Marvel got off to a strong start with its Disney+ shows, but it's probably fair to say that the studio's foray into streaming hasn't been wholly successful. Viewership has declined, and the rush to develop more content has resulted in a dip in overall quality.
The original idea was to create shows that tied directly into the movies, but Marvel TV head Brad Winderbaum outlined the studio's new approach during a 2024 interview with EW.
"We are thinking about television really more like traditional television where they could last for multiple seasons, where we can see the characters brew in the culture for hopefully many years."
"One thing we are doing is we're developing a lot of shows now simultaneously," Winderbaum went on. "So, in a way, we're making television more in a traditional style where we are going to write multiple pilots and show bibles before we decide what we want to produce and actually bring to the screen, which gives us an opportunity to experiment and also to plan all sorts of different Marvel sandboxes."
It seems this new mandate may involve upcoming shows distancing themselves from what we see on the big screen to a more significant degree than we realized.
According to scooper Daniel Richtman, "Marvel is now following in Netflix’s footsteps — shifting focus to more grounded, street-level characters (like the Defenders) for Disney+, while reserving major events for the films."
Not a bad thing, necessarily, but potentially disappointing for anyone hoping to see the Man Without Fear and his allies lend Earth's Mightiest Heroes a helping hand in the upcoming Avengers movies. That said, Marvel clearly isn't against allowing certain characters to make the jump to the big screen, if last night's news that Jon Bernthal will return as Frank Castle for Spider-Man: Brand New Day is any indication.
The Punisher's involvement in Brand New Day has led to speculation that Matt Murdock might also show up, but MTTSH believes that this isn't the current plan.
Finally, we have a (possible) follow-up on the recent news that Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier is in line to helm Marvel's X-Men reboot. This was never officially announced, but Variety mentioned that Schreier has been "tapped" for the gig in a recent article, which a lot of fans have taken as confirmation that he's on board. While this might well be the case, there's a good chance the trade was simply noting the previous report and wasn't providing an update.
A shorter than usual round-up today, but we'll be sure to keep you updated on any rumors worth reporting over the weekend.