Disney Plus’ new Spider-Man series is no longer standard in the MCU because it was “no fun” to limit its story

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Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum says upcoming Marvel show Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is no longer aiming to become canon to the MCU as that would place restrictions on the Disney Plus show.

“It started with ‘Okay, it’s Spider-Man’s freshman year, he’s going to be a freshman, can we get away with this being completely in the MCU?’ And very early in the development process we realized how trapped we felt by that,” Winderbaum said in an interview with Live hero. “We couldn’t really use his rogues gallery, we couldn’t really use his origins. It honestly wasn’t any fun. We would have had to put so many boundaries on our story to make it fit into the canon.”

Winderbaum added that the limitations that came with trying to bring the show into canon put the team in a “difficult position” in terms of development when it came to keeping Peter Parker’s timeline in the series Bringing the show in line with that of the current MCU live-action Spider-Man game by Tom Holland. “Every single project I’ve worked on has had a life of its own…You have to let them live their own lives and go where they want to go.”

Just because the series will be a little different from what we see on the big screen in terms of its origin story and recurring villains, doesn’t mean it won’t feel like a real Spidey story. “It has a lot of DNA that’s very similar to Tom Holland’s MCU portrayal of Spider-Man, but it also really goes back to Steve Ditko,” the TV boss said, referring to Ditko, who co-created the hero for Marvel Comics. “It borders on the main continuity, but really expresses what the character inherits.”

The animated series is part of Marvel’s Phase 5 and is based on Holland’s Spidey, but is set in an alternate MCU timeline where Peter Parker is led by Norman Osborn instead of Tony Stark. Hudson Thames voices Spider-Man, Colman Domingo plays Osborn and Grace Song will play Peter’s best friend Nico Minoru. Charlie Cox will return as Daredevil. The show will also feature some of our favorite comic book villains like Doc Ock, Chameleon, Rhino and Scorpion.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man releases on Disney Plus on January 29, 2025. For more information, see our list best series on Disney Plusor stay up to date upcoming Marvel TV shows and films.