Disney+ Makes Major Addition to Service for Marvel Fans
Disney+ is adding even more Marvel movies to the service for fans to check out for the first time or the millionth. The new collection includes all three movies in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is linked to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will also be available this week.
Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007) will all join Disney+ on April 21, as well as the Andrew Garfield-starring The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), which stars Tom Holland as the friendly neighborhood web-slinger, and Tom Hardy's Venom (2018) will be available on Disney+ starting on May 12. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) are available on Disney's Hulu with the Starz add-on.
Sony Pictures is the only major Hollywood studio without its own streaming platform, so it has made licensing deals with streamers indiscriminately to make its movies and shows available. In April 2021, Sony signed a deal with Disney to bring its Spider-Man and other Marvel properties to Disney+. The deal covers theatrical releases between 2022 and 2026, meaning it will soon be Morbin' time for Disney+ subscribers when Morbius (2022) comes to the platform. Like Sony's deal with Netflix, the deal with Disney only covers the U.S.
The most important part of the deal for Disney is that it guarantees the MCU-connected Spider-Man movies will be available alongside the other films in the universe. After The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a disappointment, Disney and Marvel Studios began working on a plan to bring Spidey to the MCU, resulting in Holland's take on the character swinging into Captain America: Civil War (2016). Holland also appeared in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), while major MCU characters Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) appeared in Holland's solo Spider-Man movies.
No Way Home also saw several characters from the previous Spider-Man franchises make cameos. Garfield and Maguire both played their versions of Spider-Man/Peter Parker. Aldred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, and Willem Dafoe played their villains from the Raimi films, while Jamie Foxx and Rhys Ifans played their Amazing villains. Hardy also had a cameo as Eddie Brock.