Though TV exhibits related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been round since Brokers of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered on ABC in 2013, it wasn’t till 2021 that Marvel Studios began delivering these sorts of exhibits itself. Along with introducing new characters like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk, many of those Marvel Studios exhibits, which could be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, have spotlighted established characters from the films, like Loki and Hawkeye. Nevertheless, there’s a brand new rumor claiming this may change after the discharge of the upcoming Marvel TV present Imaginative and prescient, and I’ve very blended feeling about this concept if it’s correct.
Per The InSneider (through ComicBookMovie), Imaginative and prescient, additionally recognized underneath its working title Imaginative and prescient Quest, goes to be “the final Marvel sequence to function main characters from the films.” This supposedly stems from one thing shared in The Wall Avenue Journal earlier this month: that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige allegedly appears like watching the MCU’s motion pictures and TV exhibits has “began to really feel extra like homework than leisure.” So if reporter Jeff Sneider’s sources are appropriate, plans are in movement to forge a bigger divide between the MCU’s large display and small display choices.
Sneider clarified in his report that these Marvel exhibits on Disney+ exhibits will nonetheless embody references to “main characters,” akin to when Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk referred to Spider-Man (“a person who attire in a spider outfit) in Daredevil: Born Once more. However in any other case, these exhibits will deal with characters meant to be primarily utilized on the streaming entrance relatively on characters the viewers are used to seeing on the large display. He particularly talked about Marvel Man for example of the previous class, which premieres this December on the 2025 TV schedule.
I each perceive and have considerations about this strategy, assuming Marvel Studios is certainly implementing it. On the one hand, I agree that it’s a frightening endeavor to remain invested within the MCU as of late. It was one factor when there have been solely motion pictures to comply with together with, however throw within the TV exhibits, and solely hardcore followers like myself are going to comply with together with the whole lot being launched. This turns into much more difficult when it turns into troublesome to comply with together with a film that’s following up on occasions from a present, like Captain America: Courageous New World with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
So in that sense, I like the concept of getting the MCU’s exhibits be extra self-contained and never essentially obligatory watches. Alternatively, I don’t like the concept film characters will not seem in these exhibits. There’s a positive line to tread, and so long as it’s not these characters popping up on stated exhibits doesn’t make issues unnecessarily difficult for moviegoing audiences, why ought to this be a difficulty? For instance, Florence Pugh appeared as Yelena Belova in Hawkeye, however one didn’t have to be acquainted with the occasions of that sequence to get pleasure from Thunderbolts*.
I additionally fear that solely referencing these “main characters” will probably be too paying homage to the Marvel Netflix days, when characters like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have been solely acknowledged within the loosest sense on exhibits like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Give us the total title drops. Straight reference occasions from the films. Simply because there needs to be a personality divide doesn’t imply there must be one with the general mythology, too.
Imaginative and prescient will arrive someday in 2026, and there aren’t any different live-action MCU exhibits slated for past that proper now, because it was reported in February that Nova, Terror, Inc. and Unusual Academy had been scrapped. So it could be some time till this new rumor is confirmed or debunked, however till then, subsequent on the MCU’s TV entrance is Ironheart, which premieres on June 24.