Peter Parker voice actor Hudson Thames reveals what he thought about Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man when cast as the MCU’s new animated variant of the wall-crawler. Marvel’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series introduces a brand-new Marvel timeline parallel to the MCU’s Earth-616. Instead of becoming Iron Man’s superhero apprentice in his early days, this Peter Parker variant meets other heroes and villains such as Norman Osborn, Daredevil, Nico Minoru, and Doctor Octopus. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s cast includes renowned stars such as Colman Domingo and both Daredevil: Born Again stars — Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox.
In an interview with Collider, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man star Hudson Thames reveals he initially expected the animated show to be different, admitting that he feared “that it was gonna be annoying and woke.” Thames praises the series, describing it as “so well written, like it feels real.” Read Thames’ full comments below:

“I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn’t, and I was like, ‘Yes, this is great, it’s so well written,’ like it feels real. I’m the oldest of five boys, so I feel like I kind of know what’s happening in their lives and in high school, and it felt like it was doing that justice.”

Custom image by Ollie Bradley

Hudson Thames’ choice of words is rather out of place, as the term “woke” is often used to paint diversity in a bad light. Complementing the word “woke” with “annoying” only aggravates this implication, and framing diversity as something to be cautious about suggests a discomfort with the qualities that make Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man more inclusive. Unfortunately, Colman Domingo’s casting as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s Norman Osborn was met with unfounded backlash online, and the introduction of a diverse main cast has elicited prejudiced comments. Hudson Thames’ comments, then, are ill-timed.
Our Take On Hudson Thames’ Spider-Man

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s Diversity Suit And Enhance The Source Material

The diversity that the terms “woke” and “wokeness” usually criticize — namely regarding race, gender identity, religion, and disability — has been a key part of comic books and pop culture for a long time now. Several Marvel Comics properties have addressed topics such as equality, social justice, and civil rights since their inception, including X-Men and Spider-Man. Fortunately, comic books and their adaptations have evolved to reflect that more clearly, adding more diverse characters and choosing diverse casts to interpret them in live-action. Nowadays, characters such as Idris Elba’s MCU Heimdall and Jason Momoa’s DCEU Aquaman are just as famous as their comic book counterparts, if not more.

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While characters like Norman Osborn have been depicted in a similar way throughout the years, there’s always room for brand-new portrayals like Colman Domingo’s in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. These updates are valuable for the characters and their stories, not in spite of diversity, but because of it. Fearing the risk of media being “woke” may be just as unfounded as the backlash an actor of color receives from being cast in a project that hasn’t been released yet — it reflects preconceptions that often lead to rash and often misguided conclusions.
Source: Collider

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