Since rebranding and falling under the purview of Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studio, Brad Winderbaum in 2021, Marvel Animation’s projects have been far more hit than miss. The first seasons of X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man debuted to strong critical reviews and an even stronger audience response, building excitement for sophomore seasons.
In early 2025, Winderbaum confirmed that both series would return to D+ in 2026 and shared his wish that both would become annual releases for the studio. “Season 2 of X-Men ‘97 is going to be in ‘26. We’re working on it now. To me, it’s important to try to get to an annual cadence with these shows and to have something that people can rely on,” Winderbaum proclaimed, adding “We will have a Spider-Man season every year if I have anything to say about it.” As the head of streaming, Winderbaum does indeed have something to say about it and now, he has said it.
While promoting Marvel Animation’s latest release, Marvel Zombies, Winderbaum revealed that both X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are on the books for annual releases for “the next few years.”
What’s exciting about the next few years is that we’re going to get subsequent seasons of X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on an annual cadence. So every year, there’ll be a new season and we can map out a longer arc to those stories.
-Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studio, Brad Winderbaum
Under original showrunner Beau DeMayo, X-Men ’97 looked set to run for five seasons and adapt major Marvel Comic storylines such as Age of Apocalypse. With Marvel Studios moving on from DeMayo, however, progress on the show slowed, pushing season two off the studio’s 2025 streaming slate and into 2026. Winderbaum‘s latest comments could be interpreted as an indication that the new showrunner, Matthew Chauncey, has hit his stride in outlining and developing future seasons of the show.
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