Geeks logo

Where Marvel Went Wrong with Their Small-Screen Universe

The Disconnect Between TV and Film

By Colin OgilviePublished 6 years ago 5 min read
Like
Left to Right: The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna), and Elektra Natchios (Elonie Yung)

As many (or all) of us know, Marvel kickstarted its Cinematic Universe in 2008 with Iron Man. Since then, Marvel Studios has produced hit after hit, with a handful of films in the $1 billion earnings platform, and with Avengers: Infinity War hitting over $2 billion recently. In 2012, after the success of their first Avengers movie, they announced they would be creating a small-screen universe that would be connected to the films. Fans were very excited, and rightly so. A successful film studio combined with successful television shows could spell out complete dominance by Marvel.

Their first show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., started strongly. It had a good base, good development, and re-introduced the fan-favorite Agent Coulson (who, last we had seen, was killed by Loki in The Avengers). It was a new, innovative idea, and was successful in part due to the premise of the show being how S.H.I.E.L.D. reacted to "The Incident" (the Chitauri invasion).

Marvel then struck a deal with Netflix, and brought its audiences Daredevil. Fans were excited for this, as this was the first attempt since Ben Affleck's poorly-received adaptation (no hate on him, you can only do so much with a bad script). Daredevil was gritty, it was grounded, and had good talent in it, so it was well-received. However, it only loosely referred to The Avengers, and only alluded to it by calling it "The Incident." It was noticed, but it wasn't altogether unexpected. Fans expected some distance from the movie given a) the tone of Daredevil, b) the focus on Hell's Kitchen, and c) how quickly Marvel was producing movies. By the time Daredevil season one was out in April 2015, Marvel was gearing up to release Avengers: Age of Ultron, and was well past the story arc of TheAvengers.

The problem was not with the Netflix shows, not at first. The problem was, even though Marvel had moved on from TheAvengers and had given us Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and other films that should have directly impacted Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the show was still rolling along generally unscathed by the films. We were now seeing how the films and small-screen shows were connected, but weren't REALLY connected. In time, Agents dealt with the Hydra invasion of S.H.I.E.L.D., but for the most part, we as fans were seeing no direct connection anymore. The problem only continued to grow.

Marvel's Netflix deal gave us Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, the Iron Fist (who all came together in The Defenders), and finally, the Punisher in his own series. These characters had well-developed plots and stories, and good characterization, and could have added some realistic depth to Marvel's movies. The movies were getting bigger and more "out there" as they branched away from strictly ground-level fighting. On their actual television side, we saw the Inhumans and Ghost Rider introduced to Agents, which provided a plethora of storylines for the movies to combine with. Here is where the problem lies.

Marvel has a wide range of stories and characters out there right now (even more with the new Cloak and Dagger show on Freeform). However, Marvel is showing no effort or desire to connect, or pretend to connect, the shows to their movies anymore. We are seeing, instead of a loosely-connected universe, two separately-developed universes that just HAPPEN to coexist. In fact, recently, we were told that the events of Avengers: Infinity War would have no effect on the Netflix shows or the stories their characters tell. In theory, [SPOILERS for Infinity War] if Thanos' snap wiped out half of all existence, then these small-screen shows should be taking some heavy hits.

Now, I understand what I'm saying here. With contracts, and writing, and general levels of talent, combining films and television properties is a big deal. However, you cannot honestly tell me that in the six years since The Avengers, not ONE person told any Avenger that Phil Coulson was, actually, still alive? That Tony Stark would have recruited Peter Parker in his little team to stop Captain America, but would have been completely ignorant to the existence of Daredevil? That the characters of Doctor Strange would not have referenced the Iron Fist or the city of K'un-Lun?

I am not saying that Punisher would have been better with a Captain America cameo, or that we necessarily NEEDED the Defenders in Avengers 3, but we are missing out on some great stuff potentially. For example, The Punisher and Captain America have a conflicted history, as Frank Castle cites Cap as the reason he joined the military, and Cap sees him as an animal. Or we are missing out on the story of Scarlet Witch selling her soul to Mephisto so she and Vision can have children, which directly involves Ghost Rider. Even more logically, we are missing out on some of the "ground-level realism" that Tony Stark was so focused on in Age of Ultron and Civil War.

I know there are people who will disagree with me, and there are people who will point out the logistics of combining Marvel's properties like that. There are people who will say that crossing over the shows and the films will "water down" the Netflix series, but I disagree. You can still hold that same level of seriousness and grit within the overarching films. Therefore, based off what we have witnessed the last few years, I hold that expanding the separation of film and television was a mistake that created a problem in Marvel, and they need to stop pretending it doesn't exist.

pop culture
Like

About the Creator

Colin Ogilvie

I have a wide variety of tastes, and I love to write.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.