What Yiddish (and the Forward) are doing in the new ‘Spider-Man’

The frontpage of a Forverts magazine designed for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Image by The “Spider-Man: No Way Home” app
Everytime Spider-Man flirts with the fickle multiverse he encounters a couple of constants. The first is that a version of Spider-Man exists in every reality. The second is that Jews do too. Even, it would seem, the Jews who write for this very Jewish paper.
In “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Jews are everywhere. As David Bashevkin noted in a nifty Twitter thread, Yeshiva University looms large in the skyline and, at Peter Parker’s fictional Midtown High, a student wearing a kippah can be spotted welcoming the newly-unmasked Spider-Man back to class.
? Jewish Representation in Spiderman: No Way Home ?
1) Yeshiva University’s Belfer Hall can be seen in the background
2) A guy in a yarmulke can be seen in the background of Betty Brant’s newscast from Peter Parker’s school.
What else did I miss? pic.twitter.com/TzDMY6exRG
— D Bash (@DBashIdeas) December 20, 2021
This, along with some Hanukkah decorations I spotted at MJ’s doughnut shop (the very real Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint), make for a New York City that feels true to life, just as the absence of NPC Hasidim on Shabbat on the Spider-Man video game, are a knowing nod to the city’s Jewish makeup.
And while nothing can quite match the naches of learning, as we did in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” that one universe’s iteration of Peter Parker smashed a glass at his wedding, the new film’s extensive multimedia hits closer to home.
Yes, the Forverts exists in the Spider-Verse! In fact, we had a hand in getting it there.

A Forverts frontpage features Spider-Man and asks readers if he is “good for the Jews.” Image by The Spider-Man: No Way Home app
While we didn’t spot our cameo in the film itself – it’s possible our Spidey senses failed us – we are definitely featured on the app Marvel released with the film. If you open up Peter Parker’s smartphone on the app, the first photo on his camera reel is a bodega newsstand. There’s an InTouch magazine calling him “two-faced,” and, below it, a Forverts cover that shows Spidey and says, in Yiddish “Is this” i.e. Spider-Man’s unmasking “good for the Jews?” (Classic.)
This all started way back in 2020 when the production company reached out to us, wanting a bit of hometown Yiddish flavor for Spider-Man’s New York. Our intrepid designer Angelie Zaslavsky helped to format the Yiddish type and Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter translated. (Fun fact for “Seinfeld” stans, the film had the working title of “Serenity Now.”)
Naturally, we’re kvelling to have played any part in this, the most heimish of the Spider-Man films, where the webslinger meets up with an extended mishpocheh of fellow arachnid-men from all manner of different worlds.
But for those concerned with the implications of the broader Marvel Universe, including to which timeline Tom Holland’s Peter Parker belongs, the Forverts cameo provides answers. Whatever reality he lives in, it can’t be ours, as the Forverts is now online only.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Film & TV In ‘The Rehearsal,’ Nathan Fielder fights the removal of his Holocaust fashion episode
-
Fast Forward AJC, USC Shoah Foundation announce partnership to document antisemitism since World War II
-
Yiddish יצחק באַשעװיסעס מיינונגען וועגן די אַמעריקאַנער ייִדןIsaac Bashevis’ opinion of American Jews
אין זײַנע „פֿאָרווערטס“־אַרטיקלען האָט ער קריטיקירט זייער צוגאַנג צום חורבן און צו ייִדישקײט.
-
Culture In a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood, doctors’ visits are free, but the wait may cost you
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.