When we first learned of Marvel Animation's plans for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, it was billed as a Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming prequel set in the MCU.
That was an exciting prospect, particularly as Marvel Studios had never explored how Peter Parker gained his amazing abilities or showcased his time as a vigilante before Iron Man presented the teenager with a far more advanced suit.
We'd later learn that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was set in its own reality, with the wall-crawler set to don all manner of costumes while facing the likes of Chameleon, Scorpion, and Doctor Octopus. As for the hero's new mentor, it's Norman Osborn in place of Tony Stark.
Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum was recently asked about the decision not to set the animated series on Earth-616 and explained, "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 noted that attempts to make Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man MCU canon put the team working on the series in a "hard place" and added, "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."
"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," Winderbaum promised. "It's adjacent to the main continuity but really speaks to what is inherent about the character."
While an MCU-set version of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man would have been restricted in terms of villains and characters, a limited series focusing on Peter's transformation into Spidey would've no doubt been welcomed by fans (particularly if it delved into his origin story).
Only time will tell whether the show can live up to classics like Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Spectacular Spider-Man.
You can watch the newly released trailer for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man below.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming a hero, with a journey unlike we've ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots.
The talented voice cast includes Hudson Thames, Colman Domingo, Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy and Charlie Cox.
The head writer is Jeff Trammell and Mel Zwyer is the supervising director. Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt and Trammell serve as executive producers.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premieres on Disney+ on January 29, 2025.