Spider-Man is the superhero that just keeps on going. More than any other superhero, this one keeps getting reincarnated in different forms and areas, and almost all of it seems to work. Even when it’s as unlikely as possible, (a black and white Spider-Noir show,) somehow this ends up working. For example, there’s no theatrical animated Superman or Batman movie (granted there was a Lego Batman movie, but that was a one-off, and never heard from again.) In the case of Spider-Man, we have an animated trilogy released in theaters (The Spiderverse movies,) that are so influential they have sent ripples out into the live action world, and have even completely manipulated the live action superhero genre.
The Spider-verse movies blew open the door to the multiverse concept. That is to say that the concept existed before these films (in things like 2009’s Star Trek,) but never really caught on in such a way that the general pubic was aware of it. For example, the term “Multiverse,” only caught on from these Spider-Man movies. And then the next thing you know, the third live action Marvel Spider-Man movie, (Spider-Man: No Way Home,) is using the exact concept from these animated films, and is using it to bring back the original Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. All of that comes directly from the ideas of the Spider-verse movies.
So why is this year so unique compared to other years in the Spider-Man world? After all, there’s no new Spiderverse movie this year and no new Spider-Man playstation video game. The answer is threefold. First, in the fall we will get the release of the second Disney Plus season of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.” This is a terrific show that uses a young, new form of animation and color grading to tell a new version of the Spider-Man story. And it does that by using references and Easter Eggs to moments that happened in the MCU. So, for example, it is Norman Osbourne here, and not Tony Stark who is the tech-billionaire mentor that first gives Peter Parker a super up Spider suit, but the music and beats and scene where Norman appears in Aunt May’s apartment to first meet Peter. is beat for beat and word for word, exactly as it was in the MCU (where it featured Tony Stark in place of Osbourne,) in the movie Captain America: Civil War. So moments like that are incredibly cool and fun to watch for.
Aside from a new season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, we also get Spider-Man on TV (streaming) in the form of Spider-Noir. This is another example of something directly inspired by the Spider-Verse movies. That’s where this character first appeared (other than in the comics,) and where the character was made aware to audiences. Also, in that movie, the character is voiced by the great Nicolas Cage. Well, guess what? That same actor is voicing the character in all of the Spider-Noir episodes. Seeing that kind of cross-over between projects to connect them together is always awesome. And Spider-Noir looks incredibly interesting and creative, especially in its black and white form.
The final major Spider-Man project this year is the biggest. A new Spider-Man movie. Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s the fourth live action Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland (and seventh movie Holland has appeared as the character in, including two Avengers movies and Captain America: Civil War.) Holland is in my opinion, by far the best actor to play Spider-Man. He’s the one actor who actually seems like a kid. And he really does convince in terms of the nerdy, nervous young man full of screw-up moves. It’s so great that this is the version of Spider-Man at the movies that we keep getting more of (neither Maguire nor Garfield appeared in four of his own Spidey films, with Maguire topping the list with only three movies.) That being said, technically Maguire appeared in four Spidey movies, since he was in No Way Home, but that was Holland’s movie. And so the case stands that Holland will be the first actor to get four live action Spidey movies of his own.
This movie is sure to be awesome. First off, all three movies in the Holland trilogy (the Home trilogy if you will, as that word appears in all three titles,) are pretty good. The first and third are especially great. And then there’s the director of this fourth movie, Destin Daniel Creton. He made Shang Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings, and that movie was pretty awesome. On top of that, whatever they are doing with this new Spider-Man movie, based on the trailer, looks pretty cool. Granted they haven’t given away who the real villain is yet, but they certainly show us Spidey fighting a handful of other villains including Scorpion (bringing back Michael Mando from Spider-Man Homecoming,) and the Ninja Gang from Daredevil, The Hand. Whatever they are doing definitely looks cool.
And there you have it. A very interesting year for Spider-Man. He’s even got new appearances in video-games being released this year, such as Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, which seems to use an anime style to bring a Marvel Vs Capcom-like one on one fighting game together. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of games, with Playstation currently in development on a third Spider-Man game, following their incredibly popular first two versions. And Spider-Man Beyond the Spiderverse will be released in June of next year, 2027. So there’s plenty more to come. But for now, let’s enjoy this amazing year we are in, and all of these fantastic-looking Spider-Man projects.