Deja Vu Until The Plot Twist

No, this is not a new series. I'm making this point more for myself, because with this being a new show, part of me is itching on doing a review. I just don't have the time, but I did not want to shy away from a chance to write about what I think will be an amazing show.

When Marvel announced yet another animated Spiderman show (I can think of at least five different ones from over the past 30-ish years), all I could think was what could this one offer that the other ones hadn't.

Each update thereafter slowly chipped away at my pessimism, especially when it was explained that this was a different, unexplored universe. It's not the first time we've been introduced to new versions of beloved characters, and as long as the multiverse is in play in the MCU, I doubt it will be the last.

This is your only warning: there will be major spoilers and geek-age. Run away now if either or both will get on your nerves. (Granted, this is published in the Geeks community, so...)

While the sneak peeks and trailer give us a glimpse of this new world, there are so many tidbits and call-backs to previous MCU projects and Spider-Man lore. At the same time, though, they are given to us in a different light.

For example, the theme song I have admittingly played in my car enough times I might have to start worrying that my Spotify won't play anything else. They pay tribute to the 1967 iteration of Spiderman by mashing part of its theme song with a rap and beat that reminds me of 90s rappers from the streets of Harlem. And the animation style and humor makes it feel like we're watching an golden-age comic book come to life, while giving it a modern twist.

Then we have familiar scenes, something I'm going start calling deja vu until the plot twist. We are given an almost exact play by play of Civil War's Tony Stark meeting Peter Park until surprise, it's no other than Norman Osborn. (And did you see Spidey stop that car?)

And of course we can not forget the characters. With the multiverse in mind, it broadens the scope of what a popular character should look like, which gives us infinite versions of the same character.

One thing I am really intrigued about is Peter's origin story. Anyone who knows anything about Peter Parker knows that Uncle Ben dies after Peter gets his powers.

Not on this show and we are never told if Ben died. We can only confirm that Ben is gone and whatever happened, happened recently.

For me, I really like the concept of hitting with this story that we truly don't know what could happen next. I'm also excited to see them explore this mentorship with Osborn, because while there are some similarities between him and Tony Stark (they're both multi-millionaires and CEOs of companies baring their names), they are usually on different sides of the line, even when Norman is being the hero. Also, what does this mean for Tony Stark? Obviously, he exists in this universe (car charm alert).

There's one last thing I'm going to mention here that I can wait to see, and that's this relationship between Peter and Lonnie. We've seen them interact, and I think they could become friends, though Pearl could spark some tension between the two of them. On top of that, we saw a glimpse of Lonnie's life, and I think it served as a great device to showcase the differences in their lives.

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I know I'm planning on watching the rest of this show and I hope this is something you'll consider doing too.

Episodes will be released every Wednesday on Disney+. Episodes 3-5 will be on the 5th, 6-8 on the 12th, and 9-10 on the 19th. (Yep, I think it's strange too, but can't be upset about having multiple episodes each week.)