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Marvel’s latest animated seriesYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manhas been rife with controversy ever since its trailer debuted. While many fans appreciated the animation style and the prospect of the MCU’s Spider-Man getting his origin story, the casting and character changes dominated conversations about the show.
The series recently premiered its first two episodes and fans seem to be critical of it. Apart from changes to Peter Parker’s classic origin story, a key character who will turn out to be a major villain for Spidey has reportedly been gender-swapped. The change has led many fans to outrage over the ‘wokeness’ of the show.
Fans lash out at Marvel for gender-swapping Lizard inYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Disney has been fielding ‘woke’ allegations for the past few years as the studio made controversial casting decisions and inclusion of politics in their last few films and shows. The allegations have also carried over to Disney-owned IPs like the MCU andStar Wars, all of which have been decried by fans for the past few entries.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Episode 1 SPOILER Recap/Review: The New Spidey’s New Origin
The latest series to trigger fans is the Disney+/Marvel animated seriesYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The show is set in an alternate timeline in the MCU and explores the origin story of Peter Parker.Hudson Thamesvoiced the character, reprising his role from the Disney+ seriesWhat If…?
Since its trailer debut, the series has beencriticized for race-swapping the Osbornsand other casting choices. The two-episode premiere revealed that Dr. Curtis Connors had been gender-swapped to Dr. Carla Connors. Connors goes on to become the Lizard. Fans were clearly unhappy with the decision.
Is this true? Did Disney really gender swap Dr. Curtis Connor? The Lizard is going to be a female in this new series??!?!pic.twitter.com/o8ThXkyIqY
No just Gender Swap, but also Race swapped.
They gender & race swapped Dr. Curtis Connor, made Norman Osborn black, and rebranded Sister Grimm into a bland angsty boba sh*tlibTHIS is the Spiderman they tried to tell us “isn’t woke” 😭😭😭😭😭
They made Doc Oct in Spidervese, but it didn’t felt forced. Because it was its own cannon and pretty good story
Zehra Fazal voices Carla Connors in the show. The series was already controversial because of the casting of Colman Domingo for Norman Osborn and now with this, it has faced even more backlash.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manstar Hudson Thames was worried the show would be too woke
The Disney+ showYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,in its defense, is set in an alternate timeline and the changes are valid. However, the race-swapping and gender-swapping of key characters has also drawn the wrath of long-time fans who hold the canon as sacred.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Episode 2 SPOILER Recap/Review: The Oscorp Internship Begins
The ‘woke’ allegationsseemed to be predicted by lead actor Hudson Thames, who mentioned in an interview that he was initially fearful of the series heading in that direction. He reportedly toldCollider,
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.
While showrunner Jeff Trammell said that Thames might have misspoken and that the reception of the series obviously weighed in on him, the lead actor also having similar fears tells a lot about Disney’s creative direction.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manis available to stream on Disney+.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2417
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
