Spider-Man‘s TV show legacy includes a recent hit series that has become one of the most-watched Marvel projects in recent years, and that show succeeds in its hardest task. Spider-Man has a major release on the way, one of the MCU’s biggest movies, Spider-Man: No Way Home. However, before that, we are finally getting a new live-action Spider-Man series.
That project is Spider-Noir, Prime Video’s standalone Marvel series based on the Spider-Man Noir variant of the hero from the comics. After giving life to the character in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Nicolas Cage now takes on the multiverse Spider-Man, albeit as a new, separate take on the same hero, in Spider-Noir. All eight episodes premiered on MGM+, with Prime Video’s release happening on May 27.
Given how Spider-Noir is the biggest Spider-Man TV show of the year, and the first for any version of the Marvel hero in quite some time, it makes sense that all the focus is on the Nicolas Cage show at the moment. However, there are many other Spider-Man TV shows. In fact, an animated Spider-Man series is also airing new episodes in 2026.
Spidey and his Amazing Friends season 4 rages on with new episodes released throughout 2026. The animated Spider-Man series has been released for two more seasons already, and it was the only Marvel show to enter Disney+’s Billion Hours Club in 2025. The show’s overwhelming success comes from its hardest task being accomplished.
Spider-Man’s Hit Animated Series Succeeds In Balancing Marvel Characters
Most Spider-Man projects and Marvel releases in general are geared towards pre-existing fans first and foremost. It is why so many superhero movies end up being so front-loaded at the box office. However, that is not the case for Spdey and his Amazing Friends. Given that the Spider-Man TV show is made with young audiences in mind, meaning kids who do not have any prior knowledge of Marvel, most of the time, the fact that it successfully manages to juggle so many Marvel characters with vibrant designs, updated dynamics, and more is commendable.
Firstly, Spidey and his Amazing Friends balances three protagonists, as Peter Parker shares the spotlight with Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, both of whom have powers and superhero personas. Additionally, the Spider-Man TV show acts as a gateway to the Marvel universe for first-time viewers. Several heroes and villains from different corners of the Marvel universe appear in the animated series, with characters like Captain America, the Thing, Ant-Man, Doc Ock, Green Goblin, and more staying true to their personalities despite being made younger in the show or aimed at young viewers.
Spider-Man’s TV Show Teaches A Lesson To Tom Holland’s Brand New Day
While there is no doubt that when all is said and done, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be the most memorable Spider-Man release of 2026, Spidey and his Amazing Friends teach the lesson that hopefully the MCU movie took into account. By that, I mean knowing how to balance so many different Marvel characters from other corners of the franchise in a concise way that still makes the project a firm Spider-Man story. Marvel mostly understood that assignment in Spider-Man: No Way Home, juggling multiverse and MCU characters.
However, in that film, the focus was on the Spider-Man franchise and variants of those same characters. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the MCU is opening an entirely different can of worms. You have Jon Bernthal’s hyper-violent Punisher with Mark Ruffalo’s at times goofy Bruce Banner and the return of the Savage Hulk, and reportedly the debut of the X-Men’s Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink. There are a lot of moving parts, and by taking notes of what the Spider-Man TV show did, the upcoming MCU movie could find the same success on a larger scale.
