Creating a new Spider-Man series for Hulu would be a colossally bad decision. That was never going to happen.
Creating a new Spider-Man series for Hulu would be a colossally bad decision. That was never going to happen.
Why is it a colossal mistake? Seeing Peter and MJ as adults on Hulu is better then a prequel to the MCU movies. There have been Peter High School cartoons since 1967, before most of us were born. Not to mention the best version of Spider-Man ( TV or movies) was Into The Spider Verse featuring a teenage Miles and an adult Peter and MJ. I have absolutely no interest in watching this.
Disney Plus is the global platform for Marvel Studios TV shows. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a huge, huge, huge success and a big factor in people's interest in the Disney Plus Marvel Studios TV shows.
Marvel Studios are not going to make a Spider-Man cartoon that's detached from the MCU, targets adults, and is exclusive to a smaller platform that's only available in two countries. That makes no business sense. It was never going to happen. It's unreasonable to think that was ever an option.
The only main benefit I can see for this show is expanding on the stuff in-between the movies and fleshing the characters and their relationships out (like when did Peter star liking Michelle?), and maybe showing Spider-Man actually fighting crime and doing his normal Spider-Man stuff, but I'm not sure how much of that they can really do if they rigidly follow the movies.
I also would be surprised if Mick Wingert's Tony Stark and Jon Favreau's Happy make fairly frequent appearances, if not in "Freshman Year." Because they can't help themselves.
From a creative sense, though, I think there would at least be some benefit in offering up something different with the character (not that I'm advocating for Hulu or necessarily an adult-oriented Spider-Man cartoon).
If Marvel wants to do a teenage Spider-Man cartoon, then why not Center it around Miles? This is especially true when they are trying to reach more minorities? I think it is because “The House Of Ideas” ( Marvel) is out of ideas and all we see are repeats of old ( and sometimes despised) ideas ( Mephisto with Otto and Miles being exhibit:A), but also instead of new villains we see female versions of Otto, Dillion and now Norman/Harry.
Marvel can easily force other superheroes into this cartoon. I went to IMDB and looked up Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends from 40 years ago. That had Shanna ( which to my knowledge is one of ( if not the only time they met), Cyclops Cap and Iceman. I could easily see Iron Man, Cap and yes, Miles. Also the Ultimate cartoon with Miles, Natasha, Scott Lang and others. Both cases had a teenage Peter and other superheroes. This is simply another attempt to put Peter back in High School. I have little doubt that Marvel would de-age Peter back to High School in Amazing ( 13 going on 30 style) if they were not afraid sales would absolutely tank.
They're not going to do a Marvel Cinematic Universe Miles Morales Spider-Man cartoon before they've introduced him in live action. The future of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is uncertain, given that Sony has the film rights. It makes sense for the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man cartoon to fill the gaps in the continuity they already have, rather than prematurely introduce an important character in a way that could conflict with or undermine future films.
I'd rather they had just done an original Spider-Man cartoon.
I would agree if Into The Spider Verse was a failure or even mediocre, but that film even won an Oscar. Not to mention the fact that Marvel thought nothing about putting Miles in a Mephisto deal, despite how despised OMD and its aftermath is with fans and critics alike. No this is simply Marvel going back to the Peter in High School plot yet one more time. I suspect just like Amazing Friends 40 years ago, this too will fail, and instead of admitting this is a mistake they will be like Wily E Coyote and will try and try ( and fail) again ( just like trying to make OMD work when it sucks).
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
Right now, it makes more sense for Marvel Studios to make a Spider-Man show in the universe they've already established. The interconnectedness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a huge selling point for the shows/films, and the Disney Plus service.
There will be original Spider-Man cartoons later down the line. I'd expect them to specifically target children though, rather than the family audience.
Take a step back.
Marvel Studios are making a Spider-Man cartoon set in their wildly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, joining their other Marvel Cinematic Universe TV shows on Disney Plus.
You're arguing that this is a bad idea that will fail and that they would have a better chance of success if they made a non-MCU adult Spider-Man cartoon for Hulu instead. But you haven't been able to present a single coherent argument as to why.
It's okay to say "This isn't to my tastes", rather than "This isn't to my tastes and therefore it's a bad business decision that will fail".
It's definitely going to follow the continuity of the original show, otherwise they wouldn't have named it X-Men '97, after the year the show ended. They'll probably keep it fairly accessible though, for people who haven't seen the original show.
X-Men is an interesting one. They have the rights back, and clearly want to use them, but a Marvel Cinematic Universe X-Men film is still a long way down Marvel Studios' schedule, and it's too big of a property to debut as a TV show rather than a movie.
So X-Men '97 is a good, fan pleasing stop-gap, reviving the most popular X-Men cartoon rather than introducing a new version that will conflict with or take the wind out the sails of their eventual MCU debut.
Why would Marvel Studios want to do that? Marvel Studios have no involvement with that version of Spider-Man and it wouldn't tie into any of their other movies or Disney Plus shows. There would probably be extra legal hoops to jump through to use that version rather than the MCU version.
Into the Spider-Verse spin-offs are something Sony would be invested in, not Marvel Studios.