Skip to main content

How to update your new Disney+ parental controls

You may have heard that the Marvel TV shows that were formerly at home on Netflix have all come to Disney+ this week. There’s just one hitch for the most family-friendly streaming service: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher are all TV-MA. And let’s just say that they feature characters doing some very un-Disney-like things to each other. Sex and violence reach near R-rated levels, which is part of the appeal of these shows. That said, some parents may have legitimate concerns about what their children watch. Fortunately, we’re here to help!

Disney foresaw some of these potential problems when it introduced its new Disney+ parental controls. It’s also why Disney+ is automatically asking users to update their parental preferences when they log into the site. Keep in mind that the default setting is TV-14. If you don’t opt to update any of your settings or if you click Not Now, then nothing will change. However, this is also your easiest opportunity to put the setting on TV-MA for everything that Disney+ has to offer. And make no mistake, these Marvel shows will probably not be the last mature content to be added in the future.

The Defenders look at the camera in an elevator in The Defenders.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Now, if you’re sharing your Disney+ account with your young children, there doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all decision about content. Disney+ has also introduced an option to add four-digit passcodes on individual profiles under the same account. Essentially, this allows the account holder/parent to make the content choices for each member of the family. It’s also an easy edit. All you have to do is click Edit Profiles on the main page. This will bring you to a page where you can modify the various profiles in your account. Just select the user you want to change, enter your password, and then enter your chosen PIN code and hit Save. After that, you’re the only one who can make any changes about what that profile user can watch.

Recommended Videos

There’s also an easier way to lock your kids out of the mature content. Just return to the Parental Controls menu and choose the Kids Profile feature. That’s the pre-curated version of Disney+ that keeps things even more family-friendly. But for now, that feature is only available in the U.S, the U,K, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. But the Kids Profile option is coming to other territories in the future.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Marvel’s Doctor Strange 2 will hit Disney+ later this month
Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Last weekend, the box office domination of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness came to an end when Top Gun: Maverick set a new Memorial Day opening weekend record. And while the Doctor Strange sequel hasn't run out of spells yet, Disney+ has already set a premiere date for the film on its streaming service. Fans at home will be able to watch Marvel's latest movie at will starting on June 22. A Blu-ray and 4K release will likely follow later this summer.

To celebrate the announcement, Marvel Studios assembled Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, and Xochitl Gomez for a special "thank you" video.

Read more
Daredevil: How a Disney+ soft-reboot could tie up loose ends
Split image of Elektra, Daredevil, and Bullseye in the MCU.

From 2015 to 2018, Marvel's Daredevil had cemented its case for being some of the best TV that the comic book/superhero genre has ever produced. The show captured the essence of writer Frank Miller's crime-noir reinvention of the Man Without Fear in the early 1980s while blending it with the grit of a crime series you might find on HBO. Fans were disappointed once Netflix canceled it due to the impending arrival of Disney+ as a direct competitor, but this past December's Spider-Man: No Way Home and the streamer's Hawkeye series have brought both Matt Murdock and the Kingpin back into the MCU fold.

The show's seen a resurgence in popularity since being indirectly put back under the spotlight, with reports also now swirling of actors Charlie Cox (Kin) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) appearing in other MCU projects before a rumored new solo series for Disney+. Getting into debates on canonicity can be as confusing as it is annoying and petty, though, it seems like Cox and co.'s revival will be in the form of a soft reboot. Marvel Studios will likely keep the same general continuity of the original show's story while simultaneously serving as a fresh jumping-on point -- much like a new comic book run on a character with a new writer/artist team. But even with a soft reboot, the ghosts of Daredevil's past, from complex love triangles to bitter arch-nemeses, can come back to haunt (or grace) the Devil of Hell's Kitchen on Disney+.
A different kind of grudge match

Read more
The 10 best episodes from Marvel’s Daredevil on Disney+
Split image of Daredevil in promos for the series now on Disney+

In his relatively short existence in live-action media, Daredevil has endured more than the usual dodgy interpretations that befall a character no one quite knows what to do with. There's his supporting role in Bill Bixby's The Trial of the Incredible Hulk -- and the less said about that TV movie, the better.  The 2003 Ben Affleck-led Daredevil fared no better, falling victim to the early-2000s blunder of ignoring comic continuity in favor of Matrix-inspired "coolness." The 2017 Netflix series broke the curse, with superb acting, writing, and directing that honored the longtime Marvel Comics hero and shed a light on a street-level version of the MCU. Yet despite its critical acclaim, the streamer cut the series short after three seasons due to Disney's streaming competitor on the horizon. Fans were devastated by the cancelation, and things looked bleak for this acclaimed iteration of the character's future.

Fast forward three more years and both Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio have reprised their iconic portrayals of the Man Without Fear and the Kingpin of Crime, respectively, in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye. After this second round of embrace for this corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, more seems to be in the cards for Daredevil and company in the years ahead. To celebrate Daredevil being born again and completing its migration from Netflix to Disney+, these are 10 of the best episodes from the TV series.
10. Cut Man -- Season 1, Episode 2
One of the most famous things Daredevil has become known for is its gripping one-take hallway fight scenes. There's one in each of the three seasons, and they're all exceptional showcases in martial arts choreography and cinematography. In general, the series does an excellent job at conveying the incredibly high stakes the titular hero and supporting cast face in such an intimately scoped setting.

Read more