Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man makes a mistake that ruins Spidey’s origin story
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has just… oh, you know the rest. If you’re reading this, you’ve read a million and oneSpider-Man-themed articles where the writer thinks they’re being clever by using the verb “swing” to describe some new show or movie.
The important thing is that you can now watchYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manon Disney+ (that’ll keep the House of Mouse sweet), and although we’ve only seen two episodes so far, the latestMarvel showis off to an amazing… no, a spectacular start.
While the animation is a bit stiff for my tastes, the characters are likable, it’s very funny, and the action’s superbly choreographed. Best of all, judging by all theSpider-Man Easter eggsI’ve spotted, I think the show’s clearly written by people with a deep appreciation for the greatest superhero ever created.
With that in mind, however, there’s one thing about the show I find a bit disappointing (aside from comments made by its star,Hudson Thames). Just like in The Sacred Timeline, they’ve failed to address arguably the most important character in Spidey’s backstory, which I believe undermines a lot of what makes Spider-Man such a remarkable hero.
With great power is more than a catchphrase
I’m talking, of course, about Uncle Ben.
Now I understand why we didn’t see Uncle Ben die again in either the MCU proper or Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (We’re going to call it FNSM now to save on digital ink). The poor fella has died more times than the Waynes have decided to take a shortcut down Crime Alley, and we don’t need to see it again.
However FNSM has accidentally compounded the problem of Ben’s absence by playing with the timeline of Spider-Man’s origin.
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You see, in Captain America: Civil War, we’re never given a time frame for Ben’s death. We know he’s gone, but we don’t know when he died. It’s implied – when Peter tells Tony Stark, “When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you” – that Ben died after Peter got his powers but nothing is confirmed.
FNSM, however, makes it clear in Episode 1 that Ben perished before Peter got his powers. This might not seem like an issue, but in the comics (and both the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies), Ben’s death, and Peter’s part in it, is the inciting incident that teaches Spider-Man his greatest lesson.
Specifically, Ben’s death is what drills into Peter’s head: “With great power must also come great responsibility.” So, if Peter’s irresponsible behavior didn’t lead to his becoming a hero in this universe, what did?
The show doesn’t really answer this. We’re just led to believe that this version of Peter is an inherently good person who was always a hero. And that’s fine, I guess. Yet, is it just me, or is that idea a little boring?
I think what makes Peter such an interesting character in the comics isn’t that he always does the right thing. It’s that he chooses to be good despite the entire world trying to knock him down. I find this a really relatable idea, and I’d argue that it’s a large part of Peter’s popularity.
After all, the idea that even good people can make mistakes, but those mistakes can drive them to be better, is a really compelling concept, especially for a superhero. Untangling Ben’s death from Spidey’s origin story and removing any culpability Peter might have had then risks robbing the Web-Head of this nuance.
I’m hoping that later episodes of FNSM will address this issue at some point in the future, and considering the level of care the writers have taken with the show, I think my faith is well placed. What I’m saying is they have the power and the responsibility to fix it, and I know, like Spidey, they’ll do the right thing.
If you’re after more Marvel hot takes, then check out our ranking of all theMarvel moviesor our guide to all theupcoming Marvel movies, includingFantastic Four First StepsandSpider-Man 4.
