The Spider-Man Films Are Heading to Disney+ So What Does That Mean for the Future of Spidey?

So, it looks like we’re finally going to get the Sony Spider-Man movies streaming on Disney+, which is about time. Since Disney+ first started and added the movies of the Marvel world, fans have been missing the story of Peter Parker from their streaming watch (unless you’re like me and bought every Spider-Man movie ever made).

Now though, the streaming deal is “a multi-year content licensing agreement for U.S. streaming and TV rights to Sony Pictures’ new theatrical releases across Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution’s vast portfolio of platforms including its streaming services Disney+ and Hulu, as well as linear entertainment networks including ABC, Disney Channels, Freeform, FX and National Geographic. The deal covers theatrical releases from 2022-2026 and begins for each film following its Pay 1 TV window. The agreement builds upon the companies’ prior arrangement which saw SPE movies licensed to FX in the post-Pay 1 TV window.”

The press release for the news continued to state the following:

“The deal also grants rights to a significant number of SPE’s iconic library titles, ranging from the “Jumanji” and “Hotel Transylvania” franchises to Sony Pictures’ Universe of Marvel Characters films, including Spider-Man. This gives Disney enormous programming potential across its platforms and makes them key destinations for a robust collection of Spider-Man films. Notably, the agreement provides Hulu access to a significant number of library titles beginning as early as this June.”

While the deal is centered around streaming and TV rights, it does bring me hope that the Sony/Marvel deal that has kept Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at arm’s length could change. In 2019, it seemed as if the Peter we’ve come to love in the MCU was going to no longer appear in any future Marvel movie and Sony was taking back full rights.

Now, we don’t know the exact details of that whole debacle, but a month later, it seemed as if Marvel and Sony were a lot happier with whatever deal they’d worked out to keep him in the MCU. We’ve already heard lots of rumors that Sony’s past Spider-Men will return in Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man story, and the more I learn about Sony and Disney’s new dealings together, it seems like they’re more willing to work with each other to make the Spider-Man universe the best it can be.

So what do I hope happens? Well, I hope that Miles Morales shows up sooner rather than later. We’ve already gotten a look at Aaron Davis (Donald Glover) in Spider-Man: Homecoming, a nice nod to fans who had wanted Glover to play Spider-Man for years. But the addition of Uncle Aaron means that Miles most likely exists in this universe. And if Marvel is planning on the multiverse (as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness implies), there’s no reason why we can’t have both Peter and Miles existing in the MCU.

This could open the door to plenty of other Spider-Man characters coming in, as well. From Spider-Gwen and Peni Parker that many first met in Into the Spider-Verse to characters like Jessica Drew and Miguel O’Hara, there is a world of Spider-people we haven’t met yet, and I hope that with a Sony/Marvel deal, we can see all these characters and more interact in the rest of the MCU as they do in the comics.

(image: Marvel Entertainment)

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