying to make the show 'woke' by race-swapping characters.
Read on to know the casting controversy around Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman.
Some fans are unhappy with the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman casting
Major backlash for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman stemmed from the characters of Osborn and his son Harry. Since Peter Parker is a high-school student in the new series, Harry is one of his classmates.
Osborn and Harry are white Caucasian males canonically, and some fans were not happy to see that their characters were race-swapped in the show. Many opined that the makers were trying to 'race-swap' popular and canon comic book characters to sit right with the 'woke' culture.
Actors who played Osborn in previous Spiderman projects were primarily white, including Willem Dafoe, Alan Rachins, and Steven Weber. Harry Osborn was previously played by actors like James Franco and Gary Imhoff.
X-Men ‘97’s creator, Beau DeMayo, has called out the makers for their casting choices and race-swapping major antagonists.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman voice actor had his fears about the Disney+ show
Actor Hudson Thames reprised his role from MCU's animated series What If...?, and voices the character of Spiderman in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman.
In an interview with Collider, Thames discussed that he had his fears about the show, but the script was too good:
"I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn't, and I was like, 'Yes, this is great, it's so well written,' like it feels real. I'm the oldest of five boys, so I feel like I kind of know what's happening in their lives and in high school, and it felt like it was doing that justice."
The show premiered its first two episodes on January 29, 2025, and it would be interesting to see if the show's script makes fans forget about its unconventional casting choices.
Tune into Disney+ to catch the first two episodes of the show now!
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