Marvel’s Disney+ output has steadily shifted in tone since the service launched, moving from family-friendly event TV toward grittier, more adult stories. Phase 4's series largely stayed inside the TV-14 box, with the rare Halloween special nudging at harder edges. Phase 5 introduced Marvel’s first TV-MA series in Echo, followed by the TV-MA Daredevil: Born Again Season 1.
Phase 6 is pushing that evolution further. The animated shocker Marvel Zombies premiered with a TV-MA rating this year, and the Daredevil: Born Again continuation has been publicly tied to the same mature rating for its second season. Meanwhile, the Jon Bernthal-led Punisher Special Presentation, described by Marvel execs as a hard-edged, no-holds-barred story, is slated as a TV-MA presentation. That gives Phase 6 at least three distinct TV-MA Disney+ projects, outnumbering Phase 5’s two.
Phase 6 Projects Carrying a TV-MA Rating
Phase 6 not only continues the mature content trend but significantly accelerates it, surpassing the total TV-MA output of the previous two Phases. This concentration of adult-rated projects marks the full integration of darker themes into the MCU’s core streaming offerings.
Marvel Zombies (2025)
The four-episode animated series Marvel Zombies marked a pivotal moment as Marvel Studios Animation's first TV-MA series on Disney+. The show fully delivered on the promise of its mature rating by faithfully adapting the graphic horror, gore, and unrelenting brutality of the original comic book source material. Set in the alternate timeline from a Season 1 episode of What If...?, the series followed a group of non-infected heroes, including Yelena Belova and Kate Bishop, as they navigated a world where zombified Avengers hunt the remaining survivors. Marvel Zombies has been dominating streaming since its release.
The animated series featured explicit depictions of violence, including dismemberment, crushing, impalement, and visible blood and organs, with beloved heroes being killed in gruesome ways. Its release firmly established that the MCU's animated projects would not shy away from adult content, provided the source material warranted it.
Daredevil: Born Again (Season 2) (2026)
The continuation of Matt Murdock's story in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 guarantees that the TV-MA rating will remain the defining characteristic of the series within Phase 6. With Mayor Fisk’s political power solidified, the conflict is expected to intensify, forcing Daredevil and his allies, including the returning Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), to adopt even more desperate and violent measures.
The mature rating is fundamental to the series’ storytelling, allowing the creative team to escalate the political stakes and ethical complexities of Matt Murdock’s double life. This freedom is vital for crafting action sequences that are not only brutal but also have genuine, lasting physical and psychological consequences. The sustained commitment to this rating across multiple seasons confirms that the TV-MA standard is the permanent tonal mandate for these street-level characters, enabling a rich exploration of the gruesome vigilante justice in Hell's Kitchen.
The Punisher (Special Presentation) (2026)
The forthcoming The Punisher Special Presentation is perhaps the most explicit acknowledgment of the new adult-rated era. The very nature of Frank Castle’s (Jon Bernthal) character as a heavily armed, lethal vigilante is inextricably linked to graphic, uncompromising violence and thematic darkness. The Special Presentation format, similar to Werewolf by Night but operating at a TV-MA level, is perfectly suited for a concentrated, high-impact story.
The Special Presentation will reportedly feature the classic Marvel villain Ma Gnucci, which heavily links it to the Welcome Back, Frank Marvel Comics arc. This specific story choice represents a major change for the MCU, as it involves the street-level anti-hero facing one of the most ruthless and infamously brutal villains from his comic history.
The Punisher’s actions are likely to be a mix of conspiracy thriller and crime drama, depicted with the visceral realism that made his previous television appearances so compelling. The anticipated brutal nature of Punisher's solo outing elevates Phase 6’s TV-MA count to three, showcasing the studio’s willingness to give one of its darkest characters the uncompromised ruthlessness his story requires.
Phase 5's TV-MA Projects
Echo (2024)
Echo was Marvel Studios’ landmark live-action series to carry a TV-MA rating from the outset on Disney+, a choice that signaled the studio’s serious intent to explore non-traditional superhero stories. The series focused on Maya Lopez’s (Alaqua Cox) brutal journey of vengeance and self-discovery in Oklahoma, which was inherently tied to the criminal empire of her “Uncle” Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. The TV-MA rating was primarily earned through graphic violence, coarse language, and adult themes of grief, trauma, and crime.
The fight choreography, notably more grounded and visceral than typical MCU fare, featured bone-crunching sound effects, realistic bruising, and implied severe injury. This was Marvel moving away from quick cuts to show the consequences of intense hand-to-hand combat.
The deliberate tonal shift was strategically utilized under the Marvel Spotlight banner, a designation intended to highlight projects with smaller-scale, character-driven stories that don’t heavily rely on broader MCU knowledge. This effectively gave Marvel the creative space to lean into more mature themes without disrupting the overall universe’s accessibility.
Daredevil: Born Again (Season 1) (2025)
The return of Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) to his own series was one of the most anticipated moments for fans of Marvel’s darker side. Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 fully embraced the TV-MA rating to resurrect the character’s signature blend of neo-noir crime drama and brutal vigilantism. The mature rating allowed the creative team to re-establish the intense, bloody, and morally ambiguous battle between the Man Without Fear and the menacing Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio).
Beyond the expected graphic violence in its hallway fights and street-level encounters, the rating also provided the necessary freedom for authentic, gritty dialogue, including the more frequent use of strong language. This commitment to the TV-MA tone was essential for respecting the character’s legacy and seamlessly folding the beloved iteration of Daredevil into the main MCU continuity.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
