In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, executive producer Brad Winderbaum clarified the placement of Spider-Man: Freshman Year in the main MCU timeline in which he confirmed that, because of the multiverse, it won’t be set in Earth-616 and it is set in a world where Norman Osborn is Peter Parker’s mentor instead of Tony Stark.
“Well, like we said, in the panel, it follows the pattern that you see in [Captain America:] Civil War,” Winderbaum said. “Down to Peter getting the broken Blu-ray player from the trash and he walks into his apartment for the famous moment where Tony Stark is waiting for him to offer him the Stark internship and take him to Berlin.”
He continued, “But because of things that happen in the multiverse, because of new, random occurrences, it’s not Tony Stark who’s waiting for him there. It’s Norman Osborn and that sends his life in an unexpected trajectory that collides him with many unexpected characters in the Marvel universe.”
The outlet noted that, while the series is still hypothetically set before Captain America: Civil War, it will be like a What If…? situation where we see them have an alternative take on Peter Parker’s journey in the MCU where Norman Osborn becomes his mentor (like in the comics) instead.
It is an interesting direction for the series as it gives them a fresh take on the Spider-Man story and it answers some of the questions of why the hero will team up with Daredevil and Doctor Strange in the series and will feature characters that were never acknowledged in the MCU. At least, we now have a clarification on where the series stands in the MCU timeline that we know of.
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Spider-Man: Freshman Year is slated to release on Disney+ in 2024.
