Marvel’s Most Important Superhero Breaks Free From Disney+ Now Streaming On Netflix

By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated 1 minute ago

There’s a few things in life you can always count: Death, taxes, Firefly appearing on every list of best one-season sci-fi shows, and Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular superhero. Every single Spider-Man movie has been a success and now Tom Holland’s first standalone in the webs is one of Netflix’s most popular movies. Spider-Man: Homecoming, thanks to the unique licensing deal Marvel has with Sony, isn’t trapped on Disney+ anymore.

Spider-Man: Homecoming Did Everything Right

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the first solo Spider-Man film in the MCU following his brief introduction in Captain America: Civil War. At the time, it was the most anticipated movie in the MCU. What no one saw coming was how Tom Holland would take the role already made famous by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, and make it his own. He did so well, that for the second time, all hopes for the future of the MCU rest on his next movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

If Spider-Man: Homecoming wasn’t as fun as it was, the MCU would have crashed and burned years ago. Taking a little bit from Miles Morales by turning Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) into Ganke, removing Uncle Ben completely, and replacing Mary Jane Watson the fashion model with MJ (Zendaya) the socially conscious hipster, Disney created a Spider-Man for a new generation. It’s hard to remember now how controversial these changes were, and even now classic comic book fans are still waiting for Ned to turn into Hobgoblin (which was only ever sort of true, it was a brainwashing technique used by Kingsley, the real Hobgoblin, because comics!). 

Part of what makes Spider-Man so popular is his rogue’s gallery. Michael Keaton’s updated version of Vulture as a tech scavenger/thief was an improvement over the original Adrian Toomes and whatever it was the “Brand New Day” era mob enforcer Vulture was supposed to be. Taking a former Batman and making him a bird-based Marvel villain was, as it turns out, inspired casting. Against all odds, Keaton’s most threatening moment comes when he’s out of costume, behind the wheel of a reliable, practical car. 

Spider-Man Saves The MCU

Spider-Man: Homecoming wasn’t an outlier, it was the first sign of how reliable Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was going to be in terms of box office, and quality. Three movies in, and not one of them is less than amazing. Spectacular even. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is about to hit theaters and so far, all signs point to it being the most successful Marvel movie since Deadpool & Wolverine. Once again, the fate of the MCU rests on Spider-Man. 

Ever since Avengers: Endgame Disney has struggled to reach their previous heights. The “Multiverse Saga” was a complete dud except for No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine, with even Multiverse of Madness and Fantastic Four falling flat on their faces. The younger audience is bored of superhero movies, which is why Tom Holland is Disney’s secret weapon.

Tom Holland Is The Most Important Marvel Star

As with every Peter and Mary Jane before them, Tom Holland and Zendaya started dating, but unlike the rest, the pair have been together over a decade and recently tied the knot. It’s impossible to overstate how popular they are among Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Tom’s “Umbrella” performance from Celebrity Lip-Sync Battle has been a social media viral hit for nine years, longer than anyone else has played Spider-Man and Zendaya has been fashion icon for even longer. If anyone can get the young’uns back into theaters for a Marvel movie, it’s those two. 

And it all started with Spider-Man: Homecoming. 9 years later, it’s still one of the best super hero movies of all time, and now that it’s on Netflix, the largest streaming service on the planet, it will still, somehow, find a new audience. There is no Marvel without Spider-Man, and without Tom Holland, we might not have a MCU right now.