By Cassandra Pinkney
The Walt Disney Company has a longstanding tradition of bringing beloved characters together to tell unique stories that audiences love. From ambitious Marvel Studios films like Avengers: Infinity War to fan-favorite Disney Channel episodes like “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana,” there is no shortage of shared-universe stories for Disney fans to enjoy. And now, Disney Jr. is adding another entry into this ever-growing rolodex when “Marvel’s Spidey and Iron Man: Avengers Team Up!” premieres October 16 (available on Disney+ the next day).
D23 recently spoke to Harrison Wilcox— who serves as executive producer on both Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends and Marvel’s Iron Man and his Awesome Friends—for all the behind-the-scenes scoop on this newest Marvel Team-Up! (Plus, we have an exclusive clip from the special!)
Wilcox understands this kind of excitement as well as anyone else: “I have young kids at home, and kids love get-togethers. Anyone who has ever been to a preschool or a birthday party knows how exciting a day with your friends can be.” The Spidey and Iron Man teams set out to capture this same kind of enthusiasm in the special. He continues, “The title of the show, Spidey and his Amazing Friends, does not undersell—Spidey does have some very amazing friends! And with the longer format of the special, it gave us a chance to see him sharing the screen with so many Avengers.”
The Avengers join forces when two ne’er-do-wells learn that team-ups aren’t just for heroes... Iron Man’s Ultron and Spidey’s Green Goblin form their own (devious) duo that tries to take over the city! But things don’t wind up the way they planned. “It turns out working together requires patience, hard work, understanding, and listening,” explains Wilcox. “Not things Ultron or [Green] Goblin have in their wheelhouse.” Unfortunately for these villains, the Avengers do—helping each other when they need to and relying on their friends when times get tough. There are plenty of instances of the Avengers working together as a crime-fighting Super Hero team, but Wilcox says he also hopes families will enjoy seeing the Avengers just “being kids together.”
Both Spidey and his Amazing Friends and Iron Man and his Awesome Friends tell stories that are deeply rooted in the history of Marvel and Super Hero storytelling—so both creative teams begin their story development by looking for stories in Marvel comics that can be turned into family-friendly television, stories that are “inherently [about] good versus evil,” Wilcox says. They use these frameworks to “demonstrate good behavior but also show what the consequence of bad behavior is,” an important lesson for young fans discovering that Super Heroes are “normal people doing extraordinary things.”
“Marvel’s Spidey and Iron Man: Avengers Team Up!” was made to be fun for the whole family. “I want kids to be able to learn and enjoy the Marvel universe and be able share that experience with their older siblings and their parents and their grandparents,” explains Wilcox. Prior to the premiere of Spidey and his Amazing Friends, Marvel did not have much in the way of preschool entertainment; Wilcox admits he felt like younger kids were being left out of the broader conversation about Marvel Super Heroes, and hopes that the new special can “continue this trend of… bringing in this younger audience so that they can find the same things that the rest of us love about Marvel.”
Before “Marvel’s Spidey and Iron Man: Avengers Team Up!” premieres this October, check out this exclusive clip from the episode, below!
“Marvel’s Spidey and Iron Man: Avengers Team Up!” premieres October 16 on Disney Jr. and on Disney+ the next day. And look for Marvel’s Spidey and his Awesome Friends and Marvel’s Iron Man and his Awesome Friends streaming now on Disney+.