“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” was not only one of the few breakout hits of the fall, it was also the first success story of Marvel’s TV division under Jeph Loeb. It came after years of Marvel failing to land a live action television show, including the proposed “Hulk” TV series executive produced by Guillermo del Toro.
Last month, word broke that Marvel was developing an “Agent Carter” series as a potential second show on AMC. However, Marvel may have even bigger ambitions for television. According to a new report on Deadline. Marvel is rumored to be putting together a package of four drama series and a miniseries totaling 60 hours of programming out to cable networks and VOD providers. The only potential partners for this deal that were named in the report are Netflix, Amazon and WGN America.
You may be wondering why Marvel is looking to go outside of the Disney owned ABC and ABC Family for television programming. The answer is simple: ABC Family doesn’t quite fit their demo and while ABC may be one of the Big 4 networks, Marvel’s options will always be limited there despite the fact that Disney owns both ABC and Marvel.
Disney, Marvel and ABC clearly want to capitalize on the success of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man and The Avengers. But ABC’s core audience seems to prefer soap opera-like dramas including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Revenge” and “Scandal.” There simply isn’t room on ABC’s programming schedule for four new Marvel dramas, unless several shows were canceled to make room for them or if the Marvel television projects were released in tiers.
Of the three potential partners for this deal, Netflix seems like the safest bet due to its reach and its willingness to spend a great deal of money on its original programming. Amazon hasn’t yet been able to replicate Netflix’s success with original series and WGN America hasn’t even launched its first drama yet.
From the perspective of the potential partners, signing on with Marvel would probably be attractive because of the pre-existing fanbase and the relentless Marvel publicity machine that will hype up the projects from the moment that they are formally announced through the release date.
If a deal was already in place, it probably would have been announced last weekend at New York Comic-Con. But if the rumors are true, there could potentially be a deal and an announcement before the end of the year.
