Disney's Spider-Man Series Has Replaced Uncle Ben For The Better

When Disney+ first premiered its Spider-Man cartoon, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, it got off to a bit of a rough start. The premise was promising, and the comic-inspired animation was gorgeous from the get-go, but the storytelling was initially quite predictable, and it was guilty of that awkward Marvel-style dialogue that doesn’t actually sound like people talking. But by the end of the first season, the series had found its feet. It had humanized C-list villains like Tombstone, delivered countless thrilling superhero fights, and the finale brought the whole story full circle with a time-bending twist.

The best thing about Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was a minor change it made to Peter’s origins, which set up a much darker story. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was initially developed as the origin story of Tom Holland’s Spidey, but Marvel made the wise choice to fling this story into the multiverse and let it be its own thing. If it was Holland’s origin story, then it would be beholden to the movies. All the major plot points would be predetermined, a bunch of great villains would be off-limits, and we’d know where it’s all going.

By making Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man its own story, Marvel gave the writers and the animators and the voice cast the freedom to make one of the best superhero cartoons in recent memory. Early on, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man set itself apart from other Spider-Man stories by making Norman Osborn his father figure as opposed to Uncle Ben or even Tony Stark, so Peter is being led down a darker path by a more negative influence, and it feels fresh and exciting.

Uncle Ben told Peter, “With great power comes great responsibility,” which inspired him to keep striving to do the right thing. But Norman offered his own twisted version of this wisdom: “With great power comes great respect,” which has inspired him to take out his anger on his enemies and lord his power over the people of New York.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Will Only Get Better In Season 2

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is set to return for its second season at some point in late 2026. Marvel hasn’t announced an official release date yet — they probably want to let X-Men ’97 season 2 have its day in the sun before moving on to promoting Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2 — but it’s coming soon, and season 3 is already lined up after that.

In season 2, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man can only get better. Season 1 was an origin story, going back to the very beginning and showing how Peter became Spider-Man, but now that the origin is out of the way, season 2 can jump straight into the action. Plus, the season 1 finale left a lot of tantalizing loose ends and cliffhangers for season 2 to play with. Harry founded W.E.B., Jeanne turned out to be an undercover superhero, and Norman found the remnants of the symbiote and kept them for himself, possibly setting up his transformation into Venom. We also saw Aunt May visit Peter’s dad, Richard Parker, who’s still alive (and in prison). So, season 2 has a lot of exciting storylines in the air.

But most importantly, season 2 will begin to explore the ramifications of Norman’s dark influence over Peter. We saw hints of it toward the end of season 1 — as Peter started feeling more and more rage, and Norman encouraged it with a smile — but season 2 can really dig into what happens when Spider-Man is more interested in commanding respect than living up to his responsibilities.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s first season was a great introduction to this dark what-if scenario. But now, it’s time to double down on that twist and keep exploring that sinister mentor-mentee dynamic. Unlike an episode of What If...?, this show has the time to see this storyline through.