Hudson Thames voices Peter Parker / Spider-Man, reprising his role from the Marvel Studios animated seriesWhat If...? (2021–2024), withKari Wahlgren, Grace Song,Eugene Byrd,Zeno Robinson,Colman Domingo,Hugh Dancy, andCharlie Cox also starring. Disney+ announced the series asSpider-Man: Freshman Year in November 2021, with Trammell attached. It was originally intended to be set in the main MCU continuity but the creative team found this too restrictive and decided to move it to an alternate timeline, allowing the series to explore familiar ideas and characters in new ways. It was retitledYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023. The 3Dcel-shaded animation pays homage to the art style of earlyThe Amazing Spider-Man comic books bySteve Ditko andJohn Romita Sr., with animation provided byPolygon Pictures andCGCG, Inc.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiered with its first two episodes on Disney+ on January 29, 2025. The rest of the 10-episodefirst season was released in groups until February 19, as part ofPhase Five of the MCU. It received positive reviews from critics for its action, comedy, nostalgia, and animation style. Thesecond season is expected to premiere in late 2026, as part ofPhase Six. A third season is in development.
A second season was announced in July 2022.[5] Jeff Trammell and another writer wrote theseason finale.[6] By February 2025,animatics for the season were halfway done and some final animation was already completed.[6] The season is set to premiere in late 2026.[4]
Eugene Byrd asLonnie Lincoln / Tombstone: Peter's classmate and captain of the Bales football team who reluctantly joins the 110th Street gang to protect his brother, leading him down a dark path[15]
Colman Domingo asNorman Osborn: The CEO ofOscorp, Harry's father, and Peter's mentor.[17][18] Trammell noted that Norman is not a hero like Tony Stark—Peter's mentor in the MCU's main timeline—and his methods "may not turn out in everyone's best interest".[19]
Hugh Dancy asOtto Octavius: A scientist who sells his high-tech weaponry and equipment to various criminals[13]
Charlie Cox asDaredevil: A blind masked vigilante with superhuman senses who crosses paths with Spider-Man[20]
By June 2021,Marvel Studios Animation was developing a slate of at least three more series in addition to theirDisney+ seriesWhat If...? (2021–2024).[36][37][38] The next month, these were said to be in various stages of development and were not expected to debut until at least 2023.[39]Spider-Man: Freshman Year was announced during aDisney+ Day event in November 2021, with Jeff Trammell serving ashead writer.[1] Trammell was initially asked topitch forX-Men '97 (2024–present) and endeared himself toMarvel Studios for wanting to tell an original story, despite plans for that series to be arevival and continuation ofX-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997). Marvel Studios's animation headBrad Winderbaum and presidentKevin Feige felt Trammell would be good for aSpider-Man series. He presented a pitch in November 2020, envisioning a four-seasonstory arc.[6]
During Marvel Studios Animation's panel atSan Diego Comic-Con in July 2022,Spider-Man: Freshman Year and the other projects discussed were referred to as being part of the "Marvel Animated Multiverse". Asecond season was announced at the panel with the titleSpider-Man: Sophomore Year.[5] The series was retitledYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023.[40] In January 2025, Trammell explained that the series was not limited to covering one school year per season.[11] When Marvel Studios decided to change the series' title, Trammell provided a list of options to consider.Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was suggested by Feige. Each of thefirst season's episode titles are a reference to, or inspired by, comic book titles or elements from the comics.[6] Mel Zwyer served assupervising director,[41] with Liza Singer and Stu Livingston as episodic directors.[42][43] Marvel Studios's Feige,Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, andDana Vasquez-Eberhardt were executive producers alongside Trammell.[41]
Also in January 2025, Winderbaum said a third season had been green-lit,[7] and Trammell was listed as bothshowrunner and head writer byMarvel.com.[44] The next month, Winderbaum said the second season would be released in 2026, more than a year after the first. He saidYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man andX-Men '97 were the studio's top priorities for "get[ting] to a place where we can reliably have very strong seasons every year",[45][46] and in October he said future seasons would be released annually "for a number of years".[8]
The series was originally planned to be set within the "Sacred Timeline" of theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), beforePeter Parker / Spider-Man's MCU introduction in the filmCaptain America: Civil War (2016), and depict the character'sorigin story.[47][9] Marvel Studios decided not to tell the origin story in theMCU films because they felt audiences would already know it due to theSpider-Man films directed bySam Raimi (2002–2007) andMarc Webb (2012–2014).[48] The creative team found working within the Sacred Timeline to be too restrictive regarding which characters and comic book elements could be included, so they decided to move the series to analternate timeline,[47] taking advantage of the MCU'smultiverse concept. The story begins similarly toCivil War but depictsNorman Osborn becoming Peter's mentor instead ofTony Stark, which leads to Peter meeting other unexpected characters.[2] Trammell said the series would explore Peter's identity pre-Spider-Man and how his superhero career began.[20] The creative team took inspiration from earlyThe Amazing Spider-Man comic books byStan Lee andSteve Ditko,[49] as well as previous Spider-Man animated series.[11]
Because Marvel Studios Animation does not have a "house style", the creative team was free to develop an animation style that differed from previous seriesWhat If...? andX-Men '97.[11] They wanted to avoid copying one of the many different animation styles used for the animatedSpider-Verse films and settled on paying homage to the earlyThe Amazing Spider-Man comic books, specifically those featuring art by Steve Ditko andJohn Romita Sr. Trammell described the series as a "moving comic book", which is achieved through 3Dcel-shaded animation provided byPolygon Pictures andCGCG, Inc.[11][50][6] Polygon was chosen because of the 2D animation look they had achieved in their previous work. Trammell said the company was able to match their desired style while keeping the "characters feeling alive and real, without feeling stiff and mechanical".[50]
Leo Birenberg andZach Robinson were revealed to be composing the series' score in June 2024.[51] The series' theme song, "Neighbor Like Me" by The Math Club featuring Relaye and Melo Makes Music, is arap that samples thetheme song from the animated seriesSpider-Man (1967–1970) byPaul Francis Webster andBob Harris.[52][53] Like the series' animation, Trammell wanted the theme song to be "something classic that we all love" through the use of the 1960s sample, while still having a modern style.[6] The song was released as a single byHollywood Records andMarvel Music on January 21, 2025.[52][53] A soundtrack album featuring the theme song and excerpts from Birenberg and Robinson's score for the first season was released digitally on February 21.[54]
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiered with its first two episodes on Disney+ on January 29, 2025. The rest of the 10-episode first season was released in groups of two or three episodes until February 19,[55] as part ofPhase Five of the MCU.[56] The second season is scheduled to premiere in late 2026,[4] as part ofPhase Six.[citation needed] Winderbaum said in October 2025 that future seasons would be released annually "for a number of years".[8]
The first season received positive reviews for its action, comedy, nostalgia, and animation style, though some critics found the latter to be jarring at first.[57] Thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval score with an average rating of 8.2/10, based on 35 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Embracing the wholesome aesthetics of the webslinger's original comic run while adding some fresh plot wrinkles, this family-friendlySpider-Man is a lovable incarnation of the Marvel superhero."[58]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 77 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[59]
In September 2024,Marvel Comics announced a five-issue comic book prequel series, also titledYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, that was written byChristos Gage and features art by Eric Gapstur.[63] Trammell explained that the comic fills a gap in the timeline of the series' first episode, and said it was possible that more comic books could be written to fill other timeline gaps later in the series.[11] The comic includes characters not featured in the series such asSilvio Manfredi / Silvermane,[64]Crusher Hogan,[65] and theEnforcers membersMontana,Fancy Dan, andOx.[66] The prequel comic was published from December 2024 to April 2025.[63][67]
^Lee, Chris (January 13, 2023)."Inside the VFX Union Brewing in Hollywood".Vulture.Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. RetrievedFebruary 1, 2023.Alonso heads up Marvel's dedicated "mini-studio," Marvel Studios Animation, which is behind such shows asWhat If ...? [...] and the summer 2022 series of Vin Diesel–voiced original shorts,I Am Groot.
atMarvel.com
