This week, the hit Disney show “Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends” premiered its first Hanukkah episode, “Hanukkah Heist,” and it is a latke-filled delight.
The episode is part of “Disney Jr.’s Magical Holidays” programming, and one of three new Hanukkah episodes the channel is premiering this holiday season. For those of you who aren’t part of the unofficial Spidey team (and don’t have its rockin’ theme by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy fame stuck in your head at all times), the show, inspired by the legendary Stan Lee and Steven Ditko “Spider-Man” comic, is about three grade school kids with Spidey power. There’s Peter Parker who becomes Spidey, Miles Morales who becomes Spin and Gwen Stacey, the iconic Ghost Spider. They are joined by fellow Marvel heroes like Ms. Marvel and Iron Man to fight the young villains terrorizing their city with their pranks and shenanigans: Rhino, Doc Ock and Green Goblin (who the gang call Gobby). My kids are truly obsessed with this show, and as someone who grew up on “Spider-Man” cartoons, I understand why: It’s got the same magic of those ’90s cartoons but in a way more kid-friendly package.
“Hanukkah Heist” is the show’s second Jewish holiday-themed episode, and it comes to us courtesy of a Jewish Marvel character, The Thing, or Ben Grimm. “An UnBEElievable Rosh Hashanah,” aired back in September of 2023 for the Jewish New Year, and had the Fantastic Four character introduce Spidey and the gang to the practice of dipping apples in honey. The Thing was created in 1961 by two Jewish comics legends, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the character from New York’s Lower East Side was revealed to be Jewish, reciting the Shema in “Fantastic Four #56 Remembrance of Things Past.”
In “Hanukkah Heist,” The Thing prepares to host a Hanukkah party for his friends. The menorah is ready to light, the house is decorated, and his Aunt Petunia, voiced by Emmy-nominated Jackie Hoffman of “Feud” and “Only Murders in the Building” fame, is on her way with her famous latkes when Rhino smells their irresistible aroma and snatches them.
So begins a wild goose chase for the latkes, which are so precious and delicious smelling that they keep getting intercepted by more villains as The Thing, the Spidey team and Aunt Petunia, who rides a motorbike and is as fierce as any superhero, chase them. Jewish aunts are, after all, real life superheroes, and Aunt Petunia won’t let her latkes be stolen at any cost. “I’ve been standing up to bullies my whole life,” she tells Spidey, an amazing little message of Jewish resilience.
Since this is a kids’ show, I think we all know the episode ends with a delicious Hanukkah meal and candle lighting and we can all probably guess what the secret ingredient in Aunt Petunia’s latkes is. The episode doesn’t really go deep into Jewish Hanukkah practice, but it does explain that Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights. Instead of going into the complex story of the Maccabees, it simply explains that Hanukkah is celebrated because oil in a lamp that was meant to last for only one day lasted for eight nights. Yet it does paint a lovely portrait of Jewish family, with Ben lauding his aunt’s Hanukkah dish as “the most delicious golden bite of goodness” and Petunia telling Spidey that she’s glad her nephew has good friends like him.
“Where there was darkness there is now light. Happy Hanukkah, everyone,” The Thing, wearing a kippah, tells the guests at his party. Being able add another sweet Hanukkah episode to my kids’ viewing repertoire, from one of their favorite shows, no less, sure feels like a source of light to me.
“Hanukkah Heist” is now streaming on Disney+.
