Starting this Friday, Marvel Studios does what it hasn’t done before — take over TV. With the release of “WandaVision” on Disney+ (or two episodes, at least), the studio is staking a claim to streaming TV and unleashing the power of the MCU on a new medium. And as you might expect, there are plenty of questions that surround this new strategy, including the structure of the shows, if previously used characters on Netflix will be used, and yes, will Marvel Studios debut something like “Black Widow” on streaming if it can’t hit theaters in May?
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Thankfully, we have Kevin Feige to give us answers. Well, “answer” might not be the right term. As we’ve seen over the past decade, Feige is a master at simultaneously providing answers to a question while also deflecting it completely. Frankly, most politicians could learn a thing or two about how the Marvel Studios President conducts an interview. Honestly, in two new interviews with Deadline and Variety, Feige seemingly answers everything asked but doesn’t really tell us much of anything.
Regarding the future of the already-announced TV shows like “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” and others, it doesn’t appear that each and every one of them is destined for multiple seasons. Sure, we’ve already heard that Season 2 of “Loki” is being developed, but will there be more “WandaVision?” Maybe two seasons of “Ms. Marvel?” Feige actually does explain this one a bit.
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“It will vary,” said Feige to Variety. “There are some shows that have been built to further expand our storytelling and then go into features. We’ve already announced Lizzie Olsen being a part of ‘Doctor Strange 2.’ We’ve announced Teyonah Parris being part of ‘Captain Marvel 2.’”
He added, “There are some shows that, while always interconnected, are being built with multiple seasons in mind. So it’ll vary the way a lot of I think great TV now varies, whether it’s a couple of years between seasons of ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Stranger Things,’ or one-offs like — what did I just watch? — ‘Queen’s Gambit.’ One of the fun things about streaming is the rules are loose, which allows for you to just follow creatively, where you want to go.”
As for whether or not you might see some guest stars from previously released Marvel shows (produced by Marvel TV), such as the Netflix series like “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “The Punisher,” and “Iron Fist,” the Marvel Studios boss won’t confirm any of the rumors (such as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, in “Spider-Man 3” or Jessica Jones in “She-Hulk”), but he does offer a bit of hope that maybe it could happen in the future.
“Well, certainly you’ve seen what we announced at Comic-Con a year and half ago and on Disney Investor Day a few weeks ago, so that’s our focus,” Feige masterfully deflected when speaking to Deadline. “But I’ve been at Marvel long enough to never say never about anything.”
Now, we know the Disney+ offerings from Marvel Studios have been announced (so far) only include TV series. But with the film industry struggling to release blockbusters in theaters due to COVID-19 and the outlook for 2021 still a bit grim, is there a chance that “Black Widow” or another feature could land on Disney+? We’ve seen the studio do that already with “Soul.” Well, Feige, once again, doesn’t really answer the question but does say that the hope is to have “Black Widow” and other features debut first in theaters.
“All I can tell you is that for the past three years since Bob Iger brought me into his office and talked about a streaming platform that would become Disney+ and asked us to start working on programs for it,” explained Feige. “Our long lead plan was to have the MCU and the storytelling woven between weekly episodic big swings on Disney+ and into the feature big swings in theaters. It’s my great hope that that continues. Don’t ask me week by week what is going to happen in this world, I have no idea and don’t want to guess.”
So, what did we learn? TV series might have more than one season. Maybe. Netflix characters could possibly show up in the MCU at some point. Possibly. And “Black Widow” is still aiming for a theatrical release. But check back for full confirmation in the future. Got it? Good.
