Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D

  • Marvel TV Boss Addresses the Canonicity of Marvel’s ABC Shows

    Marvel TV Boss Addresses the Canonicity of Marvel’s ABC Shows

    It’s all connected. For a decade, that tagline defined the MCU to the extent that it used as the subtitle for the first Marvel Cinema Universe Guidebook. Fans fawned over every fragment of connectivity, theorizing which character might show up where and how each post-credit scene might set up the next big thing. However, as Marvel Studios moved into the Multiverse Saga and a new era of streaming their own series on Disney Plus, comfort turned into confusion with the rapid expansion of projects and characters.

    In an effort to combat the confusion, Marvel Studios began rebranding its streaming projects. Beginning with a pair of special presentations (Werewolf By Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special), the studio quietly moved from an era of “required reading” and toward a choose your own adventure model. Projects created under the Marvel Spotlight banner, such as Echo, were devised in order to ensure that “viewers don’t have to watch any other Marvel series to understand the plot.” Further rebranding of projects under newly formed Marvel Television or Marvel Animation banners were an effort by the studio to “signal to the general audience that we’re creating a lot of options, and you can follow your tastes within this brand,” cementing a less connected, more diacritical experience in which “the characters still live and breathe in the same universe, but the interconnectivity is not so rigid that you need to watch Project A to understand Project B,” according to Marvel TV head honcho Brad Winderbaum.

    There was a lot of pressure post-Avengers: Endgame on the public to feel obligated to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. Part of the rebranding was a signal to the general audience that we’re creating a lot of options, and you can follow your tastes within this brand. Some will be more comedic, some will be more dramatic, some will be animated, some will be live-action. Marvel is more than just one thing — it is actually many different genres that just happened to coexist in a single narrative.

    Marvel’s head of streaming, television and animation, Brad Winderbaum, on the studio’s rebranding, May 2024

    One of Marvel Television’s most anticipated upcoming projects, Daredevil: Born Again, may provide the first real opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the rebranding. Though the events of the news series will spin out of the events of the Netflix Marvel series from the mid-2010s,baudiences should not need to watch the 39-hour-ish long episodes of Netflix’s Daredevil in order to enjoy the upcoming Disney Plus streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again, even though all of Netflix’s Marvel series were recently retconned as Sacred Timeline canon.

    Now that some time has passed, now that we actually see how well-integrated the stories are, I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that they are part of the Sacred Timeline.

    -Brad Winderbaum

    And while Winderbaum gave his stamp of approval to the canonicity of the Netflix series, he dodged, ducked, dipped, dove and dodged the issue of another fan-favorite series from the mid-2010s: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “I want to go down this road with you, you know I do, but we’re just gonna take a deep breath for a second,” said Winderbaum in an August 2024 interview with Screen Rant. Hardly a strong show of support for Phil Coulson and crew.

    As one might expect, Winderbaum‘s comments weren’t warmly received by AoS fans; however, given his position at Marvel, he would certainly be the one to know…and four months later, it seems nothing has changed.

    In a new interview with Screen Rant’s Joe Deckelmeier, Winderbaum was pressed once more about the canonicity of Marvel TV’s  ABC shows and he hasn’t budged on his stance. When asked by Deckelmeier if Marvel TV’s Agent Carter, which ran for two seasons on ABC, was considered MCU canon, not only did Winderbaum refuse to confirm that it was but he also lumped it in with all of Marvel’s ABC shows.

    “Well, I’ll tell you this, and put it to you like this. It’s exciting for me to think about how to square those ABC shows with the canon,” said Winderbaum, indicating that while he has thought about how to canonize Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter and Inhumans, he hasn’t figured out how to do so just yet.”That, to me, if you know me and the way my brain works, that is fun territory to imagine,” confirming that for now, imagination is the only place in which those series should be considered canon.

    While that’s made quite clear on Disney Plus, where those shows, along with a few others, can be found in an “Agents and Inhumans” category rather than in the “Complete MCU Timeline” category, fans of the series still find plenty of ways to make the events of the shows tie into the ongoing story of MCU. And at the end of the day, that’s just fine and what being a fan is all about.

    Source: Screen Rant

  • Marvel TV Boss Dodges the Canonicity of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

    Marvel TV Boss Dodges the Canonicity of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

    Marvel Studios’ Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, has been there since the beginning. Beginning his career as an assistant to Marvel big wig Louis D’Espositio on Iron Man, Winderbaum has served as an executive producer on over a dozen projects and was promoted to his new role in August 2021. Since then, he’s found himself in the spotlight more frequently, including being the mouthpiece for the studio’s rebranding which moved them away from the “it’s all connected” era that seemed to overwhelm newer fans.

    There was a lot of pressure post-Avengers: Endgame on the public to feel obligated to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. Part of the rebranding was a signal to the general audience that we’re creating a lot of options, and you can follow your tastes within this brand. Some will be more comedic, some will be more dramatic, some will be animated, some will be live-action. Marvel is more than just one thing — it is actually many different genres that just happened to coexist in a single narrative.

    -Brad Winderbaum on Marvel Studios rebranding of projects, May, 2022

    Now roughly halfway through their Multiverse Saga, the studio is reticent to make fans feel as though they have dozens of hours of required reading to do before watching a new project. “The hope is that, like the comics, you can just pop in anywhere and have a satisfying experience,” said Winderbaum in a May 2024 interview with Variety. “We’re trying to dispel the idea that you need to do any kind of setup work to watch anything else.” So while “the characters still live and breathe in the same universe…the interconnectivity is not so rigid that you need to watch Project A to understand Project B.” For example, even though the events of the Netflix Marvel series from the mid-2010s are canon to Marvel Studios’ Sacred Timeline, audiences should not need to watch the 39-hour-ish long episodes of Netflix’s Daredevil in order to enjoy the upcoming Disney Plus streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again.

    So, I can say that up until this point, we’ve been a little bit cagey about what’s Sacred Timeline and what’s not. That was born, frankly, out of a period at the studio where we were like “we have to stick the landing with Avengers.” It was another part of the company developing the Netflix stuff; we were aware of what they were doing, they were aware of what we were doing, but it was a lot.. it was a lot to balance anyway. But now that some time has passed, now that we actually see how well-integrated the stories are, I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that they are part of the Sacred Timeline.

    -Brade Winderbaum on the canonicty of the Marvel Netflix series, January 2024

    With Marvel Studios so readily retroactively placing the events of the Netflix Defenders-verse into their Sacred Timeline, fans have been anticipating another TV series to be officially given the same treatment. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the first Marvel Television show of the modern era, continues to have a fervent fanbase of supporters who believe it deserves to be given Winderbaum’s seal of approval as well, despite some mixed signals about just how it might fit into the Sacred Timeline; however, Winderbaum isn’t quite ready to sign off on that just yet.

    “I want to go down this road with you, you know I do, but we’re just gonna take a deep breath for a second,” said Winderbaum when asked if he considered Marvel Television’s ABC melodrama as canon to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline. “I think that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a really great show and there was a long time where some of the best reveals in that show were during the Winter Soldier era where Hydra emerges and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’,” said Winderbaum about the early seasons of the series that clearly crossed over with Marvel Studios’ big-screen adventures. “I remember that feeling, even knowing what was happening, just being a fan, [going] ‘It really is connected!’,” he continued. “I think that there is, in a crazy way, like you said, it does feel like it fits into The Multiverse Saga in an incredible way.” Before finishing his evasive maneuvers, Winderbaum gave props to the cast of the series saying, “Just know that I love that cast, I love Clark Gregg and I love that show.“

    Winderbaum seems to have been heavily schooled in Feigespeak 101 because he said a whole lot without saying anything at all. Loving the series and the cast and admitting a nostalgic connection to the “It’s All Connected” days is a far cry from “I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that [the Marvel Netflix series] are part of the Sacred Timeline.” Part of the studio’s hesitancy to officially canonize Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. despite the obvious connectivity of early seasons likely stems from some of the crazier adventures that took place in later seasons. Of course, no matter what Winderbaum or other studio execs say, the best part about fandom is and always has been the ability of fans to choose their own adventure and enjoy things as they please. Nothing anyone says or does not say should deter from that.

    All episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be found on Disney Plus under the “Agents and Inhumans” section which is obviously and intentionally quite separate from the section titled “MCU Complete Timeline.”

    Source: Screen Rant

  • ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Star Explains Why the Series Has Not Been Canonized

    ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Star Explains Why the Series Has Not Been Canonized

    Following the creative retooling of Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel Studios made the decision to retroactively canonize the events of Netflix’s Defenders-verse series. That move led to Daredevil stars Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Wilson Bethel and Ayelet Zurer all being brought back to reprise their respective roles after previously having been recast or left out entirely. With the studio showing a willingness to add several projects to their carefully curated Sacred Timeline, fans of another popular TV series, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., believed the network melodrama would be adopted as canon as well; however, that’s still not the case and one of the series’ stars thinks she knows why.

    During an interview with Katee Sackhoff, AoS star Ming-Na Wen said the show’s status as a network project is the underlying reason it isn’t part of the Sacred Timeline.

    Wen’s explanation came after Sackhoff asked the actress if she’d been approached by Marvel Studios to reprise her role as Melinda May, also known as The Cavalry. “No, they have not…it’s weird,” explained Wen. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sort of became a separate entity for whatever reason,” she continued, “because it was on the network as opposed to streaming. I think there’s some – and this is where my obliviousness also helps because I don’t understand it, so you’re asking the wrong person, I just know that there’s some sort of division.“

    Like the Defenders-verse series that streamed on Netflix, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was developed and produced by the now defunct Marvel Television, a branch of Marvel Entertainment Following a 2015 rift between Ike Perlmutter and Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios essentially became its own entiy with no ties to Marvel Entertainment or Perlmutter. This is almost certainly the “division” to which Wen is referring, though it’s interesting that she believes S.H.I.E.L.D.S’s status as a network show may play a further role in that division.

    The reality is that with Marvel Studios deep into their Multiverse Saga, everything is canon to the Multiverse. So while shows like Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are all firmly set on the Sacred Timeline, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and X-Men ’97 are still part of the Marvel Multiverse. If Deadpool & Wolverine can find a way to incorporate Channing Tatum‘s Gambit into the Multiverse, surely there’s room for Fitzsimonns as well.

    Source: The Sackhoff Show

  • ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ Lands on Disney Plus, Denied Spot in the MCU

    ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ Lands on Disney Plus, Denied Spot in the MCU

    After leaving Netflix earlier this month, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has found a new, an likely permanent, streaming home on Disney Plus. For several weeks now, fans have been anticipating its arrival on the streaming service, hoping to learn more about its status as Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, which is an ongoing debate in the Marvel fan community. Now that the long-running network soap opera has made its way to Disney Plus, what’s the answer?

    It looks as though the people at Disney Plus received instructions NOT to include Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the MCU timeline. The series is not present in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe”, “Marvel Cinematic Universe in Timeline Order” or in any of the “Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase” categories. Instead, fans can find it in a category titled “Marvel Series and Specials”, which is where series like Runaways and Inhumans, which are also absent from the MCU categories, can be found.

    Of note to it’s exclusion from the MCU is that several One-Shots featuring Phil Coulson, the main character of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., are located within each of the MCU-related categories. Of course, nothing short of an explicit statement from Kevin Feige of where it stands canonically will convince its fanbase of its status, but at least it has found a home where fans can enjoy it alongside all their favorite Marvel content.