Rejoice, Marvel fans! Your reign over media everywhere will carry on unabated, while the rest of us crawl into the corner of our bedrooms and wonder where the originality has gone to. Netflix and Disney have just announced that they will produce four brand new live-action series based on Marvel comic book characters, to premiere on the Netflix streaming service beginning in 2015.
The announcement is not so much a surprise as an inevitability. There was rumor that Marvel was looking to expand its dominion over the land, shopping around the four new shows and a miniseries of The Defenders. Now all have found a home with Netflix, the streaming service that captured our hearts (and our wallets) and will continue to hold them captive until we beg for mercy. The four shows in question will kick off in 2015 with Daredevil, followed by Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage. Netflix has signed on for 13 episodes each, although there’s no indication how long The Defenders miniseries will run for.
There’s no doubt that this is a smart move for both Marvel and Netflix. The streaming service has already had a measure of success with their original shows, and partnering with one of the most successful studios makes plenty of sense. From Marvel’s end, it’s a solidification of their media empire, an expansion of their universe, and a chance to make some money off of those characters yet to obtain their own feature films. If these series prove successful, it could mean more movies, more shows, more merchandising, on and on into the future.
But does this not have potential for over-saturation? Marvel has been rolling out films pretty consistently, and will continue to roll them out until people stop going. Still, Marvel’s sole TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has met with slowly declining ratings, and some critical skepticism. The studio will have to do better the next time around if they hope to maintain a stranglehold on the media.
What do you think of Marvel and Netflix uniting for these proposed TV shows? Is this the greatest thing to happen to pop culture since Robert Downey Jr. put on an iron suit? Let us know in the comments.
