6 Ways Marvel's TV Shows Are Slowly Killing The MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

The Defenders is a week away but with it set to be yet another Marvel TV show which has no impact on the MCU, we look at the six ways the company's small screen efforts are hurting this shared universe.

By JoshWilding - Aug 12, 2017 08:08 AM EST

Filed Under: Marvel

On the big screen, Marvel can pretty much do no wrong. Television, however, is another matter. While the company has had more hits than misses there, they've made a lot of mistakes and things seem to be going downhill quickly. Iron Fist was slammed by critics, The Defenders has been met with a mixed response and all the signs are pointing to Inhumans being a big budget disaster on an epic scale.

Much of that can probably be blamed on the fact that Marvel Studios and Marvel Television are now two very separate entities but that too is an issue for the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward.

In fact, if things don't quickly improve on the small screen, we could see Marvel TV's efforts have a significantly negative impact on this shared universe which hurt it irreparably in future. It's something that's already happening, though, and that leaves us with serious cause for concern. What you'll find here then is a look at the six ways we believe Marvel Television is seriously damaging the MCU.

6. Jeph Loeb Has No Idea What He's Doing

Jeph Loeb's unprofessionalism proved to be an unexpected highlight of ABC's recent panel at the Television Critics Association press tour when he started snapping at journalists and refused to answer valid questions about the questionable quality of Inhumans. However, this is simply just one more example of why he shouldn't be in charge of Marvel's TV division. While he does have some decent work on both television and in comic books to his name, Loeb has already killed the Ultimate Universe with garbage like Ultimates 3 and Ultimatum and now looks set to do the same to this corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe too.

That's clear from his poor decision making (having Scott Buck serve as showrunner on Inhumans after his less than stellar work on Iron Fist, for example) and the fact that pretty much every Marvel show is inconsistent in terms of quality. Marvel's TV division needs a steady hand in charge, not someone who has now proved over a number of years that he's incapable of providing one.

Aside from the odd dud here and there, Marvel's movies have provided us with plenty of amazing costumes for heroes like Ant-Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man. The TV shows, though? Not so much! While a few small screen heroes have fared pretty well, most look terrible and while some of you may be tempted to blame that on a TV budget, shows like The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow have proved that there's actually an awful lot you can do with those. Daredevil's suit improved in season two but why does he still not have the logo on his chest?

Fan service like that would go a long way and don't even get me started on the costumes worn by the likes of Diamondback and Deathlok! The design process is abysmal and it's clear Marvel TV doesn't have the same top notch concept artists working on these adaptations that Marvel Studios does. The cast of Inhumans is another good example; the ball has been dropped on those characters in a way which is simply inexcusable as they all look downright horrendous.

It's clear that there's a divide between Marvel Studios and Marvel TV and that's hurting both parties. Ever since Kevin Feige made the decision to make the movie arm of Marvel a separate entitity which operates through Disney rather than Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, that's a gap which has only widened but it's something that's been evident for a while now regardless. Shortly after Daredevil's first season launched and was met with rave reviews, Feige admitted that he hadn't even finished watching it, a surprise confession from the man in charge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

If he doesn't care what's happening in these shows it's because they don't matter and have no impact on what we're seeing on the big screen. An effort could be made to coordinate production schedules so the likes of Agent Coulson and Luke Cage could appear on the big screen but neither party appears to want that. That's infuriating and the signs point to this remaining the case moving forward.

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3. Wasting Good Ideas On Television

If a character appears on television, it's probably because Kevin Feige has no interest in bringing them to the big screen. That's why Inhumans is now heading to the small screen rather than finishing off Phase 3 as originally planned but the fact remains that there are a lot of good ideas being wasted on television. A character like Daredevil, for example, should be a huge part of what was happening in Captain America: Civil War with the Sokovia Accords while Ghost Rider and his mythology would have been better served in a movie rather than a few episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which also wasted Johnny Blaze).

There's no harm in Marvel splitting their attention between film and television but they would probably be best off telling stories not set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - similar to what Warner Bros. has done with their live-action efforts - rather than wasting concepts on TV which then can't be used in the movies, a format which has told these stories far more effectively in recent years anyway.

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2. They're Spreading Themselves Too Thinly

Warner Bros. has a lot of DC TV shows on the air and plenty more in the works but it's never felt like they're trying to do too much. That's not the case with Marvel, though, as the TV division is quite clearly spreading itself too thinly with the amount of shows they're trying to put out. While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is just about doing well enough to remain on the air, Agent Carter was cancelled after two seasons without a proper ending and a number of planned projects have been scrapped (such as that Mockingbird spin-off).

On Netflix, the fact that critics and fans alike are constantly pointing out that thirteen episodes are a good three too many is an issue as it shows that Marvel can't get things right when it comes to how best to tell the stories of these characters; if Arrow can go for twenty-three episodes, why can't Daredevil manage more than a dozen without dropping the ball as it did at the end of season two? Throw in the fact that Marvel TV is expanding to cover awful looking FOX shows like The Gifted and the future does not look bright.

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1. The Stories Just Don't Matter

Here's the problem with all these TV shows being set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the stories they're telling simply don't matter. Nothing that happens in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has an impact on the movies, and while that show has flourished with storylines like the one which dealt with Hydra, the fact that Kevin Feige was happy to release a film like Captain America: The Winter Solider which essentially killed the concept of the series says it all.

Inhumans being all over the Earth hasn't even warranted a mention in a Marvel movie yet, while it's fair to say that Iron Man and company neither know nor care what The Hand are. Spider-Man: Homecoming was an ideal place to tackle Wilson Fisk's fall but he too might not as well exist and if Marvel doesn't care enough about these shows to give them a mention, why should the fans? This is an issue unlikely to change and with your normal viewer confused by this sort of thing at the best of times, it's only going to keep hurting these characters moving forward.

Do you agree that the Marvel TV shows are having a negative impact on the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.

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187 Comments

1 2 3 4 5

MrDandy - 8/12/2017, 8:11 AM

Oh god. More clickbait from Joss. There are issues with SOME of the TV properties but overall it's been positive.

-Agent Carter S1
-Agents of SHIELD S2-4
-Daredevil S1-2
-Jessica Jones S1
-First 2/3 of Luke Cage

ALL are quality productions. So far the only really bad things they've put out are AoS S1, Carter S2, last third of Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.

They've got way more hits than misses so far.

KiranSolus - 8/12/2017, 8:14 AM

@MrDandy - Plus Legion which Marvel tv co-produced and Defenders that already has solid reviews

IronGenesis - 8/12/2017, 8:14 AM

Daredevil Season 1 and most of Season 2 is probably better than nearly 85-91% of the MCU. But yeah besides that it would be better if they were one big happy family. As long as MCU influence had little impact on Daredevil and Punisher which when dealing with MCU you can't trust.

comics4life - 8/12/2017, 8:15 AM

thx wilding...seems like somebody on this site has woke up!! usually DC catches all the sandbagging, but Wilding couldn't have summed I up better. that's why the almighty Feige should have stated in the beginning the shows and the movies wouldn't link up, instead marvel thought they were king and everything they do "works"(smh)...now that statement is "slowly" killing them.

KiranSolus - 8/12/2017, 8:17 AM

@comics4life - Nothing is killing me. 90% of them are award-winning acclaimed shows with great audience scores. It only adds to the MCU

BIGBMH - 8/12/2017, 8:21 AM

None of this is evidence that the shows are "killing" the MCU.

"Daredevil's suit improved in season two but why does he still not have the logo on his chest?"

Stuff like this is just fanboy whining. Why would this version of Matt Murdock feel the need to brand his costume? It's a lot like why Hugh Jackman's Wolverine isn't running around in a costume. Daredevil has a cool costume now so let's stop nitpicking.

storyteller - 8/12/2017, 9:05 AM

@BIGBMH -

I agree that the Logo is not a sign of massive failure of the show. I think it's strange but it's not the end of the world.

That being said, as a fictional story they could work that in. He's wearing red and has horns on his helmet. Why not brand his suit in season 2? I think they could put a DD on the chest and it wouldn't hurt the narrative flow.

This is a far cry from Iron Fist not having a costume.

Jackman? Well it's over now but two things. He did run around in a costume. The suits X-men 1-3 were costumes. They weren't yellow but they were costumes. I don't know why people forget that.

I think as a whole the X-men franchise had more issues then just costumes.

But no Daredevil has a legit costume and no DD doesn't ruin it.

StormXmen123 - 8/12/2017, 9:36 AM

@BIGBMH - I think the design of character costumes are perfectly fine. It just think because they aren't filmed "cinematically" they look cheap. Take lady Sif for example. She wears the exact same costume in the films and AoS. Yet it just looks cheap on television.

I really think the only issue when it comes to costumes is Iron fist. Out of all the defenders he is the most logical to wear his classic suit. He was raised for half his life in a magic city, were robes were traditional. If Daredevil, who has been raised relatively "normal" in a modern society can dawn a Devil costume, I don't understand why iron fist can't.

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6 Ways Marvel's TV Shows Are Slowly Killing The MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

The Defenders is a week away but with it set to be yet another Marvel TV show which has no impact on the MCU, we look at the six ways the company's small screen efforts are hurting this shared universe.

6. Jeph Loeb Has No Idea What He's Doing

5. Terrible Costumes

4. The Divide Between Marvel TV And Marvel Studios

3. Wasting Good Ideas On Television

2. They're Spreading Themselves Too Thinly

1. The Stories Just Don't Matter

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