‘I hope they call me!’: Marvel could be moving forward with another Disney Plus legacy series, and the original star is all in

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s explosive success proves that nostalgia is a powerful tool, which is handy for Marvel as the studio has been busy bringing back beloved properties from yesteryear across the mediums. X-Men ’97 wasn’t just a niche project for fans of X-Men: The Animated Series, as it went down as the most acclaimed Marvel TV show on Rotten Tomatoes. And the hopes are equally high for next year’s Daredevil: Born Again, a continuation of Netflix’s Defenders Saga.

Currently, that’s all we know is in the works, but a new rumor teases that Marvel Animation is getting back in the legacy revival game with a show that would truly leave fans of a certain age swinging from the rooftops if it’s proven accurate. The best part is it feels like there’s a decent chance of this dream becoming a reality, as it’s already been hinted at on screen. Spider-Man, Spider-Man, he does whatever a spider can, but can he return to life on Disney Plus?

Marvel might be working on a Spider-Man ’98 revival, and Peter Parker himself is available

As per insider Daniel Richtman, “discussions are currently taking place” over a potential animated series that would function as a revival of the much-loved 1990s Spider-Man cartoon. Set in the same shared universe as X-Men: The Animated Series, this variant of the webslinger already made a return (albeit a silent one) during an episode of X-Men ’97. This is just a rumor for now, but the evidence that Marvel is thinking along these lines is already before our eyes.

If the studio is working on such a project, then they know who they need to make it authentic. In a brilliant twist, Peter Parker himself Christopher Daniel Barnes responded to a tweet reporting on this rumor and wrote back, “I hope they call me!”

Spider-Man: The Animated Series ran for five seasons’ worth of 65 episodes between 1994 and 1998, with Barnes voicing the titular hero throughout. Most known as Prince Eric in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and as Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch movies, Barnes has continued his association with all things Spider-Man over the years, voicing other Spidey variants and characters in the likes of video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man.

In addition to its epic theme tune from Aerosmith, the 1990s Spider-Man show is most notable for introducing the concept of the Spider-Verse into Marvel canon, something Sony has weaponized to enormous effect, and much moolah, in recent years. A clip from the show was included very briefly in Across the Spider-Verse, but otherwise its impact has been frustratingly overlooked.

The good news is that X-Men ’97 producer Brad Winderbaum has already promised that a Spider-Man revival is “probably the next show” of that ilk that Marvel would make, so the odds are high that Spider-Man ’98 — as I’m guessing it would be called, going by X-Men ’97‘s titling convention — could be coming to tingle our Spidey senses eventually. In the meantime, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man hits Disney Plus in January.