And we thought Marvel’s 2024 was going to be a barren desert. Although we’ve still got just the one movie to come in the form of Deadpool 3, it turns out there are two more MCU Disney Plus series on their way across this calendar year than we were expecting.
At a press event to mark the premiere of What If…? season 2, Marvel confirmed that two further animated series would be arriving in 2024. Namely, Black Panther spinoff Eyes of Wakanda and something called Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Is this ringing a bell for those who’ve been eagerly awaiting the first Spidey-themed show in the MCU? It should be…
What is Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and what happened to Spider-Man: Freshman Year?
Simply put, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Out of all the Marvel Studios projects announced as part of Phases Four and Five, the formerly titled Freshman Year was the one that was sliding under the radar the most. As its old name gives away, the show was originally pitched as the official origins story for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker on Earth-616, exploring how he got bitten by that pesky radioactive spider.
Somewhere along the way, though, Marvel walked back on this premise and the series is now set in an alternate continuity from the Sacred Timeline — either to better tie it into the Multiverse Saga or to give the creative team more freedom, or perhaps a combination of the two, we don’t know. In that regard, then, the title switch makes more sense, as it doesn’t imply that it is 100% MCU canon like the Freshman Year name, which sounded like a prequel.
It could also be a branding issue, as Freshman Year‘s second season — which is already in the works — was originally going to be called Sophomore Year. Now both seasons can release under the same title. There are lots of pluses to the new name, then, although Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man does sound a little like those cutesy cartoons Marvel makes for Disney Junior.
But have no fear, this will be a full-blooded Spidey show. Featuring Hudson Thames reprising his role as Peter Parker (who stood in for Tom Holland in What If…?), the series will bring in various other iconic characters like the Osborns, Doctor Octopus, Nico Minoru from Runaways, and even Charlie Cox’s Daredevil. Watch out, here comes Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man — to Disney Plus, sometime in 2024.