Long before Marvel's What If...? and the resurgence of Marvel animated series on Disney+, Powerhouse Animation Studio, the company behind Netflix's hit Castlevania series, pitched another animated project to Marvel called Marvel Era. Amid all the exciting new series announcements for Disney+ this past week, Powerhouse CEO and CCO Brad Graeber took to social media to share the rather intriguing story and proof of concept for the series that, sadly, never was.
As Graeber explains, Marvel Era was meant to be a celebration of Marvel's history. With the 75th anniversary of Marvel approaching in 2014, Powerhouse came up with an anthology series that would feature short stores for each decade of Marvel history. Each episode's art and animation would be inspired by that era.
Graeber actually shared the proof of concept video which shows off some of the 14 rough concepts he had for the series. Some of the ideas included a "40’s Captain America d-day story in the style of Fleischer studios, a Submariner U-boat story, a 60’s X-men story that featured a mutant who led a cult with his powers."
"There was also a very cinema 70's Luke Cage and Iron Fist, an 80's Punisher story that leaned into SCARFACE and MIAMI VICE, and a DEADPOOL story made based on cheesy 90s cartoons," Graeber revealed.
Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition, so all we have now is the impressive proof of concept video that Graeber shared with us. He didn't go into detail, simply offering, "Studio politics were complicated and we were green." He acknowledged it was "probably for the best" and ultimately the studio went on to do Castlevania for Netflix instead.