Recap: Peter Reconsiders His Work with Norman Osborn in Third Episode of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man got off to a hot start with its two-episode premiere on Disney+ last week. Peter Parker found himself in a tough spot when his new boss, Norman Osborn, discovered that he is Spider-Man. Now, that classic Parker luck has him rethinking some of his choices.

This third episode opens with Norman’s words - “so, you’re Spider-Man" - ringing in Peter’s ears. Eventually, he wakes up from a daze to a video game he is playing with Nico. She gives him a hard time about leaving her hanging at the party and offers to help him quit. She also tries to make plans with him, but Peter says he has to go to dinner with Norman. They’re interrupted by a woman whose name we learn is Susan O’Hara. While she appears to be Nico’s foster mother, perhaps she is also a relative of Miguel O’Hara, better known as Spider-Man 2099.

Peter arrives at a restaurant to find that Norman has rented out the entire place so they can have a private conversation. After eating a lot of free expensive food, Peter tries to play off Norman’s Spider-Man footage as a prank by his security team. Norman rejects his theory and Peter caves and admits to being Spider-Man. Norman jumps with excitement at the thought of working with Spider-Man. He explains that the boy Spider-Man saved recently was his son, Harry Osborn. He says he’s been searching for Spidey by bringing in some brilliant scientific minds - Peter, Amadeus, Asha and Jeanne - thinking one of them would be working with Spider-Man. And now that he knows Peter is Spider-Man, he wants to help him as much as he can.

As Norman runs through dozens of ideas, Peter expresses some hesitation. He not only tells Norman Spider-Man can’t work with him, but also that Peter probably shouldn’t be working at Oscorp. Norman reassures him that Spider-Man working with Oscorp wouldn’t endanger him or the team, but also that he will allow him to make the decision. Norman also pays Peter with a $1,000 check for his first day at Oscorp.

We then see a couple waiting on the street for some kind of shady meeting. A man receives a text that tells him to put the money in the trash. They do it and the dumpster transforms into a robot and crawls away, leaving behind some kind of case with the same logo Spider-Man saw on the flamethrowers worn by the villain in the previous episode. The couple looks inside and expresses excitement, but we don’t see what’s in the case. More on this couple later.

Peter returns home to find that Aunt May is cleaning out a bunch of stuff to sell. Peter expresses regret that she would sell any of Uncle Ben’s things, but May says things simply need to get done. Peter finds a few past due bills on the table.

The next day at school, Nico shows her excitement for Peter potentially quitting Oscorp. Peter backtracks a bit and they discuss whether or not he should stay on to help May with their money issues. Lonnie interrupts and offers to buy Peter lunch. Peter and Pearl go to sit down while Lonnie tries to pay for their lunch, only to find out that his card is declined. At their lunch table, Lonnie takes a panicked call from his mother and asks Pearl to drive him home.

When Lonnie gets home, he finds a police officer talking to his dad outside. He rushes inside to his mother, who explains that his brother Andre was brought in by the cop because he was caught vandalizing a building with the 110th Street Gang. This is the name of the gang run by Tombstone in the comics. Lonnie goes to Andre’s room only to find that he has run away.

We then jump to a jewelry store where the mystery couple, now wearing some interesting tech, begins to rob the place. They easily take out the security guard with this tech. As we learn later from the credits, this couple is James Sanders and Maria Vasquez, better known as Speed Demon and Tarantula, respectively. While Speed Demon was a villain in the comics, Vasquez’s Tarantula was a hero, so this is an interesting switch for her.

Spider-Man is taking pictures with Uncle Ben’s old camera before he hears a police report of the robbery in progress, and he follows police cars to the scene. He arrives just in time to slow down James and Maria but finds that their tech makes them a much tougher fight than he’s used to. They get the upper hand on Spidey when he tries to save a civilian.

Meanwhile, Lonnie tracks Andre to a hideout for the 110th Street Gang. He tries to leave with Andre but he’s interrupted by the man in charge, who introduces himself as Big Donovan. As you might expect, this is another comic character. Big Donovan is a gangster with ties to the Maggia crime family. Here though, he is the leader of the 110th Street Gang and he refuses to allow Andre to leave. In a desperate attempt to save his brother, Lonnie offers to trade himself. Donovan agrees, calling it a trade up since he now has the star quarterback, which is a big deal to someone who apparently makes thousands of dollars betting on high school football. This appears to be the door opening for Lonnie to become the villainous crime lord known as Tombstone.

Back at the fight, the couple eventually knock Spidey out before the SWAT team tries to stop them. The villainous couple tears through the police though and it seems the fight is over. However, Spider-Man is woken up by the voice of Norman in his ears. He wakes up with a hilarious “hello, god? It’s me, Spidey." Norman explains that he hacked into Spidey’s mask and begins feeding him information about his foes. That information gives him the edge he needs to stop them and he webs them both up to each other. Their tech being so close to each other shorts it out and shuts the criminals down. Before he swings away, Spider-Man notices the same logo on this tech that he saw on the flamethrowers.

We then see Norman also taking note of that logo in security footage before he is startled by Spider-Man. The two once again discuss working together and it appears Peter has changed his mind. He removes his mask and shakes Norman’s hand, welcoming him to the Spider-Man team. Meanwhile, Donovan shakes Lonnie’s hand and welcomes him to the 110th Street Gang as the episode comes to a close.

A lot of dominos are being set up here. Is Lonnie destined to become Tombstone? Can Norman be trusted working with Spider-Man? How many of these other characters will have a larger role to play going forward? This series continues to get more and more interesting.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is now streaming on Disney+.