In order to avoid upsetting the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe with the cartoon series, Marvel Studios is reportedly closely working with the creative team of Disney Junior’s animated series ‘Spidey and His Amazing Friends’. Cosmic_marvel has revealed the cooperation, which not only manifests but also supports the studio’s unbroken dedication to maintaining the narrative unity across its vast multimedia empire, including programs for preschoolers. It is the super-size and complicated ship that has to be navigated all the time and in very sophisticated manner to the right point.
When we get deeper into the issue, it does not cease to amaze when viewed from this perspective. Marvel Studios, the gigantic ruler of the cinema world, has been in constant contact with the animation team for the children cartoon series which is already quite distant from the main Marvel developments. Spidey and His Amazing Friends is the incredibly colorful and cheerful series where Spider-Man is joined by Ghost-Spider and Miles Morales to discover and solve problems that are really suitable for kindergarten. The kids’ adventures are pretty much like saving a picnic from a flea and not fighting Thanos. Read the tweet and Marvel higher-ups are agreeing that even the smallest adventures of the show do not clash with the premium MCU timeline. This seems like the highest form of micromanagement or on the other hand, just the opposite side of the coin, love? It really depends on how you see the situation.
The online reaction was, as expected, a complete mixture of opinions. Some gamers and fans took it as a positive development. A user, Jeremy Riley, opined that it was a good way to create a secure, alternative universe for the kids. He justified this opinion by stating, “I perceive Spidey and His Amazing Friends to be a cute alternate universe for parents to introduce their kids to the webslinger without exposing them to the usual comic book violence.” That really is a great point. It’s almost like giving a child a training wheels version of the MCU.
But then the feedback was pure chaos and disbelief everywhere. A lot of users just could not figure out what the heck was going on and were trying to reason it out. User ‘needsaucee’ even claimed, “There is absolutely no way that this show could possibly conflict with the mcu.” And they are right, aren’t they? Is the kid going to get the characters using Blip references while learning to share? I doubt it. Then another user ‘super_doomed’ encapsulated all the doubt by just posting “A literal kids show..”.
The funny comments were the ones that, already, pictured this version of Spidey participating in the combined mega-events of the future. RunnerBean humorously asked, “What if these characters show up in Secret Wars?” which is quite true; now that everything to do with multiverse is an accepted fact, who is going to stop us from seeing a cartoonishly oversized-headed Spidey blending into a live-action battle in ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’? Another individual, Metal Reigns, posted a meme with the caption, “They better put this mf in Beyond the Spiderverse.” The idea is outrageous but at the same time… not entirely impossible anymore. The multiverse is the way to many powers that some might consider to be unnatural.
Some people were truly confused by the rationale. Peter M. Ogwara pondered, “Why on earth do they need to coordinate? Wouldn’t the woke point of separate universes be the opportunity of vast differences?” And that is a very philosophical question indeed. If the MCU has officially adopted the multiverse where literally anything can happen, why keep the kids’ show under control? It seems almost like a paradox. But then, maybe it’s not about preventing contradictions, but about preserving a brand tone. Maybe they are afraid that the adorable show will unintentionally make a very dark MCU event reference, even if it’s indirect. It’s just brand management 101, I guess.
The discussion also took a turn towards a debate about the quality of previous Spider-Man cartoons, which is just typical internet behavior. User ‘needsaucee’ also expressed his dissatisfaction by saying, “Can’t believe we haven’t had a show like ultimate spiderman in years but we have this.” That triggered a whole sub-thread where people were discussing whether ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ was even good, with user ‘wondersduhveed’ firing back, “We’re pretending ultimate spider man is some kind of good show now???😭😭” It’s a reminder that for every piece of Marvel news, there’s a contingent of players ready to debate the entire history of the character’s adaptations.
So what does all this mean for us gamers and movie watchers? It just shows one thing: Marvel’s vision is completely monolithic. Apparently, nothing escapes the eagle eye of Kevin Feige, not even the lowest kids’ cartoons on Disney Junior.
