Marvel Animation has an illustrious year ahead.
Following the series finale of What If…? — and with Season 2 of X-Men ’97 currently in production — Marvel Animation will debut three new series on Disney+ in 2025. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will premiere first on Wednesday, January 29, followed by Eyes of Wakanda on Wednesday, August 6, and Marvel Zombies on Friday, October 3.
“Everybody who works on these shows is so passionate and works so hard,” Brad Winderbaum, Head of Marvel Television and Marvel Animation, said. “To feel so much love from Marvel fans — before any of these shows is even out— is really affirming.”
Before each series premieres, here’s a look at what audiences can expect:
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Streaming January 29, 2025, on Disney+
From head writer Jeff Trammell, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man follows Peter Parker (voiced by Hudson Thames) on his way to becoming a hero. It’s a journey unlike audiences have ever seen with a style that celebrates the character’s comic book origins.
Trammell — an avid comic book reader who fell in love with the animated series Spider-Man (1994–98) as a young child — is excited to tell a new story set outside of the MCU.
“We have the privilege of following the movies and shows, so we pay homage to them as well as the comics,” he said. “We build on things we’ve seen before but present them in new ways. We use those expectations to our advantage and turn things away from where you might expect. I’m excited for people to see new twists on classic characters, and I’m also excited to introduce characters that aren’t normally featured in Spider-Man stories.”
One of the most exciting twists is the series’ take on Norman Osborn, the self-made, ruthless industrialist (voiced by Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo) who plays a big role in Peter’s evolution.
“It was Jeff Trammell who had the idea to cast Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn,” Winderbaum said. “The character is such a rich and complicated mentor for Peter, so we really needed an actor who could deliver many different dimensions. You can see in his work that he’s so multifaceted, so I can’t wait for the world to see his version of Norman.”
Rounding out the voice cast of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy, and Charlie Cox (reprising his role as Daredevil).
“You’re going to see some familiar faces — and if you’re a fan of Chameleon, you’re going to see a few of his faces,” Trammell joked. “You’re also going to see Scorpion, as well as a few characters who may seem new, like Speed Demon or Butane. We have a huge rogues gallery to play with, and so we’re looking forward to putting some of them in the forefront.”
Winderbaum added, “There’s a reason why we changed the title to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It’s about the neighborhood. It’s an ensemble show. Every character is well-defined and has amazing arcs, from Peter and Nico to Lonnie and Pearl.”
Eyes of Wakanda
Streaming August 6, 2025, on Disney+
The four-episode series Eyes of Wakanda tells the stories of brave Wakandan warriors throughout history. In this globe-trotting adventure, the heroes — the Hatut Zaraze — must complete dangerous missions to retrieve Vibranium artifacts from Wakanda’s enemies.
“This has been a long time coming,” showrunner Todd Harris said. “The story has been stewing for a long time in my head. I’m a big believer in what Wakanda represents to mankind as a place that’s untethered by expansion. It has drawn a line — a line it won’t cross and it won’t let anybody else cross.”
Think of the Hatut Zaraze “like Wakanda’s CIA,” Winderbaum explained. “They often have to venture out to regain stolen Vibranium, but they also have to keep secrets well-hidden so that Wakanda can ward off invaders and stay safe. The Hatut Zaraze are challenged in different ways to stay loyal to Wakanda as they discover the rest of the world around them.”
Only through the medium of animation could these ambitious, centuries-spanning stories be told, Harris added. “Animation is the ultimate equalizer of locations,” he said “Egypt costs just as much as New York City, and the moon costs just as much as Ohio. Filming around the globe has inherent limitations that we just don’t have in animation. That freedom allowed us to reimagine an idealized version of an era that’s unaffected by human history.”
Eyes of Wakanda features the voices of Winnie Harlow, Cress Williams, Patricia Belcher, Larry Herron, Adam Gold, Lynn Whitfield, Jacques Colimon, Jona Xiao, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Gary Anthony Williams, Zeke Alton, Steve Toussaint, and Disney Legend Anika Noni Rose. Academy Award nominee Ryan Coogler, the filmmaker behind Marvel Studios’ Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2023), executive produces alongside Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Kalia King, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt.
Harris said, “Everyone working on this all loves the same thing: Wakanda.”
Marvel Zombies
Streaming October 3, 2025, on Disney+
The fifth episode from Season 1 of What If…? pondered the possibility of an alternate reality in which the MCU films Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) ended differently — resulting in a zombie apocalypse that left a few surviving heroes in search of a cure. That episode inspired the new series Marvel Zombies.
“Brad and Kevin loved the What If…? episode so much. They were like, ‘We need more zombies!’” showrunner Bryan Andrews recalled. “They said, ‘Let’s do a sequel to that episode — but let’s do four episodes, like a mini-movie event.’ So, we’re upping the ante.”
“It’s TV-MA, so we don’t have to pull punches,” Andrews continued. “We can be a little bit more hardcore. We go for the throat — no pun intended. It’s pretty wild, pretty out there.”
Perhaps ironically, Marvel Zombies also has a lot of heart.
“In many ways, animation is the most direct access you’ll ever have to a filmmaker’s imagination. If you can conjure it in your mind, you can put it onscreen. Marvel Zombies is proof of that,” Winderbaum said. “It’s not just a zombie story, it’s a sweeping adventure — one with themes of hope and despair, and that’s what you want from a rich zombie story.”
Marvel Zombies features the voices of MCU stars Awkwafina, David Harbour, Simu Liu, Elizabeth Olsen, Randall Park, Florence Pugh, Hailee Steinfeld, Dominique Thorne, and Iman Vellani. “An old favorite also shows up: Zombie Cap makes an appearance,” Andrews teased. “He has quite a scuffle with another main character, and I think fans will love it.”
(Source: Disney)
