The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s foray into tv on Disney+ has been a bit rocky. Early on, reveals have been introduced as necessary items of the MCU canon that simply occurred to be TV collection as an alternative of flicks, with WandaImaginative and prescient (no less than in idea) establishing the headspace of Wanda Maximoff earlier than Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier detailing Sam Wilson’s considerations in regards to the burden of the Captain America identify earlier than his eventual big-screen return, and Loki creating the entire multiverse that has exhausted us for the previous couple of years—to not point out introducing Jonathan Majors, who (so far as we all know) goes to proceed taking part in a giant MCU villain for now.
But since then, the Disney+ collection would possibly as effectively have been quietly nudged off into their very own nook of that multiverse. Only Ms. Marvel has had a tangible affect on the massive leagues of the MCU, which is to say the flicks, whereas reveals like Hawkeye and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law have seemingly simply been all for organising Daredevil: Born Again—a present, not a film. Recently, Secret Invasion wasted the thrill of giving Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury his personal solo story by making that solo story terribly boring (and by introducing a brand new character who’s so highly effective that there’s no approach she’ll ever be seen once more).
This isn’t a brand new downside for Marvel, although. It predates the present run of Disney+ reveals and it even predates the Netflix reveals (which at all times appeared like they’d get in hassle in the event that they ever acknowledged the flicks). No, it began with the primary time the MCU tried to maneuver to TV with ABC’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which premiered 10 years in the past, on September 24, 2013), a present that originally served because the platonic supreme of this sort of symbiotic cross-medium relationship.
For one factor, one of many important characters of the present was Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson, a recurring character within the films—going again to the primary Iron Man—who was dramatically killed off in The Avengers, giving it each a tangible connection to the flicks and a thriller (how did he survive?) with obvious stakes for the flicks. And all through the present’s first season specifically, it’s clear that the flicks are all occurring concurrently with the adventures of Coulson, Skye, Ward, May, Fitz, and Simmons on their “Bus,” even when they didn’t get to have enjoyable assembly up with the Avengers (one thing the present would lampshade sometimes).
Rather than assembly Thor, for instance, the S.H.I.E.L.D. staff would get referred to as to London to actually clear up after the ultimate battle in Thor: The Dark World. It was, on reflection, cute to see the direct repercussions of a giant, damaging superhero battle. It would’ve been cool to have the Avengers present up and acknowledge that the S.H.I.E.L.D. staff was doing necessary stuff, however the sport the present was really taking part in was rather more thrilling. After Thor: The Dark World got here Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the film that exposed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated and corrupted by Hydra. And very like the opposite MCU crossover, the staff was there to scrub up after all of the thrilling issues that occurred within the films—however not earlier than discovering out that Grant Ward, one among their very own, had been with Hydra all alongside.
It stands as one of many nice twists within the historical past of comic-book films and tv, particularly within the MCU, exactly as a result of it completely tied collectively every part that was occurring within the films with every part that had occurred on the present, making each issues really feel greater than they’d beforehand. It’s a enjoyable twist that also performs rather well, if solely due to how merciless it’s to take a man who appeared fairly stiff and boring for the entire season and reveal that he was really a fascist sociopath.
Unfortunately, the flicks by no means returned the favor, refusing to acknowledge any of the seemingly large and necessary issues that had occurred over the remainder of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s run, together with Coulson’s rebirth, the arrival of Inhumans, and the invention of the Darkhold—a magical e-book that later performed an necessary function in WandaImaginative and prescient, with no point out of the necessary function it had performed on the sooner present. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. nonetheless did a handful of nods to what was occurring within the films, like establishing the place the Helicarrier comes from in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, or referencing Civil War’s Sokovia Accords, or giving imprecise point out to an assault on New York (the arrival of Thanos’ Black Order in Avengers: Infinity War)—however none of it felt essential anymore.
When Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. started, the MCU was simply stretching its legs and having fun with a post-The Avengers victory lap. It may do no fallacious, and there instantly wasn’t sufficient MCU to fulfill its rising variety of followers. But as quickly as its second season, the flicks had outgrown any want for a spin-off on common tv. Guardians Of The Galaxy proved that the MCU was mainly unstoppable and will flip something into successful with out utilizing barely extra down-to-Earth characters and ideas to justify it; and when the MCU dedicated to the Infinity Stones being the driving pressure of all tales reasonably than S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra or anything that had appeared prefer it was So Important within the first few years, then Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. turned irrelevant to the bigger MCU—a tie-in that you possibly can skip or comply with with out shedding or gaining any explicit perception into the bigger universe.
This is identical factor that has occurred with the Disney+ reveals: The Marvel machine bought sufficiently big to justify them, after which it bought too large to want them. Now they’re working to maintain themselves reasonably than the bigger universe of the flicks, which is ok (a few of these Netflix reveals have been actually good, and that’s all they did), however it means extra reveals like Secret Invasion that finally quantity to nothing, no less than when it comes to the primary universe, are most likely on the best way.
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. did its comparatively small half in increasing the MCU, however the MCU by no means felt the necessity to make Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. any greater than it was as a result of Marvel selected to emphasise the flicks above all else. And it’s occurring once more. And it’s going to occur without end.
