‘Spider-Man: Freshman Year’ Sees A Classic Villain Replace Tony Stark As Peter Parker’s Mentor

Iron Spider no more!

Spider-Man Robert Downey Jr Iron Man Tom Holland Disney MCU No Way Home

The Marvel Studios Animation Panel at San Diego Comic-Con offered a first look at Spider-Man: Freshman Year, revealing the series will feature a surprising enemy of Peter Parker’s.

It had previously been assumed Spider-Man: Freshman Year would be a direct prequel to Spider-Man’s MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Newly revealed elements, such as Doctor Strange’s role in the series, have made it clear the show will not adhere to the MCU’s Earth-616 timeline.

The series’ biggest divergence from MCU canon, however, appears to be the inclusion of a very different mentor figure for Peter Parker.

Spider-Man Goes (Green) Goblin Mode

During the first look at Spider-Man: Freshman Year in the Marvel Studios Animation Panel, it was revealed that none other than Norman Osborn would be mentoring Peter Parker.

One of the images revealed during the panel showed Osborn, who will be Black for the first time in the animated series, meeting with Peter in a scene that clearly mirrored Peter’s first meeting with Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War.

While not officially confirmed during the panel, it now seems obvious that Spider-Man: Freshman Year will be a Multiverse story, essentially an extended What If…? premise that sees Spider-Man tutored by his greatest enemy instead of an Avenger.

Check out the artwork showing Norman Osborn meeting Peter Parker below:

Osborn’s green suit in the image above appears to be a subtle nod to his alternate identity, the villainous Green Goblin. It looks like Peter will have to contend with a far more problematic mentor in Spider-Man: Freshman Year. This could also mean fans will get to see Peter face off against an MCU-original Green Goblin for the first time.

The latest Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, saw the MCU’s Earth-616 Peter Parker doing battle with Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films. Here’s the synopsis:

“For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is umasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.”

Directed by Jon Watts from a script written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, No Way Home stars Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe and Jamie Foxx.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is available on every home media format. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the franchise and the Freshman Year animated series and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content.