Disney+ has quietly become a landing spot for several Marvel titles that didn’t exactly draw cheers at the box office—and now, another one has officially joined the lineup. Madame Web, the 2024 film often pointed to as the face of the increasingly confusing Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), has completed its run on Netflix and found its next home on Disney+.
The shift marks yet another example of the streamer serving as a resting place for Marvel films that failed to take off theatrically. As of November 14, the Dakota Johnson-led film—scoring a surprising 10% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer—can now be streamed on Disney+ right beside mega-hits like Avengers: Endgame (2019), creating a striking contrast in Marvel outcomes.
Originally released in February 2024, Madame Web grossed $100.5 million worldwide. That number fell short of expectations, especially considering its reported production budget landed between $80–100 million. The film is frequently cited as the lowest moment in Sony’s SSU, a franchise that already includes Morbius (2022) and Kraven the Hunter (2024)—two titles that also brought disappointing results. Kraven earned just $62 million across the globe.
Yet Madame Web’s streaming transition wasn’t a random acquisition. Instead, it’s tied directly to a pre-existing licensing deal between Disney and Sony Pictures. Netflix initially secured what’s known as the “Pay-1 window” streaming rights, a common first step in Sony’s distribution strategy. But now that the “Pay-2 window” has begun, Disney+ has stepped in—as explained by The Direct—allowing the platform to build an even broader collection of Marvel properties that fall outside the official MCU.
Interestingly, despite its critical reception, Madame Web proved successful during its time on Netflix. The film ranked among the service’s most-watched titles, illustrating a trend that’s become more common in the streaming era: theatrical disappointments can unexpectedly thrive once they hit streaming platforms. Other films that struggled theatrically—like Snow White (2025) and Elio (2025), both from Disney—performed extremely well after landing on streamers.
The SSU So Far
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is a separate cinematic world from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), created by Sony Pictures and based on Marvel Comics characters linked to Spider-Man. A defining feature of the SSU is its focus on side characters from Spider-Man’s world—heroes, anti-heroes, and villains—while usually keeping Peter Parker himself out of the narrative spotlight.
The films in the SSU generally maintain loose connections to each other and occasionally incorporate the Multiverse concept in post-credit scenes. These sequences sometimes create minimal and often confusing bridges to the MCU, though the films remain largely standalone.
As of now, six live-action films make up the SSU: Venom (2018) and its follow-up Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), both successful at the box office; Morbius (2022); Madame Web (2024), which centers on Cassandra Webb as a prequel story; and two more recent films—Venom: The Last Dance (2024), which concluded the Venom trilogy, and Kraven the Hunter (2024).
The arrival of Madame Web on Disney+ adds another curious chapter to the film’s journey. The real question now: will it find new supporters, or simply serve as another streaming case study in Marvel’s experimental era?
How do you feel about Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? Let us know in the comments down below!
Madam Web is excellent. The problem is, you have to have a brain, and preferably an attention span in excess of that of the average American viewer to appreciate the movie. Its not exactly cerebral, but then again…. Americans.