Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 1

The first season of the American animated television series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Spider-Man, explores Peter Parker's early days as Spider-Man. It is set in an alternate timeline from the main films and television series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe where Norman Osborn becomes Peter's mentor instead of Tony Stark. The season was produced by Marvel Studios Animation, with Jeff Trammell as head writer and Mel Zwyer as supervising director.
Hudson Thames voices Peter Parker / Spider-Man, reprising his role from the Marvel Studios animated series What If...?, with Kari Wahlgren, Grace Song, Eugene Byrd, Zeno Robinson, Colman Domingo, Hugh Dancy, and Charlie Cox also starring. Disney+ announced the series as Spider-Man: Freshman Year in November 2021, with Trammell attached. It was retitled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023. Polygon Pictures and CGCG, Inc. provided the season's animation.
The first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiered on the streaming service Disney+ with its first two episodes on January 29, 2025. The rest of its 10-episode run was released in groups until February 19, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. The season received positive reviews from critics for its action, comedy, nostalgia, and animation style. It also received several accolades, including two Children's and Family Emmy Award nominations. A second season was announced in July 2022.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Production

Development

Marvel Studios Animation's Spider-Man: Freshman Year was announced during a Disney+ Day event in November 2021, with Jeff Trammell as head writer. The series was retitled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023, and in January 2025 Trammell said the series was not limited to covering one school year per season. Mel Zwyer served as supervising director, with Liza Singer and Stu Livingston as episodic directors. Marvel Studios's Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt were executive producers alongside Trammell.

Writing

Writers for the season included Trammell, Charlie Neuner, Raven Kone, and Halima Lucas. Tramell wrote half of the season's episodes. Each episode title is a reference to, or is inspired by, comic book titles or other elements from the comics. The series was originally planned to be set within the "Sacred Timeline" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, before Peter Parker / Spider-Man's introduction in the film Captain America: Civil War, and depict the character's origin story. The creative team found this to be too restrictive regarding which characters and comic book elements could be included, so they decided to move the series to an alternate timeline, taking advantage of the MCU's multiverse concept. The story begins similarly to Civil War but depicts Norman Osborn becoming Peter's mentor instead of Tony Stark. Peter's origin story is still told in the season, though it differs from previous depictions: Peter is bitten by a spider that falls out of a portal created by Dr. Stephen Strange as he is fighting a symbiotic alien, and the season finale reveals that this spider was injected with Peter's own blood and then taken back in time by Strange's portal, creating a temporal paradox in which Peter gains his abilities from himself.
Trammell said the series would explore Peter's identity pre-Spider-Man and how his superhero career began. The creative team took inspiration from early The Amazing Spider-Man comic books by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, as well as previous Spider-Man animated series. Trammell took specific inspiration from the way characters were developed in The Spectacular Spider-Man. He wanted to use the series to approach familiar ideas and characters in new ways, such as Norman Osborn's role as Peter's mentor, and Peter's father Richard being alive. Winderbaum said the series was "so essentially Spider-Man" because it features Peter trying to juggle high school, caring for his aunt May, and being a superhero. He said the large ensemble of characters allowed for interesting relationships and stakes, and an emphasis on the "neighborhood" from the series' title by featuring supporting characters in prominent roles; Winderbaum compared this to Trammell's work on the animated series Craig of the Creek. Several characters not usually associated with Spider-Man are included in the series, including Nico Minoru in the role of Peter's best friend, as well as Jeanne Foucault / Finesse and Amadeus Cho. Trammell also considered including a young Jessica Jones as one of Peter's classmates. The superhero team Fantastic Four was off-limits to Trammell because Marvel was saving them for the MCU film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He was also asked not to use the villain Big Wheel in the series.

Casting and voice recording

At Comic-Con in July 2022, Charlie Cox was announced to be reprising his role as Daredevil from previous MCU media for the series, while Paul F. Tompkins was cast as Bentley Wittman. Cox recorded his lines in 2021 during breaks in filming for the live-action MCU series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. In September 2023, a United States Copyright Office filing for the series revealed that Hudson Thames was voicing Peter Parker / Spider-Man, reprising his role from the first season of Marvel Studios Animation's What If...?, with Eugene Byrd as Lonnie Lincoln, Grace Song as Nico Minoru, Hugh Dancy as Otto Octavius, Kari Wahlgren as May Parker, and Zeno Robinson as Harry Osborn. The creative team were struggling to settle on an actor for Norman Osborn who they felt could live up to the character's reputation, until Zwyer suggested casting Colman Domingo. Trammell thought that was a "genius idea" and they immediately approached the actor, who was "super excited" to take on the role. Domingo's casting was announced in August 2024.
In December 2024, Cathy Ang was revealed as the voice of Pearl Pangan. Ahead of the series' premiere in January 2025, more actors were revealed: Robin Atkin Downes as Dr. Stephen Strange; Anjali Kunapaneni as Jeanne Foucault / Finesse; Erica Luttrell as Asha; Aleks Le as Amadeus Cho; Zehra Fazal as Carla Connors; Jake Green as Butane; Mick Wingert as Tony Stark / Iron Man, reprising his role from What If...?; Roger Craig Smith as James Sanders / Speed Demon and Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon; Anairis Quiñones as Maria Vasquez and Carmilla Black; Travis Willingham as Mikhail Sytsevich and Thaddeus Ross; Sarah Natochenny as Mila Masaryk / Unicorn; Leilani Barrett as Big Donovan; Jonathan Medina as Mac Gargan / Scorpion; and former wrestler Ettore Ewen as Bulldozer. Ewen began work on the season in 2022. Additionally, Zach Cherry reprises his MCU role as Klev, and Josh Keaton voices Peter's father Richard. Keaton starred as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man and Trammell was excited for him to join the series.

Animation and design

The series' art style pays homage to the early The Amazing Spider-Man comic books, specifically those featuring art by Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. Trammell described the series as a "moving comic book", which is achieved through 3D cel-shaded animation provided by Polygon Pictures and CGCG, Inc. Development on the season took four years to complete, finishing in August 2024. Trammell said it could have been finished earlier in 2024, but the season kept having various finalizing stages pushed back in order for Marvel Studios to accommodate other series.
Leo Romero was the lead character designer, with comic book artists Chris Samnee, Paolo Rivera, and Ethan Young also working on the series. Trammell praised Romero for modernizing the designs while retaining classic elements. They leaned further into comic book references for Peter's Spider-Man suits and some of the villains' costumes, including those for Octavius and Gargan. Peter starts the series in a homemade suit made from "gym pants, sneakers, goggles, a blue sweatshirt, red undershirt, knee pads, very clunky web-shooters, and a red logo on the chest". He rejects several Oscorp suit designs which are based on alternate suits that Peter wears when he takes on different personas during the 1998 "Identity Crisis" comic book event: a golden suit with a red cape used for the "Prodigy" persona, a purple suit with hover-wings used for the "Hornet" persona, and a dark blue wingsuit used for the "Dusk" persona. Peter goes on to wear a white and blue Oscorp suit resembling Spider-Man's Future Foundation costume from the comics, and then a "classic 60s" red and blue suit. Daredevil wears a black suit with red lines reminiscent of the costume worn by the character in the 2010 "Shadowland" comic book event. The opening credits feature splash pages inspired by comic book art. Romero reworked these to reference events in the series and to match its style.

Music

Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson were revealed to be composing the series' score in June 2024. A soundtrack album featuring excerpts from Birenberg and Robinson's score was released digitally on February 21.

Marketing

The series was discussed during Marvel Studios Animation's panel at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, where character art was revealed. The series was featured in a sizzle reel of Marvel Studios Animation's 2024 series in December 2023. Trammell, Thames, and Domingo promoted the series during Marvel Studios Animation's panel at the D23 Expo in August 2024, where Domingo's role as Norman was announced and footage was shown. Footage from the series was included in a video that was released by Disney+ in October, announcing the release schedule for Marvel Television and Marvel Animation projects through the end of 2025.
A trailer for the series was released at the end of December, following the conclusion of What If...? third season. Toussaint Egan of Polygon described the series as "long-awaited", and Jordan King at Empire called it "hotly anticipated". King and IGN Adam Bankhurst both highlighted the trailer's combination of classic Spider-Man references—including the art style and theme song—with contemporary animation and imagery. Discussing the trailer for Gizmodo, Justin Carter said it was "well worth the wait" and felt the series would be appreciated by people who wanted the MCU's Spider-Man to have some "smaller adventures".

Release

The first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiered with its first two episodes on Disney+ on January 29, 2025. The remaining eight episodes were released weekly in groups of two or three until February 19, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. Chris Agar of ComicBook.com said this release schedule was unusual for an MCU series and suggested that it was designed to avoid overlapping with the debut of the MCU series Daredevil: Born Again in March. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was previously scheduled to be released in 2024, and the copyright filing for the first episode indicated an approximate release on November 2 of that year, before the January 2025 premiere was announced. On February 19, the first episode was made available for free on YouTube. The season aired on Disney's cable channel FXX from June 30 to July 4, 2025.

Reception

Viewership

Whip Media's viewership tracking app, TV Time, which tracks viewership data for the more than 25 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, reported that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was the most-anticipated new television show of January 2025. Spider-Man was one of the ten most-streamed original series in the U.S. from February 2–9, according to Whip Media. According to market research company Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, the series was the most in-demand Disney+ TV show during the week of February 28 to March 6. The animated series ranked No. 1, surpassing The Acolyte, which came in second. This high level of demand was observed not only in the U.S. but also in international markets such as Russia, the UK, Canada, and Australia. TVision, using its Power Score to evaluate CTV programming through viewership and engagement across over 1,000 apps, reported it as the fifth most-streamed series from February 3—9. Streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, which monitors daily updated VOD charts and streaming ratings across the globe, announced that Spider-Man was the most-streamed Disney+ title on February 9.

Critical response

The season received positive reviews for its action, comedy, nostalgia, and animation style, though some critics found the latter to be jarring at first. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval score with an average rating of 8.2/10, based on 35 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Embracing the wholesome aesthetics of the webslinger's original comic run while adding some fresh plot wrinkles, this family-friendly Spider-Man is a lovable incarnation of the Marvel superhero." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 77 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

Domingo was named an honorable mention for TVLines "Performer of the Week" for the week of February 17, 2025, for his performance in the last two episodes of the first season. Eric Goldman wrote for the site that Domingo made the season's slow-burn approach to Norman Osborn work well, providing "the right underlying tension" behind the character's support for Spider-Man.

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient	Result
Artios Awards	[41st Artios Awards\|]	Animated Program For Television	Sara Jane Sherman
Children's and Family Emmy Awards	[4th Children's and Family Emmy Awards\|]	Outstanding Voice Directing for an Animated Series	Sara Jane Sherman
Children's and Family Emmy Awards	[4th Children's and Family Emmy Awards\|]	Outstanding Show Open	Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Critics' Choice Television Awards	[31st Critics' Choice Awards\|]	Best Animated Series	Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man	Nomitated
TCA Awards	[41st TCA Awards\|]	Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming	Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man	Nomitated
Saturn Awards	[53rd Saturn Awards\|]	Best Animated Television Series or Special	Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man