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!