San Diego Comic Con 2022 was a busy year; Marvel announced a bunch of stuff that would ultimately get delayed, The Rock was still busy changing the hierarchy of power in the DC universe and grown adults got into fights with children, but my personal favorite moment of the con was the more lowkey Marvel Studios animation panel. Sure X-men ‘97 is exciting, but nothing was as exciting to me as Spider-Man: Freshman Year. The animated show had already been announced the year before, but any details were still underwraps until that fateful SDCC ‘22. We got a boatload of fun new information accompanied by beautiful concept art and stills (Mostly done by Leonardo Romero) and man did I get excited, I couldn’t wait to hear more… but wait I did. I waited and waited and waited to no avail, 18 months later and we still haven’t heard a thing. There’s been barely any news on the show even though it’s set to release somewhere in the next 9 months. So I’m left with no choice.
Kevin Feige, you have forced my hand. You have forced me into using my idiotic nerd brain filled with useless facts about Spider-Man to dig into everything we know about the show and uncover the hidden narratives within. I will scour every image, every word and tweet out there to try and find any hidden connection I can. Who are you hiding from me? What are you hiding from me? Where are you hiding from me? All will be answered.
Join me while I investigate “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”
WARNING: While I can’t confirm anything I speculate on, be aware that this could spoil important plot points and reveals still hidden by production. (probably won’t though I’m just some guy)
The Title Change…
Before I get into all the fun stuff, I first wanna address a less optimistic theory I have. Ever since the show’s announcement in late 2021 we’d known the show as “Spider-Man: Freshman Year”. For more than 2 years this title stuck, until December of last year, when it was announced that the show would now be known as “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”. That title is fine, sure it might not be as original as “Freshman Year” but it still does what it needs to do. The change might mean nothing, it could just be a random change, but the pessimist in me fears something worse is happening behind the scenes. See, during the Marvel Studios Animation panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2022, it was announced that Freshman Year would be followed up by a second season called Sophomore Year. This could still very much be happening, I hope it does even, but what if the name change indicates that the show is moving away from a multiple season structure and has shifted into a one season miniseries. It would certainly be an explanation for the sudden and frankly unnecessary change + we know Marvel has been actively restructuring their slate to tighten it up and cut down their “content output” significantly, specifically focusing on their TV projects. Could Freshman Year have been a victim of these changes? I certainly hope not!
With that out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff, COSTUMES!!
Identity Crisis
The concept art included a roster of suits for Spidey to use during the show’s runtime. Among these were several suits that first appeared in the Identity Crisis storyline from the late 90s. The Identity Crisis sees Spider-Man face off against Norman Osborn once again. Osborn has sullied the Spider-Man name, framed him for murder and kidnapping, leading to Peter taking on 4 new superpowered identities; The Hornet, The Prodigy, Dusk and Ricochet. The latter two were used by Peter to infiltrate the criminal underworld and gain a new angle to clear his name while the first two were more typical hero suits. Peter ditched the four suits after clearing his name and went back to his regular red and blue Web-Head ways. But the suits lived on in a short lived superhero team The Slingers, a group of 4 young heroes that each wore one of the 4 suits.
Weirdly enough, the concept art doesn’t include a Ricochet suit which could be for a couple of reasons. Maybe the design hadn’t been finalized at the time of the panel, maybe there were legality issues since the suit takes inspiration from the DC/Marvel co-owned Spider-Boy or maybe they just didn’t wanna do 4 suits (the Ricochet storyline from the Identity Crisis event is the most convoluted and boring one of the four which could explain things). Anyway, I think it’s safe to say that if you adapt 3/4ths of the Identity Crisis suits, you’re gonna adapt the Identity Crisis event in some similar fashion.
Osborn is the main driving force of The Identity Crisis storyline, putting the bounty on Peter’s head as well as defaming his name in the papers (he’s bought up the Daily Bugle during the IC events) + we know he’s heavily involved in the show’s story as well, filling the Tony Stark role of this universe as Peter’s mentor. Could the show look to adapt the Identity Crisis for a few episodes? I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe Osborn tries to take down the Wallcrawler in the press because their mentorship didn’t work out? Perhaps we could even see the Slingers make an appearance later on in the show!
The Fantastic Four
The identity crisis suits aren’t the only ones included in the concept art, The famed Future Foundation suit also appears in the line up. The Future Foundation suit is a fan favorite not just for its slick black and white design (The concept art seems to utilize a more dark blue and white color scheme) but also for its ties to the Fantastic Four. The Future Foundation was a group of young heroes with great minds put together by Reed Richards to approach the world’s problems in new scientific ways. Peter joined the group later on at the request of Johnny Storm’s last will and testament (Johnny had been presumed dead after an attack in the negative zone).
Could “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” see the first Marvel Studios produced version of the Fantastic Four? It would certainly generate a TON of hype. Especially now that we know who’s been cast as Marvel’s first family. Sure, the entire team might be overkill and putting expectations much too high, but even a simple Johnny Storm appearance would be incredibly fun.
Sadly, the same SDCC panel also revealed that the Future Foundation suit is made by Oscorp, not Reed Richards. So that… yeah that completely kills my theory. Just dead in a ditch. There isn’t a single tie to the F4, not a connection, not an inkling of a hint… SIKE! You didn’t think I’d come here with one measly lousy little piece of evidence did you? There still is one more connection left, one that not just connects the Fantastic Four to the show, but more specifically the Future Foundation. Doctor Bentley Wittman.
“Who?” You might be asking yourself. Well Doctor Bentley Wittman is better known as the Wizard. A super genius inventor who got bored of his normal life as a stage magician and decided to become a villain, frequently battling it out with the Fantastic Four. The Wizard is a Fantastic Four villain through and through, he rarely shows up in Non Fantastic Four adjacent books, he’s fueled by his hatred for the Four and he even created his own four manned team of evil do-ers. It’s safe to say that the Wizard without the Fantastic Four would be odd (even if Ultimate Spider-Man did try it, and we know how that show is regarded). Yet, his real life alter ego does appear in the concept art for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
As I said before, the inclusion of Wittman hints towards the Future Foundation as well. Jonathon Hickman introduced Bentley-23 during his time writing the Fantastic Four, A clone of the Wizard created by Wittman himself in yet another ploy to stop the Four. The plan failed and Reed Richards took the young clone into his care, eventually becoming a founding member of the Future Foundation. The same team that later on includes Spider-Man wearing the same suit as seen in the concept art!
Sure, the creatives behind the show have stated that the eerily similar Future Foundation suit is an Oscorp suit, and I would be willing to believe that, but why would they include a Fantastic Four villain in the show’s roster, the only villain intrinsically tied to the Future Foundation, if they weren’t gonna explore the F4 at least a little? To me that seems like too much of a coincidence.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Foes
Wittman and Osborn aren’t the only major Marvel threats to play a role in “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”. A whole plethora of villains will appear in the show, from C-tier baddies like The Unicorn and Speed Demon to A listers like Doc Ock and the Rhino, it’s safe to say our favorite Wall-Crawler has a lot on his plate this first season. Still, I think there might be more villains appearing in the show than we’ve seen so far.
Our first clue to another fan favorite bad guy appearing in the show is actually found in the supporting cast. During the panel we were shown a line-up of multiple friends Peter will meet along the way, among them the lesser known Jeanne Foucault, a young polymath trained from infanthood. Jeanne has always teetered the line between hero and villain but it isn’t her that I’m suspicious of. It’s who her father might be. While the books never confirm it, it’s likely that Taskmaster, Marvel’s most famous Polymath, is Jeanne’s biological father. I wouldn’t be surprised if the show cuts out some of the vagueness there and just outright makes Tony Masters Jeanne’s dad. It hasn’t yet been confirmed if Jeanne will even have her powers, but it seems odd to me to put her in the show and even acknowledge her time as a trainee of the Avengers Academy if you’re not gonna do anything interesting with it. And having a daddy daughter Taskmaster duo would be VERY interesting.
But Jeanne isn’t the only villain to be found among Peter’s friends. Multiple stills and concept pages have included Lonnie Lincoln, A classmate of Peter and quarterback at Midtown High. Spider-Man fans might recognize this name though, since Lonnie Lincoln is also the name of the impenetrable mob boss and all around evil do-er Tombstone, previously seen in Into The Spider-Verse working for Wilson Fisk. Tombstone is a huge Spider-Man villain and like many other characters in the show it would seem odd to put such a major name in the show and not expand on it. That said, 616 Lonnie did suffer from a skin disorder since birth which gave him his signature look, while “Friendly Neighborhood” Lonnie doesn’t share that same characteristic. Still I wouldn’t be surprised if Lonnie ends up going down a darker path at some point in the show’s runtime.
Seeing as most of the villains revealed so far seem to incorporate technology and gadgets into their costumes I’d like to think there’s an evil benefactor behind them all. The obvious answer is Oscorp, which I agree is the prime candidate as well. That said, I think Dr Otto Octavius is the one actually making these suits given their similar looking designs. Perhaps Osborn is funding Octavius’ research to give Peter some baddies to fight. Why would he do that? Well we know Osborn is going to fill a mentor role for Peter, so what better way for ol’ demented Osborn to teach Spidey the ways of a hero than to manufacture a group of villains to fight? I mean just look at Otto in that picture! That’s the stance of a guy proudly showing off what he’s made!
Spidey and his Amazing Friends
Of course Spidey doesn’t have to face all this nastiness by himself. So far we’ve been introduced to a handful of heroes and heroes-to-be that’ll show up in the series. Most notably both Doctor Strange and Daredevil, the latter played once more by Charlie Cox and wearing a sleek new black suit. I’d like to think this is a nod to the Shadowland suit, especially with the red accents on his torso, but that’s unlikely. I’m guessing this is a prototype suit similar to his season one suit in the Netflix series with just a few added advancements to make it stand out.
But there are more well known Marvel heroes included in the show besides those two big hitters, most notably Nico Minoru. Nico Minoru has been described as Peter’s new best friend by producer Jeff Trammell during the SDCC panel but fans know her better as a founding member of The Runaways, a group of superpowered youngsters who team up and stop their evil cult leading parents. She’s a gifted sorceress who wields “The Staff of No One”, a powerful artifact taken from her mother, and even became a teacher at Strange Academy, a school set up by Stephen Strange to aid young magic users and train their mystical abilities. From the “Friendly Neighborhood” concept art shown at SDCC we can see that Stephen and Nico’s paths will cross at some point during the show, seemingly during an attack on the school spearheaded by a strange creature (potentially conjured up by Nico herself), and I don’t think it’s unlikely for Strange to take on a mentoring role for Nico afterwards.
The other Runaways appearing seems unlikely. This version of Nico is different in many ways, most notably living in New York instead of Los Angeles, the usual stomping grounds for the Runaways, and the fact that the timeline of her entire origin story is messed up by putting her in this Peter Parker centric adventure also doesn’t help. Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Runaways be acknowledged in some way, be it an Easter egg, throwaway line or a full fledged appearance.
Among Peter’s friend group are more notable names. Amadeus Cho, also known as The Totally Awesome Hulk, will appear in some capacity. It hasn’t been confirmed if Amadeus will end up turning into his green alter ego (neither Hulk or Brawn), but the character’s inclusion is very exciting even without his hulk persona present. For years Amadeus was a regular dude, sure he was one of the most intelligent men in the entire universe and frequently sought out adventure, becoming a major player in some of the biggest stories told in the Marvel Universe, but he wasn’t green during any of it.
Could Amadeus’ inclusion hint towards an appearance from Bruce Banner? I wouldn’t count on it. There’s enough fun to have with Cho without bringing in any of the Hulk stuff (even if Peter and Hulk’s dynamic has always been a fun one).
To round up the entire supporting cast and leave no stone unturned, I’ll also mention both Pearl Pagan and Asha, two minor marvel comics characters who’ll have much bigger roles in the show. Pearl Pagan has been described as a new love interest for Peter and a gifted swimmer, which makes sense if you know her 616 counterpart. Pagan is a superpowered waterbender and member of the New Agents of Atlas besides the likes of Jimmy Woo and even the previously mentioned Amadeus Cho.
We don’t know much about Asha’s role in the show, besides that she’s a Wakandan exchange student at Midtown. Her comic book counterpart is also a citizen of Wakanda with light absorption powers that allow her to turn invisible among other abilities.
Whether we’ll see any other Wakandans or members of the Agents of Atlas remains to be seen, but it warrants mentioning nonetheless.
Sure, a lot of these theories are wild, strange and set expectations a little TOO high, but like Jeff Trammell said during the SDCC panel: “We should expect the unexpected”. I for one can’t wait to see what Marvel is cooking up here. The Silver Age aesthetics combined with the story taking inspiration from all points of time in Spider-Man’s (and Marvel as a whole) history could be the most perfect blend we can ever get.
Are you excited to check out the show whenever it releases this year? And what do you hope to see happen in it? Let us know!
Written by @ghostface0_0 on twitter
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