Spider-Man: Freshman Year Canon Has Marvel Fans VERY Confused

A slew of new details about the upcoming animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year were announced today at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. The Marvel Animation panel brought word that Peter Parker's world will be expanding in a big way with the animated series, bringing in characters like Amadeus Cho, Harry Osborn, and Nico Minuro as classmates of Peter's. In addition the series will bring in classic Spider-Man villains including The Unicorn, Chameleon, Scorpion, Speed Demon, Tarantula, Butane, Carmella Black, Otto Octavius, and Norman Osborn; plus an appearance by Charlie Cox as Daredevil. All of this begs the question: wait, this is supposed to be MCU Canon?

When first announced, Spider-Man: Freshman Year came with the reveal that it was the animated origins of the MCU's Peter Parker, which was seemingly confirmed even further at today's panel when series head writer Jeff Trammell confirmed that it's set before the events of Captain America: Civil War. That notion, along with the reveal of all these characters appearing in the series has Marvel fans deeply confused. How can Doc Ock and Norman Osborn appear in the show when Spider-Man: No Way Home clearly established they weren't present in the MCU to begin with? If Daredevil knew Spider-Man beforehand, does that make the events of the Netflix series not-canon?

 The simplest answer seems like the likeliest, this probably isn't MCU canon and is its own universe. We'll find out soon enough. Spider-Man: Freshman Year comes exclusively to Disney+ in 2024.