Earlier this week, Netflix announced that it would cancel both The Punisher and Jessica Jones, effectively ending its five-year partnership with Marvel Television months before the third season of Jessica Jones premiered on the streaming service. The move was not a particularly surprising one following the cancellations of Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Daredevil late last year.
This, coupled with FX canceling Legion before its own third season premiere and the Fox series The Gifted facing an uncertain future, may indicate that live-action television adaptations of Marvel properties are on the decline. Looking further out, though, this may actually signal that the House of Ideas is clearing the slate for a much more integrated expansion in the months and years to come.
By this summer, Disney is expected to finalize its long in development acquisition of Fox, including regaining the full licensing rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four. While this also gives it control of Fox's networks, it would make sense for Disney to end any television series operating outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's because Marvel Studios presumably plans to introduce the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU in a major way, both on the big screen and television.
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Similarly, it makes complete business sense for Netflix to want to end its own MCU original programming. While the streaming service financed the four series, and the crossover miniseries The Defenders, entirely on its own and retained exclusive broadcast rights in the United States, it does not possess ownership of the properties themselves.
Instead, Netflix had to pay significant licensing fees to ABC Studios and Marvel Television as part of its agreement to develop MCU original series for its platform. Facing declining viewership and an increased push to develop original series and film, Netflix's cancellation of Marvel Television programming was a logistical inevitability.
Something often overlooked in the discussion regarding the reduction of Marvel live-action television is that the series developed and airing on Disney-owned platforms are still alive and well, with no indication that they face the same threat of cancellation.
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for a seventh season months before the premiere of its sixth season, while there is every expectation that Cloak & Dagger will be renewed for a third season on the Disney-owned Freeform. Following Disney's acquisition of Fox, the company now holds a majority ownership over Hulu, making a third season renewal of Runaways also increasingly likely.
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Now, there's still the matter of Disney's own streaming service, Disney+. Expected to launch this September, Marvel Studios is looking to develop its own original programming that is more tightly connected to the MCU and reportedly featuring significantly higher production budgets than its other television counterparts.
The studio is looking to develop a line of spinoff miniseries starring fan-favorite characters from MCU films that may not be viable enough to carry their own solo feature films. A miniseries focused on Loki has been confirmed, with three separate miniseries starring Scarlet Witch and Vision, Falcon and Bucky Barnes and Rocket Raccoon and Groot all rumored to be in various stages of development.
Finally, there is the matter of Marvel animated television series. Apart from the standard animated series geared towards younger audiences on the Disney Channel and Disney XD, Hulu and Marvel Television announced earlier this month their plans to create a line of animated series intended for more mature audiences.
Featuring an all-star lineup of creators (Kevin Smith, Patton Oswalt and Chelsea Handler) behind the new shows, the announced series for the premium streaming service are Howard the Duck, Tigra & Dazzler, M.O.D.O.K. and Hit-Monkey, with all four series expected to crossover in one, unifying miniseries, The Offenders.
In addition to expanding Hulu's Marvel original programming, this also confirms earlier reports that Disney was looking to bring more mature content to the platform that it deemed too risque for the more family-friendly Disney+.
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It took years for Marvel Studios to start developing its own films instead of licensing them out to bigger movie studios, but now the MCU has gone on to become one of the most successful, recognized brands in the world. Marvel Television had to learn the same lessons and go through the same growing pains in developing its own in-house original programming.
As Disney broadens its own power base throughout the broadcast and streaming worlds, it is quietly consolidating its properties in the networks and platforms it owns, preparing for a mass expansion, all financed, distributed and owned by the House of Mouse.
Marvel's television properties may have been drastically reduced in the last several months, but expect a big push, potentially by the year's end, of series adapting the superhero publisher's extensive catalogue of beloved characters.