8 years after theMCU’s last Spider-Man street-level adventure, Marvel has provided another on-screen look at my favorite kind of Spider-Man stories. As one of Marvel’s biggest heroes, Spider-Man’s arrival inthe MCU timelinewas essentially inevitable, with hisCaptain America: Civil Wardebut being one of the most hyped character introductions in the franchise.Spider-Man: Homecomingfurther cemented the character’s potential, showing him facing off against the Vulture while still relatively new to his vigilante career.
However, because the hero has such a big pull,Spider-Man’s MCU storyhas placed Peter Parker at the heart of the franchise’s overarching storylines from basically this point onward. Though I’m glad the MCU recognizes the potential of Spider-Man in its universe, I have still missed Tom Holland’s hero having the kind of adventures that first drew me and many others into the Spider-Man comics and lore. Mercifully, the firstMCU release of 2025has been a welcome addition to the Spider-Man release roster in this regard.
The MCU’s New Spider-Man Show Is All About His Street-Level New York City Adventures
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s debut confirmed what previews of the show suggested - that the story would explicitly focus on Spider-Man gaining his powers and the street-level adventures he has in New Yorkafter this point in time. Both episodes of the premiere revolve around this idea, with Spider-Man’s origin story being shown in the first episode before the plot jump cuts to a few months later, meaning we get to see a not entirely new but still relatively fresh web-slinger learning how to best protect and help the people of his city.
The first two episodes ofYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manpremiered on July 19, 2025, and the show is set to release its remaining eight episodes weekly between then and February 19.
Episode 2 gets to center around street-level vigilante escapades even moreso, with us watching Spider-Man struggle to balance his superhero missions alongside his intern position at Oscorp and his normal life as a teenager - something that feels like very classic Spider-Man in every sense. Peter disappearing from Oscorp to stop a villain burning down a building - and being delayed in returning because he made sure to save every animal inside - only to get in trouble for his absence upon his return isn’t Marvel’s biggest story of all time, but it does encapsulate a lot of what makes the character work.
Spider-Man’s Street-Level Adventures Are A Perfect Way To Capture The Spirit Of The Hero
Spider-Man’s street-level stories are inherently set up to feel special because of the way they show what truly makes him a hero. While his superpowers certainly help,seeing Peter risk his life and prospects just to help others really highlights his natural sense of compassion and selflessness, which are a big part of what makes it so easy to root for him.Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manunderlines that these attributes were present in him before he became a hero, too, as Peter lobs a brick at a monster in episode 1 to protect Nico before he even gets his powers.
While world-threatening events are always likely to have Spider-Man step up to the plate in a major way, seeing how he’s willing to make his daily life infinitely harder just for the chance to take care of others feels heroic in a different, but still just as important way. These everyday adventures also offer an opportunity to show us the hero at his most human, whichYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Mandefinitely already has with its depiction of an ever-unlucky but still plucky young Peter.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Makes A Street-Level MCU Spider-Man Movie Seem Even More Promising
In recent years, Spider-Man’s on-screen exploits have seen him in conflicts that threatened first his entire universe and then the entire multiverse, meaning the stakes have been very high and plots anything but street-level. As such, getting to dial things back and focus on street-level adventures inYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manis a welcome opportunity, albeit one that makes my hopes for a new street-level story in the main MCU universe all the more pressing, sincethe show reinforces how fascinating it would be to see how the franchise’s focal Spider-Man handles another street-level adventure years afterSpider-Man: Homecoming.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is considerably further in his superhero career thanYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’sPeter Parker is currently, butSpider-Man: No Way Home’s endingcertainly still seems to place the hero in good stead for street-level adventures, since we last see him swinging off to have them in his new suit. ThoughSpider-Man 4being inbetween the Multiverse Saga’s two Avengers movies leaves things unclear, 2025’s first Marvel release certainly highlights the potential for this kind of story reappearing in the mainMCUSpider-Man’s future, be that inSpider-Man 4or later down the line.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
