Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man just debuted on Disney+ and introduced several Marvel heroes-to-be, including a version of the Hulk.
Marvel Animation is about to get underway on Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which takes place in a whole new universe, not the MCU, and includes fresh versions of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and more.
6 Heroes Marvel Hid in Spider-Man's New Disney+ Show
In Peter Parker's circle of friends and colleagues in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Marvel Animation included six characters that comic readers will know by name one day become heroes.
Nico Minoru
Nico Minoru is Peter Parker's best friend and a fellow Midtown High student in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but Marvel Comics readers will know her better thanks to her association with a major team - the Runaways.
As the daughter of two magic-using villains, Nico Minoru inherited the powers of sorcery from her parents. Like the rest of the Runaways (which she leads), she runs away from home after discovering her parents are supervillains.
The Runaways previously led a three-season TV series under Marvel Television where Nico was played by Lyrica Okano. It's unclear whether Runaways takes place in the MCU after a confusing canon conflict in WandaVision.
Wave (Pearl Pangan)
Peter Parker has a new crush in town with Pearl Pangan, who just so happens to be his childhood babysitter and will already be dating high school football sensation Lonnie Lincoln in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
For now, Pearl appears to be a completely ordinary high school student, but she can be found in Marvel Comics wielding elemental water powers and going by the alias Wave as a member of the Agents of Atlas.
Brawn (Amadeus Cho)
Around a decade ago, Marvel Comics set out to reinvent the Hulk as 19-year-old Korean American genius Amadeus Cho was granted the gamma powers. Unlike Bruce Banner, the Hulk successor maintained his genius, intelligence, and emotional control while taking on his super-powered form.
In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Amadeus has yet to show any interest in gamma technology or signs of becoming a Hulk in the future. So far, Amadeus is one of the genius prodigies among the Oscorp internship who serves as something of a bully-like figure to Peter Parker in the program.
Finesse (Jeanne Foucault)
Jeanne Foucault may be a hero called Finesse in Marvel Comics, but as she has been thought to be the biological daughter of Taskmaster, she doesn't come from a family of them. From her father, she inherited photographic reflexes that allow him to replicate any opponent's fighting style in real-time.
As with most of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's heroes-to-be, Foucault is part of Oscorp's internship. One has to wonder if some twist in the tale could lead all of them to get powers and head down the heroic route together.
Asha
Asha is another of the geniuses found in the Oscorp internship program who intriguingly hails from the kingdom of Wakanda, home of the Black Panther. Her powers in Marvel Comics allow her to absorb or reflect light to become near-invisible and even fire beams of light.
In Infinity: The Hunt, Asha is a super-powered student at the Wakandan School for Alternative Studies. She was selected alongside two other students to partake in the Contest of Champions and would go on to help battle Thanos' forces.
For a full breakdown of Asha's importance in the Marvel Universe, check out our full guide here!
NFL Superpro (Phil Grayfield)
In a deep-cut inclusion from Marvel Comics, the Ravens' (Peter's high school football team) coach in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man goes by Coach Grayfield, seemingly making him Phil Grayfield, aka NFL Superpro.
On the page, Grayfield was a football player whose career ended after he was injured saving a child. He would go on to receive superpowers from a combination of strange chemicals and a football uniform invulnerable to damage, turning him into the hero Superpro.
Will Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Introduce New Heroes?
While Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is just getting underway, the series is already greenlit through Season 3. Marvel Animation clearly has plenty of faith in the series as it plans to continue expanding this superhero world for years to come, perhaps even venturing into spin-offs with other heroes.
As the series will feature Doctor Strange and Daredevil (find out what episode he is expected to appear in), Marvel Animation is clearly willing to feature more heroes than just the titular wall-crawler in its Spider-Man show.
So, there's every chance that as the series develops, characters such as Amadeus Cho and Nico Minoru could edge closer to their comic counterparts.
Early in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the focus is bound to be on introducing this new Peter Parker and his heroic journey. But in the later episodes and into future seasons, there ought to be more time to grant powers to these other characters and follow the path they take.
New episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiere every Wednesday on Disney+.
