33 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Easter eggs: Venom, Doc Ock, & more
Disney+Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has finally swung onto Disney+, so you know what that means? It’s Easter egg hunting time!
That’s right, our team of Spider-Man historians (it’s me, the one guy in the office who should have outgrown this obsession years ago) have combed through both new episodes of the latest Marvel show to bring you what J. Jonah Jameson might call (if he was real) the greatest list of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Easter eggs references ever written.
Is that wild hyperbole? Of course, it is. No one ever clicked a list called the “okay-est list ever written”, did they? Anyway, so far, we’ve spotted more than 30 nods to the comics, Spider-Man movies, and MCU timeline in just the first two episodes.
Yet, like poor Peter Parker, our work is never done. We’ll be updating this article each week as new episodes of Spider-Man air on Disney+, (check out our full Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man schedule so you don’t miss an episode) so be sure to bookmark this and let us know if we missed anything!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Episode 1 Easter eggs
Civil War
Marvel StudiosA small nod to the Russo Bros’ second foray into the MCU to start the list. The font used to establish the show takes place in Queens is the same one used in Captain America: Civil War when Tony Stark went to New York to recruit Peter Parker to his Avengers team.
Uncle Ben
Sony PicturesThere were plenty of nods to Peter’s dearly departed Uncle Ben in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Still, the sweetest (and most subtle) I noticed was Aunt May’s ring glinting when she spoke about what a tough time she and Peter have had recently, an apparent reference to Uncle Ben coming down with a terminal case of being dead.
Midtown robotics
Marvel StudiosAs Peter and May drive to Midtown High, Peter explains how excited he is to get involved with the school’s robotic program. You might think this is just to set up Peter as a nerd… and yet. However, it’s also a cheeky nod to a line in Spider-Man: Homecoming where MJ explains that Peter mysteriously “quit Robotics lab” after getting his Stark internship. You thought you could hide that one from us… but you couldn’t.
Doctor Strange, the Master of the Mystical arts
Marvel ComicsThe first real superhero we see in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man isn’t the Wallcrawler: it’s none other than Doctor Strange. And while he may not be voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, what he lacks in star power, he more than makes up for with magical power. During his short appearance, we see him conjuring portals, summoning the Crimson Bands Of Cyttoral, and using his sentient cape to fly.
What’s interesting to comic fans is that the version of the Bleeker Street Magician shown in the show is clearly based more on Steve Ditko’s original version of the character. As such, he lacks the MCU’s natty little goatee and instead sports a fine mustache that would turn Burt Reynolds green with envy. Also, they do use Strange’s MCU theme song, which I just thought was a nice touch.
Time Stone
Marvel StudiosWhen things get a little out of hand, Strange is forced to use his trump card, the Time Stone, to save the day. The show doesn’t make a big deal of it, but it’s a nice reminder that this series is set long before Thanos decided to expand his jewelry collection.
Venom, is that you?
But who was the Sorcerer Supreme battling? Well… the show doesn’t tell you, or at least no one names it during the action. If you hung about for the credits, however, you’d see that the creature was, in fact, a symbiote, which explains why it looked so much like Venom. Those of you who’ve been reading Spider-Man comics would probably notice the creature also resembled the Spider-Man villain Shathra – a sort of magical wasp woman who wanted to eat Peter – which makes a certain degree of sense considering our next point.
The Great Web
Traditionally, Spider-Man gets his powers through scientific accidents. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man does things a little differently. Here, the spider that bit Peter came from another dimension, and it seems as though they’re explicitly magical in nature. While that might seem a bit wild, it’s actually taken straight from the comics.
During J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Amazing Spider-Man, he introduced the idea that there was more to Peter’s powers than radioactive blood. Indeed, he teased the notion that Peter was always destined to get spider powers and that it was part of some cosmic Great Web. Weird right? Well, this idea would eventually lead to Spider-Verse, so don’t be so judgemental.
Nico Minoru
Disney+The first friend we see Peter make at Midtown High before the school is destroyed is Niko Minora. While Niko might seem like an ordinary teenager in the comics, she’s anything but. A member of the Runaways – a group of kids who ran away after discovering their parents were supervillains – Niko is a powerful magic user with similar abilities to Doctor Strange. Will she get powers in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? I can’t think why else they’d use her.
Cindy Moon?
Marvel ComicsRight before Peter passes out after getting bitten, we see the spider who gave him his powers crawling away and up some unknown character’s backpack. While we don’t see what happens to the spider next, it’s likely this was done to set up the character of Cindy Moon, who was also gifted spider-powers by the same spider that bit Peter and became the sensational Silk.
Spider-Man, Spider-Man!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has an original theme song called “Neighbor Like Me,” which was written by The Math Club, Relaye, and Melo Makes Music. However, the song playfully samples the theme song from the 1967 cartoon show Spider-Man, composed by Paul Francis Webster and Bob Harris.
Spider-DNA from Sam Raimi movies
The intro doesn’t just reference the 1960s Spider-Man theme: there’s also a wink to the Sam Raimi movies. Specifically, when the song starts, you can see spiders crawling over DNA strands, which is very similar to a nightmarish sequence in Spider-Man (2002) when Peter undergoes his heroic transformation.
A sting in the tail
Marvel ComicsThe intro is clearly teasing some future threats. The most striking of these is a sinister character with heterochromia (he has two different colored eyes). Who is this looming figure? Well, considering you can see a scorpion’s tail wrap around him, it’s likely we’ll see Mac, aka the Scorpion, in a future episode.
Amazing Fantasy #15
Disney+At the very end of the theme tune, there’s a quick title card that recreates the iconic Amazing Fantasy #15 cover. You know the one, it’s Spider-Man swinging over New York with a criminal under his arm.
Green Goblin Jr
Disney+While we don’t get a lot of Harry Osborn in Episode 1, we do get a hint about the character’s future. When Peter rescues the boy billionaire, he’s wearing a rather lovely green suit. Could the show be teasing he’ll be wearing another green outfit in the future? Perhaps one that’s a bit more goblin-themed.
Screwball
Disney+One of Spider-Man’s most annoying villains makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo during Peter’s livestream. If you watch the comments, you’ll see Screwball (a villain who’ll be no stranger to anyone who’s played the Spider-Man games and forces Spider-Man to take part in deadly social media challenges) demanding people watch her stream instead of Peter’s.
Pearl Pangan
Disney+Pearl Pangan is introduced as Peter’s former babysitter and crush, yet like so many of the characters in this show, she’s so much more on the Marvel comics pages. In the books, Pearl is a superhero who has the power of hydrokinesis (a fancy way of saying she can control water with her mind) and goes by the name Wave.
Don’t copy Tobey Maguire’s homework
Sony PicturesPeter can be seen doodling a design for his Spider-Man costume, just like Tobey Maguire did in Spider-Man (2002). Am I reaching here? No. No, I’m not.
Do a flip Spider-Man
In a show jam-packed with obscure references, this next cameo might be the nerdiest yet. While Peter is swinging through town, you can see a guy who looks exactly like the street vendor from Spider-Man: Homecoming who shouts, “Do a flip, Spider-Man”. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like they brought back Zach Cherry to do his voice, but he’s probably too busy doing Severance to remember the part that made him a star!
That looks familiar…
Disney+When Spider-Man stops the car from crashing into the bus, it’s a shot-for-shot remake (in animated form) of the clip Tony Stark shows to Peter in Civil War when he reveals he knows Peter’s secret.
Lonnie Lincoln
Marvel comicsLonnie Lincoln is rounding out the list of Peter’s classmates who will grow up to be superheroes and villains. In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, he’s a nice jock who’s smarter than he seems, yet in the comics, he’s the indestructible gangster Tombstone. Let’s hope this version of Lonnie can stay on the straight and narrow.
Daily Bugle
You can’t make a Spider-Man movie or show without referencing the Daily Bugle, and sure enough, it appears to be the paper of choice in this version of New York City. Here’s hoping we get a J. Jonah Jameson cameo at some point in the future, and if we can, let’s bring back the one and only J.K. Simmons.
DVD player
Marvel StudiosEver wanted to know the exciting origin of the DVD player Peter Parker had in Civil War? Well, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has you covered… he found it in a dumpster. What? It’s still a better origin story than the one we got for Pride Rock in Mufasa.
Norman Osborn
Disney+The final moments of the episode are another recreation of a scene from Captain America: Civil War, specifically the one where Peter walks into his apartment oblivious to the person his aunt is talking to. Unlike in the prime timeline, however, it’s not Tony Stark who’s on the couch with Aunt May; it’s none other than Norman Osborn, the man destined to become Peter’s most vicious foe, the Green Goblin (and yes, he’s weaning green).
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Episode 2 Easter eggs
Brand New Day
Disney+While the title card in Episode 1 was a reference to Amazing Fantasy #1, Episode 2 starts with a nod to a cover from Brand New Day (specifically Amazing Spider-Man #546 drawn by Steve McNiven), which is fitting considering Norman’s appearance is a brand new day for Peter and Spider-Man.
Oscorp
Sony PicturesAs you’d expect, considering Norman’s importance to the plot, this episode introduces us to Oscorp, the company the Osborns run in the comics. And just like in the comics, games, and Andrew Garfield movies, Norman owns a big old building in the middle of New York City called Oscorp Tower… if you missed this one, you really weren’t paying attention.
Roxxon Oil
Marvel StudiosOscorp wasn’t the only shady megacorp mentioned, though. Niko briefly mentions Roxxon Oil to Peter when he tells her about the Oscorp internship. In the comics, Roxxon is one of the biggest companies in the world and is into all sorts of dangerous dealings, and it’s had run-ins with almost every superhero to grace the pages of a Marvel book. At the time of writing, Roxxon is being run by Dario Agger, a literal monster (he’s a minotaur) who wants to destroy Thor.
Asha
Marvel ComicsWhen Peter meets his fellow Oscorp interns, we meet a cavalcade of characters, all of whom have spandex in their future. Asha is one of these characters, a transfer student from Wakanda. Asha was introduced in Infinity: The Hunt #1, and she could control light, giving her the power to turn invisible.
Amadeus Cho
Marvel ComicsOne of the more obnoxious characters, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s Amadeus Cho, has a long and storied history in the pages of Marvel comics. He’s one of the most intelligent people on Earth and has been a sidekick to Hercules, who you may remember (or not) from the Thor Love and Thunder post-credits scene and the Hulk. In fact, he briefly became Earth-616’s main Hulk after absorbing all the gamma radiation from Bruce Banner’s body. Might torn purple trousers be in his future? Possibly.
Bentley Wittman
Marvel ComicsBentley Wittman might be the officious and snide mentor of the Oscorp interns, but he’s not an outright villain. Or he’s not a villain yet. You see, in the books, Bentley Wittman is the real name of the Wizard, a dastardly scientist who seeks to prove his brilliance by attacking the Fantastic Four. It goes about as well as you’d expect.
Carla Connors
Marvel ComicsSpider-Man fans will be familiar with Curt Connors, but in this branch of the multiverse, Curt is Carla. As you’d expect, the two characters have a lot in common, including an interest in science and a penchant for purple pants, and they’re both missing an arm. However, unlike the Curt Connors we’re familiar with, Carla doesn’t seem to be a biologist. Instead, she dedicates her genius to researching new ways to generate renewable power. Does that mean she’ll be spared the horror of becoming The Lizard? I doubt it.
Crusher Hogan
Marvel ComicsIf you’ve read Amazing Fantasy #15, you’ll know the name Crusher Hogan as though it were your own. Crusher was the wrestler Spider-Man humiliated when he tried to use his powers to make a quick buck. Hogan makes a brief appearance while the Oscorp Interns are flipping through the channels.
Butane
Disney+If you thought that the villain Spidey fights in the pet store was an original villain for the show, you’re very wrong. That was Butane! Who’s Butane? Well, honestly, I had to Google him myself he’s that much of a nobody. According to the Marvel Wiki, though, he’s a Captain Britain villain… so yeah… I see why they redesigned him.
OO symbol
Marvel ComicsAfter Spider-Man defeats Butane, he notices what appears to be an infinity symbol on the villain’s gauntlets. We haven’t learned anything else about the symbol, but if you’ll allow me to indulge in some wild speculation, I think the emblem might belong to Spidey’s superior, Doctor Octopus. Why? Well, what does an infinity symbol look like? Two Os, and what begins with two Os? Otto Octavius! The prosecution rests m’lord!
And that’s everything we spotted. We’re sure we missed a few winks and nods here and there and there were a few things we saw that we debated putting on the list. including references to Hawkeye and the Stark Arc Reactor, but to be honest, we think even the most casual of Marvel fans would have spotted those. If you’re looking for more Marvel fun, then why not check out our list of every MCU movie ranked or our rundown of the best superhero movies?
What, you’re still hungry for more content featuring the Wallcrawler? Well we do have a piece breaking down everything you need to know about Spider-Man 4 if you’re interested.