Another blow for The Walt Disney Company as Marvel projects on Disney+ are to be scrapped, according to a new report.
Like Disney’s output as a whole, Marvel Studios has faced a severe deterioration in the last couple of years. Hindered by their oversaturation in the television world, an observation also made by returning Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, Marvel’s power as the industry leader in comic book moviemaking is no more.
This year has seen three new movies enter Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe — Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), and The Marvels (2023). Out of the three Phase Five releases thus far, only James Gunn’s third installment in his Guardians of the Galaxy series has made any sort of splash, taking close to $900 million at the box office.
As for Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man threequel and Nia DaCosta’s sequel to Captain Marvel (2019), both have left audiences less than impressed and will go down as the studio’s biggest losses to date. The MCU is a far cry from what it was just a handful of years ago when 2019 produced three blazing epics — Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame (2019), and the Phase Three epilogue, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
Of course, big changes happened in 2019 also. The Walt Disney Company debuted its streaming service, Disney+, and with it came multiple new television shows and original movies pulled from the Disney canon. It may have taken over a year to get there, but at the start of 2021, Marvel Studios finally entered the streaming space with WandaVision. Shortly after, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuted, and after that came Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, until eventually, a near-constant stream of Marvel TV shows was released.
Related: Tom Hiddleston’s ‘Loki’ Journey Likely Over for Good
Despite being a beloved franchise, fans started to tire of Marvel’s output, leaving some projects — like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law — struggling to find a widespread audience. This year, the pipeline has slowed, and Marvel recently announced that they were to do away with the film approach to TV making and instead go down a more traditional path moving forward, showrunners and all. This also coincides with the studio’s decision to rebrand some of the more “street-level” shows as part of the Marvel Spotlight initiative — a place for projects not necessarily tied to the greater MCU.
Alongside Marvel’s TV shows, the studio created a new brand called Marvel Special Presentation. Last year, both Werewolf by Night (2022) by Michael Giacchino and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) by James Gunn. Both were relatively well-received, with Giacchino’s Werewolf by Night being praised for its divergence from the standard Marvel universe project fans have come to know over the last 15 years.
And while there have been whispers of other Marvel Special Presentations coming soon, namely one centering Scarlet Witch and the Witches’ Road, a new report claims Marvel Studios is scrapping this TV special outfit altogether.
According to Daniel Richtman (via Comic Book Movie), Marvel Studios plans to shelve the Special Presentation format after both Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special “underperformed” for the streamer. It’s an interesting observation, considering the former was so well-received for its departure from the norm, and the latter had a stacked and familiar cast.
Neither Marvel Studios nor Disney have commented on the rumors, but with a huge drop in subscribers, it is clear these Marvel television projects aren’t pulling new members in with the force needed to potentially keep them afloat. Both Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special are now streaming exclusively on Disney+.
As for the future of the MCU, next year will only see Deadpool 3 (2024) release after a huge reshuffle left other projects like Blade (2025), Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and Thunderbolts (2025) pushed into the following year.
As for the Marvel TV show catalog, fans know that Echo — which is part of the new Marvel Spotlight and starring Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez/Echo — will be released in January and, predicted to come in late 2024, will be the spiritual successor to WandaVision, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, starring Kathryn Hahn as the titular Agatha Harkness.
What do you think of Marvel scrapping these projects?
This post is originally appeared on Inside the Magic.
