The Thing Heralds The Fantastic Four's Return To Animation With Appearance In 'Spidey And His Amazing Friends'
The Thing Heralds The Fantastic Four's Return To Animation With Appearance In 'Spidey And His Amazing Friends'
Ben Grimm will be one of three characters joining for the series's next storyline, premiering August 18
It’s been nine years since the Fantastic Four have appeared in animation. The X-Men haven’t fared much better, after both teams were iced out while the film rights were still under 20th Century Fox. Then Disney bought Fox so that resolved the issue of character usage. X-Men ‘97 was announced in November 2021, and while Marvel’s first family doesn’t have a new dedicated animated series yet, an important first step has been taken: The Thing will be appearing in an upcoming arc of the current second season of Spidey and His Amazing Friends, voiced by Andy Milder.
He’s not alone either. Dee Bradley Baker will voice Ms. Marvel's teleporting dog, Lockjaw, normally a pet of the Inhumans, while the mind-uploaded power-hungry (Nazi) supervillain Zola will be voiced by Trevor Devall. Seems as if the name “Arnim” won’t come up. The story arc they will appear in is called "Web-Spinners". In it, Iron Man helps them create new hi-tech suits and gear that lets Team Spidey go on global crimefighting missions. It starts on August 18, with the episode "Stolen WEB-Quarters". The episode sees Zola seize the WEB-Quarters, and Team Spidey must figure out how to stop him from destroying the city.
Spidey and His Amazing Friends premiered on Disney Junior on August 6, 2021, the first preschool-aimed Marvel series. It features Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy, going by Ghost-Spider and Miles Morales, going by Spin, who together form Team Spidey. Doing so, they embark on heroic adventures to save their community and the day. This season, which began with the "Glow Webs Glow" storyline, the trio has already added Ant-Man, Wasp and Reptil, in addition to Iron Man to a roster of allies that started with Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Black Panther. While precedent shows that Grimm, Lockjaw and Zola will likely return, their specific roles and their frequency of appearances is unknown.
The series is a consistent top performer among animated series on Disney+. The “Web Spinners” arc’s opening theme sequence, once again set to the theme song composed by Patrick Stump, can be watched below.
Source: Comic Book Resources