In an interview with Newsarama, the comic book writer has talked about Marvel's plans for bringing their characters to the small screen and although he doesnt reveal exactly who we can expect to see, Loeb does go into detail about their plans for the future and how exactly they intend to make them a reality. Below are some of the highlights from the interview but for the whole thing just follow the link at the bottom of the page!
On how the idea of 'Marvel TV' came about and how he got hired:
"After the Disney buyout it became apparent that Disney was very interested in bringing Marvel into television. There was already an ongoing relationship within the world of animation and because Disney has so many networks — ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel, XD, ESPN — there were a number of opportunities that suddenly became available to Marvel to get into that medium."
"At the same time, Dan Buckley had to been talking to me about television in general, because of my past experience working on shows like Buffy Animated, Smallville, Lost and Heroes. It really became a matter of timing. Marvel has done such an amazing job in the feature division with its movies, that when it came time to explore television, they wanted to do it carefully and selectively. They offered me this amazing opportunity with this new division to work with the Disney networks to bring the Marvel catalog to the television screen."
On what exactly his job entails:
"I've been on the job for about 24 hours! However, we will work very closely with the people at ABC and ABC Family for selecting the properties that we want to develop, then bringing in the right people in order to expand on those stories and to make the best shows that we can. I should also point out this is a brand-new adventure, and I can't yet talk about some of the decisions that have been made in terms of the properties that are being developed and the people that we'll talking to."
On what they're working on:
"There are some projects in animation that we're not ready to talk about, but we're going to be developing and expanding into that arena. Our hope is to bring Marvel Animation up to the quality and notoriety of the publishing and movie division. We're now part of the legacy of Disney, where animation is king, and it's our responsibility to up our game and create something that sets Marvel Animation apart from everything else that's out there. At least that's our challenge and our hope."
"And then there's a brand new division that we'll do with live action, where we're working in partnership with ABC and ABC Family to find the right properties, the right characters and develop them. To start, we will be exploring the one-hour drama field similar to the shows that I mentioned that I've worked on, like Smallvillle and Lost."
On his and Marvel's involvement with the planned TV shows:
"We're responsible for everything that gets produced. You work on an individual television show, you're responsible for that particular television show. So while I probably will not be as involved day-to-day as I would when I was on a regular series, I think that we'll be involved in the creative direction of the show and be as supportive as we can to the creative showrunner of that particular project. Our hope is that given the size of our catalog and the appetite that's out there we will be lucky to have more than one show out there at any given time. I think that's what my grandfather used to refer to as, a good problem."
"Everything will be looked at as a case-by-case basis. Looking across the street, DC has had some success, a smash-hit with Smallville and they're now building on the Human Target. If you look at it from a publishing point of view, the two things couldn't be more different, both in terms of genre and in terms of feel, than the Superman franchise and the Human Target character. So the real key for us is to find the right property for the right network with the right studio, and make sure we've got the right creator-showrunner in order to bring that vision to the screen. We are planning on doing this very cautiously, very carefully and very selectively — it's worked very well for the feature department, and that's the model that we'll be looking at."
On what characters he'd like to see on the small screen:
"You're not going to get me to go down that road right now! It's a great question. But I am curious about what the fans out there would like to see. Already the things that I've read and the discussions we've had internally, people, Marvel fans do have particular shows that they have in mind and our idea is try to reach out and make that stuff happen."