Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Everything we learned during D23

Peter Parker is back, true believers! While 2024 will still see the release of a few Spider-Man-related movies in the form of Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter, they (most likely) won't feature the wall-crawler himself. So the only secure chance of watching him on-screen will be on Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

The animated series was announced all the way back in 2021 under the name of Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Since then, very little has been revealed about it, with fans eventually speculating that the project wouldn't even see the light of day. But fast-forward to D23, 2024, and not only do we have a character listing but also a few official story details. So it's time to break down everything we learned from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man during D23!

We have new story tidbits

Spider-Man is such a popular character worldwide, that could represent something different to each and every one of us. However, when most people think of Peter Parker, they usually envision him as a young teenager struggling to balance his personal life with school and the responsibilities of being New York's protector. And it seems Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will be exactly about that.

The story will take place in an alternate reality where Tony Stark never acted as Peter Parker's mentor like in the MCU. Instead, Norman Osborn will be the one taking over that role while using "questionable methods" to guide Peter. It'll be interesting to see how their relationship develops over the course of the series, and if they become archnemessis as fans expect.

We also learned that Doctor Strange will be directly responsible for Spider-Man's creation. While the Sorcerer Supreme battles Venom, he opens a portal from which the radioactive spider that bites Peter appears. It's an interesting twist on the origin story we all know and love, one which prompts many questions such as: Why does Venom exist in a pre-Spider-Man era? Is he from a different universe? And how does the radioactive spider get involved?

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man seems to take heavy inspiration from the Steve Ditko era of the superhero - taking the character back to his roots. The visual style of the series is also meant to resemble that of his first comic book issues released in the 60s, going on for a more traditional look for Peter Parker while also using a brighter palette of colors. However, a few more modern traits of the character are also included such as having a wide variety of suits. This allows for a great balance that will surely appeal to both old and new fans of the wall-crawler alike.

Fan-favorite characters will make an appearance

A key concept art was shown during the D23 panel which displays many of the characters that will appear in the series. Some of them were already announced, but plenty of others were a shocking surprise! Among those characters, there are fan favorites such as Iron Man, Norman Osborn, Venom, Daredevil, Chameleon, Beetle, Doctor Strange, Doctor Octopus, Mary Jane, and plenty more.

Besides, the art also shows some of the different costumes that Spider-Man will sport. One of them appears to be the White Future Foundation suit, while the one to its right seems to be a new take on the homemade look. Of course, front and center we also see the classic Spider-Man suit which pays homage to the Steve Ditko era.

Finally, there was also another still released which displays Spider-Man in his homemade suit while Norman Osborn looms in the background.

There was no public trailer, release date, or episode count

So after such jaw-dropping reveals, there's just one question on everyone's minds: When will we get to watch Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? Well, unfortunately, we can't mark our calendars yet. No release date was announced much to everyone's disappointment. However, it was mentioned before the panel started that all series shown would be released within 18 months.

Finally, while there was an exclusive first look shown for everyone who attended D23, that footage hasn't made its way online yet. Fortunately, chances are more news will flood in as we get closer and closer to the (still unknown) release of the series. And when those news drops, we'll be sure to break them all down here in Whatever A Spider Can so be sure to stick around for everything related to our friendly neighborhood hero!