Announced last year, WEBTOON and Disney are teaming up to create a new comics platform that expands upon the Marvel Unlimited model. At New York Comic Con 2026 the Marvel Comics app officially made its debut on the showroom floor at booth #2435. During an invite-only press event on Thursday morning, the Marvel and WEBTOON teams introduced the new app, outlined its features and future plans, and gave attendees at the event their first hands-on look.
UI wise, it bears a striking resemblance to WEBTOON’s: minimalist design with the simple text, solid color as the background throughout the entire layout, and with the cover art for each superhero franchise and issue organized in rows as you scroll down. This is an intentional design choice as the Marvel Comics app is powered by WEBTOON. So this most likely was done to not stray from what has been proven to work for the big green.
After speaking with the staff to elaborate further on what they meant by “powered by WEBTOON”, they explained that the Marvel Comics app is built from the core software behind WEBTOON’s mobile and desktop platforms, which has been stripped down and rebuilt to accommodate the new app’s features.
One of the main features of the Marvel Comics app is that it supports both traditional page-by-page viewing of various Marvel comics as well as support for vertical scroll comics. The app also has an optional feature to allow readers to blow up each individual panel of the page as they are reading an issue. When enabled as you read a comic the app will enlarge a single panel on the screen for readers to admire the artwork and easily read speech bubbles and sound effects before moving on to do the same with the next panel.
There is an additional option to also enable a full view of the entire page from the issue once you have read through every panel to see the layout before starting in on the next page. Another neat addition is how each issue has the cover art on display, as well as listing the date, in-depth credits, year of release, and a collection of reading lists in which the issues can be found. It’s small additions like these that set it apart from the original WEBTOON app, but I also wish it would be implemented into the main WEBTOON app as well for Originals and Canvas series.
Within the app itself, because it is made from WEBTOON’s software, you can also use your WEBTOON account to log into the Marvel Comics app. One big feature I do have to commend is if you are an already existing Marvel Unlimited user and have an account, you can easily transfer your licenses, library, and reading history to the Marvel Comics app. This is especially welcome at a time when changes to digital-comics platforms can leave readers uncertain about what will happen to their libraries. The planned Tapas shutdown is one such example of why preserving access to previously acquired content matters here.
There is also a subscription model, but the only thing worth noting here is that subscribers can get the latest versions of a digital Marvel comic 3 months after the physical release for the lower tier, and as few as 30 days after the physical release for the Ultimate tier.
There is a general roadmap with no exact dates for when these updates will arrive, but I do recall one of them will involve bringing Disney and Pixar comics to the Marvel Comics app as well. So that is worth looking forward to as well for Disney and Pixar fans.
Overall there is potential with this app. The UI is very easy to understand and navigate, especially if you’re already familiar with the WEBTOON app. You have a large library of Marvel comics to explore and read in multiple ways.
The biggest benefit is the option to carry over your own licenses, library, and purchases from the Marvel Unlimited app before it sunsets. The app is also designed to become more than just Marvel comics with plans to add both Disney and Pixar comics into the digital library at a later date.
There are a lot of comics to cover and reading that could be overwhelming. But for fans of comics under the Marvel/Disney umbrella, you pretty much have a large mobile library once this launches on November 16, 2026.
Stay tuned to K-Comics Beat for more news from NYCC ’26!
