Marvel Entertainment’s unique TV shows were important to the brand

Marvel Studios is about to start a brand new era in TV, but Marvel Entertainment’s variety of shows played a vital role in the brand’s success.

Jeph Loeb was put in charge of Marvel Entertainment’s television productions, which would expand the comic book universe into TV. It all started with Agents of SHIELD in 2013, when Agent Phil Coulson, from movies like Iron Man, Thor, and The Avengers, became the star of his own show. While it’s not exactly a critical darling, the show does have a passionate fanbase that has kept it alive for a seven-season run. From then on, there were more shows that were offering new Marvel experiences on the small screen.

It was mind-blowing that shows like SHIELD, Daredevil, Runaways, and others were all technically taking place in the same universe as The Avengers. Marvel Entertainment even produced shows on the X-Men spectrum like Legion and The Gifted, which were a lot different from the usual Marvel fair (especially Legion). However, any fan can make it clear that those supposed “MCU shows” were very different from the films.

Shows like SHIELD and Agent Carter did their best to play inside the parameters of the movie universe, but stuff like Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica Jones, and Legion did their own thing, and that was okay. Despite their lack of a connection to the larger universe, Marvel Entertainment showed that there is a desire for mature, hard-edged Marvel stories.

But now everything is different.

Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios,  is now the chief creative officer of Marvel and will now oversee the production of the company’s media, which includes films, TV, and publishing. Jeph Loeb, who was in charge of developing Marvel Entertainment’s shows, will officially be stepping down.

Almost everything that’s not under the MCU umbrella has come to an end. The only shows under Marvel Entertainment at the moment that have not been canceled or have ended are Runaways (who knows if it’ll get past season 3) and the upcoming Helstrom show for Hulu.

Then there are those mature animated projects announced for Hulu, which would focus on oddball characters Howard the Duck, MODOK, Tigra and Dazzler, and Hit-Monkey and eventually lead to a crossover team-up called The Offenders. Not much else has been said since this announcement, but it would be a shame not to see them happen because Marvel is lacking in the animation department.

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Disney Plus’ Marvel shows sound exciting, especially since the film actors are all reprising their roles, but it’s been made clear that mature content won’t be on the streaming service. Characters like Moon Knight and Blade, who would be perfect for something like Marvel-Netflix, have now been confirmed to be under Marvel Studios. Who knows how far they will go with those characters now that the Marvel Studios label is attached to them.

It seems like this era of experimental expansion into TV is now over with Feige handling all of Marvel’s creative output. It’s honestly a shame, but it’s not all negative.

Marvel Entertainment’s venture into TV hasn’t been completely positive . The creative highs of shows like Daredevil, Legion, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher were great demonstrations of Marvel’s ambitious expansion into small-screen storytelling, but the disastrous Inhumans was an absolute low point, along with the abrupt cancellation of their Netflix shows.

There’s also the letdown of Donald Glover’s Deadpool not coming to fruition, with Glover publicly calling out Marvel for it. There was also the announcement and subsequent cancellation of the Gabriel Luna-headlined Ghost Rider show for Hulu. Those shows could’ve been unique but, now, they’ll never see the light of day.

Despite the lackluster Inhumans, Netflix cancellations, or the death of Deadpool and Ghost Rider, Daredevil was truly the shining example of what Marvel storytelling can be. It didn’t have to feel like the MCU, because it was a show with good characters, badass action, and an intriguing story that just so happened to have a guy who suited up.

When the current pop culture space was saturated with comic book media, Marvel Entertainment tried its best to offer a new experience with each show. Daredevil, SHIELD, Luke Cage, Runaways Cloak and Dagger, and Legion are all radically different shows that explore different genres and themes for a variety of audiences. The CW’s Arrowverse definitely has its charm but, at the end of the day, they’ll always feel like CW shows. With DC Universe and HBO Max, DC is finally starting to experiment with the TV landscape, with the inspiration most likely coming from their competitor.

Will there be more mature Marvel experiences like the Netflix shows? Will there be an experimental show like SHIELD that explores the lesser-known areas of the Marvel Universe? Only time will tell. Now that Feige is in charge of Marvel, hopefully, he understands that variety in the comic book space is what keeps audiences invested.