The star of the new Marvel animation Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man has spoken about the show, saying in an interview he was worried it would be “annoying and woke”.
Hudson Thames, who voices Peter Parker/Spider-man in the show, spoke to Collider about appearing in the Disney+ series, which debuted January 29. “I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn’t” Thames said.
He continued: “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”.
Thames has faced some criticism for the comments, particularly the negative use of the term “woke”. In a Reddit AMA, the series’ show-runner Jeff Trammell addressed the interview. “I love Hudson and didn’t focus too much on what he said” he wrote when asked about the quote. “I believe he simply misspoke, and I know that’s been weighing on him”.
He continued: “I think we made a fantastic show that is going to appeal to a wide audience and hopefully captures what I love about this Spider-Man: that he’s a guy who cares deeply about the people around him and always tries to do the right thing”.
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man is an animated story of Peter Parker’s early days as the superhero, set in alternative timeline to the main Marvel Cinematic Universe where future Green Goblin Norman Osborn is Parker’s mentor, rather than Tony Stark as portrayed in the films.
Recently, the MCU’s Spider-man star, Tom Holland, told a story about how being recognised for the role helped him break up a fight in a supermarket.