Marvel"s Newest Changes Make Its Recent Show Successes More Promising

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Summary

Marvel Studios has revealed new banners for its upcoming projects, including Marvel Studios for films, Marvel Television for TV shows, Marvel Animation for animated series, and Marvel Spotlight for smaller stories.
Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum has suggested this will make it easier for new and casual viewers to jump into the MCU, without the need for doing masses of "homework".
This change might be unnecessary, as many past MCU projects have included recaps in the storyline, but it's still an interesting and bold move for Marvel Studios.

Marvel Studios has recently changed how the feature films, TV shows, and animated series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are developed, proving past mistakes have been learned from, and making its upcoming projects even more promising. For the first eleven years of the MCU, Marvel Studios only focused on producing feature-length movies in the MCU, introducing a wide variety of heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Captain Marvel, on the big screen. However, with the establishment of Disney+ and the dawn of the Multiverse Saga, the MCU saw a huge expansion into MCU-set TV shows and animated adventures.
Unfortunately, Marvel Studios' increased development of TV series alongside its feature films in Phases 4 and 5 meant that workers were stretched too thin, contributing to a noticeable drop in quality. The huge increase in new content also contributed to the emergence of so-called "superhero fatigue", meaning Marvel Studios has been under more scrutiny in recent years than ever before. This has prompted some major changes behind the scenes of the MCU, as Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that Marvel Studios' output will be slowed, and new steps will be made to build back the franchise's stellar reputation.
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Related 10 Ways 2023 Changed The MCU Timeline In Major Ways Over the course of 2023, the releases into the MCU changed the franchise"s timeline in a considerable number of interesting and exciting ways.
Marvel Studios Now Has Separate Banners For Movies, TV & Animation Close During May 2024's Disney Upfronts presentation, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige confirmed release windows for three upcoming TV shows, revealing Agatha All Along will premiere in September 2024, Daredevil: Born Again will hit Disney+ in March 2025, and Ironheart will also premiere sometime in 2025. As well as confirming these dates, Feige also unveiled new categories for the MCU's upcoming projects. Now, instead of all MCU films, TV shows, and animated projects being released under the Marvel Studios banner, the revived Marvel Television, the new Marvel Animation, and the pre-existing Marvel Spotlight will separate these MCU installments.
Marvel Television was previously a separate production company to Marvel Studios, working under the umbrella of Marvel Entertainment, which developed MCU-adjacent TV shows including Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Runaways, Netflix's Defenders Saga, and others. The new Marvel Television is a division of Marvel Studios, and has no relation to the old company, but has been revived in response to a massive creative overhaul for the MCU's TV production. TV shows in the MCU now have dedicated showrunners, and won't be developed as if they were elongated movies, and this should also solve another major criticism of the MCU.
X-Men '97 released under the Marvel Animation banner, Echo was the first Marvel Spotlight series, and Agatha All Along will be the first series to release under the new Marvel Television banner.
Marvel Studios’ New Release Banners Mean Casual Audiences May Have More Freedom

While speaking to Comicbook.com in May 2024, following the epic finale of Marvel Animation's X-Men '97, Marvel Studios' Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum revealed more about the new banners. In response to recent concerns that new MCU viewers would have to do "homework" before watching upcoming projects, Winderbaum suggested the new banners would give audiences more freedom. Noting that "they're interconnected but they're not," and that audiences "don't have to watch A to enjoy B," Winderbaum opens the MCU up to more casual viewers who don't want to watch the MCU's entire back catalog to understand the franchise's new installments.

We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore. On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. As you know, as a comics fan, they're designed to just pop in, find something that you like, and use that to enter you into the universe, and then you can explore and weave around based on your own preferences. So part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience, 'You can jump in anywhere. They're interconnected but they're not. You don't have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel.'

These criticisms became more prominent in the Multiverse Saga, as many viewers presumed that several feature films and entire TV shows would need to be watched to understand upcoming projects. To understand Thor: Love and Thunder, audiences needed to have seen the three previous Thor movies, as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. For The Marvels, Captain Marvel, WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion all needed to be seen, which would have marked a huge commitment for the casual MCU viewer. The separation of Marvel Studios' new banners may quell these concerns, but this change may still be unnecessary.

Related 10 Iconic MCU TV Shows We Want To See Get Another Season The future of several popular MCU and Marvel Television shows is still uncertain, but many of them deserve to be continued in new seasons.
Why Marvel Studios’ New Banners Might Actually Be Unnecessary

Undoubtedly, some recent MCU installments have required audiences to watch some projects from the franchise's history. However, this hasn't been the case for the majority of Marvel Studios' Phase 4 and 5 projects, particularly since a lot of the films and TV shows of the Multiverse Saga have been standalone, including Moon Knight, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Ms. Marvel, among others. This means that viewers can enjoy these projects without having any prior knowledge of the MCU, and they could act as a solid foundation for these viewers to enter the MCU.
Many previous MCU projects have also subtly included recaps of the franchise's previous adventures, so viewers haven't needed to do masses of homework. Captain America: The Winter Soldier saw Bucky Barnes and the audience relive The First Avenger via a museum exhibit, Thor: Love and Thunder opened with Korg explaining Thor's history to a group of children, and The Avengers and Infinity War reintroduced audiences to the core heroes meaningfully and gradually, to name a few. This means that establishing new banners for the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be unnecessary, but it's still an interesting change in Marvel Studios' story.

Related How To Watch the Marvel Movies In Order (By Release Date & In Order Of MCU Timeline Events) Want to catch up before the next release, or just revisit the universe for a refresher? Here"s the order to watch the entire MCU timeline.
Upcoming MCU Movies
Release Date
Deadpool & Wolverine
July 26, 2024
Captain America: Brave New World
February 14, 2025
Thunderbolts*
May 5, 2025
The Fantastic Four
July 25, 2025
Blade
November 7, 2025
Avengers 5
May 1, 2026
Avengers: Secret Wars
May 7, 2027

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