After the collapse of Marvel's Inhumans, and with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D hitting series lows in it's fifth season, some have wondered as to the future of Marvel with the newtork (especially with Disney's acquisition of controlling shares of FX, FXX, and controlling shares of Hulu, as well as their upcoming original streaming service). Combined with the announcement of ABC developing two non-Marvel superhero shows, and it seemed like the network had cooled on the brand as a whole. Some of these concerns were assuaged when Marvel Television's SVP of Original Programing, Karim Zreik, announced that there was a new "Female-focused, Jessica Jones-esque" series in development for ABC.
Recently, some posters on the Marvel Reddit board noticed an interesting trend amongst Marvel's comic publishing schedule: when a new television or film release is upcoming, there will be a flurry of new trades released, so that there will be something on the shelves related to upcoming releases. Among recent examples are Punisher omnibuses, old Runaways trades, and Black Panther collections, since trades for current runs are scheduled for releases pretty far in advance, stretching well into 2018. One particular trade that stood out: a
trade of Dakota North Investigations, a rather obscure character who's brief solo series lasted only five issues (the trade also includes one-off appearances from other comics like Power Pack). Amongst all the other trades set for release, it feels very conspicuous, but it would fit if she were appearing in an upcoming MCU project.
Now, she does have some history with Daredevil and Jessica Jones, so it could indicate an appearance in the Netflix universe as part of those show's upcoming series, but the detective-oriented nature of the show would fit Zreik's "Jessica Jones-esque" descriptor very well (as noted in a
previous article I wrote about potential candidates for the show shortly after the initial reveal), as well as not being cast in either of the shows. While this is hardly concrete evidence, it certainly is more of an indicator than anything else we've heard on the potential show, and compared to the other scheduled trade rleases, it is rather the odd one out (neither being a collection of a current run nor evidently tied to an upcoming adaptation), it certainly seems like it could be an upcoming installment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.