Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: opinion, spider-man, your friendly neighborhood spider-man

YFN Spider-Man Not Being "Annoying and Woke" Is "Great": Hudson Thames

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man star Hudson Thames is raising some eyebrows with what he found "great" about the animated series.

Maybe it's just us. Maybe we've been doing this a little too long. Maybe we're just looking for something that isn't there. But we doubt it. Between Marvel Television and Marvel Animation, Marvel Studios has two very big series set to drop between now and the first week of March – two projects that should pretty much be able to sell themselves. And yet… we can't escape its feeling that Marvel Studios is venturing into "self-inflicted PR wound land." First, we have Daredevil: Born Again Showrunner Dario Scardapane comparing the upcoming Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio-starring series with the original Netflix series and DC Studios' Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti-starring The Penguin in ways that could viewed as being a bit unnecessary and slightly antagonistic. And now, we have Marvel Animation and Jeff Trammell's Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man star Hudson Thames (Peter Parker/Spider-Man).

Speaking with Collider ahead of the animated series' debut on Wednesday, Thames was asked what it was like being given an opportunity to craft a unique take on the Peter Parker/Spider-Man universe – one that includes better representation when it comes to those who make up Peter's universe (including Colman Domingo voicing Norman Osborn). "I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn't, and I was like, 'Yes, this is great, it's so well written,' like it feels real. I'm the oldest of five boys, so I feel like I kind of know what's happening in their lives and in high school, and it felt like it was doing that justice," Thames responded.

Well, it didn't take long for the "annoying and woke" comment to catch some attention on social media – and understandably so. It was an odd choice to go with when looking to say something positive about the animated series – especially considering how "woke" has been co-opted by the right to somehow be a bad thing.

Featuring the voices of Thames, Colman Domingo, Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy, Charlie Cox, and more, here's a look at the official clip that was released this past weekend, with the animated series premiering 2 episodes on January 29th. From there, we get three episodes on Feb. 5th and three episodes on Feb. 12th, with the season wrapping up on Feb. 19th with the final two episodes:

Check out the featurette that was also released, as the creative team and cast discuss how the animated series honors Spider-Man by celebrating his past in some new and interesting ways (and shares a look at some very familiar faces in the process):

In the latest episodes of The Official Marvel Podcast, Thames, Trammell, Supervising Director Mel Zwyer, and EP Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt offer their respective perspectives on how the animated series came to life, what viewers can expect, and how Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is set to be a unique experience:

"It started out as 'Okay, it's Spider-Man's freshman year, he's going to be a freshman, can we get away with this being entirely in the MCU?' and very early on in the development process, we realized how locked in that actually made us. We couldn't really use his rogues gallery; we couldn't really use his origin. It was not fun, honestly. We would've had to put so many limiters on our story to get it to lock into canon," Marvel Television and Marvel Animation's Brad Winderbaum shared during an interview with Phase Zero, explaining why the series isn't set in the main MCU. "Every single project I've worked on, they've all had a life of their own…. You have to let them live their own lives and go where they want to go," he continued.

While viewers can expect Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man to offer its own take on both Peter Parker's and Spider-Man's early years, the animated series will still maintain those core Spider-Man principles – from both the big screen and the comic book pages. "It does have a lot of DNA that is very similar to the MCU depiction of the Tom Holland Spider-Man, but it really also draws all the way back to Steve Ditko. It's adjacent to the main continuity but really speaks to what is inherent about the character."

Produced by Marvel Animation, Disney+'s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sees Jeff Trammell as head writer and Mel Zwyer as supervising director. Trammell, Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt serve as executive producers.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!