‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ Showrunner Jeff Trammel Gives Us the Scoop on the New Disney+ Show

This article was written for the February ’25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 347).

Few stories have been told in a wider range of styles, tones and mediums than that of Spider-Man. Since his first appearance in Marvel Comics’ Amazing Fantasy in August of 1962, the web slinger has been incarnated into numerous comics, live action and animated film and TV, the stage and to video games at an unparalleled rate. Yet, we can’t get enough of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s friendly superhero, and Marvel continues to be ready to fill that demand.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is one of the rare Spidey stories produced by Marvel Studios, who co-produce the live action Tom Holland flicks alongside Sony, which are completely separate from the Spider-verse movies. With the studio looking to take up more real estate in animation after the sweeping success of the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse movies, they turned to creator Jeff Trammell to craft a new story based on their most famous character.

“I was working at Cartoon Network on Craig of the Creek when I had the opportunity to meet with Brad Winderbaum, the head of streaming at Marvel Studios,” Trammell tells Animation Magazine. “Brad and I hit it off and he mentioned that Marvel was moving into the animation space and asked if I’d be interested in pitching on any projects. Being a life-long comic-book fan, I said ‘of course’ and within a month I was asked to pitch an animated Marvel project. After pitching that to Brad and Kevin Feige, I was offered the opportunity to develop a Spider-Man animated series.”

The Peter Parker Legacy

For Trammel, leaning into the universality of Spider-Man’s story was the key for having his show stand out in a pantheon of Peter Parkers. “We’ve all experienced self-doubt, the uncomfortable feeling of both wanting to be cool and well-liked but also wanting to go unnoticed at the same time for fear of feeling embarrassed,” says Trammell. “Peter’s humanity is what makes Spider-Man interesting: He’s still learning, whether he’s 14 or 35. That’s why digging into who Peter is and who his support system is has always been the most fascinating part of his journey to me.”

He adds, “Peter Parker has many friends over the years but Peter and Nico Minoru as best friends? That’s new, that’s unique and that immediately changes your perception of his world, because it changes Peter’s perception as well. The same goes for Harry and Norman Osborn, Lonnie Lincoln, and so on. These are characters you may know but not necessarily the ones you’re familiar with, which again, allows us to go down a familiar avenue but in an entirely unexpected way.”

Another step towards differentiating Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was setting it outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) timeline, currently inhabited by Tom Holland’s iteration of the character who is constantly embroiled in world ending threats. “I’m a huge fan of the MCU Spider-Man films, but if our show existed in the main MCU timeline, we would be severely limited in the types of stories we could tell and would have a pretty short shelf life,” says Trammell. “Taking place in a sister timeline one universe over allows us quite a bit more freedom and helps us tell stories that don’t necessarily have to go down a familiar route. One of the big things we wanted from the series was to not only show Spidey at his peak but also his valleys, he has his fair share of victories but experiences some big losses as well, which will hopefully make him a more adept hero in the long run.”

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is visually distinct too, crafting a classic look without the use of 2D animation. “Everything in the series is 3D animation. We work in a CG pipeline but managed to find a way to achieve the 2D look of that classic comic-book style that was such an inspiration for us,” says Trammell, who points to the collaborating studios as key to weaving the show’s visuals. “We’ve been lucky enough to work with our excellent vendor studios, Polygon Pictures in Tokyo and CGCG in Taipei. We actually chose Polygon as our partners due to their 2D look development. As fans of their previous work, we knew they could help us zero in on the style we wanted but also keep the characters feeling alive and real, without feeling stiff and mechanical.”

“Because the show takes place in a sister timeline from the MCU, it allows us quite a bit more freedom so we can tell stories that don’t necessarily have to go down a route you know.”

— Exec producer & showrunner Jeff Trammell

Sony’s Spider-Verse series is renowned for its simultaneous depiction of multiple art styles. Trammell pointed to the immense challenge of crafting something distinct from what Sony Pictures Animation cooked up, “The Spider-Verse films are so incredible and convey so many different styles that it was honestly a little tough to find one that allowed us to visually separate ourselves until we really decided to lean in on that classic early comic-book era Spider-Man style,” he explains. “Looking at John Romita and Steve Ditko as inspiration then being able to modernize that style thanks to artists like our lead character designer, Leo Romero, allowed us to really plant our flag in a style that feels like a moving comic book.”

Trammell was specific in what he wanted to emulate from the comics, “Especially when it came to developing looks for our super villains and a few of the suits Peter wears over the course of the season, the comics were huge inspirations,” he points out. “In addition to leaning on the classic Spidey comics, we were also lucky enough to work with many artists working in comics today, including Chris Samnee, Paolo Rivera and Ethan Young, just to name a few.”

Casting a Fresh Web

Of all the eras of Spidey comics, the ’80s stand out as a particular influence on the show, apparent in the character design. However, Trammell was keen to balance that with fresh takes on familiar friends and foes, “There are a few characters where we really leaned into those classic looks, Peter is of course one of them and there are a few other Easter eggs for other characters, especially some of our villains,” he notes. “But other characters are appearing in this setting for the first time or have been completely reimagined, like Norman Osborn. When figuring out a new spin on a classic character, I usually write up how I picture them and share a bit of their story arc as well as a few words that really capture the core values of how we see them coming across. From there we work with our character designers to create something new but still retain familiarities that allow them to feel reminiscent of their classic version.”

As much as Trammell’s love for the web-head spans mediums, the Spider-Man story he holds closest is the symbiote arc from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ran on Fox Kids (1994-1998). “I would’ve been about five or six when that show was on the air, and I still remember the feeling of seeing Spider-Man in his cool black suit years before I’d ever read the comics,” he remembers. “Seeing Peter fight for control and the introduction of Venom soon after, those memories are so clear in my mind of a time when Spider-Man went from being one of my favorite heroes to the favorite. That’s one of the reasons I’m so excited for this show, because hopefully many years from now someone will say these things about Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.”

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Premieres on Disney+ on January 29.