Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man may adapt this plot point from the Civil War comics and fans are all up for it

The eighth episide of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, "Tangled Web," sees Otto Octavius arrested by a government force led by Thunderbolt Ross. Also present in that action is none other than this universe's version of Tony Stark, voiced by actor Mick Wingert. While it may look like Justice has prevailed, the truth might be even more sinister.

Some believe that the series might be adapting a plot point from the 2006 to 2007 Marvel crossover event Civil War, which was adapted into Captain America: Civil War. In that comic, the heroes are split into two factions led by Captain America and Iron Man, "anti" and "pro-registration," respectively. One plot point that was left out in the movie is that Tony Stark is sending supervillains after Captain America and his allies.

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What happens in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's eighth episode?

In the eighth episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, government forces walk into Doctor Octavius' warehouse to arrest him. They are most probably sent here by Norman Osborn, who supposedly shares a complicated past with Octavius. The genius supervillain is able to best the government force by using the mechanical tentacle, which hasn't fused with his body yet.

However, Octavius is finally captured right outside his warehouse by a team led by Thunderbolt Ross, and Iron Man also drops in to arrest Octavius. On the surface level, this action looks like Octivus will be thrown into the prison to face justice for selling weapons to dangerous criminals. But some fans believe that the plan and intention behind this arrest might be much more sinister.

As stated in earlier episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the Avengers have broken apart because of the Sokovia Accords. So, much like the mainline MCU, Team Cap is on the run. Norman introduces Spider-Man as a representative of Oscorp to fight the rising street crime in New York to General Ross so that he and Iron Man's forces stay out of the Wall-Crawler's way.

In the same episode, Daredevil has broken into Oscorp to retrieve some data, which we don't know about yet. Norman sends in Peter to check on the intruder, and he ends up in a fistfight with The Man Without Fear. Some believe that Daredevil here might be a part of Team Cap. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen also informs Peter that Osborn is hiding something from the latter.

Fans are theorizing that Daredevil is right and that Norman is one of the several other parties who is benefiting by supporting Team Iron Man. Now that Ross and the the rest of Team Iron Man have arrested Doctor Octavius, fans believe that the scientist will be working for the government to create dangerous weapons for arresting Team Captain America.

While this idea may sound ludicrous, it should be noted that in the comics' Civil War crossover event, Iron Man's team does something similar, where they send in mind-controlled supervillains after their opposing sides to arrest them and imprison them inside the Negative Zone, an antimatter universe, that could traumatize its inhabitant. So, this theory may have some credibility after all.

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What happens the Civil War comics?

A superhero team called the New Warriors, who are also reality TV stars, find out the home/hideout of four supervillains: Cobalt Man, Coldheart, Nitro, and Speedfreek. During the fight between the two teams, an angry Nitro explodes, which is his superpower, but this action causes collateral damage, and countless civilians, including some children in the school nearby, are obliterated. The official synopsis for this epic story reads:

"The event that changed the Marvel Universe forever! When a tragic event leaves the public demanding super heroes register their identities, a schism in the Avengers sets Captain America and Iron Man against each other and spirals Marvel's major players into all-out Civil War!"

This incident causes the government to pass the Superhuman Registration Act, or SHRA, according to which every superhero in the Marvel Universe was required to reveal their secret identity to the authorities. Any hero who fails to do so would be captured by a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force and imprisoned inside the negative zone. While Tony Stark supports the act (pro-registration), Captain America opposes it (anti-registration).

Stark convinces Peter to reveal his identity to not just the authorities but the entire public, which he does. This shocking act sets up the divisive storylines for Spider-Man's future in the comics. While Peter starts the comic book storyline with the pro-registration side. But, towards the end, he sides with the anti-registration heroes led by Captain America.

Peter defects from the pro-registration side after the death of Bill Foster/Goliath, who is called "Thor" or the clone of Thor, created by Tony Stark. Later, Peter learns about Tony Stark's intention to imprison all the heroes on the anti-registration side inside the negative zone. This information convinces Peter that he made a mistake by siding with Tony and defects to Captain America's side.

As he does so, Stark sends two dangerous and mind-controlled supervillains named Jack O'Lantern and Jester III, who hunt and beat Peter to a bloody pulp. He is finally saved by The Punisher, who transports an injured Spider-Man to an Avengers safe house that Tony and the rest of the pro-registration heroes, like Hank Pym (secretly a Skrull) and Reed Richards, supposedly weren't aware of.

This action of employing supervillains and several other morally questionable actions made fans hate Tony Stark. The same happened even in the Marvel Universe as seen during the events of World War Hulk, which follows the events of Civil War. In that event, a vengeful Hulk comes back to Earth to take revenge on Tony and the rest of the Illuminati for tricking him into a ship that exiled him to space.

In that event, Tony and the entire pro-registration side are despised by the common folk of the Marvel Universe. So, they come out in support of the Hulk. This ill will towards Tony continued even in the real until the first Iron Man movie starring Robert Downey Jr., because of which future comics started to incorporate some aspects of the actor's interpretation of the character.

The idea that government/people who we believe to be heroes work with the bad guys is nothing new. In fact, another superhero animated series recently adapted a similar story.

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Which animated series feature the supposed good-guys working with the bad guys trope?

The third season of Invincible is another animated superhero series that's running concurrently to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The first three episodes of Invincible sow the seeds of conflict between Mark and his boss, Cecil Stedman, GDA (Global Defense Agency)'s director. Mark is livid to learn that D.A. Sinclair and Darkwing II, two people he put away and believed to be imprisoned, are employed by Cecil.

Mark refuses to work under Cecil's leadership and quits the Guardians of the Globe. Fellow teammates like Rae, Monster Girl, Rudy, Bulletproof, and Rex follow the suit as they also don't trust Cecil anymore.

After watching the eighth episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, fans believe that Dr. Octavius might be this series' Sinclair. The show's version of Ross seems to give fans a similar impression as Cecil. To be fair, this is the same energy that Nick Fury has in the MCU and even in the Marvel Comics lore. Also worth mentioning is Ross willingly injected the super-soldier serum into Emil Blonsky in 2008's The Incredible Hulk.

The Ross of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man could employ Otto and offer the latter a deal to create more technologically advanced and dangerous weapons and super-soldiers for him. Ross wouldn't want to waste Octavius' brilliant mind, and it is known that he and Norman are interested in creating a registered legion. Otto could help them design and build that legion.

Norman has a doctor take Peter's blood after the latter is stabbed by the Scorpion. While we don't know the purpose behind it, we can assume that it will be used for nefarious reasons in the future, as this version of Norman will transform into the Green Goblin. He can join Ross and Otto, who know how to build armor and suits. They can team up to establish this universe's Thunderbolts or the Avengers for Ross.

Norman, Otto, and Ross of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and all seem perfect for each other; all of them don't mind crossing the ethical boundaries to complete a job.

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What is the latest Spider-Man show about?

This animated Disney+ series follows a young Peter Parker in high school leading a double life as a student and a superhero. He is assisted in his crime-fighting activities by none other than this universe's version of Norman Osborn. Meanwhile, the Avengers have broken apart due to the enactment of the Sokovia Accords. Peter and Norman have to navigate this complex situation in the Marvel Universe.

Simultaneously, Peter has to stop the rising tide of supervillains and maintain his relationships, a hallmark of all Spider-Man stories. Here is the official synopsis for this animated series:

"'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming a hero, with a journey unlike we've ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots."

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Do you think that Thunderbolt Ross will employ Octavius to provide new weapons and super soldiers to capture Captain America and his allies? Find out the answer to this question by catching Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in Disney+, which will stream the last two episodes on February 19, 2025.