Though Marvel can seemingly do no wrong on the big screen – well, for the most part – their efforts on television are a different story. Sure, shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones are nearly flawless, but the studio’s also put out a lot of underwhelming material lately, including the recently released Inhumans, which staged its IMAX premiere this past weekend and will arrive on the small screen towards the end of the month.
That was just the latest in what’s becoming a long line of misses, though, as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has struggled almost since day one, Agent Carter only made it to two seasons and recent Netflix series like Iron Fist and even The Defenders to some extent, were seriously underwhelming. Despite all of this, Marvel seems intent on pushing forward with their television projects – especially those on ABC.
Chatting with Comic Book Resources recently to promote Inhumans, Jeph Loeb, exec VP and head of television, was asked whether the studio had anymore shows in development with the network, and said the following:
“Absolutely. Obviously these aren’t things I can talk about. But look, as it is with every single one of the networks that we have gotten with that this is with, and whether it’s Fox or it’s FX or it’s Freeform, or it’s Hulu, or it’s Netflix, ABC is always going to be our mothership. It is a Disney-owned network. We are a Disney-owned corporation and we’re a good fit for each other.”
Continuing on, Loeb noted that Marvel’s relationships with the likes of Netflix and Hulu aren’t an indication of them not wanting to work with ABC. It simply comes down to the fact that some shows are better suited to other networks.
“I think people confuse the fact that we go to other networks as a sign that we’re not on ABC. The truth of the matter is that those shows weren’t appropriate for us to be on ABC. How do we know that? We talk to ABC and we talk about what is it that you’re looking for?”
The studio exec makes a good point there. The gritty world of Marvel’s Netflix series, for instance, could never work on ABC. Or at least, they could never work in their current form. As Loeb says though, ABC will always be the “mothership” for the studio’s shows and as such, there’s no reason to think that we won’t be seeing further projects from Marvel making their way there.
As for which other shows they may be cooking up, that we don’t know, but even despite their missteps lately, we’re certainly looking forward to whatever else they’ve got in store for us and as always, we’ll let you know once we learn more.
