ABC Developing Second Marvel Comedy

Get ready, because the next battlefield between Marvel and DC is apparently going to be for laughs. That’s the takeaway from the revelation that a second Marvel comedy is in development at ABC.

The network already put in a pilot order for Damage Control, a half-hour, single-camera comedy based on the 90s comic about normal people who clean up the messes left by superhero battles in the Marvel Universe. But ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee also told IGN that another Marvel comedy could join it.

He didn’t offer any details, nor would he commit to it even appearing on the main network, saying only that he’d “love it to be” on ABC. Lee also sounded positive about a more humorous take on superheroes to go with what Marvel has already been doing on TV.

"We definitely want to do Marvel comedies as well as dramas and of course, as you know, we supply lots of dramas to Netflix."

Despite what could generously be described as lukewarm ratings for Agents of SHIELD, ABC seems to be mashing the gas on Marvel content in general, ordering a pilot for a Bobbi Morse/Lance Hunter spin-off drama to go with these two comedies. Nor is Marvel the only superhero universe exploring sitcoms, with NBC ordering a pilot for Powerless, which is being described as a workplace comedy set in the DC Universe.

I don’t recall a real clamoring for superhero sitcoms, but the networks have to do whatever it takes for ratings these days, so perhaps they see the popularity of comic book properties as a valuable hook to get viewers to watch comedies. Like The Big Bang Theory taken to its logical extreme, in a way.

Next: Stephen Amell Says He Hasn't Talked to Marvel

We’ll keep you updated if and when this new Marvel comedy starts to take shape.