Everyone knows Spider-Man’s origin story. Lab created super spider, radiation, chomp, Peter Parker gets his powers. That’s why it was such a refreshing change to introduce the MCU Spider-Man of Tom Holland six months into his superhero career. The past formula was fully sidestepped. No spider bite scene, no awkward manifestation of the abilities, no showing up the bully. Just a (mostly) fully formed hero ready to avenge. Stark hits on his aunt and buys him a plane ticket to the battleground. Looks like we’re getting the origin story after all, but as a prequel series instead of an entry in a series of live-action movies. You have to start somewhere.

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We’re finally getting the MCU Spider-Man origin with Spider-Man: Freshman Year, which will stream on Disney+. The series will explore Spidey’s adventures leading up to the moment Tony Stark knocked on his door. So we’re essentially getting Peter Parker’s shove into the superpowers deep end in a prequel. Here’s everything we know about Spider-Man: Freshman Year.

Spider-Man: Freshman Year: The Plot

     Marvel Studios

Before Spider-Man became an alien-battling, universe-saving Avenger, he was the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. He kept his small section of the world safe from the bad guys and other harmful elements like the high-speed crash he prevented in the YouTube video Stark shows him in Captain America: Civil War. “Looking out for the little guy, yeah…,” Parker said to Stark. Spider-Man has always been a mix of saving the world and street-level guardian. He gets in on some of the big battles but mostly fights for his home turf on the gritty streets of NYC.

This isn’t to say it’s going to be all muggers and petty thieves on the wrong end of the web. Spider-Man will also go up against some of his own Rogue’s Gallery, the Sinister Six, though not necessarily in an organized form. This includes Scorpion, Rhino, Chameleon, and several others, including Dr. Octopus, a strange but intriguing choice since Tom Holland’s Spidey duked it out with the Maguireverse’s Doc Ock in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

No matter who he’s fighting, it will be cool to see the origin the MCU has in mind for their excellent Spider-Man and his exploits. There are limitless possibilities based on the nearly sixty-year run of the character in comics, television series, and movies. Showrunner Jeff Trammell takes this seriously.

Trammell also describes himself as a lifelong Spidey superfan who came of age with the Wall Crawler during the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series. This was the golden age of comic television animation. The Spidey series, Batman: The Animated Series, and X-Men: The Animated Series were all delivering excellent episodes while breaking some serious creative barriers. These series set the new standards for after-school and Saturday morning animation, one that has yet to be surpassed.

Spider-Man: Freshman Year: The Cast

A surprising aspect of Spider-Man: Freshman Year is that the series Web Slinger has yet to be cast. Tom Holland would be a no-brainer for quality and continuity’s sake, but the MCU’s casting track record is nearly spotless, so we won’t fret over who will be voicing the titular hero. Plus the series is still in development with not much more than concept art out there.

In fact, only two voice actors have been confirmed for the series. Paul F. Thompkins has been cast at Bentley Whitman, and the truly exciting bit of casting is Charlie Cox as Daredevil. We didn’t get the rooftop meeting of Spidey and the Man Without Fear we all wanted in No Way Home. We got Peter and Matt Murdock hashing out legal woes, but never the two in their alter egos teaming up to take down some hoods. Until a hopeful live-action meeting of the two, Cox’s appearance in the series is a more than welcome consolation.

We’ll just have to wait to see who will provide their voices for the aforementioned villains who’ll be facing Spider-Man in Freshman Year.

Release Date

     Sony / Marvel Studios

As of right now, Spider-Man: Freshman Year is set to land on Disney+ in 2024. We don’t have a specific date just yet but check back for more information.

A fourth live-action Tom Holland Spider-Man movie is currently in development, but as with all Marvel content, as long as it’s good, they can keep it coming. Double the Spider-Man is okay with us.