Here’s Why Marvel’s TV Shows Usually Avoid Crossing Over With The Movies

As much as we’ve heard that all the productions that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe, be they on the big or small screen, “are all connected,” the truth of the matter is that there are rarely major links between the TV side of things and the movies. In particular, the outcome of Avengers: Infinity War has been all but avoided entirely.

So far, the only MCU show that’s referenced Infinity War is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – the final few episodes of season 5 took place concurrently with the Q-ship’s arrival in New York and the Outriders’ attack on Wakanda. However, it appeared to have ended before its fateful final moments. As for the Netflix series, they’ve all been explained away as occurring well before IW kicks off.

While speaking with ComicBook.com, Marvel Television president Jeph Loeb was asked why the TV shows are usually so standalone and Loeb explained that basically, there’s typically an ongoing plan that Kevin Feige’s got up his sleeve, so it’s easier to let the movies do their thing and for the TV series to mark out their own path. For instance, writing “The Snap” into the shows would naturally step on the toes of the upcoming Avengers 4.

For Loeb, he seems to think the best way is to go is the Runaways route – ignore the movies pretty much completely but have an eye on developing crossovers with other TV shows, in this case Cloak & Dagger. 

“[Runaways] can reference the rest of the world, but it’s true to teenagers — they’re not interested in what Tony Stark is doing this week or what Matt Murdock is doing this week but they might be interested in a couple of kids who live down in New Orleans and what’s going on there.”

We’ve previously heard that Cloak & Dagger’s showrunner Joe Pokaski was interested in crossing over with Runaways in season 2, so from Loeb’s comments we can hope that this wish is formulating into something concrete. While it might be disappointing for fans when Iron Man or Cap aren’t name-checked by Daredevil or whoever, at least the TV half of the Marvel universe is building its own bridges.