Marvel Television was a completely separate entity to Marvel Studios, and when the latter was tasked with taking charge of the MCU's small screen storytelling for Disney+, the Jeph Loeb-led studio was quickly shuttered. Now, we're seeing certain characters and actors plucked from those TV shows (seemingly minus any baggage from past stories) as well as the end of any series left from that era.
Helstrom, for example, was completed when the focus turned to Disney+ instead of ABC and Netflix, but ended up being a major critical flop that was barely seen by anyone. Why? Well, it was mostly marketed without any "Marvel" branding and was instead pushed as just another Hulu original.
Hit-Monkey and M.O.D.O.K. received similarly muted marketing campaigns, and it's clear Marvel Studios doesn't want these Marvel Television shows to be mistaken for what they're doing in the MCU (and after so many flops and disappointments from Loeb's outfit, we're not exactly shocked).
Now, another of these shows has bitten the dust as word comes down from Deadline that M.O.D.O.K., starring Patton Oswalt as the title character, has been cancelled after just one season. This comes after animated shows like Howard the Duck and Tigra & Dazzler were also scrapped, while we expect Hit-Monkey to be next (there had once been ambitious plans for a Defenders-style crossover).
This isn't really surprising, and an announcement was expected. Rumour has it Marvel Studios has its own plans for M.O.D.O.K. in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, while Oswalt has been cast in the MCU as Pip the Troll, making his debut in Eternals' post-credits scene as an ally of Harry Styles' Eros.
Are you disappointed to be saying goodbye to M.O.D.O.K.?