Ahead of this weekend, we barely knew anything about the upcoming Marvel series Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Before he met Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker’s first few months as Spider-Man were revealed in the animated series’ original pitch as the genuine origins narrative for the MCU’s Peter Parker.
A slew of new details about Freshman Year were revealed at Comic-Con on Friday, but fans are still trying to understand how the show is set on Earth-616. Freshman Year appears to be functioning in its own sparkling new continuity based on the number of characters who have been announced to be on the show. Marvel, on the other hand, has yet to either deny or confirm that this is the case.
In the absence of Ned Leeds, Nico Minoru (from Runaways fame) becomes Peter’s best friend, and he gets to know the Osborns and teams up with Daredevil long before Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Things have shifted, at least on the surface.
Is there a connection between this and No Way Home?
Who knows… if the first time was the charm.
At SDCC, there was a fascinating image of Norman meeting Peter and Aunt May, which is clearly an alternate version of Tony’s arrival at the Parker apartment in Civil War. There’s no other explanation for this.
The official press release, on the other hand, continues to imply that this is all part of the MCU.
If Freshman Year is half as fantastic as Spectacular Spider-Man, then by all means, use whatever canon you want.
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to get a solid response to this topic until Spider-Man: Freshman Year is out. It won’t be available on Disney+ until 2024 at the earliest.