Disney bought Marvel all the way back in 2009, right when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was just two movies old. Now, over 20 films later, it's the defining phenomenon of modern cinema, just like Star Wars was back in the late '70s. And it's just going to keep expanding.
Now, as Marvel's game-changing Phase 3 comes to an end, and we move into Phase 4 of the studio's grand plan, Disney this week launches its Disney Plus streaming service. Marvel will be a core pillar of what the service has to offer, and now the studio's original TV shows will be closely linked to its movies – unlike the previous Marvel TV offerings on Netflix that were largely of inconsistent quality and lifespan.
Disney has massive plans for its Marvel TV shows in the coming years, with enormous rumoured budgets per episode, and it'll gradually become the home of most (if not all) of the MCU movies. Disney Plus will allow you to catch up, and keep up, with the Marvel universe in 4K/HDR.
With Marvel assembling alongside heavy-hitters like Star Wars, Pixar and Disney itself on the streaming service, you might be wondering how much this'll cost you. The good news? Not that much. Head to our Disney Plus price guide which has all the information you’ll need.
Here's everything Marvel-related coming to Disney Plus at launch, and everything you can look forward to in the future, too.
Disney Plus Marvel Movies: what's available at launch?
There are currently 23 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but unfortunately they won’t all be available on Disney Plus at launch. The reason for this is convoluted – some of the existing Marvel movies are tied up in existing licensing deals and are, therefore, not able to be streamed consistently around the world.
The rights of some films like the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies and 2008's The Incredible Hulk, for example, are tied up with different studios, so they're not going to come to Disney Plus unless Disney finds a way to license them onto their streaming service.
Outside of these legal constraints, it’s possible that Disney doesn’t want to make its entire Marvel movie catalogue available right away – a dripfeed of MCU films gives them more ways to promote Disney Plus in the coming months. Home video sales are likely a consideration, too.
Eight Marvel movies are coming to Disney Plus at launch. Seven were confirmed in the mammoth announcement Twitter thread, and one was confirmed separately later. They are as follows:
- Iron Man
- Iron Man 3
- Thor: The Dark World
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame was originally set for December 11 2019, but Disney then announced it would be arriving at launch on Disney Plus the week before the release date of the streaming service, which is a nice bonus.
It’s likely that most of the MCU movies will appear on Disney Plus eventually, it just won’t be straight away so you’ll have to hold off on that binge session you have planned.
Disney Plus Marvel TV Shows
One of the most exciting things about Disney Plus is the prospect of a deluge of new and exclusive Marvel TV shows that might actually hold up against their cinematic counterparts – and make up for previous misadventures. Given the big names attached to the shows, and reports that each episode of each show could have a budget of as much as $25 million, expectations of quality are high.
Disney has already confirmed a handful of shows that will be coming to the service over the next couple of years and we know that there’ll be a mix of live-action, animation and documentary on offer. But it’ll be a while until the new offerings start, with the first big series starting in 2020.
The first new and exclusive show out the gate will be The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprising their respective roles for the small screen, joined by the returning Daniel Bruhl as Helmut Zemo from Captain America: Civil Wa.
After that we know Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany will be reunited as Scarlett Witch and Vision in WandaVision; Tom Hiddleston will also be causing havoc as Loki in his very own branch of reality, courtesy of the Tesseract. Like Loki, Hawkeye will be getting his own show, starring Jeremy Renner, although we’re not expecting to see it premiere until 2021.
On the animated side of things, What If…? will explore a whole range of alternative storylines within the Marvel universe, including what might have happened had Peggy Carter taken the soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers. And just because it’s animated doesn’t mean the stars are stepping back – 25 of the biggest Marvel stars have been confirmed to be returning to voice their characters, including Hayley Atwell and Samuel L. Jackson.
Disney will be using its TV shows to introduce new heroes as well as delving deeper into the stories of its existing stars. It was confirmed during D23 that Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Moon Knight will be making their debuts on Disney Plus with their own dedicated shows. When those debuts will be, however, is still unknown.
Disney Plus Marvel TV shows: release dates
- Marvel's Hero Project documentary (November 12, 2019)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Late 2020)
- WandaVision (Early 2021)
- Loki (Early 2021)
- What If? (Mid-2021)
- Hawkeye (Late 2021)
- Marvel's 6161 (2020)
- Ms. Marvel (no release date)
- Moon Knight (no release date)
- She-Hulk (no release date)
Disney Plus and Marvel: the future
You've got a while to wait for the original TV series to drop on Disney Plus, then, but you have plenty of MCU movies to keep you going at launch. These original TV shows will tie directly into the movies, with both Loki and WandaVision connecting to Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. So Disney Plus is the place to be if you want to catch the complete MCU storyline from Phase 4 onwards. That's a big selling point. You're going to see characters introduced on Disney Plus before they make their way to the movies. Between the major MCU films, Disney Plus is the place to be for your Marvel fix.
- Get properly prepared for all these new shows with our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order
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