Following the success of The Avengers, Disney announced that the MCU would head to the small screen with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC. The series took a while to find its footing and, as time passed, it became clear Marvel Studios and Marvel Television didn't exactly have the closest working relationship.
In fact, the two entities were almost entirely separate, with Kevin Feige's involvement boiling down to telling Jeph Loeb the characters he could and couldn't use.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was followed by Agent Carter, a series it's thought Marvel Studios did have a little more involvement in. Unfortunately, it only lasted two seasons on ABC despite starring Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper, and James D'Arcy.
During a recent interview with The Wrap, former ABC President Paul Lee reflected on Agent Carter and shared his belief that the series would fare much better in today's landscape.
"Look, structurally, don’t forget, it was at a time when Marvel movies and Marvel TV were separated," he tells the trade. "So I think one of the reasons it would do better today is that the platform is used to it."
"And it would have sat brilliantly amongst those," Lee added, referring to Marvel Studios' current slate of Disney+ TV shows. "But it was a great early suggestion of where the Marvel brand could go and very useful to everybody."
"I think also were it done today, there would be more synergies between the television and the movies, both creatively, and also in terms of storyline and otherwise," he concluded. "But we were thrilled to do 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' and 'Agent Carter,' because they blazed a path that was very profitable for the Walt Disney Company over time."
The days of MCU (or MCU-adjacent) content airing on network television are over as Disney+ is now home to any and all projects set in that world.
Characters from Marvel Television's Netflix TV shows have started finding their way into the MCU, of course, and D'Arcy reprised his Agent Carter role in Avengers: Endgame. As for Atwell, she's now playing Captain Carter, and rumours continue to swirl that Chloe Bennet will eventually return as Quake.