Although Disney+ is home to 99% of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's catalog, there has been one glaring absence from the lineup for years: Spider-Man: No Way Home. Despite being the second-highest-grossing Marvel Studios film of all time and far and away the most profitable Spider-Man movie in history, No Way Home is currently nowhere to be found on Disney+.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was released in cinemas in December 2021. Since then, other Spidey movies have stuck themselves onto Disney+. The streaming platform currently offers Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, all three Tobey Maguire films, and both of the Andrew Garfield outings. Sony Pictures' Venom movies and 2022's Morbius are also on Disney+. So, what's the story about the most recent MCU adventure of Tom Holland's Peter Parker? Well, it all comes down to streaming rights.
In April 2021, Disney+ struck a deal with Sony Pictures, which owns the film rights to Spider-Man and co-produces the character's solo MCU movies with Marvel Studios' team. Per the terms of this agreement, Disney+ would be granted the ability to host Sony's Spider-Man movies, except for one.
The particulars of the Disney-Sony arrangement have almost everything to do with streaming windows, and a similar pact that Sony made with Netflix (via Variety) factors in heavily. Nine months after most of Sony's Spider-Man or Spider-Man adjacent movies wrap up their theatrical runs, they land on Netflix, which gets to keep them exclusively for 18 months. This is called the Pay-1 window.
According to details hammered out by Sony and Disney, they become members of Disney+'s roster after these movies leave Netflix in the Pay-1 window. Thus, nearly every Spidey solo film is currently streamable on Disney+. Here's the caveat: Disney's terms with Sony only cover Spider-Man movies that hit theaters starting in 2022. Spider-Man: No Way Home came to cinemas on December 21, 2021, just missing the cutoff.
This is where things start to get more complicated. Before Sony partnered with Netflix and Disney+, it had a longstanding partnership with Starz. No Way Home falls under that partnership and has been streaming on Starz's app since January 14, 2024.
All hope may not be lost, however. Much like Netflix's stipulation that it could only hold onto Sony films for 18 months, the same stretch of time applies to Starz. January 14, 2024, plus 18 months brings things to Monday, July 14, 2025.
It's critical to note that Spider-Man: No Way Home has not been officially announced as coming to Disney+ or leaving Starz. The film was not included in Disney+'s "Next On" video for July 2025.
Even still, Disney+ is occasionally dodgy with its incoming content additions. One would assume that the platform would hype up the arrival of a massively popular Marvel film with social media posts and the like. No such fanfare has been exhibited as of writing. This is not to mention that this predicted streaming date for Spider-Man: No Way Home is close.
But every single piece of this puzzle is an aspect of a business agreement. Those tend to stick to an established schedule, lest shareholders get thrown into a tizzy.
If July 14 comes and goes without an appearance of No Way Home on Disney+, then it likely means that something has occurred behind the scenes that no one but those involved is privy to. Still, the established facts and the Spidey sense are hard to ignore here.
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters on December 21, 2021. It starred Tom Holland as the lead Web-Head, Zendaya as MJ, Jacob Batalon as Ned, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. Plus, in what was the worst-kept secret in Hollywood at the time, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprised their roles as the past big-screen Spider-Men to lend a hand to Tom Holland's Peter Parker.
What About Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Disney+ Chances?
Tom Holland's next time out as Peter Parker will come in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, from director Destin Daniel Cretton. The fourth MCU solo movie to star the hero will be released on July 31, 2026. Pete will be swapping team-ups with his fellow Spiders out with a role for New York City's meanest, most violent vigilante, The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is also rumored to return.
Fans can rest assured that after Spider-Man: Brand New Day leaves cinemas, it will do a superhero landing on Disney+. This is because Sony's streaming deal with Disney extends to cover its 2026 film slate.
The non-solo Spider-Man movies in which he appears, such as Avengers installments, are in full control of Disney and Marvel Studios, meaning that once they are on Disney+, they're not going anywhere.
Annie McDonough has been a writer at The Direct since its 2020 launch. She is responsible for the creation of news articles and features. She also has a particular affinity for action figures and merchandise, which she revels in discussing in the articles she writes, when the situation calls for it.
