Dice Rolling is a game mechanism that can be used for many things. This mechanism allows for plenty of randomness.
In wargames, Dice Rolling is used in conjunction with a variety of tables, notably a “Combat Results Table” (either as a Ratio or a Differential) which produces a result by strengths of both sides and a die roll.
Dice Rolling can be a game in and of itself like Yahtzee or Craps.
Items are selected at random, and each player needs to use the items for their own player boards.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re back with another Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Secrets Page. Three episodes dropped yesterday, so there’s a lot to cover. Let’s get started with the first of three episodes: “Secret Identity Crisis.”
During the scene where Nico and Peter hang out in Nico’s room, we find Nico lives with a foster family. A photograph on Nico’s nightstand shows people who could be her biological parents. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about Nico and her magical history with her mother as seen in Marvel’s Runaways comics (and live-action series).
Norman Osborn buys out an entire restaurant and invites Peter to dinner. Initially, Peter explains his changing into his Spider-Man suit as Norman’s security team playing a trick on him, and that he’s not actually Spider-Man. Norman doesn’t buy Peter’s explanation; he has proof that his security team couldn’t have doctored the video: they don’t know about that camera. He also says that Peter would have been better off saying that he and Spider-Man were friends, a common explanation used by Peter both in the comics and in the main MCU timeline.
After Peter concedes his Spider-Man identity, his first instinct is to protect his Aunt May. This is something he does in the MCU as well.
Norman mentions several upgrades he could include in a future Spider-Man suit. One of his suggestions is a drone. While Peter rejects Norman’s offer of suit upgrades, he eventually gets a mini Spider-Drone when Tony Stark builds him a suit in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Spidey nicknames his Spider-Drone Droney.
In the comics, Maria Vasquez is better known as the villain Tarantula, while James Sanders is known as Speed Demon. The high-tech gear that they receive from a mysterious benefactor helps them resemble their comic book counterparts.
Peter Parker inherits his Uncle Ben’s camera. This keepsake mirrors Uncle Ben’s suitcase Peter uses during Spider-Man: Far From Home. The camera also pays tribute to Spider-Man’s original day job in the comics as a photographer for the Daily Bugle. So many side stories involve Peter’s money troubles and this keepsake’s inclusion occurs with past due bills on Aunt May’s end table.
Lonnie joins the 110th St. Gang to save his brother. In the comics, 110th St. is controlled by Lonnie Lincoln, Tombstone. This serves as a teaser for Lonnie’s future as a Spider-Man villain and New York crime boss.
Peter gets called up to Norman’s office where a photo of Norman standing with Wakanda’s King T’Chaka. There also happens to be a photo of Norman and Captain America. Spider-Man’s a huge fan.
On the news, we find that the airport battle in Germany occurred and that the Sokovia Accords took place, but Spider-Man didn’t participate in the airport battle like he did in the MCU. This solidifies Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man as existing in an alternate universe from the MCU. To the best of our knowledge, the only difference to the airport battle was that Spidey wasn’t there. Norman also tells Peter not to worry about the Accords, and that he’ll take care of it when and if it becomes a problem. There’s a good chance that the Accords will become a problem.
Norman offers Peter a variety of costumes. Some of these suits are inspired by other superheroes. Thor and Wasp get a nod, but the dark black wingsuit may be a Batman reference. Peter even deepens his voice.
None of these new costumes work, but all three suits (Prodigy, Hornet, and Dusk) were alternate identities Peter Parker tried during the 1998 Identity Crisis comic book event. The fact that Norman made these suits is a nod to the Identity Crisis storyline. In the comics, Norman puts a large bounty on Spider-Man’s head, which forces Peter Parker to assume new identities.
The Scorpions are moving in on Big Donovan’s territory. Mac Gargan, the classic Scorpion villain from the comics, leads this gang. We caught a glimpse of Gargan in Spider-Man: Homecoming where he buys weapons from Adrian Toomes (Vulture) and again in a mid-credits scene when Toomes meets Gargan in prison. Gargan’s right-hand woman is Carmilla Black, another Marvel character who goes by the codename Scorpion.
Norman Osborn criticizes Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. He claims that they’re both one bad day away from a gamma-fueled rampage or destroying cities stopping a Mad AI that they created. He’s not wrong. This is why the Sokovia Accords exist. Norman wants Spider-Man to be better than the Avengers.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man doesn’t name Spider-Man’s new suit the Future Foundation Suit, but the suit’s design matches the Future Foundation suit Peter wore in the comics. This suit matches the new uniforms worn by Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Ben Grimm. But the show’s variant has blue and red accents.
“Hitting the Big Time” sneaks in several notable villains from the comics at the end of its episode. We’ll start with the Russian criminals.
Dmitri Smerdyakov is the Chameleon. He could get a bigger role. His ability to mimic other people can lead to some great storylines.
Mikhail Sytsevich is Rhino’s father. While he may end up in prison for a while, his son could avenge his capture. Rhino could make an appearance real soon.
Mila (Milos) Masaryk is Unicorn in the comics. She meets a major Spider-Man villain at the end of the episode and resembles her comic book counterpart.
Roxanna Volkov doesn’t appear to have a comic book equivalent but that doesn’t mean that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man won’t tie her into Marvel lore in some way.
During their get-away, Roxanna mentions the Tracksuit Mafia. This confirms the criminal organization seen in Marvel’s Hawkeye.
Otto Octavius is the man behind all the high-tech weaponry falling into the hands of various New York criminals. Otto Octavius looks a lot like his original drawings in the comics by artist Steve Ditko. He doesn’t yet have his signature mechanical arms as Doctor Octopus, but they may change before the end of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s first season.
Harry Osborn joins Team Spider-Man. It makes sense because Harry found out Spider-Man’s identity at the end of the last episode. Excited to the join the team, Harry calls himself Peter’s “Dude at the Desk.” This is a reference to Ned Leeds (Spidey’s best friend in the MCU) who was Spider-Man’s “Guy in the Chair.”
“Guy in the Chair” is yet another reference to a superhero’s proclivity of having someone behind the scenes at a computer screen aiding them over comms. The Bat Family has Oracle. Green Arrow (during the Arrow TV series) had Felicity Smoak.
Blink and you’ll miss it. When Nico pulls up Harry’s social media, one can catch a glimpse of Luna Snow. Luna is a K-Pop superhero with ice powers in the comics.
Nico mentions the rift between Captain America and Iron Man as a result of the Sakovia Accord (in Civil War). She struggles to find who’s in the right.
Spidey is a huge fan of Captain America in the alternative MCU. This version of Spider-Man may have sided with Captain America instead of Iron Man during Civil War.
While serving as Peter’s “Dude at the Desk,” Harry presents his theory that the real Captain America died four years ago and a clone took his place. This is most likely a nod to Spider-Man’s infamous Clone Saga from the comics.
After hearing Harry’s conspiracy theory, Peter says, “Sure–Wait. What?” That’s what all of us were thinking when we read Spider-Man’s Clone Saga.
Mila Masaryk makes her official debut as Unicorn. With her large size and strength, she proves to be more than a worthy opponent for Spider-Man. While fighting her, Spider-Man asks if she’s a distant cousin of the Hulk. This is a subtle reference to Hulk’s actual cousin Jennifer Walters who becomes She-Hulk.
Lonnie saves Big Donovan’s life during the 110’s brawl with the Scorpions. As a result, Big Donovan gives Lonnie a new nickname, Tombstone. It looks as if Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man isn’t shying away from showing Lincoln’s dark path as the Marvel villain Tombstone.
That’s all we have for this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We haven’t done a television show’s secrets page in quite some time. Why not start with Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s pilot, “Amazing Fantasy?”
The name of the episode is a tip of the hat to Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15. This was the final issue of Amazing Fantasy. Emboldened by a comic series getting canceled, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko gave Spider-Man a chance when they otherwise wouldn’t. It’s hard to see now, but making a teenager the main superhero (and not a sidekick) was radical thinking. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s pilot names itself “Amazing Fantasy,” but the comic makes a physical appearance in this episode. The comic book that falls on Peter is none other than the penultimate issue of Amazing Fantasy.
The pilot pays homage to Captain America: Civil War. Spider-Man (wearing his homemade suit) stopping a runaway van from crashing into a bus full of civilians is the same scene that a bystander captured on video and is later played by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) when he meets Peter Parker (Tom Holland) for the first time.
The end of the first episode recreates Peter meeting Tony Stark. This includes the choice of song, “Left Hand Free” by alt-J. Only this time, Peter meets Norman Osborn.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s introduction features Peter’s notebook filled with potential spider-suits, which mirror suits that have been featured in Spider-Man comic books. The song that plays “Neighbor Like Me” by The Math Club (featuring Relaye and Melo Makes Music), which remixes the theme song of the classic 1967 Spider-Man animated series.
During the scene where someone live-streams Spider-Man defeating hooligans, several messages flash on the screen. Here are some highlights.
“Kick his ass, Sea-Bass!,” reads one follower’s reply, a line from the Jim Carrey-Jeff Daniels comedy Dumb and Dumber. Can they get away with that on a kid’s show? Granted, most kids won’t pause the show to read the comments.
checkle05 comments, “u got beat up by a guy wearing hockey pads, lmao,” a likely reference to Batman’s “I’m not wearing hockey pads” response in 2008’s The Dark Knight.
User Screwball advertises their channel with “better content.” Screwball is a live-streaming “supervillain” and a master of parkour who first appeared in 2008’s Amazing Spider-Man #559.
Peter and his best friend, Nico Minoru (Grace Song), crush on the same girl: Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang), who used to live in Peter’s building and babysit him when he was younger (she’s three years their senior). Pearl’s boyfriend is star quarterback and football captain Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd), who becomes Peter’s lab partner.
In the comics, Nico Minoru is a member of the Runaways: the children of the Los Angeles-based supervillain group known as the Pride. Nico uses blood magic and the mystical Staff of One to cast spells.
Lonnie’s comic counterpart turns to a life of crime as the Harlem-based gangster called Tombstone. He took this name even before a chemical compound made his skin as hard as rock.
Pearl debuted in 2019 as Wave, a water-wielding Filipino superhero and a member of the Agents of Atlas. She fights alongside Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel.
Peter’s internship at Oscorp is filled with characters from Marvel Comics. His fellow interns include Asha (Erica Luttrell), Amadeus Cho (Aleks Le), and Jeanne Foucault (Anjali Kuanpaneni); their various projects are under the supervision of Oscorp’s Dr. Bentley Wittman (Paul F. Tompkins) and Dr. Carla Connors (Zehra Fazal).
In the comics, the Wakandan Asha attends Wakanda’s School for Alternative Studies and has the power to reflect or absorb light to disappear at will. Think of her as the Wakandan Invisible Woman.
Jeanne is Finesse, an attendee of Avengers Academy, a polymath able to learn skills, languages, and other abilities at incredible speeds. It makes sense that she’d be a part of Oscorp’s internship.
Amadeus is a super-genius who used gamma energy to turn himself into the super-strong, Hulk-like hero Brawn. In fact, Amadeus Cho was the original Professor Hulk. If the MCU did revert Hulk to his savage self, Cho could fill the void left by Professor Hulk.
Dr. Carla Connors is a gender-swapped Dr. Curt Connors, an amputee who becomes the Spider-Man villain the Lizard after studying reptilian molecular biology and using a serum to regenerate his lost arm.
And Wittman, primarily an enemy of the Fantastic Four, is the Wizard, a brilliant inventor and known for his scientific feats that may have been achieved by magic.
Upon learning that Peter accepted an internship at Oscorp, Nico tells her best friend, “If you take a side gig at Roxxon Oil, I’m staging an intervention.” The Roxxon Corporation shows up a lot in the MCU: Iron Man to Agent Carter, Daredevil, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Echo.
In the comics, the Roxxon Oil Company’s (later Roxxon Energy Corp.) illicit actions have led to the creation of the Iron Man villain Sunturion and the Spider-Man villain Will O’ the Wisp.
The opening credits include a glimpse of a disguised Peter Parker’s wrestling match with Joseph “Crusher” Hogan, who debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 as the wrestler who Peter fights for some quick money.
Crusher appears again briefly on a television in episode 2 just after Peter is introduced to Dr. Connors.
Butane exists in Marvel Comics, but he has a vastly different origin. He belongs to the Warpies, a group of kids transformed by Mad Jim Jasper. These human mutates develop superhuman powers. Butane’s was fire generation and manipulation. It makes sense that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man changed him into a flame-throwing thug.
Thank you for reading. We may continue sharing more of these easter eggs as the season continues. And wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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