By Josh Bate
Marvel Studios is officially ramping up its animation content now that they have Disney+ at their disposal. Shows such as X-Men: ‘97 are in active development alongside a new season of What If?, which aired its first outing last year.
Another animated series in the works is Spider-Man: Freshman Year, which tells the earlier years of Peter Parker and his superhero alter ego. Given that the Web Crawler’s time in the MCU began when he was in his sophomore year of high school, the title of this new series led most fans to assume that Freshman Year would be situated in the main universe. However, reveals at today’s Marvel Studios Animation Panel at San Diego Comic Con suggest otherwise.
To begin, Spider-Man’s rookie suit, of which there are several (not directly contradictory to his first appearance Civil War), is not the same as his first outfit that actor Tom Holland wore. That suit, which was brought back for Homecoming’s final battle, had a different color scheme and a more amateur design, particularly as it was made primarily from what appeared to be cloth and/or pajamas.
Harry and Norman Osborn are two characters that were confirmed today for Freshman Year, although neither are known to exist in the MCU. Again, while not necessarily directly contradictory to the established canon, the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home saw that Peter Parker didn’t known who Norman Osborn was, and Osborn stated that there was no Oscorp, the company that he owns in both the comics and the Sam Raimi films.
Also revealed today was a still image of the elder Osborn standing alongside Aunt May in Parker’s apartment in what was an almost identical frame to a shot in Civil War, except with Tony Stark. It seems that Freshman Year might be taking an alternate approach to Spidey’s origins with Osborn his mentor rather than Stark.
Doc Ock is another villain confirmed for Freshman Year, the second character that Parker was not aware of in No Way Home but will meet in this new series. While the universe it’s set in was not officially confirmed, this new info casts some serious doubt onto the assumption that it takes place in the MCU.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year will release in 2024 on Disney+.