Marvel! Synergize! With Marvel already planning to dominate the box office over the next years with a number of films (“Thor,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Avengers”) and more in development (“Dr. Strange,” “Ant-Man”) its not surprising that the company is looking to extend their stranglehold to television.
Marvel Entertainment has created a new division, Marvel Television, with an eye to bringing both live action and animated fare to the small screen. Jeph Loeb who was producer and writer on shows like “Heroes,” “Lost,” “Smallville” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Animated Series” has been tasked to head up the division.
So what might we see? There are no details yet, but with Marvel batting around the idea of using short films to bring their C-list characters to the big screen with minimal risk (and to gauge audience reaction), it’s not out of the question that they might try some the lesser-known or harder to adapt characters on television first before pouring tens of millions into a feature production. Frankly, something like Luke Cage would be the perfect candidate to start on TV before making the feature leap. A television outlet is also a great way for Marvel to introduce their characters to whole new generation of younger viewers who may not be familiar with the Marvel Universe, so something like Power Pack, which already skews young, would also be a good pick.
Comic Con is around the corner, so we’re sure more details on Marvel Television’s initial plans will be unveiled, and with Marvel continuing to find avenues for their wealth of characters, don’t expect comic book adaptations to go away any time soon.