Two major Spider-Man films arrived on Disney+ today, September 4, giving Marvel fans two of the biggest entries from Tom Holland's run as Peter Parker in one place. A third Spider-Man-related live-action movie is scheduled to join the service later this month, making September a particularly busy month for the character and the larger collection of Sony-produced Marvel films.
Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home are both now streaming on Disney+. Their arrival comes at an especially appropriate time, with Tom Holland's latest adventure, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, continuing a remarkable theatrical run.
Brand New Day has become one of the biggest movies in box office history. The film has earned approximately $2.34 billion worldwide, placing it among the highest-grossing theatrical releases ever. It has also become only the second movie to cross $900 million at the North American box office, further demonstrating the enormous popularity of Holland's version of Spider-Man.
Despite that success, fans should not expect Brand New Day to immediately follow the earlier films onto Disney+. A Disney+ streaming date has not been announced. Because the Spider-Man movies are distributed by Sony Pictures rather than directly by Walt Disney Studios, their streaming path is different from most films produced entirely within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sony has a major licensing relationship with Netflix covering the first subscription streaming window for its theatrical movies. That means Brand New Day is expected to reach Netflix before it can eventually become available through another service such as Disney+. The arrangement helps explain why Spider-Man movies can sometimes appear and disappear from different streaming platforms even though the character plays such an important role in the MCU.
The unusual arrangement dates back to the complicated ownership of Spider-Man's film rights. Marvel may own the character, but Sony Pictures has held the movie rights to Spider-Man and a large collection of related characters for decades. Marvel Studios and Sony eventually reached agreements that allowed Holland's Spider-Man to interact with characters including Iron Man, Doctor Strange and the Avengers while Sony continued distributing the standalone Spider-Man movies.
That partnership has produced some of the most successful superhero movies ever released.
Spider-Man: Far From Home, originally released in 2019, followed Peter Parker after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Peter travels to Europe with his classmates while struggling with the death of Tony Stark and the expectations that came with being one of Stark's young protégés.
The trip quickly becomes another superhero mission after Peter encounters Quentin Beck, better known as Mysterio. Played by Jake Gyllenhaal, Beck initially presents himself as a hero supposedly fighting powerful creatures called Elementals.
Peter eventually discovers that Mysterio's story is largely an elaborate deception involving advanced technology and holographic illusions. The conflict becomes deeply personal, particularly because Peter is still trying to determine what kind of hero he wants to become without Tony Stark guiding him.
Far From Home is also notable because of its ending. Mysterio's final actions completely change Peter Parker's life, setting up the events that would dominate the next movie. The revelation of Spider-Man's secret identity turns Peter from an anonymous neighborhood superhero into one of the most recognizable people in the world.
That cliffhanger led directly into Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Released in 2021, No Way Home became one of the most ambitious superhero crossover films ever produced. Peter asks Doctor Strange for help after the exposure of his identity creates problems for him, his friends and his family. A magical spell intended to make the world forget Peter's secret goes wrong, opening the door to characters from other universes.
The movie brought villains from earlier generations of Spider-Man films into Holland's universe, including Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus and Jamie Foxx's Electro.
The biggest surprise came with the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
Maguire had played Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy beginning in 2002, while Garfield took over the role in The Amazing Spider-Man films beginning in 2012. No Way Home placed Maguire, Garfield and Holland together on screen as three different versions of Peter Parker.
Their appearance became one of the movie's central attractions. Rather than simply using the previous Spider-Men for brief cameos, No Way Home gave all three characters important roles in the story. Each Peter Parker brought his own experiences, failures and losses into the final confrontation.
No Way Home went on to become a major commercial success and helped demonstrate the enormous audience interest that remained in previous versions of Spider-Man. It also helped popularize the multiverse concept that became increasingly important throughout Marvel's movies and television projects.
The ending of No Way Home left Holland's Peter Parker in a dramatically different position. The people closest to him no longer remembered who Peter Parker was, leaving him largely alone and forcing him to rebuild his life. That ending provided the foundation for the story eventually continued in Brand New Day.
With Brand New Day now becoming another enormous theatrical success, the addition of Far From Home and No Way Home to Disney+ gives viewers an opportunity to revisit the events that shaped Holland's Peter Parker before his latest adventure.
Another Sony-produced Marvel movie is coming to Disney+ shortly after the two Spider-Man films.
Kraven the Hunter will arrive on Disney+ on September 13, according to Disney's official September streaming schedule. The movie stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff, better known to comic-book readers as Kraven the Hunter.
Kraven has traditionally been depicted as one of Spider-Man's enemies. The character is a highly skilled hunter who becomes obsessed with proving himself by defeating increasingly dangerous opponents, eventually setting his sights on Spider-Man.
The live-action film takes a different approach by presenting Kraven as a violent antihero rather than simply portraying him as a conventional supervillain. The R-rated movie emphasizes darker action and violence compared with most mainstream Spider-Man films.
Kraven the Hunter also includes another well-known Spider-Man adversary, Rhino. The character has appeared in different forms throughout Spider-Man comics, television programs and films.
Although Kraven exists within the larger collection of characters connected to Spider-Man, the movie is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the same way as Holland's Spider-Man adventures. It was developed as part of Sony's efforts to build movies around characters it controls through its Spider-Man film rights.
Sony has experimented with that strategy through movies centered on characters including Venom and Morbius, allowing villains and supporting characters traditionally associated with Spider-Man to headline their own films.
Kraven's arrival therefore adds another corner of the Spider-Man universe to Disney+'s growing Marvel collection.
September's Spider-Man additions are not limited to live action.
Marvel's Spidey and His Amazing Friends will receive a Halloween crossover special on Disney+ on September 25 titled Marvel's Spidey and the Avengers: Halloween Team-Up.
The special is scheduled to premiere on Disney Jr. on September 24 before becoming available on Disney+ the following day. The Halloween story teams Spidey and his friends with members of the Avengers while introducing seasonal villains Hallows Eve and Jack O'Lantern.
Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy voices Jack O'Lantern, while Este Haim voices Hallows Eve. Stump, who also serves as a songwriter and composer for the series, wrote new music for the Halloween episode.
Although aimed primarily at younger children, Spidey and His Amazing Friends has become one of Disney+'s biggest Marvel successes.
Disney announced in August that the program has accumulated nearly 1.3 billion hours streamed globally on Disney+. The company describes it as Marvel's most-watched television series on the streaming service and the longest-running Spider-Man television series.
The show follows younger versions of Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy as they work together as Team Spidey. Other Marvel superheroes frequently appear, introducing younger viewers to characters throughout the Marvel universe.
Its popularity has already led Disney to commit to additional seasons. Season 6 is scheduled for 2027, with a seventh season planned for 2028.
Together, the September additions provide several very different versions of the Spider-Man world.
Far From Home shows Peter Parker attempting to live up to the legacy of Iron Man. No Way Home brings together three generations of live-action Spider-Man history. Kraven the Hunter focuses on one of the characters traditionally found on the other side of Spider-Man's battles, while Spidey and His Amazing Friends introduces Peter Parker and the Marvel universe to a much younger audience.
The timing also allows Disney+ to benefit from the renewed attention surrounding Spider-Man following the extraordinary theatrical performance of Brand New Day.
Spider-Man has now remained a major movie character for more than two decades, moving from Tobey Maguire to Andrew Garfield and eventually Tom Holland while continuing to attract enormous audiences. No Way Home demonstrated the appeal of connecting those generations, while Brand New Day has shown that Holland's version of the character can continue drawing moviegoers on a massive scale.
For Disney+ subscribers, September provides an unusually concentrated collection of Spider-Man-related releases. Far From Home and No Way Home are available now, Kraven the Hunter follows on September 13, and Marvel's Spidey and the Avengers: Halloween Team-Up arrives September 25.
Brand New Day will remain the major missing piece for the time being. Its eventual streaming destination on Disney+ has not been announced, and Sony's distribution agreements mean Netflix is expected to receive the movie first.
Until then, the arrival of two of Holland's earlier Spider-Man adventures gives viewers a chance to revisit the story that led to the record-breaking film now playing in theaters.