Discuss the plot, spoilers, or one particular VA being a dumbass (incredibly funny he talked about the show not being "woke" when the first episode has racial profiling)
I thought she was bi? Given some of hints between her and Alex in runaways. Then again, that could be interpreted as just initial comphet before she figures herself out.
It was kind of obvious with how young Aunt May is and how you can see the MCU Avengers Tower in the background, but the show clearly takes place in a MCU adjacent universe, much more than X-Men '97 (whose only reference was WHIH News IIRC), and made it much more explicit in recent episodes.
One reason is probably brand synergy, we have seen before MCU stuff dripping into comics to make the two much closer together (the infamous Inhuman stuff, mutant Kamala, etc.). But I suspect that this is also a remnant of how the show was originally to be canon and about Peter's first year as a superhero before Iron Man recruited him, back when it was called Freshman Year: I don't have a lot of proof, but the specific way he stops a runaway car from colliding with a bus is an exact replication of the incident on Youtube Tony Stark references when he explains how he found Peter:
Civil War said:
TONY STARK: Nuh uh. Me first. Quick question of the rhetorical variety. That's you, right?
Peter: Um, no. - What do you. What do you...
TONY STARK: Yeah. Look at you go. Wow, nice catch! 3000 pounds, 40 miles an hour... It's not easy. You got mad skills.
It might just be a reference, but I like to think it would have featured in the original idea for the show.
It might also, pragmatically, be for plot reasons. Spoiler for recent episode stuff, but the Avengers' "civil war" still happens, only without Spider-Man, and the Sokovia Accords are drafted and get passed, with the events of both Ultron and the Battle of New York being referred to as having happened. What this means, besides establishing that this is one of the divergences from the MCU Sacred Timeline that Peter became Spider-Man later than his MCU counterpart and so made it too late for him to participate, is that the Avengers disbanding provides a neat reason for the other heroes to not be around so Spider-Man can do his own thing more or less alone.
Outside the setting stuff, the story is decent so far, and the experience became a lot smoother for me once I kind of got where the plot is going. Essentially, it seems to be parallel mirror storylines between Peter and Lonnie Lincoln: whereas Peter hides a superhero identity and has to balance it with his normal life, Lonnie on the other is forced to join a gang and it starts to affects his life and prospects. And this is really interesting? While Spidey is having Silver Age adventures about the Osborns helping him and a mysterious weapon dealers selling criminals scifi tech, Lonnie is there living through his version of The Wire, much more grounded and realistic than the cape stuff, which gives it an element of tragedy hanging over it. I am extremely worried for Lonnie every time I see him onscreen, and you can tell this is going to blow up his personal life before long. Already he is skipping football practices when he is the star quarterback and has a real chance of being scouted by the NFL, skip his classes when he is a honor student, and doesn't tell his girlfriend what is going on, all the while there is a very real possibility of Mac Gargan finding his loved ones and harming them.
Spider-Man is fine, but Lonnie so far has the really interesting plotline. I'm anxious in how both will eventually intersect.
I thought she was bi? Given some of hints between her and Alex in runaways. Then again, that could be interpreted as just initial comphet before she figures herself out.
Speaking of, she is very funny everytime she appears. She goes on a really hilarious rant about Harry Osborn being a rich kid that will probably go into politics in the 5th episode.
It just now hits me that having various villains being criminals fitted with super tech to fight a starting hero really reminds me of My Adventures with Superman's first season.
Making Norman the mentor makes for really good scenes. Peter has been beaten, almost killed, and feels like a failure, so he turns towards this trusted adult...whose advice is to stop holding back his super strength, the thing that can kill people, and that "with great power comes great respect". Just the worst advice.
