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At this stage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you could argue that Disney+ either saved or almost killed the long-running saga. If it wasn’t for “Loki,” for instance, the MCU might well have floundered a lot earlier than it did, and “WandaVision” had even non-fans convinced for a second that Marvel’s gargantuan franchise could actually yield writing that bordered on real profundity (until someone pointed out that “love persevering” line was basically just a quote from a “Doctor Who” novel). But also: “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.” Or worse, still: “Secret Invasion.”
If we’re being a tad less binary about this, I think it’s fair to say that while Disney+ Marvel shows might not have almost killed the saga, in the aggregate they’ve been somewhat of a blemish on the MCU’s legacy. It’s not just that many of these series have failed to live up to the quality fans expected, but also that they diluted some of the prestige that came with Marvel’s cinematic outings. Instead, they often added layers of frequently complex unnecessary lore that made general audiences balk at the idea of having to watch them in their entirety just to understand the next MCU movie.
In the wake of this detrimental Disney+ effect, we’ve seen Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige making a clear effort to right the ship, promising quality over quantity in the MCU’s future. If the unmitigated box office success of “Deadpool & Wolverine” is anything to go by, it’s a tactic that’s working so far. I’ve long thought that Marvel should only make “Avengers”-level movies. These event films are just a ton of fun, and would be even more so if, in the interim, we didn’t have to worry about what arcane pieces of information were being drip-fed throughout the 10 Disney+ shows nobody is watching. Which, you might think, is surely part of the reason why you’ll never see the Avengers themselves appear in their own show on Disney’s streaming service. But according to a Marvel producer, the real reason is a lot more pragmatic.
The Avengers not appearing on Disney+ is about ‘narrative’
The biggest Marvel event to unfold on streaming so far has been “Secret Invasion,” which as previously mentioned, didn’t exactly help to convince people that the Disney+ shows were worth their time. What’s more, the series turned what, in the comic books, was a significant narrative event into a non-event, suggesting that streaming was not where these high-profile, multiverse-altering storylines should be.
But according to Marvel Producer Brad Winderbaum, this has nothing to do with why we haven’t, and likely never will, see the Avengers team up on Disney+. Winderbaum, who has been with Marvel Studios since “Iron Man,” the movie that changed Hollywood forever back in 2008, spoke to CinemaBlend on the topic, asserting that the Avengers stories are all about how, “There came a day when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes had to assemble.” He continued:
“In a feature film, which is a statement piece, it makes sense that there’s an event that galvanizes them all. I think that on a long-form television show, it becomes more of a challenge to have, ‘There came a day’ every day.”
It’s an odd assessment of the situation, if only because it seems to presuppose that an “Avengers” TV series would have to tell a new story about the heroes uniting with every episode, rather than following a “Secret Invasion”-like narrative across a season. Winderbaum added:
“In the comics, you can do it. It’s the Marvel universe, and there’s just spectacular things happening all the time. But if you read the comics, you know that the Avengers really assemble so that they can disassemble, and then assemble again, and then disassemble again. Is it possible? Yes. But from a narrative point of view, it becomes like ascension and descension, which […] it could be really interesting for a long-form story. But it would be a very unique pattern for a television show.”
Are the Avengers really made for streaming?
Brad Winderbaum’s assessment that the real challenge of an “Avengers” TV would be the narrative seems, at best, incomplete. A streaming show wouldn’t necessarily have to be a recurring series, and wouldn’t have to involve the team “assembling again, and then disassembling again.” It would be fairly simple, at least in theory, to tell one Avengers story across multiple episodes and either leave it at that, or wait some time for the next installment. But beyond that, Winderbaum seemed to hit on the real issue when he spoke about “Avengers” movies being “statement pieces,” before moving off it entirely.
The dilution of filmmaking’s prestige by streaming in general is an issue that despite being a big part of the discourse, is still not discussed widely enough. Back when the main distinction was between a theatrical and a direct-to-video release, the difference was clear enough that everybody knew what they were getting with each. Now, a streaming movie could be as brilliant as killer action thriller “Rebel Ridge,” or as aneurysm-inducing as Kevin Hart’s “Lift.” — or, when it comes to streaming series, as solid as “Loki” or as crushingly disappointing as “Secret Invasion.”
This surely has to be a major factor in Disney’s decision as to whether or not to give the Avengers their own streaming show. I can’t imagine the execs haven’t had discussions about what is and isn’t a “streaming franchise,” and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes surely fall into the latter category. All of which is just another way of saying that a sense of prestige matters when it comes to movies and TV, even if you don’t care about the business aspect of it all.
There’s likely more playing into the lack of an Avengers TV series
I think many who grew up without streaming might feel as though movies in general used to carry a little more gravitas. When you had to wait for Hollywood to transmit their latest production, things just felt that much more special than they do when everything ever made is available at a second’s notice. If you’re Disney, then, you’ve got to be thinking about this stuff.
In recent years, the company has been navigating somewhat of a branding crisis as it tries to expand its global empire by appealing to new audiences while retaining its reputation as the purveyor of family-friendly entertainment. Just look at R-rated Disney hits “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Alien: Romulus,” which followed a year in which the company saw exactly zero of its movies top the billion-dollar mark. It would be a stretch to imagine Disney being frivolous when it came to one of its biggest franchises in the Avengers and not considering what a streaming show would do to its reputation.
In the book “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios,” authors Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzalez, and Gavin Edwards contend that there is an unsolvable problem with the Marvel Disney+ shows. Namely, due to the fact these series are shot on a tight schedule, there’s no time to polish them up in the way fans and hopefully Marvel would like. Do you think Disney really wants to throw the box office goliath that is the “Avengers” franchise into that mix? It seems unlikely.
That said, maybe the massively popular superhero team is exactly what Disney’s streaming service needs. Perhaps an “Avengers” TV series would finally transform the Disney+ Marvel shows into the premium series they aspire to be. For now, though, don’t count on seeing the Avengers assemble on streaming any time soon.
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