For the first time since 2021, Marvel Studios is set to break its uninterrupted run of annual Disney+ releases. Ever since WandaVision kicked off the MCU's television era, the franchise has maintained a dual presence across both the big screen and streaming, though that strategy produced an uneven track record of hits and misses. Now, Marvel appears to be remixing that formula, bringing a six-year television streak to a close.
For the first time in six years, a new live-action Marvel television series will not be making its debut on Disney+.
That distinction belongs to Spider-Noir, an MGM+ and Amazon Prime Video production starring Nicolas Cage, who brings to life a version of the same hardboiled, black-and-white web-slinger first introduced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
All eight episodes of the series will drop at once on MGM+ on May 25, followed by a full Amazon Prime Video release just two days later on May 27.
The last time a live-action Marvel show bypassed Disney+ was Helstrom, which aired on Hulu back in 2020, a series that was canceled within two months of its premiere.
Helstrom was largely panned by critics and audiences for being a sluggish, generic horror drama that also represented a past era of Marvel TV, one about to be revolutionized.
This streak snapping is notable, as over the past five years, Marvel Studios has produced 22 streaming projects (19 series and 3 Special Presentations), including The Punisher: One Last Kill.
The reason Spider-Noir is landing on Amazon's platforms rather than Disney+ comes down to a decades-old rights agreement. While the majority of Marvel characters fall exclusively under Disney's ownership, especially now that the media giant owns the X-Men rights, Spider-Man exists as a unique exception, with Sony Pictures holding the rights to produce all live-action Spider-Man content.
Disney and Marvel are only permitted to produce animated Spider-Man series with episodes under that 44-minute threshold, which is why a new show like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man streams on Disney+ and is MCU adjacent.
Since Spider-Noir is a live-action series, Sony has authority over its development and distribution, and the freedom to sell it to any platform they choose.
Sony, unlike Disney, Warner Bros., or Paramount, does not operate its own major global streaming service, which effectively makes it a content arms dealer that shops its Spider-Man projects to the highest bidder. In February 2023, Sony struck a deal with Amazon to develop Spider-Noir, which has now almost arrived.
Unlike Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man films, Disney and Marvel Studios weren't involved at all in the creative process of this series. Alternatively, this was produced by trusted Spider-Man and Spider-Verse veterans Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal.
Spider-Noir is, in many ways, a rejuvination of the 2010s stretch of Marvel TV projects, which didn't fall under the creative jurisdiction of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
Marvel's TV Strategy Reverse
In a way, Spider-Noir landing on MGM+ and Prime Video feels less like an anomaly and more like a quiet return to form. Before Disney+ existed, Marvel Television spent the better part of a decade spreading its content across a wide range of networks and streaming platforms.
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist on Netflix, Runaways and Helstrom on Hulu, Cloak & Dagger on Freeform, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. running for seven seasons on ABC.
What all these shows had in common was more independence creatively, even though many wanted to be considered small parts of the MCU, though the canonical legitimacy has been debated for years amongst fans. Spider-Noir channels a similar energy, a project developed at arm's length from Marvel Studios proper, but this time it doesn't care at all about being part of the MCU.
What's happening now across the board is a sharp contrast to what Marvel Studios set out to do on Disney+ in 2021. The ambition behind WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and many shows that followed was unprecedented.
Marvel wanted its streaming series to carry the same (or similar) weight as its theatrical releases, with storylines that fed directly into the greater Multiverse Saga.
No major studio had attempted to blur the line between television and cinema on that scale before, and for a stretch, it worked. Those early Disney+ series felt like events, with the Loki Season 1 finale possibly being the peak, introducing who was supposed to be Marvel's next great villain: Jonathan Majors' He Who Remains.
But Marvel is clearly walking that strategy back. Their own 2026 Disney+ projects like Wonder Man, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, and VisionQuest are not trying to setup events like Avengers: Doomsday.
That's a shift from the earlier Disney+ era, where even a horrid series like Secret Invasion seemed to be setting up much bigger interconnected storylines (that will probably never be touched again. Sorry, G'iah). The pressure to make every show matter to the movies is no longer there, and with it, a renewed willingness to let Marvel TV breathe on its own terms, under the guise of the Head of Streaming, Brad Winderbaum.
Looking ahead, Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 is confirmed to reunite not just Matt Murdock, but a full roster of original Netflix heroes: Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.
Marvel Television is leaning back into what made that era compelling in the first place, and it's a playbook that looks surprisingly similar to what their longtime rivals at DC are currently cooking on the other side of the aisle.
How DC's TV Plans Differ from Marvel
Under James Gunn and Peter Safran's leadership, DC has continued a widespread TV approach, with its content released across HBO Max, Prime Video, Netflix, and even Adult Swim. Though that means most of it is not part of their new DCU.
Batman: Caped Crusader found its home on Prime Video, The Sandman concluded its run on Netflix, and the flagship DCU series, like Creature Commandos, Peacemaker, and the highly anticipated Lanterns, all live on HBO Max.
DC isn't treating any single platform as the exclusive gatekeeper to its universe, and the results have been largely strong: The Penguin alone earned 24 Emmy nominations, despite uncertainty around a Season 2.
For Marvel, Spider-Noir represents the first real example of that same multi-platform reality in the new streaming era. Prime Video's global reach is enormous, and placing a Marvel (Spider-Man, no less) property there is giving it a really unique chance to connect with more than just die-hard MCU fans. In a fragmented streaming market where subscriber fatigue is setting in, meeting audiences where they already are is an advantage for Sony and Amazon.
The counterargument, however, is just as valid. One of Disney+'s core value propositions has always been that it is the singular home of the MCU, the one place where everything connects. Every show that migrates to another platform chips away at that identity, but in this case, Marvel Studios has no control.
DC can afford to be spread thin because its properties have historically operated in looser continuities. Marvel's entire appeal has been built on connectivity, though in the age of never-ending universes, what's one more?
Spider-Noir's Prime Video placement will almost certainly introduce the character to a different audience than the standard MCU on Disney crowd. If the show succeeds, it may prove that Marvel's universe is elastic enough to thrive across multiple platforms the way DC's has.
More than anything, this could be the next live-action venture of Sony, after they failed to build a cinematic universe filled with Spider-Man villains like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web.
