Why isn’t Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man set in the MCU? A producer on the series breaks down their decision to make the Disney Plus show its own continuity.
When Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was first announced, then titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year, fans were ecstatic to finally learn more about the webhead’s early years in the MCU. But as the months went on, news about the Disney Plus show dried up, until it was eventually revealed that the series was being retooled to be its own continuity instead of tying into the broader Marvel universe.
This decision annoyed certain fans hopeful that the project might tease some future storylines for the character in the MCU, with many writing off Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man as yet another mediocre Spider-Man cartoon. However, it seems producer Brad Winderbaum stands by their decision to separate the Disney Plus show, stating that the show had much more creative freedom without being tied to the films.
“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,” Winderbaum explained in a recent chat with Phase Hero.
“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. 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.”
How Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Ties Into The MCU
Given how many restraints the MCU has put on lesser-known heroes in service to the broader continuity, it makes sense that an animated Disney Plus show like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man wouldn’t have the privilege to use the character’s heavy hitters. However, the project isn’t completely divorced to its live-action counterpart, with Brad Winderbaum speaking on how the series speaks to the inherent qualities of the character.
“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.”
Even though Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man isn’t directly in the MCU’s continuity, it does seem the series will help inform fans about the more base aspects of the character that were glossed over in the films. It’s also possible the Disney Plus show is being used as a sounding board for ideas, potentially testing the water for characters like Wave and Nico Minoru in the MCU.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is currently set to release January 29th on Disney Plus. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding Spider-Man’s Marvel Cinematic Universe future and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
