7 Easter Eggs You Might’ve Missed In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Episodes 6, 7, and 8

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man‘s version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in full swing. The Marvel Studios animated series dropped its penultimate batch of episodes on Wednesday — episodes 6 (“Duel with the Devil”), 7 (“Scorpion Rising”), and 8 (“Tangled Web”) — and in true Marvel fashion, the episodes contain cameos, references to the wider MCU, and more than a few Easter eggs you might have missed in-between appearances by the Charlie Cox-voiced Daredevil and a flyby from the armored Avenger Iron Man (Mick Wingert).

After all, over the three episodes, Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) is dealing with a lot in his personal and superhero life. His best friend, Nico Minoru (Grace Song), and his new friend/”Dude at the Desk,” Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson), have just found out Spider-Man’s secret identity. His lab partner, Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd), is on the outs with his girlfriend, Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang), and in deep with the 110th Street Gang as their turf war with Mac Gargan (Jonathan Medina) and the Scorpions escalates.

RELATED: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Easter Eggs (Episodes 1 and 2)

And Peter’s mentor and benefactor, Oscorp CEO Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo), is becoming increasingly obsessed with an old enemy whose vendetta is endangering more than just the neighborhood: Dr. Otto Octavius (Hugh Dancy), the future Doctor Octopus.

Cameos Gala

Episode 6 has cameos galore. At a gala benefiting the victims of Lagos, Nigeria — where the Avengers apprehending ex-HYDRA operative Brock Rumlow/Crossbones explosively set off the events of Captain America: Civil War — Osborn is recognized as a donor to the disaster relief effort alongside Eleanor Bishop, CEO of Bishop Security and the mother of Kate Bishop’s (Hailee Steinfeld) archer from the Hawkeye TV series. It’s there that Osborn meets with Secretary Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Travis Willingham) about the Sokovia Accords, which have just gone into effect and require Osborn to register the “superhuman asset” that Oscorp has secretly deployed in New York (more on that later).

When Nico and Harry go for a joyride in his sports car in episode 7, they’re challenged to a street race by Hot Rod (Zehra Fazal). The bystander is Klev (played by extra Zach Cherry), who tells Spider-Man to “do a flip” in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and livestreams a high-speed fight aboard a bus in San Francisco in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Peter’s Classmates

A list of students in Peter’s classroom at Rockford T. Bales High School is comprised of names of behind-the-scenes talent, including Benjamin Anders (character designer for Craig of the Creek, the Cartoon Network series that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man creator Jeff Trammell wrote as head of story and story editor). Also listed is Anthony Castro (the series’ composition lead and a visual effects artist who worked on Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Marvel Comics cover artist Scott Forbes (who worked on the show’s final look development and end credits).

Movie Night

When the trio of Peter, Nico, and Harry have a hang out at Peter’s apartment in episode 6, Peter unearths a VHS tape of a really old movie: Tomb Buster, a low-budget Indiana Jones knockoff adventure that starred the fictional Dr. Steven Grant (as seen in Marvel’s Moon Knight series). Also in the box: a copy of 1987’s classic Predator and 1977’s The Zaniac!, a fictional “elevated thriller” that appeared in Loki and is named after a little-known Thor villain.

Spider-Man’s Identity Crisis

Now that Secretary Ross is enforcing the Sokovia Accords, Osborn graciously offers the U.S. government Oscorp’s support and services, whether that’s government contracts or bringing in rogue Avengers in violation of the Accords. Osborn then discloses that Oscorp is sponsoring Spider-Man, and to comply with mandatory registration, he divulges Spider-Man’s secret identity: Oscorp security guard John Gallo.

This cover identity that protects Osborn’s 15-year-old pupil is a reference to Identity Crisis, a ’90s comic book storyline where Spider-Man was framed for murder and forced to adopt a series of alternate superhero personas while he was hounded by bounty hunters and the law. (The culprit: Norman Osborn, a.k.a. Spider-Man’s nemesis the Green Goblin.) One of Peter’s faux-sonas was of Ricochet, a mantle that eventually passed to Johnny Gallo, a Brooklyn-bred mutant with the mutant ability of hyperactive agility.

Speak of the Devil…

“Duel with the Devil” is named after the web-head’s battle with the horn-headed guardian devil of Hell’s Kitchen, but Daredevil isn’t the only devil to appear in the episode. Among Nico’s Tarot cards is “The Devil” card, which resembles the classic comic appearance of the demon Mephisto. Not only has the satanic demon been name-dropped in the MCU (in Agatha All Along), but Spider-Man famously struck a deal with the devil in the infamous One More Day storyline that ended Peter Parker’s decades-long marriage to Mary Jane Watson in the comics, and recent comics revealed that Norman Osborn also made a deal with Mephisto that ultimately led to his becoming the Green Goblin.

Whoa… He Stole That Guy’s Reference!

In episode 7, Osborn informs Peter that Oscorp’s mass spectrometer is working in sync with a satellite to locate Otto Octavius by tracking the energy left behind by the weapons he’s been using to outfit villains like the Scorpion, the Tarantula (Anairis Quinones), Speed Demon (Roger Craig Smith), and the Unicorn (Sarah Natochenny). In order to trace their energy output back to the source, Peter and Osborn need to identify the type of elements Octavius is using.

Peter suggests deuterium and then tritium, the same rare element that Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) used in his fusion experiments in 2004’s Spider-Man 2. When Osborn says that even Octavius would have difficulty finding tritium, Peter suggests solar, to which Osborn scoffs: “I doubt he’s managed to harness the power of the Sun.” Of course, in Spider-Man 2, Octavius is able to do just that: “The power of the Sun in the palm of my hand.” (It’s not the first time Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has referenced the Raimi movies.)

Spider-Man No More?

Episode 7 ends with Spider-Man suffering the Scorpion’s sting — he’s nearly killed when he’s impaled by the cybernetic stinger that manages to puncture his Oscorp suit — and Osborn dispatches a prototype glider to rescue the wounded Spider-Man. Episode 8 then opens with a homage to John Romita Sr.’s classic page in 1967’s iconic Amazing Spider-Man #50, which shows a discouraged Peter Parker trashing his Spider-Man costume in a story titled “Spider-Man No More.” (Peter resumes his crime-fighting career on the final page of that same issue.)

Episode 8 explores Peter’s crisis of faith in his ability to live up to his responsibilities as Spider-Man, and puts a twist on the classic mantra that “with great power must come great responsibility.” As Osborn tells him: “With great power comes great respect.”

“I have great power, so I need to use it so people respect me,” Peter later tells Harry, who then tells his friend: 
“My dad has a lot of power… and he has a lot of respect. But he is not Spider-Man. You are. So what Spider-Man needs to do should be up to you.” Although his white Oscorp suit was destroyed during his battle with the Scorpion, Harry had Oscorp engineers make Spider-Man some new threads using Peter’s doodled designs. With the glint of a red-and-blue Spider-Man suit in Peter’s eyes, Harry says: “Go get ’em, tiger.”

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man‘s two-episode season finale is streaming Feb. 19 on Disney+. Swing into the comments and tell us your thoughts below.