WEBTOON And Marvel Are Launching Their New Digital App At NYCC

Logo for the new Marvel Digital app powered by WEBTOON, announced October 5, 2026 and launching November 16.

Courtesy of Marvel and WEBTOON

Since last summer’s announcement that Marvel and WEBTOON were teaming up on a new digital project, there has been speculation about what shape that product would take, especially given the increasingly close collaboration between the two companies on vertically-scrolling adaptations of popular characters and franchises.

Today the two companies pulled back the curtain on their latest project: an all new app designed to be the “new digital home for Marvel’s comic storytelling.” According to the announcement, the app will officially launch for mobile and web on November 16 with a catalog of more than 35,000 digital comics, including titles from the Star Wars, Alien and other popular franchise under the Walt Disney umbrella, including properties from 20^th Century Studios.

Delivering on the update the companies provided last September, which announced the joint development of the app and teased some of the content, fans will now be able to sign up for subscriptions at launch offering access to the back catalog of Marvel issues. Base level pricing is $9.99/month or $69.99/year, and “Ultimate” tier is $12.49/month or $99.99/year. Ultimate offers access to recent issues as early as one month after print, while Base subscribers will need to wait at least three months.

The companies said there is a limited “Founding member” deal for $59.99 for a year of Ultimate for those who pre-register online or at New York Comic Con later this week, where the app will be on public display.

The new Webtoon-built app appears to be a one-for-one substitution for Marvel’s existing Marvel Unlimited app, which is expected to announce a sunset date shortly. There will be some provisions to migrate reading history and pull lists to the new app.

“We know that there is a large audience of readers who are looking to experience comics digitally, and there is no richer library than Marvel Comics,” said David Abdo, General Manager, Marvel Comics and Franchise, in the announcement. “We’re excited to partner with WEBTOON, industry leaders in the space, to create a new app that can continue to grow and evolve with the way readers discover and experience comics.”

A few observations about this announcement:

When the partnership was first announced last year, there was some talk of including access to WEBTOON’s own content on a combined app. That was not mentioned in today’s release. That’s important because WEBTOON content (slice of life, romance, supernatural, and infinitely blended genre categories) generally appeals to a different demographic than Marvel super-heroes and one of the big promises of a partnership between the two companies is the potential to cross-pollinate among different reading audiences.

That may still be the plan, but today’s announcement is only an update/retool of the existing Marvel app based on WEBTOON’s expertise in presenting digital comics optimized for mobile devices.

“The Marvel Comics app represents a new chapter in helping fans connect with the stories they love,” said Yongsoo Kim, President of WEBTOON Entertainment, in the release. “By combining WEBTOON’s expertise in building digital comics platforms with Marvel’s unparalleled storytelling legacy, we’re making it easier for longtime fans and new readers alike to explore Marvel’s universe and discover their next favorite story.”

Secondly, this appears to only cover back catalog, not new releases. Those are still available on a pay-to-read basis on a variety of platforms ranging from Amazon Kindle and Google Play to specialized digital comics services like GlobalComix and Neon Ichiban.

New periodical comics are the revenue drivers for both digital and physical retailers, and it’s understandable why Marvel would not want to compete with its own supply chain. Again, we don’t know what the companies are planning for the future, but for the time being, WEBTOON is the new Infinite and that’s about it.

Finally there’s some financial imperatives around moving this forward. WEBTOON debuted as a publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: WBTN) in June, 2024 at $21.30 and briefly peaked at $25.66.

Since then, the only time the stock price has even approached that level was immediately after the initial announcement of the Disney partnership, which included the news that Disney was taking a 2% stake in the company, on September 15, 2025. The stock closed at $21.31 that day before tumbling into another decline. It closed on September 28, 2026 at $10.50.

Following a quarterly report that indicated some headwinds in key markets and a major strategic refocus this summer, WEBTOON probably needs some good news, especially given some concerns about the webtoon market in general.

WEBTOON will be looking to spread some of that good news and good will this week at New York Comic Con, where the company will be showcasing the new Marvel partnership and running programs and panels focused on its own platform and creators.