Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man might take place in the Big Apple, but that doesn’t mean Peter Parker and his animated crew aren’t more than willing to pay homage to the employees of Paddy’ Pub in the city of brotherly love. Mac, Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Frank are about the further things from superheroes as one can imagine but their place in the pop culture world cannot be denied. Hilariously, the recent wallcrawler’s animated series took the chance to recreate one of the most memorable scenes of Charlie Kelly’s in its fourth episode, showing that the showrunners are clearly fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
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The fourth episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, “Hitting The Big Time,” sees Peter Parker working with Norman Osborn to give his crime fighting persona an upgrade. Taking on numerous costumes from the comic book storyline, “Identity Crisis,” which would later gain lives of their own thanks to the team known as the Slingers, Peter is trying to see what works best when it comes to his outfit. Choosing a fit that looks quite similar to that of Spider-Man’s time with the Future Foundation in the comics, Aunt May’s favorite nephew is not the one to supply us with the Paddy’s Pub Easter Egg. Instead, this reference is left to the villains of the fourth installment.
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It’s Always Spidey in Philadelphia
In the tail end of episode four, we witness four new villains that are attempting to make away with the spoils of a recent robbery. Mila Masaryk, Roxanna Volkov, Mikhail Systsevitch, and Dmitri Smerdyakov are making their getaway in a van as the police attempt to stop them in their tracks. With Mikhail telling his cohorts that he’s a real wildcard, Mila decides to go to extreme measures to escape, kicking out the backdoor and leaping out of the moving van. Mikhail then confirms that Mila is the real wildcard, which hilariously feels like it was ripped straight from Charlie Kelly and the gang.
The episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that this moment was in reference to was “The Gang Solves The Gas Crisis,” the second episode of the hilarious show’s fourth season. In it, everyone at Paddy’s attempts to carve out their role within the group as Charlie proclaims that he is the “wildcard”. Cutting the lines of the van that they are driving, Charlie leaps out of the back and throws his friends for a loop as they are all forced to “abandon ship.” While not confirmed that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was referencing this moment officially, everything lines up for this to be a reference to Paddy’s Pub.
A Friendly Neighborhood
Much like other Spidey-focused animated series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has certainly been setting the stage for future villains. Mila has already become a lesser-known villain known as the Unicorn, though she received her villainous technology thanks to none other than Otto Octavius. The future Doctor Octopus is certainly one to watch, though the series has thrown viewers a major curveball in seeing Peter Parker team up with Norman Osborn. It has yet to be seen whether Osborn will take on the role of the Green Goblin, though it’s a safe bet that Norman will continue playing a major role in the animated show’s future.
The first five episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are currently available on Disney+. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
