MCU Streaming Boss Explains Decision To Make Netflix TV Shows Canon And Why It's Only Happened Now

MCU Streaming Boss Explains Decision To Make Netflix TV Shows Canon And Why It's Only Happened Now

Marvel Studios' head of streaming Brad Winderbaum has revealed what led to Marvel Television's Netflix TV shows being made official MCU canon and why exactly it took so long for them to be acknowledged.

By JoshWilding - Mar 19, 2024 09:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Daredevil
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Before Echo launched on Disney+ in January, Marvel Studios unexpectedly made Marvel Television's Netflix TV shows part of the MCU's official "canon." 

The likes of Daredevil and Jessica Jones were always meant to take place in the MCU, but with a clear divide between Kevin Feige and those Ike Perlmutter-backed small screen projects, links were tenuous at best and crossovers were few and far between in those final few years (the shows never referenced the Sokovia Accords, for example). 

While it's clear Marvel Studios will continue to pick and choose what it wants to lift from those Marvel Television projects, head of streaming Brad Winderbaum recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and explained how the decision came to be. 

"We finally said it out loud. When the Netflix shows were coming out and being made, we were building towards Infinity War and Endgame. We were trying to balance all of these film franchises and get them to culminate onscreen in these two epic movies. To say it was a challenge is not even correct. It was one of the most challenging creative endeavors the studio ever undertook. I’m not sure there will ever be anything like it again in cinema. It took so much to get all that stuff to galvanize in that one place and in that one time so that people could have that experience in the movie theater."

"So, at the time, to say, 'Alright, we’re also going to take this television show and wrap our heads around that,' it would’ve been too much, even though we were communicating back and forth. Everyone on the television side and the film side knew what each other was doing, and you can see that there’s a continuity there. The references do line up, but it was just too much for us to wrap our minds around at the time."

"Flash forward now to Disney+, where we are actually laying out the timeline with tiles on a screen, all of a sudden we’re like, 'We should just do it. Let’s do it.' It was also spurred by the redevelopment of Daredevil: Born Again, once we started to really lean into some of the mythology and backstory that was established in those Netflix shows."

"I was asked about this during the press for Echo, and I realized, 'Oh, it’s not just assumed. People have an active interest and they want confirmation.' So we were able to do it fairly quickly, and it’s interesting that the service of Disney+ actually became the statement just by rearranging those tiles. That’s our medium to define the canon now, which is wild to think about."

While this goes some way in explaining why there was no sign of Luke Cage and Iron Fist in Avengers: Endgame, it also can't be denied that making those shows canon was a clever way to win over many fans.

By the time Echo rolled around, there were those who had begun to lose faith in Marvel Studios' Disney+ efforts. Making these fan-favourite TV shows "canon" gave Marvel Studios some positive publicity and undeniably increased interest in Maya Lopez's solo outing (which featured less than 90 seconds of screentime for Daredevil).

Which Netflix hero or villain are you most excited to see in the MCU? Head to the comments section below to share your picks!

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FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 3/19/2024, 9:52 AM
Tl;dr they needed some positive buzz
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 3/19/2024, 10:43 AM
@FireandBlood - I think it was just easier for them to take the Netflix shows as canon than redo every introduction all over again. Especially with how much money they were losing with the bad products.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 3/19/2024, 12:16 PM
@SonOfAGif - seems more like a panic tbh
SATW42
SATW42 - 3/19/2024, 1:11 PM
@ShimmyShimmyYA - I really don't know how you can read this article and think "panic"

Like, I've been in meetings like this and they are completely normal blue sky ideas meetings.

It's totally plausible that it happened exactly as he says, and it's definitely more believable than people running around Disney offices from dark conference room to dark conference room plotting "yessssssss this is how we'll get them back"

Sometimes people on this site make shit way too complicated
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 3/19/2024, 1:41 PM
@SATW42 - I’m not making it complicated, they were planning on ignoring them, developing shows to back that up and then changed course, but they had some troubles recently. What you said could’ve happened and it still be a panic move
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/19/2024, 3:22 PM
@ShimmyShimmyYA - LORD willing, it doesn't make it one automatically all by itself.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/19/2024, 9:54 AM
Give me Heroes For Hire then!!.

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Both (especially Finn Jones’s Danny) was at his best when they were together…

I doubt it’ll happen but a guy can dream.
Vigor
Vigor - 3/19/2024, 10:03 AM
@TheVisionary25 - I would kill for this show
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 3/19/2024, 10:16 AM
@Vigor @TheVisionary25 - 100%. Danny's dynamic with Luke was the only thing that vindicated Iron Fist. Even if there's a different "main" Iron Fist in the MCU, there's no reason that we couldn't also have those two knuckleheads getting into scrapes.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/19/2024, 10:25 AM
@ClintThaHamster - yep

I personally think the character improved and grew as he went along but that appearance in LC S2 was his peak and showed imo that Finn was not the problem with that version but moreso the writing & handling at times.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 3/19/2024, 10:25 AM
@TheVisionary25 - "Finn was not the problem with that version but moreso the writing & handling at times."

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krayzeman
krayzeman - 3/19/2024, 11:09 AM
@TheVisionary25 - this should have been an official show
bobevanz
bobevanz - 3/19/2024, 9:55 AM
They need these characters, and it's easier to use established ones. They're also desperate to appease the masses. It won't matter if the shows are still mid and their movies are a waste of time.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/19/2024, 9:57 AM
Desperate Marvel
marvel72
marvel72 - 3/19/2024, 9:57 AM
Because they are better than most of the Disney Plus shows and it makes the MCU seem better than it actually is.
Origame
Origame - 3/19/2024, 10:32 AM
@marvel72 - they're only Canon now so you can have Vincent kingpin and cox daredevil say they like their new DEI approved characters like echo 🤣
marvel72
marvel72 - 3/19/2024, 10:34 AM
@Origame - Exactly,it's bullshit, Disney saying they are not cannon for years and now they are.
Origame
Origame - 3/19/2024, 10:36 AM
@marvel72 - it's their only way to try and get people interested in these terrible new characters

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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/19/2024, 10:02 AM
I’m sure they will still pick and choose but man , it does make some of the double dipping casting now confusing & funny lol…

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Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 3/19/2024, 10:23 AM
@TheVisionary25 - They've done that in the MCU films proper, too, with Michele Yeoh and Gemma Chan in live action, and countless others in live action/mocap/voiceover. And I'm all for it! I love an ensemble.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/19/2024, 10:24 AM
@ClintThaHamster - true haha

It’s not too big of a deal.
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 3/19/2024, 10:30 AM
@TheVisionary25 - To be fair, a ton of long-going tv and movie franchises end up reusing actors. Just look up how many characters Clint Howard and Jeffrey Combs have played in Star Trek.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 3/19/2024, 11:35 AM
@FinnishDude - I was going to bring that up, too. Before the advent of home video (and really up to the emergence of streaming) TV shows would bring the same actors back season after season for different roles.
mountainman
mountainman - 3/19/2024, 10:04 AM
They were made cannon because D+ needed more content and the MCU shows have been mostly lackluster. That’s it.
Matchesz
Matchesz - 3/19/2024, 10:11 AM
@mountainman - if they just came out and said this I would actually respect them as a company. But they all act like wannabe dirty politicians so much the way they try to smooth talk you and sell shit its no wonder everything’s so political with them
Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 3/19/2024, 10:07 AM
Honestly, I'm glad they folded them in. In my opinion, the next phase of Marvel if they want it to be successful, should be more street level and focus on story over spectacle. No reason to redo all that work, although I would have done a soft inclusion, so the creative teams could pick and choose what they liked. For example, in my opinion, Luke Cage and iron fist should be recast
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 3/19/2024, 10:12 AM
The standards had gotten so low that they eventually saw some of the earlier shows had far surpassed the quality that Disney had been shitting out.
Origame
Origame - 3/19/2024, 10:34 AM
@HashTagSwagg - wouldn't it be funny if things get so bad for them they actually fold in the 2004 fantastic four into the mcu? Like, they're so desperate associating directly with those films and making them mcu Canon is a net gain for them?

Honestly, we're probably at the point they should do that...
MrDandy
MrDandy - 3/19/2024, 10:16 AM
Because they figured out how hard tv is to do and why throw away some of your most popular characters. I’d imagine that was the reason. I’ve enjoy some of Disney+ offerings but they still don’t come close to Daredevil S1-3 or Jessica Jones S1. Hell, even Agents of Shield S3-5 are better than 99% of what is on Disney+
CLTMAN29
CLTMAN29 - 3/19/2024, 10:16 AM
How they can easily just make these canon and not Agent Carter blows my mind.
SATW42
SATW42 - 3/19/2024, 1:22 PM
@CLTMAN29 - huh? Agent Carter is canon... Edwin Jarvis from Agent Carter is in Endgame, played by the same actor. I'm pretty sure he's the only character from any of the tv shows to show up on screen (before daredevil)
CLTMAN29
CLTMAN29 - 3/19/2024, 1:36 PM
@SATW42 - no it is not canon going by the ‘official Disney + timeline’ as discussed in this article. I 100% consider the show canon, but it doesn’t fall under official marvel studios content yet, the one shot does however
Cleander
Cleander - 3/19/2024, 4:54 PM
@CLTMAN29 - the first season is canon
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 3/19/2024, 10:17 AM
I think the MAIN reason they did this is because up until these Netflix shows, the MCU has no rotten spots. And the Netflix shows were a mix from terrible to great. Once the MCU started putting out dogshit, suddenly the Netflix shows weren't so bad.
GodHercules20
GodHercules20 - 3/19/2024, 1:02 PM
@TheFinestSmack - Exactly this
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/19/2024, 10:24 AM
Also need them back…

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OmegaDaGrodd
OmegaDaGrodd - 3/19/2024, 10:31 AM
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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/19/2024, 10:32 AM
@OmegaDaGrodd - man , I get sad now when I see Holt

RIP Andre Braugher , gone too soon.
krayzeman
krayzeman - 3/19/2024, 11:08 AM
So they are only canon now because it was convenient to make them canon because of recent MCU mishaps. Okay...
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