Back in 2015, ABC greenlit a new Marvel comedy series based on the Damage Control comics. Introduced in Marvel comics in 1988, Damage Control revolves around a construction company that deals with the fallout damage left behind from superhero incidents. The comics were fun, off-beat and offered a unique look through the eyes of the regular citizens of the Marvel Universe.
With some of the biggest names in comedy television set to produce the project, the show seemed like it could have been a likely success, and could have possibly stood its own against other workplace comedies such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Parks & Recreation. Ultimately, the show was shelved by ABC, leaving many wondering what happened to the Marvel sitcom.
Damage Control Wasn't the Only Marvel Show Axed
The same year Damage Control was announced, ABC made it known that an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off following Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter, Marvel's Most Wanted, was coming to the small screen. The network also committed to an untitled show from Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg about female superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With such big talent involved, many believed these could have been a major hit for ABC. Unfortunately, Most Wanted was canceled shortly after its announcement and Heinberg's show never saw the light of day.
While Damage Control was never officially canceled, any work that went into the project would have ended by December 2019 when Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios. This merger meant that Marvel Studios, which produces the MCU films, was now creatively in charge of the TV side, which led to the axing of the majority of the series in development.
A Similar Series From DC Flopped
Another possible explanation for Damage Control's untimely end was that shortly after the series' announcement of, NBC put out a show with a similar premise set within the DC Universe. Starring Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) and Danny Pudi (Community), Powerless follows the adventures of a team at Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises that specializes in creating products that help with the lives of regular people who live in a world full of superheroes and villains.
The show was poorly received and was axed by NBC with three episodes left unaired in its debut season. It would not be a stretch to think that the executives at ABC and Marvel were looking at Powerless as an experiment in how successful a similar show would have been, and eventually decided to scrap the idea upon seeing the concept's failure.
Damage Control Made It to the MCU
While the show was scrapped from Marvel's lineup, the actual Damage Control agency made a rather significant appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming. At the start of the film, the agency was bought by the U.S. Government and Tony Stark in a joint venture to help clean up the mess left behind by superheroes. Later in the movie, Spider-Man even finds himself trapped inside Damage Control's HQ Facility in Washington DC. With the organization making its way to the big stage, it's possible that the powers that be gave up on the idea of exploring it on TV.
Damage Control Appeared in a Non-Canon MCU VR Game - Sort of
Despite having its name in the title, Avengers: Damage Control was unfortunately not related to the agency from the comics and Homecoming. The VR experience had little to do with the "picking up after superheroes" plot from the comics, as the game had players being recruited by Shuri to don an Iron Man-like armor to fight Ultron. Ultimately, while the immersive game was based on the MCU, it's not considered to be canon, meaning Damage Control was once again given the short end of the stick.
In the end, the organization's appearance in Homecoming was the most that fans have gotten of the comics' clean-up crew. It was a show that would have offered a unique perspective into life within the MCU and definitely deserved a shot, but unfortunately, Marvel's changing direction with its TV properties, as well as a major failure from DC in a similar format, meant the project was doomed from the start.