Pop Culture Pick: Marvel! Let Your Animation Teams Cook!

Give 'toons a chance

Image Credit: Disney+

Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, asking Marvel to let its animation team handle some characters. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite, Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite and Blue Sky: @jammerwhite.bsky.social

Today, the first two episodes of Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man (yes, I used the UK spelling of “neighbourhood,” I regret nothing) land on Disney+.

I haven’t written a full review of the show, but it’s a fresh, funny and entertaining new take on Peter Parker, this one hailing from a different universe to the usual MCU (though there are definite parallels beyond the presence of Pete and his various friends/enemies/frenemies).

The show also offers a welcome opportunity to remix elements from the Spider-Verse, and while its animation isn’t on the level of, well, Spider-Verse, it’s a creative take on the look of classic Spider-Man comics.

With Hudson Thames bringing joyful, familiar life to the character, the show, along with the entertaining recent third season of What If…? it got me thinking: Marvel, if you really want to expand your universe, let the talented teams who make your animated output utilize other characters!

It’s one thing for the likes of Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi and other more recent additions to pop up in episodes of the anthology series, but hear me out: what if, (pun intended) you brought in the creatives behind the likes of Ms. Marvel or Kate Bishop and had them work with the animation teams to craft limited series featuring those heroes.

Caveats: yes, I realize that the writers and directors are often off on other projects, and overloading the production pipeline has caused problems for the MCU in the past, but the likes of What If…? and now the new Spidey series are proof that it can work.

I’m not advocating pumping out a hundred series, just a few –– and yep, I’m well aware of how long it takes to make these shows, even if it isn’t quite the schedule of most animated movies –– but fans who want to see more from the lower-ranked characters would really appreciate not having to wait a decade for them to get a few minutes’ screen time in the next Avengers outing.

The gang behind What If…? have also proved they know how to offer interesting variations on the different characters, so why not let them loose on heroes that the movies are simply not using enough? We’ve been patiently waiting years for a Shang-Chi sequel, and that movie’s director, Daniel Destin Cretton has been working on other things (he’s currently preparing to make the next Spidey movie starring Tom Holland), so why not continue the hero’s story on the small screen until he’s ready to link up with the others (or star in his much-deserved movie follow-up).

All I’m really saying is, make use of the wealth of talent on the animation front to keep the MCU bubbling along for those of us who would be happy to watch our favourite characters in any medium.