Marvel Animation had a presentation at Disney’s D23 Expo where they shared a sneak preview for several of their upcoming animated shows, and one of them that I’m really excited about is Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
They shared a couple of new images from the series along with some footage that was a lot of fun! I shared the images here below, but the footage has not been released online.
I will say that I love the animation style, which is inspired by the Steve Ditko style of comic book art.
The clip shared featured Peter Parker prior to becoming Spider-Man being dropped off at school by his Aunt May.
As he gets out of the car a portal opens up in the sky and a Venom-like creature comes falling through it and begins to attack. As Peter and May look on in horror and amazement, Doctor Strange also comes through to portal and battles the creature.
After Strange captures it and takes it back through the portal, a spider falls from it and lands on Peter as he is talking to a girl. At this point, the spider bites him and he passes out. This is the beginning of this version of Spider-Man.
It was also revealed in this version of the story that Norman Osborn is a mentor to Peter. In a way, he acts in the same way that Alfred does with Batman, which is interesting.
There was a second clip shown where Spider-Man is fighting a couple of bad guys causing havoc in the streets. He’s in an early version of a Spider-Man costume and his web gadgets are attached by hoses to a web-making system strapped to his waste.
As Peter is fighting, Norman is guiding him through the process and giving him help offering tips on how to handle the situation.
A previously revealed synopsis says the series takes place takes place before 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, but with a noticeable key difference. “Rather than coming home to his apartment to see Tony Stark in his home, it’s none other than Norman Osborn who’s chatting up his Aunt May when he walks through the door.
“And much like how meeting Tony thrust Peter into a spotlight larger than the kid needed, Peter having Norman as his mentor ‘sends his life in an unexpected trajectory that collides him with many unexpected characters in the Marvel universe.”
Marvel’s Head of Animation, Brad Winderbaum, talked about the series, saying: “I mean, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is amazing, to say the least. I think it’s really going to surprise people. It is very much like a cut from that Steve Ditko era of the comics.”
He went on to explain: “It’s Peter Parker back in high school just trying to make it work, take care of his aunt, completely broke, and having to be a superhero.
“It’s so essentially Spider-Man, and what Jeff Trammell, the creator of that show, did, which I think people are going to love, is he built this ensemble of characters around Peter that you fall in love with.”
He added: “Similarly, just because it’s long-form storytelling, as those relationships brew when the stakes rise in that first season, things feel really tragic and dangerous, and pretty incredible. So, I love that show.”
That sounds really cool and I’m looking forward to seeing how that project turns out.
The voice cast for the series includes Hudson Thames (What If…?) as Peter Parker, Eugene Byrd (Spidey and His Amazing Friends, 8 Mile) as Lonnie Lincoln, Grace Song (Kidding) as Nico Minoru, Hugh Dancy (Hannibal) as Otto Octavius, Kari Wahlgren (FLCL, Rick and Morty) as Aunt May, and Zeno Robinson (My Hero Academia, Pokemon Master Journeys: The Series) as Harry Osborn. It also includes Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil along with Paul F. Tompkins as Bentley Wittman / Wizard.
From the looks of it, this show is going to be a ton of fun!
