Marvel is doing something incredibly clever with its new MCU Spider-Man release. If you were to claim that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies were anything but excellent, you’d be – rightly – accused of being disingenuous, just as claims of perfection would be just as cynically received. The reality is somewhere closer to the positive extreme of the spectrum, but there is something that’s been nagging me about the MCU’s Spider-Man.

Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is a kid dropped into an adult world, which was always sort of the point of his part in Captain America: Civil War, and then the defining point of his dynamic with mentor Tony Stark. That was partly because, by the time Civil War came out, a lot of the MCU’s key 18-24 demographic was already aging out. As further pertinent evidence, audience data forThe Marvels (via IndieWire) and even ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine suggest that the youngest MCU demographic has shrunk quite alarmingly. Gen Z simply don’t come out for Marvel as much.

The end result of that now is that projects made for younger MCU fans are few and far between, despite how valuable the broader family audience is for Disney, and indeed all studios. We’re in a world, after all, where Moana 2 – a not terrible, but not excellent sequel – has just casually sailed past a billion. Engaging that audience is key, especially where Spider-Man is concerned, and finally, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has remembered how important that is.

Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Isn’t Made For A Huge Part Of The Character’s Fanbase

It’s Too Mature To Really Land With The Key Demographic

Spider-Man is something of a contradiction in the MCU: it’s the most teen-friendly MCU sub-franchise, but doesn’t come with the “for kids” angling that other young hero franchises (and basically anything animated) tend to be slapped with. There’s a very big reason, after all, why nobody even thinks to consider Spider-Man in the potential Young Avengers line-up whenever that MCU project gets off the ground. He’s young, but Marvel have sort of made him not for the young.

That has led to a tonal dissonance in Holland’s MCU appearances, which have mostly been defined by intense trauma, Avengers-level-threats, and not really enough of the small-scale, intimate heroism you’d generally ᴀssociate with Spider-Man. The stories are also way too dark for the younger end of the Spider-Man fan spectrum, so Marvel and Disney face the uncomfortable reality that a merch-selling behemoth that they could historically count on for around $1bn a year hasn’t had a release that could be exploited as a sales opportunity.

Breaking it down that way is, of course, rather cynical, but it’s a concrete reality of IP business, and it’s one that will get more difficult as the upcoming Spider-Man 4 takes Peter Parker out of the school system entirely. Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s ending was signposted as a shift towards maturity, but we’d already seen multiple MCU stories that were consciously aimed at a more mature audience already.

That’s why any complaints or baffled cynicism about Marvel Animation making Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are so comical to me. IP fans will always make claims that everything should be aimed at and made for them, and there is a rather unfortunate trend of gatekeeping in the MCU that views diversity with suspicion at best, and apathy at worst. But, in the case of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, I’m actually delighted that the selling point is difference.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Channels The Best Spidey Series

Not Everything Has To Be Precisely Tuned To The MCU Formula

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the first MCU Spider-Man release that feels like it belongs more to the pre-MCU bracket of animated Marvel shows than it does to the modern franchise. And even more specifically, it feels more like it’s taken a lead from the beloved and prematurely canceled The Spectacular Spider-Man series, which ran for 2 seasons from 2008.

That show, like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – and unlike Holland’s movies, despite their promise – authentically balanced the high school experience and Peter’s superhero responsibilities. In the MCU, school always felt like a distraction, because Holland’s Parker was an Avenger-in-waiting, and even though The Spectacular Spider-Man and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man deal with mature themes, they do so in a way that feels intentionally aimed at being accessible to younger viewers.

There is obviously no need to pander to young fans, or to force Holland’s version of the character into more four-quarter-friendly stories for the sake of selling even more toys or being better for kids, but bringing in an alternative is inspired. Crucially, what Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will hopefully prove is that there can be different projects for different audiences within the homogenous framework of the MCU. And if it means more animation as good as the new show (and yes, I say this having seen all 10 episodes), then we should all count it as a victory.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Captain America: Brave New World

  Release Date

  
  February 14, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Thunderbolts*

  Release Date

  
  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  Release Date

  
  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Spider-Man Homecoming 4

  Release Date

  
  July 24, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

  Release Date

  
  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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