Brad Winderbaum is Marvel Studios' Head of Marvel Streaming, Television and Animation, and the latest guest on The Official Marvel Podcast.
With this being an "official" interview, the updates shared by the executive were carefully chosen and not too revealing. However, there are some interesting tidbits on the animation side, including news on Black Panther spin-off, Eyes of Wakanda.
"Eyes of Wakanda, more than any other show we're doing in animation, ties directly into the MCU," Winderbaum confirmed. "This is a story about Wakandan history. It's produced by Ryan Coogler and directed by Todd Harris who is one of our longtime storyboard artists who I first met when he designed the Hulk vs. Thor fight in Ragnarok."
"It's an awesome show. The action is insane and the storytelling is fantastic. It's both about the history of Wakanda, but also expands into the greater MCU at different time periods," he teased. "If you're a fan of the movies, I think this show is going to be a real treat."
Talk also turned to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, previously known as Spider-Man: Freshman Year, a "Peter Parker in high school" series. "There are twists and turns in that show that are amazing, but the real power is the ensemble, is the neighbourhood," Winderbaum said.
"The showrunner is Jeff Trammel who made a show called Craig of the Creek which is a kid's cartoon that spent seasons in the connected backyards of this neighbourhood and had this whole mythology that grew out of it and characters you grew to care for over the course of the series."
"He's amped that up in such a major way playing with characters like, not just Peter Parker, Nico Minoru, Lonnie Lincoln, and my personal favourite, Harry Osborn, and others that flesh out this teenage ensemble," he added. "It's really incredible."
Marvel Studios' first animated series was What If...?, and while we've had a first look at season 3 courtesy of a few stills, there's still no word on when it will premiere. However, it sounds like that third batch of episodes is set to be the show's last (with a definitive ending for The Watcher).
"What If...? season 3 feels like the completion of a trilogy," Winderbaum revealed. "It takes us to places you'd never expect. It goes beyond the first two seasons in its exploration of the Multiverse and it pulls in characters that are very unexpected. It has what I think is an extremely moving and fulfilling culmination for Uatu, The Watcher."
Finally, after the success of X-Men '97 on Disney+ earlier this year, the executive made it clear fans should be excited about the show's return.
"We've got big plans for the second season," he shared. "I've already seen all the animatics and we're well on our way to creating something that hits the heights of the first season. I know the first season is an emotional ride; that ride continues in a very X-Men fashion in the second season."
In 2022, Marvel Animation had its own panel at Comic-Con and announced many of the TV shows mentioned here. Not much has changed since then (last year's strikes and a post-COVID delay in animation haven't helped matters), so new updates and trailers would be appreciated.
Stay tuned for updates.