Marvel Rebranded MCU TV Shows To Fix Its Biggest Post-Endgame Mistake
The monumental "Avengers: Endgame" from 2019 capped off the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga, rewarding fans for sticking around for 11 years (even if, upon a rewatch, they choose to skip several of its movies). However, in its wake, Marvel Studios has struggled a bit. Fan interest in the MCU has waned significantly throughout the Multiverse Saga, with the box office numbers and audience responses reflecting this downturn. Not to mention, its television efforts have been extremely hit or miss, making it even more difficult for fans to keep up with an increasingly mammoth slate of media.
Well aware of how daunting it has become to stay up to date with the MCU post-"Endgame," Marvel Studios is revamping its approach to TV. As reported by Variety, going forward, live-action shows will fall under the Marvel Television banner, with Marvel Animation encompassing non-live-action endeavors. "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," said Marvel's head of streaming, television, and animation, Brad Winderbaum — who confirmed a controversial Disney+ strategy that many believe ruined the MCU — stressing that while these projects are still canon unless otherwise stated, interconnectivity is taking a backseat.
Continuing, Winderbaum explained that this change is occurring for the benefit of new fans, as well as those with specific genre tastes within the MCU.
Catering the MCU Disney+ experience to the individual
As the MCU explores long-form stories on Disney+, it has played with a variety of genres. Naturally, not every MCU fan is going to be interested in watching every single series based on their viewing preferences. So this change in TV branding and creative thinking is meant to make it easier for fans to watch the shows they actually want to watch without missing out on important lore. "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 shared.
Expanding on this point, Winderbaum said that the goal is for the MCU to become more like the comic universe its based on in terms of how new viewers are able to enjoy it. He told Variety, "The hope is that, like the comics, you can just pop in anywhere and have a satisfying experience. We're trying to dispel the idea that you need to do any kind of setup work to watch anything else." Winderbaum added that the behind-the-scenes pressure to fill Disney+ with new MCU shows has also lessened, allowing creatives to take a more meticulous approach from year to year, and focus on getting their work just right.
On paper, these are all steps in the right direction, but it remains to be seen if these changes will pay off. In the event they do, maybe Disney should look into other reasons why it should rethink its Marvel strategy and make more tweaks for the better.