Disney+ is getting ready to launch their upcoming animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The animated series is said to follow Peter Parker on his way to becoming Spider-Man in the MCU, with a journey unlike we’ve ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots.
But as much as the creators wanted to make the series MCU canon, they’ve decided to abandon that idea and just make a fun series without the restraints.
Marvel Head of TV, Brad Winderbaum, explained during a recent interview with Phase Hero:
“It started out as ‘Okay it’s Spider-Man’s freshman year, he’s going to be a freshman, can we get away with this being entirely in the MCU?’ and very early on in the development process, we realized how locked in that actually made us.
“We couldn’t really use his rogues gallery, we couldn’t really use his origin. It was not fun, honestly. We would’ve had to put so many limiters on our story to get it to lock into canon.”
Winderbaum added that the limitations caused by trying to make the show canon put the team in a “hard place” in terms of development when trying to align the in-show Peter Parker’s timeline with that of the current MCU live-action Spider-Man played by Tom Holland.
“Every single project I’ve worked on, they’ve all had a life of their own…. You have to let them live their own lives and go where they want to go.”
The show will still feel very familiar and true to the Spider-Man me know and love from the comics though.
“It does have a lot of DNA that is very similar to the MCU depiction of the Tom Holland Spider-Man, but it really also draws all the way back to Steve Ditko. It’s adjacent to the main continuity but really speaks to what is inheritant about the character.”
The animated series is based on Holland’s Spidey but takes place in an alternate MCU timeline where Peter Parker is guided by Norman Osborn instead of Tony Stark.
Hudson Thames voices Spider-Man, Colman Domingo plays Osborn, and Grace Song will play Peter’s best friend, Nico Minoru. Charlie Cox will return as Daredevil. The show will also feature some of our favorite comic book villains such as Doc Ock, Chameleon, Rhino, and Scorpion.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man swings into Disney+ on January 29, 2025.
via: GamesRadar
