Who Is Nico Minoru In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? Her Marvel History, Explained

Spoilers for "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" to follow.

Who is Peter Parker's best friend? Harry Osborn? Ned Leeds? Johnny Storm? According to the new animated series "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," it's — Nico Minoru? If you're a casual Marvel fan, you might be thinking: who? Now, Nico is an established Marvel character, but not one who is usually connected to Spider-Man. So why use her? And what can her role in the series so far answer about that?

"Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" is not set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or at least not the so-called "Sacred Timeline." As executive producer Brad Winderbaum has explained, putting the show in the MCU continuity would've been too restrictive. 

That said, the show is still using the MCU as a foundation. Peter (Hudson Thames) and Aunt May (Kari Wahlgren) are drawn to resemble Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei, their actors in the MCU Spider-Man films. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are also set to make guest appearances as Daredevil and Wilson Fisk ahead of their onscreen reunion in "Daredevil: Born Again."

So far, the show is leaning into an alternate timeline conceit where butterflies flapped their wings differently, and so Peter Parker's life took different turns. The ending of episode 1, "Amazing Fantasy," ends by replicating Peter's introduction back in "Captain America: Civil War," except this time, Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) is waiting to meet him instead of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the mentor of Holland's Peter Parker.

Early in "Amazing Fantasy," Midtown High School (where Peter went to school in the MCU) is demolished in a fight between Doctor Strange and a symbiote. So, Peter goes to a different school instead. Presumably, he didn't meet Ned (Jacob Batolan), so Nico (Grace Song) is his best friend instead. Friendships are often contingent on who you're around most often, and as a teenager, that's who you're in school with.

In its opening two episodes, Nico is one half of a classic geek and Goth duo with Peter; she's dressed in black, her hair has dyed blue streaks, etc. Like in the comics, she's also bisexual — she teases Peter if he doesn't ask out his crush Pearl (Cathy Ang), she will. But so far, Nico has not shown her comic self's magical side.

Nico Minoru was created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona as one of the main characters in their 2003 Marvel comic "The Runaways." In that storyline, Nico and five other Los Angeles youths discover that their parents are part of a super-villain alliance dubbed the Pride. So, after unlocking powers within themselves, they go off the grid and decide to take down the Pride.

Marvel Comics

Nico (sometimes called Sister Grimm) is the daughter of two powerful sorcerers, Robert and Tina Minoru. She inherits their power when she bonds with "The Staff of One," which she can draw out of her body when her blood is shed; she often has to resort to self-harm to unlock her abilities. True to its name, the Staff of One cannot be used to cast the same spell twice, forcing Nico to be ever-evolving with her magic tricks. Even before she got her magical powers, though, Nico dressed the part. However, Comic Nico is a witchy Goth clad in ankle-length black corseted gowns, not an androgynous Punk Goth with shredded leggings and a choker like the new animated Nico.

Marvel Comics

Across "The Runaways," Nico eventually becomes the group's leader (she prefers "Den Mother"). She's also the series' most popular character, and the one most likely to pop up in other corners of the Marvel Universe. As such, Nico has been on other superhero teams, including A-Force and the Midnight Sons, not to mention her stint as a teacher at Doctor Strange's magic school, Strange Academy.

A new version of Nico is also currently starring in Peach Momoko's "Ultimate X-Men," where she's reimagined as a mutant who channels her abilities with the Staff of One.

Marvel Comics

"Ultimate X-Men" is set in Japan (complemented by Momoko's manga-influenced art style), and Nico is one of Marvel's more prominent Japanese characters, alongside fellow "Ultimate X-Men" leads Hisako Ichiki/Armor and Kanon Sainouchi/Psylocke.

Outside of comics, Lyrica Okano played Nico in the now-canceled "Runaways" TV series, which streamed for three seasons on Hulu. (Okano got to play Nico again in the 2022 video game "Midnight Suns.") And that circles us back to the original question: why is Nico showing up in a Spider-Man cartoon?

At its core, "The Runaways" is a story of generational conflict, specifically of ostracized youth carving out their own identities in a world out to get them. It's no accident that the group's enemies are also the defining adult figures in their lives; what moody teenager hasn't thought their parents are evil? Just to hammer it in, the Pride insist that everything they do, they do for their children's own good, even if the kids can't realize it yet. At the end of the first "Runaways" arc, Alex Wilder defiantly wishes to "die before [he] gets old." In the second arc, "Teenage Wasteland," Nico almost falls prey to a pretty boy vampire, who promises her the eternal youth he has.

All this is to say that without the original teen hero Spider-Man, the Runaways probably wouldn't exist. Moreover, reading "The Runaways," you can tell Vaughan is writing in the style of Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley's "Ultimate Spider-Man" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," two other early aughts series that used superheroes to explore (but not glamorize) adolescence.

So, there's some thematic links between Peter and Nico, at least. Plus, Spider-Man's traditional supporting cast is quite white, which doesn't do justice to how New York is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Greg Weisman of "The Spectacular Spider-Man" has spoken about how he and his team on that show chose to diversify some of the traditional cast. "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" is doing both that, with the Osborn family being African-American this time around, and pulling in new characters from other parts of the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man comics don't have many queer Asian women characters, but "The Runaways" had a perfect one to use.

But will this Nico become more like the comic version? The ongoing "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" comic (a prequel to the series) reveals that Nico is a foster kid, originally from Los Angeles, looking for a fresh start in NYC. This is definitely a reference to her comic backstory, but will the show itself pick up on this thread? Since Doctor Strange has already appeared, he could be the magic teacher Nico needs. Just as Ned Leeds got handy with a sling ring in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Strange could put the Staff of One in Nico's hands.

"Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" is streaming on Disney+, with new episodes releasing in batches of two on Wednesdays.