‘I never would’ve guessed that was him’: Disney Isn’t Beating Woke Allegations as ‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ Makes Another Polarizing Change

SUMMARY

• The next TV series from Marvel on Disney+ will be the animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
• The show has been garnering controversy after it was revealed that the Osborn family was race-swapped.
• It gained more controversy for the look of Harry Osborn, who looks unrecognizable from his often-depicted self.

Disney has been receiving huge backlash for their alleged race-swapping of multiple legacy characters in their latest offerings. The studio has made multiple controversial decisions about the casting of some of its classic characters, trying to make them more, for lack of a better term, “woke-friendly”. However, this has not gone down well with a section of its fans.

The latest controversy is the look of Harry Osborn in the upcoming Disney+ series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The animated series sees Peter Parker in his high school days trying to manage his academics and vigilantism. Fans have taken issue with Harry’s look, who seems to be race-swapped and is voiced by Zeno Robinson.

Disney’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man faces backlash for Harry Osborn’s look

Hudson Thames plays Spider-Man in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Credits: Disney+

After the resounding success of the animated series X-Men ‘97, the Marvel Cinematic Universe announced its next show with the animation team. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was set to be a prequel to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy, exploring his early days of vigilantism before he met Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War.

A new trailer for the show was released recently, revealing the new home-made suit from Peter Parker and some key characters. Hudson Thames was confirmed to be voicing Parker, reprising his role from the What If…? series. However, the new look and voice cast of the Osborn family drew considerable controversy.

Harry Osborn in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Credits: Disney+

It was revealed that Colman Domingo would be voicing Norman Osborn and his character was also race-swapped from being a white Caucasian to being a Black man (via Collider). His son, Harry Osborn, was also changed, with his look becoming even more controversial. Fans seemed to be annoyed at the swapping and bashed Disney for making changes again.

The character is set to be voiced by Zeno Robinson, who is a popular voice actor known for his dubs on animes like My Hero Academia. He also voiced Cyborg in Young Justice, The Flash in Harley Quinn, and The Underground in the game Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

X-Men ‘97 creator criticized Marvel for race-swapping villainous characters

A still from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Credits: Disney+

Race-swapping has not been a recent phenomenon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or in Disney productions. One of the MCU’s most popular characters Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson was white in the comics. Other characters such as Electro and Mordo were also traditionally white in the comics.

After Colman Domingo was revealed to be the voice behind Norman Osborn a.k.a the Green Goblin, the decision was criticized by X-Men ‘97’s creator and former showrunner Beau DeMayo. The writer called out the studio for race-swapping canonically white villains and making them Black.

DeMayo in turn received criticism himself for hiring white Brazilian actor Gui Augustini to voice Roberto da Costa a.k.a Sunspot in X-Men ‘97, who is canonically an Afro-Brazilian.

Written by Nishanth A

Articles Published: 1698

Nishanth A is a Media, English and Psychology graduate from Bangalore. He is an avid DC fanboy and loves the films of Christopher Nolan. He has published over 1,000 articles on FandomWire. When he's not fixating on the entire filmography of a director, he tries to write and direct films.