On Thursday, Deadline reported that Marvel decided to pause development on three upcoming Disney+ shows: Nova, Strange Academy, and Terror, Inc.
Unless you’re an MCU fanatic, there’s a pretty good chance you didn’t know that at least two of the three series existed. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has acknowledged the existence of Nova, telling the press last July that the series is “three or four years out.” The other two have popped up in rumors, but we’ve yet to learn much about them.
Now, it might not matter because there’s no telling when or if any of them will ever see the light of day. Fans of the comics and characters these shows are based on will be disappointed, but I also think this is a sign that Marvel might be moving in the right direction.
Marvel’s track record with MCU shows has been mixed. While the studio started off strong with WandaVision, Loki, and, to a lesser degree, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, most of the live-action TV output since 2021 hasn’t been as warmly received. And while Agatha All Along has its fair share of fans, it was preceded by the largely forgettable Echo and the awful Secret Invasion, which might be the low point of the MCU to date.
Marvel’s strategy was to flood the screen with as much content as possible, even if that meant sacrificing quality. Given the viewership numbers for some of its latest shows and the box office numbers for movies like The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, I am willing to go out on a limb and say that strategy wasn’t a resounding success.
With that in mind, it might be in Marvel’s best interest to step back and take a breath.
“We’ve got a few things in development, and we’re not gonna go on a show until we are happy with the pilot, happy with the bible,” said Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Television and Animation, in an interview last September.
As odd as it is that this wasn’t always the case, the fact that Marvel is finally making shows the same way that other major TV networks and streamers do is for the best. So many of Marvel’s shows get off to quick starts and then fizzle out by the final few episodes. Even WandaVision, one of Marvel’s best shows so far, had a lackluster finale.
Even with as much money and as many resources as Marvel possesses, it’s not possible to maintain any level of quality control when producing so much content this quickly. The last few years of the MCU have been proof of that, especially when it comes to the Disney+ shows. So, as much as I would have loved to see a Strange Academy series centered around Wong, I do not want Marvel to make it unless the studio is sure it’s going to work.
We won’t have to wait long to see if Marvel’s new methods are working, either. Daredevil: Born Again had a tumultuous production but seems to have landed in a place that the cast and crew are happy with. If it’s as coherent, kinetic, and entertaining as the Daredevil series on Netflix, it will go a long way in proving that Marvel has started to right the ship.
And, who knows, maybe Jessica Jones or Luke Cage will be next.
