Executive Producer Chris Moreno on the Fun and Emotional Lessons of "Marvel’s Spidey and the Avengers Halloween Team Up"
For generations of fans, an animated Spider-Man show has often been their first guide into the Marvel universe. Executive producer Chris Moreno understands the significance of that introduction on a personal level. As the creative team behind Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends prepares to expand its world in Marvel’s Spidey and the Avengers Halloween Team Up, Moreno drew on his own childhood affection for the character while crafting an adventure centered on friendship, confidence and the sometimes surprising ways heroes confront fear.
“It’s tremendously gratifying,” Moreno said of welcoming children to Marvel through the Disney Jr. series. “I grew up as a Spider-Man fan from when I was a little kid, and I know how formative the character can be for young kids.” What stayed with him was more than Spider-Man’s instantly recognizable appearance. It was also the hero’s personality, the ideals he represents and his place within a neighborhood that depends on him.
Those qualities align naturally with lessons preschoolers are beginning to encounter in their own lives. Moreno sees Spider-Man’s world as a way to explore “being a good friend, being a good neighbor, being part of a community,” subjects that can be made accessible without losing the action and humor audiences expect. He is also conscious that today’s Disney Jr. viewers may carry this version of Spider-Man with them for years. “To think about the history of the character and to feel like our show is part of that for this next generation of kids, I just think it’s really cool,” he said.
Spider-Man’s defining sense of responsibility also shapes Moreno’s approach behind the scenes. “I really do treat it like a responsibility to do the character justice, but also make entertaining stories with heart that kids of all ages can enjoy, but specifically our young audience,” he explained. That balance becomes especially important in a holiday special, which has to feel recognizably Marvel while offering a story children can revisit as part of their annual Halloween traditions.
The new special introduces Hallows’ Eve, a comics character whose name made her an obvious candidate for a Halloween adventure, even if she was not an obvious fit for preschool television. The production found its version of the villain by preserving selected ideas from the source material and reshaping them around the tone of the series. “We are borrowing from characters from the comics and from some of the other media, but we are sort of doing our own versions of them for the audience,” Moreno said.
In this incarnation, Hallows’ Eve becomes a more magical and mischievous presence, geared specifically toward the holiday. Jack O’Lantern receives a similar transformation, serving as her playful henchman while the pair spreads, as Moreno put it, “more tricks than treats.” The process depends on close collaboration with Marvel to identify what is essential, whether that comes from a character’s visual identity or a piece of comic book lore, and then find “that sort of preschool fun” within it.
Music helps the series make those reinventions feel distinctly its own. The special casts HAIM’s Este Haim as Hallows’ Eve and turns longtime series composer Patrick Stump into Jack O’Lantern. Stump’s contribution has extended throughout the life of the show, from its bright original songs to the score that gives the series its energy. Moreno appreciates that the music can contain hints of Spider-Man’s animated past while remaining unmistakably Stump’s creation.
The Halloween special also reveals another side of the musician as a performer. “This other side of him as a voice actor for our characters, just tremendous multi-talent,” Moreno said. “We’re just lucky to have him.” Casting artists so closely tied to the music gives the seasonal characters a playful identity that supports both the story and the show’s larger sound.
As its title promises, Marvel’s Spidey and the Avengers Halloween Team Up reaches beyond the core Spidey team and welcomes a sizable roster of heroes. Moreno said the key to managing a large ensemble is finding one or two characters who can emotionally anchor the story. This time, that character is the Hulk. The special finds humor and heart in the contrast between the Avengers’ greatest physical powerhouse and the ordinary fears that can surface when Halloween turns spooky.
“It’s really nice to have a story that’s kind of about our biggest, strongest Avenger also having very human fears,” Moreno said. The Hulk does not have to face those fears alone, and his friends’ efforts to help him become an expression of the team-up idea at the heart of the series. Spidey may protect a friendly neighborhood, but Moreno noted that he is also part of a wider community of heroes, which means “there’s always room for more.”
That camaraderie gives the creative team room to bring in more familiar faces without allowing the special to become a parade of appearances. Each hero can contribute to an adventure whose emotional stakes remain simple and recognizable. For children who may think strength means never being frightened, the Hulk’s story presents a different idea: Courage can include admitting fear and accepting support from the people around you.
Halloween itself gives the production another way to connect superhero storytelling with children’s lives. Moreno is a fan of comics and animation, and he sees holiday stories as a staple of both forms. More importantly, dressing up and pretending are already central to the way young children experience Halloween. The special explores how putting on a costume can change the way someone feels, helping a child become more confident or see something new in themselves.
“These are just really core experiences for kids,” Moreno said, pointing to the gatherings, families and communities that surround holidays. The creative opportunity comes from filtering those experiences through superhero action and adventure. That combination can make the fantastic feel relatable, while allowing familiar emotions to unfold on a scale worthy of Spider-Man and the Avengers.
For Moreno, the most important takeaway returns to the fear at the center of the Hulk’s story. “Fears and things like that are things that every kid kind of goes through,” he said. “I do really love how this special is about sort of overcoming your fears and also relying on your friends to kind of help you through it.” In a series built around responsibility, community and teamwork, the Halloween special finds heroism not only in confronting a villain, but in trusting others enough to face something frightening together.
Marvel’s Spidey and the Avengers Halloween Team Up premieres September 24 on Disney Jr. and streams the next day on Disney+.