Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Brings Venom Into Season 2
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will remix a new character in season 2.
Although it didn’t generate the same amount of buzz as X-Men ’97, the Disney+ series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was a delightful bit of wall-crawler fun. Set in the early days of Spider-Man’s career, the series remixed all of Peter Parker’s stories into a unique, and often wonderful blend, turning Norman Osborn into a malevolent Tony Stark and Tombstone into a tragic figure.
Season 2 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man promises to continue that fun take on classic villains. A new promo image leaked to social media shows Venom, Spider-Man’s monstrous arch-enemy turned lethal protector. Although far less slobbery than most depictions of the baddie, the picture is clearly of Venom, complete with a frightening grin full of sharp teeth and menacing claws. And yet, the caption with the picture reads not “Venom,” but “Symbiote Spider-Man.”
That title isn’t completely inaccurate to the original story. As most fans know, Venom was originally a black alien costume that Peter Parker wore for a while, in place of his usual red and blue duds. The change occurred in 1984’s Secret Wars #8 (which actually hit shelves after Peter was swinging through the streets of New York in his sleek new costume), in which the red and blue suit was destroyed while off-planet. Because Pete couldn’t run around naked, not even in deep space, aliens devised a new costume for him, one that was alive.
Spidey wore his black costume for a while, but soon turned back to his regular clothes after realizing that the suit created dark feelings within him. After being abandoned by Spidey, the suit bonded with ‘roided out photojournalist Eddie Brock, who has hated Peter since he exposed Brock’s shoddy work. The two combined to become Venom, first fully revealed in 1988’s Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Venom was an immediate hit and has been a mainstay in the Marvel Universe ever since. And, like other breakout bad guys, he developed enough of a following to carry his own book and undergo several revisions. Several other humans have been Venom’s hosts, including the Scorpion Mac Gargan, Peter’s high school bully Flash Thompson, and, in current Marvel continuity, Mary Jane Watson.
In short, Venom’s very open to interpretation, which is great news for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Where early reports suggested that the series would take place in the mainline MCU and tell the story of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man before Captain America: Civil War, the series takes place in a different reality. That separation has given creators room to go in exciting directions with their stories.
In fact, the freedom allowed the creators to introduce a variation of Venom in the very first episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The first episode begins with what appears to be Kraven the Hunter, bonded with the symbiote and attacking Peter Parker’s school, Midtown High. Because Peter doesn’t have his powers yet, it’s up to Doctor Strange, who arrives via portal, to stop the creature. He whisks the monster away, but leaves the portal open just long enough for a spider to get through and bite Peter, setting him off on his heroic journey.
Does this mean that Venom is somehow tied to Spider-Man’s origin? We don’t know, because that’s very different than anything that’s been done before in Peter Parker’s history. But that sort of experimentation with the canon is exactly why we love Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2 swings onto Disney+ in 2026.