An optimist might look at the rivalry between Marvel TV and Marvel Studios and say that it’s friendly, intra-company competition to produce the very best project focusing on the various characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A pessimist (and some might say realist) looks at the situation and sees the slow, but steady destruction of Marvel TV by Kevin Feige, due to his unhappiness with Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But the end result is the same — Marvel TV is not what it used to be, and if a new report is to believed, could be on the outs.
Variety is reporting that the schism between Marvel TV and its big-screen, sister company Marvel Studios could be growing wider as the former could be looking at a future where it only develops animated series and leaves the live-action projects to its bigger sibling.
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Before we dive into that, let’s briefly get everyone up to date on the reason Marvel TV is so different than Marvel Studios. Back at the beginning of Marvel’s rise to prominence in Hollywood, Kevin Feige reported to Perlmutter regarding the slate of films that he was developing. Perlmutter held the final say on what characters were used in TV shows and films and ultimately, what the budget of the films might be. Eventually, the contentious relationship between execs boiled over and Feige was given autonomy to do what he pleases and report to Disney executive Alan Horn, effectively shutting out Perlmutter from the film side of things.
Then it was recently revealed that Marvel Studios isn’t content with feature films and will be developing massive, big-budget TV series for Disney+, making the quaint Netflix, Freeform, Hulu, and ABC series that Marvel TV is producing look silly. Now, with Marvel TV struggling to keep series on air and the recent halting of development on Hulu’s live-action “Ghost Rider” series, Variety has heard from sources that the TV branch of the comic book company is looking to cut its losses on live-action shows and focus on animation, effectively distancing itself once and for all from the big-screen franchises.
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If this is the case, this would obviously signal the end of Marvel TV feuding with Marvel Studios and would mean that Feige has the complete control over every live-action iteration of his universe, which is likely what he wanted, to begin with. What does that mean for shows like “Runaways” or “Cloak & Dagger,” which are two of the only live-action series Marvel TV currently produces? That’s unclear.
But when you’re competing with Marvel Studios, things don’t look good. The report says that Marvel Studios is spending between $100 million and $150 million on each of its upcoming Disney+ series, whereas Marvel TV spent $200 million combined on the first seasons of “Jessica Jones,” “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage,” and “Iron Fist.”
The first Marvel Studios-produced TV series, “The Falcon & the Winter Soldier” doesn’t arrive on Disney+ until fall 2020.
