Hudson Thames voices Peter Parker / Spider-Man, reprising his role from the Marvel Studios animated series What If...? (2021–2024), with Kari Wahlgren, Grace Song, Eugene Byrd, Zeno Robinson, Colman Domingo, Hugh Dancy, and Charlie Cox also starring. Disney+ announced the series as Spider-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 retitled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023. The 3D cel-shaded animation pays homage to the art style of early The Amazing Spider-Man comic books by Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr., with animation provided by Polygon Pictures and CGCG, Inc.
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 until February 19, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. It received positive reviews from critics for its action, comedy, nostalgia, and animation style. The second season is expected to premiere in late 2026, as part of Phase Six. A third season is in development.
A second season was announced in July 2022.[5] Jeff Trammell and another writer wrote the season 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]
Season 3
A third season was announced in January 2025.[7] It is expected to be released a year after the second season.[8]
Eugene Byrd as Lonnie 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 as Norman Osborn: The CEO of Oscorp, 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 as Otto Octavius: A scientist who sells his high-tech weaponry and equipment to various criminals[13]
Charlie Cox as Daredevil: 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 their Disney+ series What 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 a Disney+ Day event in November 2021, with Jeff Trammell serving as head writer.[1] Trammell was initially asked to pitch for X-Men '97 (2024–present) and endeared himself to Marvel Studios for wanting to tell an original story, despite plans for that series to be a revival and continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997). Marvel Studios's animation head Brad Winderbaum and president Kevin Feige felt Trammell would be good for a Spider-Man series. He presented a pitch in November 2020, envisioning a four-season story arc.[6]
During Marvel Studios Animation's panel at San 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". A second season was announced at the panel with the title Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.[5] The series was retitled Your 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 the first season's episode titles are a reference to, or inspired by, comic book titles or elements from the comics.[6] Mel Zwyer served as supervising director,[41] with Liza Singer and Stu Livingston as episodic directors.[42][43] Marvel Studios's Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, and Dana 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 both showrunner and head writer by Marvel.com.[44] The next month, Winderbaum said the second season would be released in 2026, more than a year after the first. He said Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and X-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]
Writing
The series was originally planned to be set within the "Sacred Timeline" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), before Peter Parker / Spider-Man's MCU introduction in the film Captain America: Civil War (2016), and depict the character's origin story.[47][9] Marvel Studios decided not to tell the origin story in the MCU films because they felt audiences would already know it due to the Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi (2002–2007) and Marc 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 an alternate timeline,[47] taking advantage of the MCU's multiverse concept. The story begins similarly to Civil War but depicts Norman Osborn becoming Peter's mentor instead of Tony 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 early The Amazing Spider-Man comic books by Stan Lee and Steve 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 series What If...? and X-Men '97.[11] They wanted to avoid copying one of the many different animation styles used for the animated Spider-Verse films and settled on paying homage to the early The Amazing Spider-Man comic books, specifically those featuring art by Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. Trammell described the series as a "moving comic book", which is achieved through 3D cel-shaded animation provided by Polygon Pictures and CGCG, 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]
Music
Leo Birenberg and Zach 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 a rap that samples the theme song from the animated series Spider-Man (1967–1970) by Paul Francis Webster and Bob 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 by Hollywood Records and Marvel 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]
Release
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 of Phase Five of the MCU.[56] The second season is scheduled to premiere in late 2026,[4] as part of Phase Six.[citation needed] Winderbaum said in October 2025 that future seasons would be released annually "for a number of years".[8]
Reception
Critical response
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] The review aggregator website Rotten 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-friendly Spider-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 titled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, that was written by Christos Gage and features art by Eric Gapstur.[62] 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 as Silvio Manfredi / Silvermane,[63]Crusher Hogan,[64] and the Enforcers members Montana, Fancy Dan, and Ox.[65] The prequel comic was published from December 2024 to April 2025.[62][66]
↑ Lee, Chris (January 13, 2023). "Inside the VFX Union Brewing in Hollywood". Vulture. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023. Alonso heads up Marvel's dedicated "mini-studio," Marvel Studios Animation, which is behind such shows as What If ...? [...] and the summer 2022 series of Vin Diesel–voiced original shorts, I Am Groot.
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