Disney+’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is one of the freshest versions of Spider-Man there has been in years, and, excitingly for Venom fans, the villain-turned-antihero is due to join for season 2. The timing couldn’t be better. Venom #1, by Charles Soule with art by Tommaso Bianchi, was released on October 14. Although controversial for good reasons, the comic presents a return to form for the Venom story in a way that feels as fresh as the Disney+ Spider-Man animation.
In the comic, Venom and Eddie are dating Yelena Belova/White Widow, despite her Black Widow status elsewhere. This is the character excellently inhabited by Florence Pugh in 2021’s Black Widow, alongside Scarlett Johansson. Pugh is due to return for Avengers: Doomsday in December 2026.
Few Marvel characters have had a stranger journey than Eddie Brock and his symbiote. Over nearly four decades, Venom has been a Spider-Man villain, a “lethal protector,” a cosmic king, and something close to a hero, hosted by various characters. But commendably, this Venom story reunites Venom with Eddie Brock.
It also leans into the homoerotic undertones ever present between them in the franchise and popularized by the Tom Hardy movies. Venom is distinctly “out to play” in bed with Eddie and Yelena. This throuple energy throws back to the famous “watch the teeth” fade-to-black foreplay panel in Leah Williams’ 2019 comic, where Eddie asks Venom if he’d like to come out to play. Readers will find out more in part 2 of the comic, due out on November 25.
Venom’s hero status may shift forever
Part 1 has already sent a ripple of debate through the Marvel fandom as Venom is back to his antihero antics, when his former characterization had transitioned him more securely into a hero figure. It is always a little jarring at first, but the comics will bounce back and forth forever, starting again to a certain extent with every new writer.
But Soule has promised that Eddie’s son Dylan won’t be erased from proceedings and will be back: “I have a plan for him. Just be patient.” That’s a good anchor to the previous story, while allowing the comic a jumping-off point from which Venom can theoretically now have some of his most badass moments in comic form.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the one to watch
All of this matters because Venom is heading to Disney+. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man returns for season 2 on January 13, 2027, when Eddie Brock becomes Venom, voiced by Josh Keaton, who played Spidey himself in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
Head writer Jeff Trammell sets it in an alternate MCU timeline where Norman Osborn, voiced with silky menace by Colman Domingo, becomes Peter Parker’s mentor instead of Tony Stark. The animation is original: a cel-shaded homage to Steve Ditko’s early comics that is either immediately enjoyable or soon fades into the background of a genuinely absorbing plot.
What really sets the show apart is its world. Peter’s Queens looks like the real borough. His best friend Nico Minoru, Oscorp interns Amadeus Cho and Jeanne Foucault, and Pearl Pangan make up a circle that reflects the city’s diversity without making a speech about it. The show treats Lonnie Lincoln with particular care. He’s a promising student athlete drawn into gang life, and he’s written as a person under pressure rather than a villain-in-waiting. The series’ interest in who holds power, from a billionaire mentor to a neighborhood under strain, gives the heroics real weight.
While the Avengers story, the comic, and the alternate MCU timeline of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are disparate, Venom’s story is growing into these diverse corners of Marvel harmoniously. The timing is good for the comics to have a dialogue with on-screen portrayals, and this is a good time to be a fan. The last time Venom comics lined up with the screen was around 2018, when Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman relaunched the comic in the same year as Tom Hardy’s first film.
What’s particularly nice about the prospect of the comic feeding into the Disney+ show is that it has already filtered through into the consciousness of fans and creators. It will continue to linger culturally in references, even if none of it manifests in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man just yet. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the Avengers can only stand to benefit from the story's new lease on life.
Season 1 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is streaming now on Disney+, with season 2 arriving January 13, 2027.
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