Tons of Marvel Movies Are Missing from Disney+… but Why?

Ever since Disney+ was announced, one of the main selling points has been the unification of their blockbuster brands on one streaming service. If you want to watch all of the Marvel movies, Disney+ will be your go-to platform. And while that will most likely be the case eventually, you won’t be able to have a comprehensive binge session when Disney+ launches on November 12.

Over the course of a few hours yesterday (October 14), Disney+ tweeted out all 600+ movies and TV series that will be available when Disney+ drops. Lost in the massive twitter thread, though, were all the movies that won’t be available when Disney+ arrives—and that includes a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Of the MCU’s 23 feature films, only 7 (Iron Man, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and Captain Marvel) will be available to stream on November 12. The other 16 are all MIA and TBD for various reasons. But also, Disney+ referred to the thread as covering “basically everything” coming to the service on launch day, which means there’s still a chance some of these could pop up. This is a bit of a stunner since movies like Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, and Ant-Man and the Wasp were part of the big Disney+ presentation back in April. And while there’s no reason to think those specific movies won’t eventually land on Disney+, it is a bit surprising that they won’t (again, seemingly) be there at the start.

There are numerous reasons as to why so many Marvel movies won’t be on Disney+ from the jump. A couple of them are still on Netflix, some just left Netflix in the last year, and a couple are actually owned by other movie studios. But even with all those plausible reasons aside, there are still a couple that should—as far as we know—be available on Disney+ right away. Here’s a breakdown of all 23 MCU movies, their Disney+ status, and what might be holding them up.

• Iron Man (2008) – It’s on Disney+!
• The Incredible Hulk (2008) – Not on Disney+. As this was released before Disney bought Marvel Studios, Universal Pictures served as the original distributor. Universal also owns the solo film rights to the Hulk, which is why that character has only popped up in ensemble movies. That could complicate this film’s streaming rights.
• Iron Man 2 (2010) – Not on Disney+. This film—like Iron Man—was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, but Disney bought the distribution rights in 2013. Since then, Iron Man 2 has popped up on various streaming services; it’s currently on Hulu and Prime Video.
• Thor (2011) – Not on Disney+. This film—like Iron Man—was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, but Disney bought the distribution rights in 2013. It’s currently not available to stream.
• Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – Not on Disney+. This film—like Iron Man—was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, but Disney bought the distribution rights in 2013. It’s currently not available to stream.
• Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) – Not on Disney+. This was the first film to be distributed by Disney in theaters, though, which makes this kinda odd. That’s the story with almost every film from here on out. Currently unavailable to stream.
• Iron Man 3 (2013) – It’s on Disney+!
• Thor: The Dark World (2013) – It’s on Disney+!
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – Not on Disney+. This was theatrically distributed by Disney, though, and they have all the rights (as far as we know).
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – It’s on Disney+!
• Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – It’s on Disney+!
• Ant-Man (2015) – It’s on Disney+!
• Captain America: Civil War (2016) – Not on Disney+. This previously streamed on Netflix, but left the service on June 25, 2018. It’s possible that there’s still an exclusivity window with Netflix that prevents another streaming service from adding it for an unknown period of time after it leaves.
• Doctor Strange (2016) – Not on Disney+. Doctor Strange was previously on Netflix but left on November 30, 2018.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – Not on Disney+. This one previously streamed on Netflix and left on June 5, 2019.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – Not on Disney+. This was a co-production with Sony Pictures and will most likely never stream on Disney+.
• Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – Not on Disney+. This is currently on Netflix, possibly through November 2019, and won’t go to Disney+ until sometime after that.
• Black Panther (2018) – Not on Disney+. This is currently on Netflix, possibly through March 2020, and won’t go to Disney+ until sometime after that.
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – Not on Disney+. This is currently on Netflix, possibly through June 2020, and won’t go to Disney+ until sometime after that.
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) – Not on Disney+. This is currently on Netflix, possibly through July 2020, and won’t go to Disney+ until sometime after that.
• Captain Marvel (2019) – It’s on Disney+!
• Avengers: Endgame (2019) – Originally scheduled to be released on December 11, the good folks at Disney moved this one up to launch day. Oh snap!
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) – Not on Disney+. See above, re: Spider-Man: Homecoming.

So of all 23 Marvel Studios movies…

• 7 will be available to watch when Disney+ launches on November 12
• 5 (Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel’s The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) are missing for mysterious reasons
• 4 are currently on Netflix and won’t jump to Disney+ until after they leave
• 3 left Netflix in the past year and may still be under an exclusivity clause
• 3 may never stream on Disney+, if Incredible Hulk’s streaming rights are as complicated as Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home
• 1 is coming to Disney+ in December

Plan your holiday season movie marathons accordingly, true believers.

Decider has reached out to Disney+ for more information regarding the unavailable Marvel movie titles.

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UPDATE 11/11/19: Disney+ has announced via Twitter that even more Marvel movies are coming to the platform. New additions are Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel’s the Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Avengers: Endgame.

That means the only Marvel movies not on Disney+ are the ones currently on Netflix, the two Sony-owned Spider-Man films, and The Incredible Hulk.

RELATED: Sign-up for a 7-day free trial of Disney+ here!

Stream Iron Man 2 on Hulu

Stream Iron Man 2 on Prime Video

Stream Thor: Ragnarok on Netflix

Stream Black Panther on Netflix

Stream Avengers: Infinity War on Netflix

Stream Ant-Man and the Wasp on Netflix