Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: disney plus, Marvel Animation, your friendly neighborhood spider-man

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Isn't MCU Canon & Here's Why

Marvel Studios' Brad Winderbaum explains why it was creatively important for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man not to be MCU canon.

When we last checked in on how things were looking with Marvel Animation and Jeff Trammell's Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the upcoming animated series was honoring the return of the famed wallcrawler to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (its last run was in 2014). For this go-around, Marvel Television and Marvel Animation's Brad Winderbaum is clarifying something that fans have been wondering about since it was first announced. As you know, the series follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming a hero, promising a backstory different from previous takes and done with an artistic style that's a respectful nod to the character's comic book roots. one that will involve a journey unlike any we've ever seen and done in a style that celebrates the character's early comic book roots. But one thing that the Hudson Thames, Colman Domingo, Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy, and Charlie Cox-voicing series won't do is connect with the main MCU timeline – and from a creative standpoint, Winderbaum's more than fine with that.

"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 shared during an interview with Phase Zero. "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," he continued.

While viewers can expect Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man to offer its own take on both Peter Parker's and Spider-Man's early years, the animated series will still maintain those core Spider-Man principles – from both the big screen and the comic book pages. "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. It's adjacent to the main continuity but really speaks to what is inherent about the character."

Produced by Marvel Animation, Disney+'s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sees Jeff Trammell as head writer and Mel Zwyer as supervising director. Trammell, Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt serve as executive producers.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: D23 Details

Trammell shared how much he loves the character of Peter Parker and the world he lives in and appreciated the opportunity to dig into who Peter is and how that factors into the kind of Spider-Man he becomes later on. Domingo sees Osborn as the "ultimate villain" type and respects the opportunity to follow in Willem Dafoe's footsteps. He appreciates the opportunity to explore the idea of how someone can find themselves turning over to the dark side for the sake of some supposed greater good. Trammell noted an important difference between the animated series and the live-action MCU, with his Peter finding a mentor in Osborn – a man with maybe not the greatest intentions in mind.

We were treated to some additional scenes – with one showing how Peter gets bit that turns into a look at the opening title credits (with a great opening song that old-school animated Spider-Man fans will appreciate) and another showing some interaction between Peter and Osborn while the former is stopping a crime. Oh, and did we mention Doctor Strange showing up to take on a symbiote? As for the visual style, expect a beautiful homage to 60's animation in all of the best ways possible.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!