New information has revealed that Disney+'s latest Spider-Man series has broken new ground on the platform, achieving an impressive streaming feat that not even the MCU has to this point. Over the last half-decade or so, Disney+ has become the go-to streaming home for Marvel storytelling. This has, of course, included the various theatrical releases from Marvel Studios' interconnected canon, as well as various streaming shows, such as this year's Daredevil: Born Again, and a one-off special presentation or two.
However, there is one vertical the super-powered brand has managed to dominate on the Disney-owned streamer, children's programming. This is particularly true of the hit animated series Spidey and His Amazing Friends. In fact, Spidey has gone where no other Marvel title to date has, according to some new data from Disney+.
As part of Disney's yearly streaming wrap-up, it was revealed that Spidey and His Amazing Friends is one of five titles to have crossed 1 billion hours streamed on the platform (via Boardwalk Times), making it the first Marvel project to achieve this milestone.
Spidey and His Amazing Friends joins Bluey, the first Moana movie, Encanto, and The Mandalorian as this year's new additions to the 1 billion hours streamed club. This mark has only been hit by 26 titles in Disney+ history. Other titles to have broken the 1 billion hours ceiling in past years include Bob's Burgers, Sons of Anarchy, and The Simpsons.
Spidey and His Amazing Friends has been airing on Disney Jr. since 2021, bringing the superhero adventures of Peter Parker and several other Spider-People to a younger audience, mostly preschoolers. This year, the Spidey and His Amazing Friends universe expanded with the debut of Iron Man and His Awesome, a new animated series centered on a young Tony Stark that has already crossed over with its wall-crawling sister show.
Will Marvel Studios Ever Reach the 1 Billion Hours Streamed Mark?
Disney does not disclose exact numbers for where titles rank on the all-time streaming list, but one can assume that a Marvel Studios project will eventually join the 1 billion hours streamed club.
One of the biggest reasons Spidey and His Amazing Friends made it there before anything from the MCU is due to the show's appeal to kids and its literal dozens of episodes to choose from. To many streaming audiences, Disney+ is perceived as the 'kids streamer', making it an easy destination for children's content.
Because of this, Spidey has a broader reach on the platform than something explicitly related to Marvel Studios would. Additionally, no particular MCU show has achieved the heights of streaming success comparable to The Mandalorian or Spidey, meaning that for a Marvel Studios project to make the list, it will almost certainly have to be a movie.
Getting a movie to reach 1 billion hours streamed is significantly harder than a TV show, simply because of the supply of content to stream for a TV series vs a single two-hour film.
That is not to say it is impossible, though. Marvel Studios has had some of the biggest movie releases of all time, so who is to say that the MCU will not eventually reach that level?
If one were to do it, Avengers: Endgame, following Infinity War, feels like the best bet, considering their length and the popularity among a wide swath of people. Perhaps in the lead-up to next year's Avengers: Doomsday, enough of the Disney+ subscriber base will revisit the MCU back catalog to get one or more projects up and over that billion-hour hump.
