Here’s Why You Can’t Find "Spider-Man" on Disney+

Disney+ is denying you the Night Monkey.

Disney+ has finally launched in Australia, bringing with it all the Disney, Lucasfilm and Marvel content recently stripped from Stan.

That includes Marvel movies like (*extremely deep breath*) The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Black Panther, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil Warm Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor, Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok.

In fact, at first glance, the only instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe not on Disney+ appears to be The Incredible Hulk, which Disney left on Stan (in Australia) in what can only be called a hilarious goodbye prank.

But at second glance, one notable Avengers does seem to be missing from the above assortment.

That’s right, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker, is nowhere to be found on Disney+, unless you count his appearances in Civil War or the two most recent Avengers films (or the animated series produced by Disney).

Here’s why.

Sony technically owns the rights to make Spider-Man movies (and spin-offs, like Venom and Into the Spider-Verse), the way that Fox previously owned the rights to Marvel characters X-Men and Fantastic Four.

Marvel has long craved bringing all of its characters under the one umbrella, and they got a step closer when Disney bought out Fox in 2017.

However, Spidey’s far too lucrative for Sony to give up for good, even though they risked ruining his reputation with the Andrew Garfield reboots in the early 2010s (when the MCU was in full swing).

In 2015, Sony relented and partnered up with Disney’s Marvel Studios, letting Marvel head Kevin Feige oversee their Spidey flicks, and lending their exclusively-owned Marvel property to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, without giving up the rights. What followed was Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, two of the most critically acclaimed and highest grossing Spider-Man movies of all time.

But in August of this year, Sony decided to take back the reigns and canned plans to keep working with Disney.

In October, following fan outrage and an intervention by star Tom Holland, Sony and Disney struck a deal that will see Marvel produce a third film in the Spider-Man: Homecoming series for Sony, set to be released on 16 July 2021.

As part of the arrangement Spider-Man will also appear in a future Marvel movie.

That’s all well and good but how come I can’t stream Far From Home on Disney+?

Oh right, that.

Disney’s Head of Content and Marketing, Ricky Strauss, recently told The Verge: "We love our friends at Sony, but we don’t have any plans to have the live-action Spider-Man movies on Disney+."

Presumably, that’s because Disney only wants to offer stuff they explicitly own.

Yet, things are complicated by Feige’s recent claim that you'll need to watch the original Marvel shows on Disney+ to keep up with the MCU. Far From Home had the most revelatory post-credits scenes of the entire franchise, so that’ll now be a lost piece of information to future Disney+ binge-watchers.

At least Strauss gave us a bit of hope in his interview, adding, "Who knows what can happen in the future?"

So, where can I watch the Tom Holland Spider-Man flicks and Into the Spider-Verse?

In Australia, Homecoming is available to rent or buy from Apple, Google, YouTube, PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store. Far From Home is available on all those except PlayStation Store. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is on all five platforms and can be streamed via Foxtel Now and Amazon Prime Video. Everyone else in the world, we'll direct you to JustWatch.

Godspeed.

Check out Disney+ here. (Affiliate disclosure: Student Edge may earn a commission if you click that link and buy a product from our partner’s page.)

Header Image: Sony