Why ‘Black Widow’ Will Not Be Streaming On Disney+ Before Hitting Theaters

“Black Widow” and “Wonder Woman 1984” didn’t throw down at the box office this summer, and they won’t face off in the streaming wars either. The Marvel superhero is still spinning her web exclusively in theaters in May, and Disney+ isn’t expected to stream the action movie for several months after that.

There are a few good reasons Scarlett Johansson’s assassin won’t follow the release route of Gal Gadot’s Amazonian warrior.

Marvel Would Lose Money — Remember Premier Access? After multiple theatrical release delays, Disney+ tried offering “Mulan” on the streaming service in September for an extra $30, a "Premier Access" fee in addition to the monthly $5.99 cost. They won’t try that again until March’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” (which is expected to have a more family-friendly rating of PG or G while Marvel movies usually get a PG-13 rating).

If “Mulan” earned crazy money, Disney+ would’ve shifted more releases and done more bragging about it. They reportedly earned back the film’s budget with an estimated $263 million, though Disney+ didn’t release official numbers.

Still, that isn’t even close to making Marvel money. Most recent Marvel titles came close or surpassed the $1 billion mark at the box office. Even “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” which is considered one of the lower-earning movies, pulled in over $622 million worldwide. Losing the theatrical release would mean giving up a lot of cash.

Disney+ Already Has Marvel Fans — The Disney+ streaming service launched last year with the promise of new Marvel Studios TV series, and it’ll deliver several of those shows in 2021. “WandaVision” is set for Jan. 15, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” for March 19 and “Loki” will debut in May, the same month “Black Widow” is due in theaters.

Marvel fans will already be tuning in to Disney+, so releasing a movie wouldn’t bring them many new subscribers.

Keeping the Peace — Theater owners made it clear that they don’t want studios to go to digital or on-demand first. Universal and AMC Theaters made a deal earlier this year after a public spat, and now the nation’s largest theater chain is upset with Warner Bros. for their 2021 streaming plans. AMC recently said its “challenges have been exacerbated” by the WB’s announcement that all 2021 movies will debut in theaters and stream on HBO Max the same day.

Marvel is guaranteed to bring money to any open theaters, and there is an expectation that superhero blockbusters could save the movie theaters when they’re open again.

“Black Widow” Isn’t As Time Sensitive — “It’s all connected” is the tagline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which currently has 23 movies all related to each other (some more than others). “Black Widow,” however, is unlikely to be a major key to unlocking Phase 4 of the MCU. After all, Black Widow’s story is over.

Johansson’s character died in “Avengers: Endgame,” but her solo film takes place between the films “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” It’s unlikely that this movie will set up major moves for the MCU’s future. Though it introduces Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh, who is reportedly joining the “Hawkeye” series), who is likely the next Black Widow, it isn’t being billed as a super-connected story.

In contrast, Marvel has emphasized that “WandaVision,” “Loki,” “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” and the third “Spider-Man” film will all be building blocks for each other to step further into the magical storytelling.

For now, it seems like the only place to watch “Black Widow” is on the big screen. Marvel Studios will release the film in theaters on May 7, 2021.