Japanese animation studio Polygon Pictures has been tapped to work on Marvel Studios‘ upcoming Disney+ series Spider-Man: Freshman Year.
“Polygon Pictures (‘PPI,’ President and CEO: Shuzo Shiota, Head Office: Tokyo, Japan) is proud to announce its involvement in Marvel Studios’ upcoming animated series, Spider-Man: Freshman Year,” the studio wrote in a press release. “Marvel-published Spider-Man comics are beloved around the world, and the story and characters have been adapted into numerous TV series and other media. In Japan, the 2021 live-action film Spider-Man: No Way Home was a smash hit, becoming the first Hollywood film to earn over 4 billion yen at the domestic box-office since the start of the COVID pandemic.”
The release concludes, “Animation for Spider-Man: Freshman Year will be produced by Japanese digital animation studio, Polygon Pictures. We hope you are looking forward to this return to the world of Spider-Man, utilizing the latest CG technology!”
Polygon previously worked on several episodes of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars from 2011 to 2013. The studio later created the animation for fellow Lucasfilm show Star Wars Resistance, which ran for two seasons from 2018 to 2020. Additional Polygon productions include animated series like Tron: Uprising, Transformers: Prime, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015). The studio also produced Toho and Netflix’s trilogy of Godzilla animated films that released from 2017 to 2018.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year is scheduled for 2024
Spider-Man: Freshman Year is inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s live-action Spider-Man films. However, it takes place in an alternate reality. As its title implies, the upcoming animated series chronicles Peter Parker‘s origins as Spider-Man during his early days in high school. Freshman Year is currently expected to premiere on Disney+ in 2024. A second season, titled Spider-Man: Sophomore Year, is also in the works.
In addition to Peter himself, Freshman Year will feature other returning characters from the MCU, including Mac Gargan/Scorpion, Dr. Stephen Strange, and Nico Minoru. Charlie Cox is even attached to reprise his role as Matt Murdock/Daredevil. That said, the animated series will also include characters who do not currently have mainstream MCU counterparts, such as Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina’s version doesn’t count) and Norman Osborn. In fact, in this reality, Norman — not Tony Stark — serves as Peter’s mentor figure.
