Credit: Marvel StudiosSpider-Man is arguably the most famous comic book character of all time, and soon there will be a new actor taking on the iconic role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the live-action film world, Spider-Man has been played by three hugely popular actors. Tobey Maguire started it all playing Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007), then Andrew Garfield became the New York wallcrawler in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
In 2016, Tom Holland appeared in the role, firstly in Captain America: Civil War (2016), and then across his own trilogy — Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Throughout the run of the Jon Watts trilogy, Holland was part of the huge ensemble cast of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
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Since Holland’s last appearance in No Way Home, fans have been
wondering when he may return to Kevin Feige’s sprawling MCU. Now in its fifth Phase, the MCU currently has no public plans for when Holland could reappear as Spidey. Talks for a fourth movie, which would be in collaboration with Feige’s Marvel Studios and Amy Pascal’s Sony Pictures, were apparently underway but came to an abrupt end with the commencement of the Writers Guild of America strikes.
With Holland’s return currently paused and Garfield’s seemingly never happening, no matter how much fans want it, the Spidey-shaped hole is about to be filled with an all-new entry into the Spider-Man canon.
A new Spider-Man in the MCU
Next year, a new Spider-Man project will hit Disney+, and this time Tom Holland won’t be in the iconic suit. But a few other familiar faces (voices) will be.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year will see a new Peter Parker story brought to audiences. As Digital Fix confirmed:
Spider-Man: Freshman Year is set in the MCU but not on Earth-616. The series instead exists in the infinite Marvel Cinematic Multiverse and is set on a parallel Earth where Peter Parker’s history is different to the Tom Holland incarnation of the character.
While no Peter Parker actor has been cast in the lead role, fans can expect to see both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, respectively. Both of these characters appeared in the popular Netflix TV show, Daredevil, before making appearances in the MCU. D’Onofrio first in Hawkeye on Disney+, and Cox as Peter Parker’s lawyer in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Information on the anticipated animated series was shared at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, with Marvel’s Brad Winderbaum later saying how the Multiverse will play into this new story. Winderbaum highlighted how Peter Parker would essentially be on the trajectory that Holland’s live-action version followed in Captain America: Civil War, but instead of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) taking the New York City native under his wing, it would be Norman Osborn (TBD). Freshman Year is confirmed to be set before and around the events of the Phase Three MCU movie and will seemingly be a “what if?” style of series.
Now, more updates have been shared about this new iteration of Spider-Man in the MCU. As it looks like Spider-Man: Freshman Year will be set in the MCU, just not in the same reality of the live-action movies and television shows, it seems that Marvel Studios are experimenting with a different production studio for the new project.
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Polygon Pictures released a statement on their website. “Animation for Spider-Man: Freshman Year will be produced by Japanese digital animation studio Polygon Pictures,” the press release reads. “We hope you are looking forward to this return to the world of Spider-Man, utilizing the latest CG technology!”
In Japan, where Polygon Pictures is based, Spider-Man: No Way Home was the first major Hollywood movie to gross over 4 billion yen at the post-COVID box office, a sure sign that there is a huge passion for the web-slinger in Japan and could be a reason why Marvel Studios have enlisted the Polygon Pictures team in to work on Spider-Man: Freshman Year.
Freshman Year was first announced on Disney+ Day in 2021, with Marvel Studios confirming that the series will debut at some point in 2024. Hopefully, audiences and fans of Spider-Man in the MCU will get to see this animated series sooner rather than later.
The news of Polygon’s involvement comes as The Walt Disney Company’s CEO, Bob Iger, revealed his views on the over-saturation of Marvel content, making the divisive comment that the studio never really had a footprint in the TV arena and “diluted” fan attention from the franchise. Will viewers enjoy this new Spider-Man? Or will they dismiss it while they await the next Tom Holland live-action event?
Are you looking forward to more Spider-Man in the MCU? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!