Is Marvel TV’s Continuity Obsolete And Completely Screwed Because Of ‘Avengers: Infinity War?’

**Spoilers ahead for “Avengers: Infinity War.” Seriously. You’ve been warned.**

After leaving “Avengers: Infinity War,” my lovely wife turned to me and said, “Do you think the people who work on the TV shows are upset?” At first, I was taken aback by her lack of feeling about the events that preceded the comment, such as the “death” of most of the Avengers. But then, after giving it some thought, I realized that is a question that needs to be asked.

What happens next for Marvel TV?

You see, Marvel TV and Marvel Studios are, for all intents and purposes, two completely separate companies. Marvel Studios, led by Kevin Feige, controls the incredibly popular film franchise, while Marvel TV, led by Jeph Loeb, controls the sorta, kinda, sometimes successful TV side of things. However, even though they are most definitely separate in practice, they both supposedly exist in the same universe and continuity.

So, what happens now that half the world’s population was wiped out of existence with the snap of Thanos’ fingers? We saw that in ‘Infinity War,’ Black Panther, Spider-Man, and most of the Guardians were wiped out. Plus, in the post-credits scene, we see Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and normal people disappearing into dust. So, common sense would dictate that the Marvel Netflix shows, “Agents of SHIELD,” and even “Runaways” would have to deal with the ramifications of this universal catastrophic event.

READ MORE: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’: Thanos Takes A Torch To The MCU In Epic Superhero Blockbuster [Review]

We’ve seen, in the past, how the TV shows made references to movie events, with “The Battle of New York” being mentioned just about in every TV show. Now, with Thanos’ snap, will the connection between Marvel’s film and TV studios be broken beyond repair? How can “Agents of SHIELD” move forward and ignore the effect of ‘Infinity War?’

Speaking to Digital Spy, Jed Whedon (co-creator of ‘SHIELD’) had this to say about the effect of ‘Infinity War.’ “It is one universe and so the events of that film will affect us, but over the years we’ve become more separate, or have become our own story,” he explained. “Initially we were really tying in just to branch off of [the movies] but now we’re much more interested and we think it’s much more rewarding that we’re more self-contained.”

“I think it’ll change some of our characters’ motivations, and it’ll change our trajectory a little bit,” he added.

“A little bit.” That’s it?!

Half the universe dies and Agent Coulson will say something like, “Wow, that Thanos guy really did mess things up, huh?” Come on! Half his team should be dead, and the world is thrown into chaos. Had Marvel film and TV studios coordinated this, they could have made “Agents of SHIELD” more relevant than ever. Instead, the divide between studios has caused ‘SHIELD’ to become obsolete.

It’s even worse when you talk about the Netflix shows. Those series have always had a tenuous past with the movies, mentioning events from the films but never overtly referencing characters. Daredevil, Punisher, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones are some of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe, and their Netflix shows have largely been self-contained, but now without ‘Infinity War’ ramifications, they might as well be in an alternate dimension. Many of the fans wondered why ‘Infinity War’ wasn’t going to include the Netflix characters, and now we know — some would have died and effectively “canceled”  their own series. So, forget about any Netflix/Marvel Studios collabs anytime soon.

Ultimately, the events of ‘Infinity War’ have completely altered the history of the Marvel Universe. The implications of the ending present audiences with a drastically changed Marvel Cinematic Universe, with many of our favorite heroes perishing. Unfortunately, it appears that Thanos might have killed Marvel TV in the process.