While Marvel Studios' animated projects have largely fallen by the wayside in 2023, work has continued on the likes of What If...?, X-Men '97, Spider-Man: Freshman Year Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Marvel Zombies.
Work has already begun on future seasons of at least a couple of those (What If...? season 3 and X-Men '97 season 2) and, earlier this week, we learned of plans for a Black Panther spin-off titled Eyes of Wakanda.
Now, scooper Daniel Richtman (via Toonado.com) is claiming to have learned of yet another MCU animated project which is being developed. Said be Anime-influenced with a diverse group of leads, we even have a brief logline which appears to point to one of two superhero teams.
"A clandestine group of ancient cosmic beings living undercover on Earth are trying to protect the world without being discovered by humans," it reads. "They find themselves entangled in a cosmic battle that could reshape the fate of the universe."
On the one hand, that sounds very much like the Eternals. If so, it could be an indication Marvel Studios plans to better explore what they were getting up to for the thousands of years they spent on Earth before Tiamut's emergence started.
This would also go some way in building buzz for the long-awaited movie sequel, though we can't help but wonder whether the plan is to address that cliffhanger in animation rather than a pricey tentpole after the first movie underperformed in 2021 (it also went from receiving Oscar buzz to somehow being the MCU's first "Rotten" title).
Another possibility is that this is the Inhumans. Once upon a time, Marvel Studios was developing a movie based on that team, only for it to be scrapped when Kevin Feige no longer had to take orders from then-Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter.
Ultimately, it became an ill-fated ABC TV series and, outside of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Inhumans weren't mentioned again until Anson Mount played a Black Bolt Variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness last year.
The recently released MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios shed more light on why that Inhumans movie never happened. "Marvel Studios had been developing an Inhumans movie for years, but Feige was never satisfied with the script and wasn’t eager to do battle with Fox on Perlmutter’s behalf."
"As soon as Feige pulled the Inhumans movie from the release schedule (in April 2016), Marvel Entertainment ordered Loeb to fast-track Inhumans content on TV. Just two months later, the Inhumans appeared on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
We'll see whether the Inhuman royal family gets a second chance in animation, but as always, you'll want to stay tuned for the latest updates.