Disney+ just got darker.
Ever since the Mouse House’s popular streaming service launched, it’s been home to a bevy of Marvel superheroes. Almost every film that’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be accessed on the service. Disney rolled out a bevy of new MCU television shows, too. And while all those films had their problems, they still landed in “family friendly” territory, at least in Disney’s collective mindset. The films were PG-13. The TV shows were TV-14. Disney+ could still boast that the content on its service was stuff that families could watch together. And in a world of no-holds-barred streaming services, that made Disney+ unique.
That changed on March 16 with the introduction of a few additional Marvel superheroes—characters that launched their TV-MA careers on Netflix.
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher and the Avengers-like team-up series Defenders have all migrated from Netflix to their new home. And family friendly, they are not.
Sure, some are pretty good. Daredevil, the story of a blind-lawyer-turned-nighttime-vigilante is a particular narrative standout. Moreover, the titular hero was driven, in part, by his faith: Matt Murdock’s Catholic underpinnings were an inescapable part of his story. And as the MCU increasingly embraces made-up gods and occultic elements, Daredevil’s Christian elements are welcome.
But while Daredevil does come with a bit of faith, it also foists buckets of blood on its viewers. It spews loads of profanities. Matt Murdock may embrace faith more than many of his superhero cohorts, but he’s not above embracing a lover or two, either.
The shows go rapidly downhill—at least in terms of problematic content—from there. Jessica Jones, featuring a super-strong, wildly jaded private eye, contains blushing amounts of sexual content. The Punisher rejects Daredevil’s no-kill policy and seeks bloody, terminal revenge. These are not fun, Guardian of the Galaxy-like romps. They do not give us Captain America-like heroes. Netflix’s do-gooders often struggle to do good at all.
And now, these TV-MA shows are on Disney—the very name of which has, for decades, been synonymous with family entertainment.
The good news is this: With this influx of potentially inappropriate shows, Disney+ has updated its settings, and it should automatically guide you through the process of setting up parental controls for viewers. If not, you can add profiles under the “profile” section in the upper-right corner of the screen. You can also create a profile PIN to make sure that youngsters won’t access Mom’s and Dad’s profile to watch Jessica Jones.
The bad news, of course, is that we’ll likely see more TV-MA shows arrive on Disney+ in the months and years ahead. Its unique position in the world of streaming is gone.
Of course, we all know that even before March 16, the stuff that Disney thinks is family friendly doesn’t necessarily jibe with what actual families feel is appropriate for their kids. Parents should always use their own judgement—and not rely on someone else.
7 Responses
-i felt a bit uncomfortable when they added these, but luckily they gave me an option to keep the shows ratings to TV-14. We got Disney+ to stay away from the evilness that Netflix is giving us, but apparently they’re just bringing it all to Disney+ anyways…
-I just realized that you mentioned the option…oops lol
-In fairness, Disney+ outside the US has had TV-MA and R-rated content for some time. Since Hulu (which is majority Disney-owned) doesn’t exist outside the US, Disney has used D+ as its hub there for “mature” content, of course with parental control options. And there’s a lot of speculation within the industry that as more content providers currently partnering with Hulu (such as Paramount and Comcast) pull their content from Hulu in favor of their own streaming services, within a few years Hulu will eventually fold, and Disney will move that mature-rated content onto D+.
Not saying that’s a good thing, but it’s not entirely unexpected.
-Hmmm. I don’t see why this is a problem. The parental lock is there, so.
-Have to say I’ve been very disappointed with Disney, especially last couple of years. They’re definitely not family friendly anymore, push way to much agenda, and basically opposite of what I believe Disney would want. Against all biblical concepts and I believe even anti God and his principles. Reason why deleted Disney channel and now stick with better options.
-Not every parent will use the locks, they are unaware of the dangers through a lack of knowledge and discernment. It’s up to those who do have knowledge to fight back, restrain the works of the devil. The devil wants to indoctrinate the children, they need protecting, all of them, not just our own. If you don’t like the way society is going, then we are all responsible to make a stand and resist the evil. Evil prevails when good men do nothing. God has a plan on how to deal with this, we have to pray and ask Him what it is, and what we must do.
-Just continue with prayer faith and Godly parenting. Anyone that has ever prayed for Jesus’s second coming was asking for the world to get worse. Parents don’t forget it is our job to teach our children about these things and why they are wrong not just try and protect them from it.