Marvel fans have often had the discussion of which characters they would like to see brought into theMCU, and currentlyDaredevilhas been getting a lot of press thanks to internet rumors that Charlie Cox could be seen as the lawyer turned crime fighter sometime in the future of theMCUthanks to the opening of the multiverse and the loops it creates in allowing characters from other Marvel universes to just drop into theMarvel Cinematic Universewithout having to explain too much away.
However, the release of a new book has revealed, among other things, that while many fans have always believed that the likes of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher and more have been missing from Marvel’s sprawling universe because Marvel Studios initially wanted to focus onThe Avengersand not so much the darker heroes of the comics, this isn’t apparently the case.
The new publication entitledThe Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of The Marvel Cinematic Universetells how Kevin Feige and his team managed to go from a company with an idea of making their own movies from their own stories, to the creator of the most interconnected series of individual films and the biggest selling movie of all time (for a time). As well as details on the films and the people behind them, there are also a number snippets of information that, to any fan of Marvel Studios, will find fascinating to read. One of those snippets involves the many Marvel characters who seemed to have been abandoned by theMCUas being too “adult” in nature, and how it was not by choice that many of them were left out of the fun.
Over the years,Daredevil,The PunisherandGhost Riderhave all had movie outings before theMCU’s creation, and it took a while for Marvel to regain the rights to these and some other characters that had been sold out over the years before the company decided that they should really be putting out their own movies, and when they did, it seems that there was never an option for Kevin Feige to bring these character into his expanding world as Marvel Entertainment instead made sure that Marvel Studios had no access to them.
The book says, “While many observers assumed that this entire stable of characters would go directly into Marvel Studios' movie development process, it was decided by Marvel Entertainment’s higher-ups that because the movie side was already deeply committed to their successful Avengers characters, and the impendingGuardians of the Galaxycharacters, that the returnees would instead help build a planned TV empire under the direct control of Marvel Entertainment (entirely separate from Marvel Studios).”
That didn’t mean that Feige didn’t want to get his hands on the characters, as Marvel Studios did request to have the characters made available but were in fact turned down. The book continues, “The film side had no control over those characters, despite their interest in developing them. Instead, they all went to Marvel Entertainment.Ghost Riderappeared inAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the others were placed in different streaming series.”
Of course, now, things have changed significantly. Marvel Studios are overseeing both the movie and television releases and have had a runaway success since launching their TV arm on Disney+ withWandaVision. With the likes ofLokiandThe Falcon and The Winter Soldiercontinuing the success, and more such asHawkeye,Ms. Marvel,She-Hulk,Moonknightand who knows how many others to come, there is only one master of ceremonies when it comes to Marvel’s output and that means that the only question now is not if, but whenKevin Feigeand Co decide the time is right to introduce these characters back into the narrative. This news originated atComicBook.com.
