Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man star cites inspiration for his Peter Parker voice

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is latest in the long list of animated shows from 1967 featuring the beloved comic book hero. Several actors have portrayed the beloved Web-Head, each bringing something new to Peter Parker. Some know of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland’s contributions, but not a lot know about the voice actors who have voiced the web-slinger.

Hudson Thames from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the latest in a long list of actors who have voiced Spidey, including Neil Patrick Harris. Recently, we learned the inspiration behind Thames' voice in the ongoing animated show. Instead of sounding similar to Tom Holland, Hudson Thames' version of Spider-Man sounds like the actor's previous experience as Spider-Man.

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Hudson Thames's voice inspiration for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man explained:

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is not the first time Hudson Thames is voicing the beloved wall-crawler. Before the latest Spider-Man animated series, Thames voiced the character in the fifth episode of the first season of What If...?, What If... Zombies?! In that episode, Spider-Man was one of the survivors in a world plagued by a zombie virus.

In the closing moments of the episode, Spidey is in a group of survivors trying to cure the zombie virus using the mind stone by heading to Wakanda. However, that episode ended on a cliffhanger note as Wakanda was already conquered by a zombie Thanos wielding an Infinity Gauntlet that's almost complete.

Despite its dark and hopeless premise, Thames’ performance in that What If...? episode does capture the essence of Peter Parker, a teenager who never gives up, regardless of the situation. In the ongoing animated series, Thames manages to find Peter Parker's emotions with the web-slinger’s signature quips. This is why he was confirmed to voice the character in the upcoming Marvel Zombies.

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Hudson Thames' return in Marvel Zombies explained

Marvel executive Brad Winderbaum recently confirmed Thames' return as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Marvel Zombies in an interview with a YouTube channel called Critqal. In that interview, the Marvel executive about the show and the several voice actors of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Here's what Winderbaum said while speaking about Hudson Thames:

"Hudson [Thames] has been our animated voice for Spider-Man in the MCU so far, in 'What If...?,' in 'My Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,' and he also plays Spider-Man in 'Marvel Zombies' which comes out Halloween time this year."

Considering Peter Parker was one of the three survivors in the zombie episode of the first season of What If...? he'll be returning to voice the character. Apart from him, it remains to be seen whether Paul Rudd will return to voice Ant-Man. But, the most important question here is about the role of T'Challa, who was voiced by Chadwick Boseman in that episode (posthumous release).

Spider-Man's presence in Marvel Zombies ensures that fans of the wall-crawler don't have to wait until 2026 Avengers: Doomsday to see the character.

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What do you think of Hudson Thames' voice in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? Do you hear a Peter Parker in him? Let us know. This is not the last you'll hear of him though.

Thames will be returning to voice the Wall-crawler in Marvel Zombies, a spin-off series of the fifth episode of the first season of What If...?. It will consist of four episodes and begin streaming on October 3, 2025.