It seems we can’t go a few minutes without another morsel dropping about Marvel‘s next move in their efforts for total world entertainment domination. And so here’s a few more nuggets about what they’ve got planned both on the big and small screen, from folks directly involved.
First up, the always chatty Bob Iger has revealed during an investor conference call that “Agent’s Of S.H.I.E.L.D.” may soon not be the only superhero offering on network TV. “…we will as a company, create more original programming for platforms that are not ours,” he said, answering a question about why Disney-owned channels didn’t get these new Marvel shows. “We have some great networks with ABC, ABC Family, The Disney Channel, not to mention ESPN and Life but they’re not going to buy original, scripted programming for a while. But we can sell just so much programming from Marvel, we’ve got a good show in ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and another one being developed for ABC—more plans on our Disney channel with Marvel, but this seemed to be a great opportunity and I think there will be other opportunities on other platforms to do some more things.” So let the speculation begin as to which of Marvel’s many in-development properties go to a weekly format.
Meanwhile, though the official press stated that the Netflix shows would kick off in 2015, Iger seems to indicate fans will have to wait a touch longer. “This is a really smart deal we think, for Netflix because they’ve done well already with some investments in original programming,” he told Bloomberg, pretty proud of his own work. “And turning to branded programming is a smart and big step for them and Marvel certainly provides that. This gives us an opportunity to create and own four new series that Netflix will have exclusivity [on] for a period of time, starting in 2016, when the series are made available to them…These will be well-produced series that will take production investment to deliver the type of quality that we promised to Netflix.” Perhaps it makes more sense to launch the shows after “Avengers: Age Of Ultron,” speaking of which…
…it looks like Maria Hill will be back in action. Possibly but probably for sure maybe. “I think I’m in ‘Avengers 2,’ but it is very top secret,” Cobie Smulders said to the the Calgary Herald, adding, “I hope I’m in ‘Avengers 2.’ I didn’t get my invitation yet. Well, actually, they know I’m in it but they don’t know to what degree I’m in it.”
So, in summary? More, more, more…. [SlashFilm/ComicBookMovie/Vulture]