Following a breezy pilot that presented a brand-new origin of our favorite webslinger, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man expands its world further with the second episode by including more characters from the established larger universe. Previously, Doctor Strange’s dimension-hopping adventures brought a symbiote monster and a unique spider to Peter Parker’s world, the latter of which imbued Peter with spider powers. While fighting crime, as Peter gets himself used to the role of fledgling superhero Spider-Man, he is visited by the influential owner of Oscorp Industries, Norman Osborn. The reason for Norman’s visit is revealed in the second episode of the series, which also introduces a number of brilliant minds of MCU lore—teasing future events and the expansion of Spidey mythos.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did Norman Osborn Meet Peter?
As the second episode begins, Norman’s motive behind visiting Peter is revealed as he mentions the Oscorp outreach program aimed at identifying talented young minds to offer them an opportunity to work in one of New York’s most cutting-edge labs with renowned experts and scientists. Norman has learned about Peter’s brilliance and wants to rope him in for an exclusive internship. Peter, who was already fascinated by the scale and scope of Oscorp’s robotic division, is elated after nabbing such an opportunity basically out of nowhere. Aunt May’s concerns about this internship hampering Peter’s studies are quickly dealt with by Norman, who assures her that Peter’s job will be strictly extra-curricular. Pete informs Nico about Norman’s offer, and she doesn’t seem too excited about this as she considers Norman to be one of the shady types who rub shoulders with the wrong crowd to gain power and wealth. However, Peter doesn’t subscribe to her ideology and decides to go to Oscorp for the first day of his internship to see for himself.
Who Are Peter’s Fellow Interns?
Reaching Oscorp, Peter meets three other teenagers who’ve been selected for the outreach program: Jeanne Foucault, Amadeus Cho, and Asha, who is from Wakanda. They are under the strict guidance of Professor Wittman, who assigns all four of them to different projects to determine which divisions suit their talent the most. Much to Peter’s dismay, after the test, Amadeus is sent to the robotics division, which Peter badly wanted to be a part of; he gets the chance to work on energy research instead, with Dr. Carla Connors guiding him, while Asha gets to work in the aerospace division and Jeanne is sent to quantum computation.
Dr. Carla Conners, who is this universe’s genderbent counterpart of Dr. Curtis Connors, aka the supervillain, Lizard, reveals the chief objective behind their research is to find a self-sustaining energy source—just like Tony Stark’s, or even Doctor Otto Octavius’ arc reactor. Peter drowns himself in study and research for the next couple of hours until Nico calls Peter to check up on him. The school football team has won big, prompting star quarterback Lonnie and his teammates to throw a party where Minoru and Pete are invited as well. Like Peter, Minoru is a bit reserved and introverted—and she refuses to go to the party unless Peter joins her. Peter promises to make it in time, but trouble rises on the horizon pretty soon as he sees the news of a fire breaking out in an abandoned facility.
Why Was Butane Trying to Burn Down the Facility?
A pyromaniac named Butane is seen trying to burn the building to cinders, as he’s been paid by real estate moguls who want to make a profit out of the piece of land. Hilariously enough, Butane has started his fire show in the wrong neighborhood to begin with. After a prolonged struggle, Pete is able to take down Butane, but while busy in his hero routine, he remains absent from his intern duties. Peter isn’t able to keep his promise to Minoru either, who waits for Peter for a long time before getting fed up and leaving the party. Getting caught up in dilemmas of responsibility is something quintessential to Spider-Man, which is showcased in the second episode.
Does Norman Osborn know Peter’s true identity?
Wittman starts grilling Peter after he arrives at Oscorp way later than he should have, and Carla isn’t able to defend Peter despite her best intentions. In the meantime, one of the Oscorp guards arrives to inform Peter that he has been summoned by Norman, prompting Peter to think that, due to his irresponsible actions, he has lost the internship on the very day it started. A desperate Peter starts pleading with Norman as soon as he reaches his luxurious private chamber, only for Osborn to show him a clip of Peter changing into his iconic costume before dealing with the fire breakout situation—effectively giving away his identity to Norman Osborn. The episode ends with Norman questioning Peter about his secret identity, leaving viewers to speculate about whether this will spell doom for Peter in the near future. I think Osborn had figured out Peter’s identity long ago and had brought him to Oscorp to learn about his mutated physiology—and simply needed to catch Peter off guard on one occasion to make him confess the truth on his own. On the other hand, Peter has no other option than to reveal his true identity to Norman—and if the series eventually goes through Norman’s Goblic arc route, it will be so interesting to see the changed interpersonal equations between them.
Easter Eggs
Roxxon Oil: As mentioned by Nico Minoru in the second episode, Roxxon Oil is a shady conglomerate that is associated with villains like Killer Shrike, Enchantress, and Mentallo—and, has often proved to be an adversary to heroes like Spidey, Iron Man, and Captain America.Â
Amadeus Cho: One of the most notable genius minds of the Marvel universe, the teenager Amadeus Cho gained Hulk’s powers by creating nanites that absorbed Banner’s gamma radiation and used them on himself. With Amadeus set to appear in the MCU, presumably with Young Avengers, the second episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man acts as an alternate earth counterpart of the character.Â
Jean Foucault: Aside from possessing a gifted mind, Jeanne Foucault in comics is an exceptional polymath and has an almost supernatural level of ability to learn anything thanks to high aptitude and perfect kinesthesia.
Dr. Bentley Wittman: In the comics, Bentley Wittman is a deranged genius, who had assumed the identity of the supervillain, Wizard. Bentley formed a team named Frightful Four which was one of the earliest teams of villains encountered by Fantastic Four.Â