By Chris Snellgrove | Published
We've been hard on Disney+ here for a specific reason: their lackluster MCU television content. When the streaming service was first announced, the prospect of having movie-quality Marvel content on the small screen was arguably the biggest draw, even more so than the small-screen promise of Star Wars. House of Mouse has sadly wasted most of the MCU's television potential, but it could turn this ship around by doing something big: namely, re-embracing Marvel's Netflix model of creating shows around minor characters that don't connect to the movies.
Before the arrival of Disney+, Marvel's television content was distributed across multiple platforms. Very family-friendly Agents of SHIELD aired on ABC while Marvel acquired shows designed for mature viewers, incl Daredevil, Jessica Jonesagain Luke Cage.
The ABC show has a huge following, as do shows that later aired on other streaming platforms (I much prefer Hulu. Those who run away myself), but the series on Netflix instantly became a global phenomenon. It was everything that fans thought we couldn't have with the MCU—gritty, brutal, and brooding—and one of the only downsides was that the shows were distancing themselves from the Marvel movies (and vice versa).
Even though I understood the operational difficulties of scheduling cameos at very different shooting times, I was one of those fans who was always disappointed that we didn't get to see characters like Jessica Jones appear in the Avengers movies. However, now that most of the Disney+ content that has replaced it is showing the same Daredevil it turned out to be disappointing, I completely changed my mind. That is the plain truth not connecting to movies has been one of the biggest strengths of Marvel Netflix content, and trying to force such a connection is huge. weakness of Disney+ shows.
Making the Miracle a Connected Universe Ruined the Miracle
For example, Loki was Disney+'s most popular TV show, and its only major flaw was that it spent two seasons trying to set up Kang the Conqueror as Marvel's next Big Bad. It's easy to say now that this was a waste of time because Jonathan Majors' legal drama led to Kang being completely removed from the MCU. But here's the thing: even if those legal issues had never happened and Majors said “The One Left Behind” in future films, spending so much time planning a future film means that Loki wasted an opportunity to tell a more independent and intimate story. with its title character.
It's the kind of mistake Disney keeps making with these games. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier told an uneven story that is often established Captain America 4a film plagued by delays and reported reshoots. Secret Invasion messed up the story of the old comics, it just seems to set up why Nick Fury is in space in time Miracles. Similarly, the end of the Ms. Marvel was given to stop Miraclesa film that became a historic box office failure for Disney.
Unity Is Marvel's Strength
Also, it's easy to choose these shows through the lens of hindsight because we now know that the movies they pitched encountered production difficulties and box office problems. However, wouldn't these shows be better if they had nothing to do with the movies? They will be able to tell their stories and deliver satisfying endings no matter what happens with the release of the latest movies. Netflix's Marvel shows were forced to keep to their own little corner of the world and ended up not thriving carelessness of the lack of communication with films but because of it.
Jessica Jonesfor example, he was able to do some fun stunt acting by making David Tennant the villain of the Purple Man. In the Disney+ era, it can be difficult to sign up for Doctor Who star because the management wanted him in a 10-year contract for future shows and films. Similarly, I'm sure it would have been easy to sign Vincent D'Onofrio as the villain for one TV show and that he might have shied away from the draconian contracts of the modern Disney+ era.
The Netflix show's distance from the main MCU has helped them tell different kinds of stories with different kinds of heroes. For example, the hard-drinking and shameless Jessica Jones may clash with the superheroes in a breezy Avengers adventure, but she thrives in the world of a show full of sex and violence that won't make it to Marvel's big screen. Similarly, Luke Cage was able to deal with discussions of race and racism in a way that would have alarmed Disney executives, who feared even a hint of controversy about their tentpole films.
We're Running Out of Time to Save Marvel And Disney +
This is more than nostalgia. It's more than just another older Marvel fan saying things were better.
Pound for pound, the Netflix Marvel era has brought better shows, bigger names, and better acting, and they've been able to do so largely because there's been no real attempt to connect them to the MCU films. If Disney+ wants its future Marvel shows to shine (incl Daredevil: Born Again), will need to copy the Netflix formula, focusing on self-contained storytelling rather than endlessly plotting future cinematic slop.
Otherwise, this franchise may be deader than Kang's future in the MCU, and there is no measure of making Robert Downey Jr. like Doctor Doom or restarting everything will bring it back to life.
Source link
