Marvel’s collaboration with Netflix may face fierce competition in the future.
Jeph Loeb, head of television at Marvel, discussed with CBR about the company’s television projects and revealed that ABC would house a number of them.
“Obviously these aren’t things I can talk about. But look, as it is with every single one of the networks that we have gotten with that this is with, and whether it’s Fox or it’s FX, or it’s Freeform, or it’s Hulu, or it’s Netflix, ABC is always going to be our mothership,” Loeb explained. “It is a Disney-owned network. We are a Disney-owned corporation, and we’re a good fit for each other.”
Loeb then said why the two companies work well, beyond the corporate affiliations: “We speak a lot of the same language and the kinds of things that are important to them, which is people rising adversity again; real emotion; a strong female character, but also a strong sense of family and questions of identity. All of those things are key to being a successful ABC show, but they’re also key to being a Marvel show. So in that way, we’re going to go and see what happens along the way.”
Marvel fans wonder why ABC passed over the past projects like the Charlie Cox-led series Daredevil or the super-sized superhero show The Defenders.
According to Loeb, some series have been shifted to Netflix because their violent and gritty nature would not mix well with ABC.
“I think people confuse the fact that we go to other networks as a sign that we’re not on ABC. The truth of the matter is that those shows weren’t appropriate for us to be on ABC. How do we know that? We talk to ABC, and we talk about what is it that you’re looking for?” said Loeb.
Agents of SHIELD sparked ABC’s interest because of its exciting genre, and Agent Carter did the same with the historical setting.
“What [ABC] got excited about Marvel’s Inhumans was the family drama aspect of it and the possibilities of something that had a big epic feel to it, but at the same time something that was small and intimate enough that they could get an audience hooked on it and so that’s where we started,” Loeb said.
Inhumans stars Anson Mount (Black Bolt), Iwan Rheon (Maximus the Mad), Serinda Swan (Queen Medusa), Ken Leung (Karnak), Isabelle Cornish (Crystal), EmeIkwuakor (Gorgon), Mike Moh (Triton) and Sonya Balmores (Auran).
The series will premiere on ABC on September 29.
